Volume 25 Issue 6 - March 2020

VOCAL
Schumann – Myrthen
Camilla Tilling; Christian Gerhaher; Gerold
Huber
Sony Classical 19075945362
(sonyclassical.de)
!!“To my beloved
Clara on the eve
of our wedding
from her Robert.”
So wrote Robert
Schumann on a
specially bound
set of 26 recently
composed songs
dedicated to Clara, collectively titled Myrthen
for the myrtle branches and flowers that traditionally
adorned bridal wreaths.
In it, Schumann drew from nine poets, with
Rückert, Goethe, Heine and Robert Burns (in
translation) accounting for 19 of the songs.
Schumann specified those to be sung by a
woman or a man, suggesting a young couple’s
ongoing relationship. Here, the appropriately
light-and-bright voices of soprano Camilla
Tilling and baritone Christian Gerhaher are
ably supported by pianist Gerold Huber.
Myrthen begins with the well-known
Widmung (my favourite among Schumann’s
250-plus songs); others in the set that will
be familiar to many are Der Nussbaum, Die
Lotosblume and Du bist wie eine Blume. Of
those less-often encountered, the tender Lieder
der Braut and Hochländisches Wiegenlied,
the sprightly Räthsel and Niemand, and the
plaintive Aus den hebräischen Gesängen are
particularly gratifying. The wistful, concluding
Zum Schluss promises, almost prophetically,
that only in heaven will the couple receive “a
perfect wreath.”
Robert and Clara married in 1840, after
years of obstruction from Clara’s father. Sadly,
their marriage ended in 1856 with Robert’s
early death in a mental asylum. Myrthen,
Robert’s wedding gift to Clara, thus represents
an enduring, significant, poignant testament to
what is surely classical music’s most enduring,
significant and poignant love story. Texts and
translations are included.
Michael Schulman
A Voice of Her Own – Musical Women Who
Persisted 1098-1896
Toronto Chamber Choir; Lucas Harris
Independent n/a (torontochamberchoir.ca)
!!
Sacred and
secular music
require two wholly
different mindsets
and the singers
of the Toronto
Chamber Choir,
with Lucas Harris
as artistic director,
have the wherewithal to do both in spades.
Both genres demand an immersion of sorts
into the music itself. The performance by this
choir does more than simply tick all the boxes;
it soars impossibly high, taking the music
to another realm altogether. Another challenge
– admirably handled by the choir – is the
fact that the music spans almost 800 years of
evolved tradition.
The program itself is an inspired one and
is quite representative of women composers
who, as the title suggests, emerged with high
honours in a world dominated, at every level of
art and its commerce, by men. This recording
gets off to a glorious start with music by the
ecstatic mystic, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-
1179). In the extract from Ordo Virtutum,
where the monastic nun adapted the language
of visions and of religious poetry, the choir’s
interpretation is resonant and retains the
exquisite purity of the music.
From the soaring intensity of the
anonymous 17th-century composition Veni,
sancte Spiritus by the nuns of Monastère des
Ursulines de Québec through songs from
Gartenlieder by the prodigiously gifted Fanny
Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) to the deep
melancholia of Clara Schumann’s (1819-1896)
work, the musicians and choristers achieve
unmatched levels of elegance and refinement.
Raul da Gama
Whither Must I Wander
Will Liverman; Jonathan King
Odradek ODRCD389
(odradek-records.com)
!!
Wanderlust –
both literal and
figurative – lies
dormant in the
human genetic
makeup. It is often
awakened, especially
among artists,
and takes flight into both real and imagined
landscapes often with breathtaking results.
From Wandrers Nachtlied, Goethe’s poetry
set to song by Nikolai Medtner, to lieder from
Mondnacht penned by Robert Schumann;
from Songs of Travel by Ralph Vaughan
Williams to King David by Herbert Howells
and At the River by Aaron Copland, Whither
Must I Wander captures the timeless beauty of
man’s propensity for real and imagined travel.
The music is interpreted by Will Liverman,
an outstanding lieder singer blessed with a
warm-toned baritone. Liverman shows himself
to be an artist of the first order. His performance
here eschews melodrama and his interpretations
are understated yet powerfully
convincing. Howells’ King David is typical.
Although Liverman is still young, and will
surely mature, his singing already combines an
authoritative vocal sound with accomplished
interpretative insights into the music.
Liverman has an outstanding relationship
with pianist Jonathan King. Together the
two parley with the familiarity of old friends.
The singer is aware of when to recede from
the spotlight, making way for King to embellish
melodies. The pianist, for his part, always
rises to the occasion; his playing is full of
adventurous handling of harmony and tone.
Together with Liverman’s vivid storytelling,
this makes for a profoundly dramatic and
characterful performance
Raul da Gama
A Howl, That Was also a Prayer
Ekmeles
New Focus Recordings FCR245
(newfocusrecordings.com)
!!
New York-based
contemporary
new music vocal
ensemble Ekmeles is
spectacular in their
first solo release.
Featuring commissions
by Christopher
Trapani and
Canadian Taylor Brook, and a third work by
Erin Gee, the six singers perform these innovative
21st-century works with precision and
understanding.
Brooks’ nine-part microtonal a cappella
Motorman Sextet is based on David Ohle’s
1972 cult novel. The opening party-like vocal
chatter sets the stage. The clear-spoken narrative
by different voices features atmospheric
backdrops like multi-voice unison spoken
words, dynamic swells, held notes, high voice
staccatos and atonal harmonic touches.
Gee sound-paints new dimensions to my
favourite pastime in Three Scenes from Sleep,
taken from a larger piece. No words here; just
voice-created clicks, pops, rustles, held notes,
rhythms, high-pitched intervals and the final
closing more-song-like held-low note which
musically illustrate the unconscious sleep state.
Trapani’s End Words features live voices
with prerecorded vocal fragments and electronics.
The three movements, based on
texts by Anis Mojgani, Ciara Shuttleworth
and John Ashbery respectively, are driven by
tight ensemble performance. The first movement
electronics add another voice to the clear
ensemble articulations and swells with low
drum-like thunder manipulations, squeaky
electronic birds and plucked string effects.
The closing third movement is unique with
the opening electronic bell sounds leading
to a strong electronic “duet” with the almost
spoken vocals.
Director/baritone Jeffrey Gavett leads
Ekmeles in an exciting futuristic musical
direction.
Tiina Kiik
Ogloudoglou – Vocal masterpieces of the
Experimental Generation 1960-1990
Sara Stowe
metier msv 28593 (divineartrecords.com)
! ! English soprano Sara Stowe is a versatile
and inventive musician with repertoire
ranging from contemporary concert music
80 | March 2020 thewholenote.com