Brandon and Matthewman conclude 74th Waterford-Music season with a 'joyous feast' of song

Sarah-Jane Brandon Gary Matthewman at The Georgian Large Room, Waterford

Schubert Viola 
Brahms Zigeunerlieder
Strauss Lieder op 27
Debussy Beau Soir/ Mandoline / Apparition
Franz Liszt Oh Quand je dors/ Enfant, si j'étais roi/ Comment, disaient-ils
Rachmaninov:  Zdes' khorosho op21  no 7
                          In the silence of the secret night op 4 no 3
                          The Water Lily Op 8 no 1
                           Son (The Dream) Op 38 no 5
                           Do not sing to me my beauty ) Op 4 no 4
Encores
Art is Calling me (I want to be a prima dona) from The Enchantress   Victor Herbert
O Mio Babbino Caro  Giannio Schicchi Puccini


Hey, Gypsy, strike upon your strings
Play the song of the faithless young girl
Let the strings weep complain, sadly quiver,
Until the hot tears flow down this cheek.

 Last night, I confess, 'hot tears flew down this cheek' as the 74th consecutive series of chamber music recitals under the aegis of Waterford-Music went out on a blaze of glorious song from two superb  artists. Pianist, Gary Matthewman is  no stranger to The Large Room. The Yorkshire man  made a big impression on Waterford audiences last year when he accompanied Máire Flavin at this event last year. Nobody gets a pianissimo out of the house Steinway C quite like Matthewman. The song pianist was  back in The Georgian Large Room last night with soprano, Sarah-Jane Brandon and the unanaimous consensus was that this was a fabulous night of song that will long be remembered.   If you missed it, too bad but you can  get a flavour of one of the numbers in this song of yearning, 'Quand je dors' by Franz Liszt .
https://vimeo.com/99714504


Sarah-Jane Brandon sings Liszt from TallWall Media on Vimeo.

Throughout, Brandon demonstated the consummate skill and artistry that has garnered her prizes in the most prestigious song competitions She has a  gorgeous tone, the colour of which changed like a theatrical light board according to  range of emotions expressed in the lyrics  in German, French and Russian, all performed .from memory. A truly great voice allied to a gracious stage presence with animated facial expression all combined to make Brandon a compelling performer. Moreover, the pair exuded a joyful generosity of spirit and the audience responded warmly eliciting two encores before they were released.

Had I travelled to hear this superb song team  in a temple of music in London or Berlin, I would have considered it worth the trip. How blessed  are we to hear artists of this calibre
 on our doorsteps in the gem of a venue that is the Georgian Large Room.  A fabulous finale to another great season.

The recital was sponsored by the extended Downey family  in memory of Elizabeth Downey, a remarkable a lady who was singer , performer and concert promoter.  More about Elizabeth Downey here .https://waterfordarts.com/2013/10/08/elizabeth-downey-memorial-concert/

Related Posts Remembering Elizabeth 

                        Gary Matthewman: Lied in London Series

Vivre Musicale: Schumann Song Studio at RIAM

Mezzo Eimear McCarthy Luddy

On Wednesday, Vivre Musicale a collective of singers and musicians attached to the Royal Irish Academy of Music presented an evening of work by Clara and Robert Schumann. I regret I missed songs by Clara but there was enough of a feast in two song cycles from Robert's Liederjahr from two excellent young singers and a Fantasiestucke on clarinet from Berginald Rash. Baritone, Sean Boylan was an animated lovelorn protagonist in a rendition of Heine's texts  Liederkreis op 24. Boylan's ability to get to the heart of a text was apparent when I hear him in Ennis at a recital in 2014. My, Irish Examiner  review here. Sean tells me he is off to London to study at the Guildhall and we wish him well.

  Eimear McCarthy Luddy was a new name to me. The mezzo-soprano gave a moving and vivid rendition of Frauenliebe und Leben, composed shortly before his wedding to Clara. The eight texts tell the tale of  a woman's heart from the headiness of new love,  the joy of motherhood and a poignantly prescient final text on the pain of widowhood. We were reminded what a remarkable woman, Clara was to maintain a career as a concert pianist and support her eight children, the eldest who was in his early teens when Robert died. McCarthy Luddy's programme note concluded with this quote from Clara 'What have I possessed and lost! And yet how long have I gone on living and working. Where does one ...find the strength? I found it in my children and in art-they have sustained me by their love and art too has never played me false.

But back to our soloist ,  McCarthy-Luddy had a lovely purity of tone with an elegant  platform presence wearing a floor length, black and ivory gown.  Reading her biography, I note that she began formal training with Eimear Quinn and is currently working towards a Masters in performance with Owen Gilhooly.I am looking forward to hearing her again.

All were well served by Seho Lee on piano- Accompaniment Teaching Fellow at RIAM

Both singers, I believe are involved in Drums and Guns at The Lir Weds 9th March.

 The next Vivre Musicale  presentation is an Opera Gala Thurs March 24th 7pm Organ Room Tickets €10/5


For mother's day here are a few of the lines of Schumann's Woman's Heart, text 7 on the joys of a baby at the breast

Du lieber , lieber engel du,
Du Schauest  mich an und lachelst dazu
An meinen Herzen, an meiner Brust,
Du meine Wonne, du meine lust














 

Goethe Sandwich with a Schiller Crust : Schubertreise Continues

One of my top pick's of last year was a recital marking the start of an audacious musical odyssey by bass baritone, Conor Biggs and pianist Michel Stas, a long distance voyage through all 600 or so of Schubert's songs over ten years - an epic Schubertreise. My report on the occasion is here .  Part seven of the series took place in the Kevin Barry Room at the National Concert Hall last Sunday afternoon and featured the set of the  composer's songs that exist in several versions . Songs based on Goethe's novel Wilhelmeister formed the mainstay of the programme and  most of which we learned were originally set for female voices.We heard no less than five  distinct versions of Goethe's Nur Wer die  Sehnsucht kennt  better known to me from Tchaikowsky's None But the Lonely Heart.  In his introduction, Biggs  likened them to being like different versions of Van Gogh's Sunflowers.You can read the singer's detailed programme notes and more about the project here  

If the venture seemed arduous before, the task of committing to memory several not all that  dissimilar  melody lines, to the same set of words struck me as being an extreme challenge. The mood was dark and  melancholy   with most of the songs  hovering around themes of  longing and maiden's lamentations .  Biggs tackled each one with whole hearted commitment.  His drole asides ( a tiresome burglar alarm became a 'cantus firmus')  lightened the mood and gave a  fascinating  glimpse into Schubert's compositional journey with some settings from the composer's earliest work in the lied genre.  It was good to be there for another  stage of  an incredible journey with this compelling duo. The next recital is in January Dublin , surely a highlight of the NCH, new year calendar.

A taste of the endeavour included in  the video below with extracts from Schubertreise Part 7

Next recital: Sunday 11th Jnauary 3pm

Venue Notes

Checking the nch.ie  for details, I was surprised not to see this feature on the main page of 'events of the month'. Details  were carried but  required further clicking to uncover them. I felt such a remarkable series should have featured more prominently alongside events in the John Field Room if not in the main auditorium  . 

Perhaps it was the mild weather but the Kevin Barry Room was over warm on Sunday afternoon. 

Classical Thursday Recital Series Launched at St Columbas'

Rev Bob Hanna  Irina Dernova and Helen Houlihan at Bindon Street

'Larks high overhead lost in light, and singing; That's the way of June'. With these lovely lines from Quilter's art song, June, soprano Helen Houlihan drew the first Summer recital at St Columba's, Ennis  to a close, a project initiated by the singer to enhance  the Clare Classical music scene and to provide a platform for emerging talent alongside experienced professional artists.

  Opening with standard repertoire by Schubert, the soprano moved on to a less often heard trio of songs by Brahms. The serene mood of the opening  Sonntag, contrasting with the playful mood of Vergebliches Standchen - a futile serenade. The whiff of exotic far flung lands was evoked in a piano piece by Spanish composer Granados played by Irina Dernova. Houlihan was perhaps at her best in the French chansons d'amour by Reynaldo Hahn, clearly relishing the expressive French lines.

With the summer sunshine illuminating the stained glass windows of the Victorian church, this sunny Romantic repertoire was a  very suitable and welcome musical offering to the Ennis Summer music scene. Helen Houlihan has worked harder and more consistently than most  to promote bel canto singing in Clare. She brings her artistry, a remarkable enthusiasm and  a degree of glamour to the platforms she has carved out for herself and new emerging talents over recent years. We say brava and thank you to her . 

listen to ‘Helen HOULIHAN’ on Audioboo

The series continues with further recital by Owen Gilhooly, Edel O'Brien, Elena McLeod, Ruth Kelly and Helen Houlihan . The next recital will be by Edel O Brien on 20th June.

Set List

Fruhlingsglaube Schubert

An Die Musik        "

Sonntag                 Brahms 

Dein Blaues Auge          "

Vergebliches Standchen    "

Piano Solo Oriental from 12 Spanish Dances Granados

A Chloris     Hahn 

A'Enamourée   Hahn

Tyndaris      Hahn

The Fuschia Tree              Quilter

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal  Quilter

June                          Quilter

Related articles  Soltice Day Carols at St Columbas'

                     Songs for a Summer Evening 

Poetry and Emotion: Schubert Reise Begins in Dublin

Anticipation  was in the  air in Earlsfort Terrace on Sunday.There was clapping and cheering and a jazz quartet to serenade the English rugby team as they trooped out of the Conrad Hotel to board their team bus for the journey to Ballsbridge for their Six Nations  clash.  Across the road in the National Concert Hall, Conor Biggs was warming up for  the first Irish leg of an audacious musical odyssey in which he plans to perform all 600 or so of Schubert's songs, even the girls' ones  in a series of 35 recitals repeated in four locations over a ten year period, a feat never before attempted by any singer. 

Biggs, accompanied by  pianist Michael Stas began his Schubertreise with the song cycle Die Schone Mullerin in the Kevin Barry Room of the NCH just as the ball was being thrown in at the Aviva Stadium. And what an emotional roller coaster the first part of this journey was. The bass baritone seemed totally consumed by the spirits of the four protagonists of the songs and  his musical recounting of the tragic tale of the young miller starting out in cheerful optimism and ending in despair and tragedy  had an intensity that compelled your attention at every moment of the hour long recital.  There were no tickly coughs in this audience. The texts of Muller's poems were provided with translations in decent sized complimentary programmes  The concert closed with the a solo piano transcription by Liszt beautifully played by Stas acting as a  sort of  musical decompression before the audience repaired to the foyer to meet the performers. 

Biggs has lots of interesting observations about the whole business of lieder singing and Schubert's songs on his artsong blog . This from a post on 'Poetic Imagination' is revealing of his approach

 'On the recital platform, theatre and poetry are indivisible: the singer must act with his or her voice alone, just as he would if reading a straight poem. And the key to vocal acting is poetic imagination.' 



There is plenty on the nitty gritty process of learning the repertoire and memorising that is very interesting.

It was the first time I have been at a recital in this room upstairs in the venue and I thought it worked very well for this  event and had a much better acoustic than the John Field Room. There were  many noted composers and musicians in the audience including  Raymond Deane, Padraig O Cuinnegain and Professor Gerard Gillen. The audience lingered a while in the foyer to meet the performers. The journey continues with another recital next Sunday.

The duo plan to finish their reise in ten years with the song cycle  Winterreise.  I hope to be there and I was glad to be  in the Hall for the start of this amazing journey. Wishing them both well in their brave endeavour.


Venue Notes NCH 
I arrived early and was surprised to find the foyer very quiet . The Terrace Restaurant was closed and the foyer coffee bar didn't open until 2.35 for coffee and what were delightfully described as 'mini pastries'  perhaps in an effort to manage expectations of larger confections. But  if you were of an impulsive nature and rolled up expecting to be able to snaffle a pastry or two, you were out of luck for such treats were only available for patrons with the foresight to pre book,  which created a ripple of bemused disgruntlement. Mind you should I be so fortunate to be so prescient, I  should want to enjoy them for longer than the twenty minutes or so allowed by the timetable.