SCHUBERTIADE: Laura Strickling
Soprano Laura Strickling treats us to an evening of favorites new and old, continuing our weekly Schubertiade feature.
It’s no secret that I’m a passionate member of #teamartsong. At this time when live performances are largely halted and so much seems uncertain, we need song—and connection to our community of people who love song—more than ever. Fortunately, the internet holds a treasure trove of performances past and (distanced) present to feed our souls and bring us together while apart. Through this “digital dream recital” project, I want to remind you of songs and composers you love, but also introduce you to works and artists with whom you might not be familiar.
I initially selected a program of songs and set about searching to determine my favorite performances, but quickly found myself hopping down rabbit trails of suggested links into the far corners of YouTube. I toyed with sticking to my original plan, but decided that the spirit of the exercise was better served by showing you the performances that caught and kept my attention. In the last several years, YouTube’s selection of recordings has exploded: type in almost any song title and you’ll hear both superstars and beginners try their hand. I encourage you to throw yourself down this deep well and especially to click on names you’ve never heard before. I was astounded and moved by performances I would never have known to search for. Ultimately, I’ve chosen songs that I love and performances that made me happy. I hope they will bring beauty, light, insight, and comfort to your day.
Selection of Songs by Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
“Seeking to command Purcell's merits as a song-writer to a late eighteenth-century public which, he anticipated, would find the composer's manner antiquated, Charles Burney claimed for him a combination of ‘original genius, feeling, and passion’ and asserted that any candid critic… would feel, ‘at certain places of almost every song, his superior felicity and passion in expressing the poet's sentiments which he had to translate into melody’. It is as good a statement as any of the psychological penetration that is the essence of Purcell's art… ‘Music for a While’ seems… to reveal Purcell reflecting on the reality and the illusion of his own potent magic as a maker of songs.”
Sweeter Than Roses
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Warren Jones, piano
Strike the Viol
Caterina Sangineto, soprano
Nicola Bisotti, harpsicord
José Manuel Fernandez Bravo, alto recorder
Francesco Motta, theorbo
If Music Be the Food of Love, 3rd version
Alyssa Hogan, soprano
Anastasiya Naplekova, harpsichord
Music for a While
Maya Kherani, soprano
Francisco Fullana, violin
Liana Bérubé, viola
Tanya Tomkins, cello
Selection of Songs by Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
“‘SCHUBERTIADS’, as they were called, had only three essential features: friends in the room, the composer at the keyboard, his works in performance. Sometimes there were many participants, and a large audience; sometimes just a singer or two; but wherever two or three were gathered together, Schubert among them, and the latest music was brought out and tried over, there was a Schubertiad… However, the musical gatherings of those golden times (for so the composer's circle referred to them in retrospect) are assured an immortal reputation as long as the word ‘Schubertiad’ conjures up images of happiness and warmth, and of a loving man who sang his heart out for his friends because they, and the gift that enabled him to entertain and touch them, were his only treasured possessions.”
Auf dem Wasser zu Singen, D. 774
Kateryna Kasper, soprano
Tiffany Butt, piano
Du bist die Ruh, D. 776
Sooyeon Lee, soprano
Llyr Williams, piano
Du liebst mich nicht, D. 756
Axelle Fanyo, soprano
Louise Akili, piano
Viola, D. 786
Angela Vallone, soprano
Chris Reynolds, piano
Tres poemas, Op. 81 – Joaquín Turina (1882-1949)
“Joaquín Turina… was a native of Seville, and also spent time in Paris, where he was influenced by French musical style. Although he studied with d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum and was greatly attracted by the music of Debussy, his compositions remained essentially Spanish. Albéniz encouraged him to seek inspiration from the rich heritage of Spanish folk music, and much of his guitar and vocal music is characterized by Spanish colour and rhythms. The Tres poemas date from 1933 and set three poems by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer… His poems have often been described as ‘suspiritos germánicos’— a reference to Heine’s Buch der Lieder poems… Bécquer’s poems, however, lack Heine’s cynicism, as we see especially in “Besa el aura,” and also “Olas gigantes”… “Tu pupila es azul,” the second of the Tres poemas, was originally entitled ‘Imitación de Byron,’ inspired as it was by Byron’s ‘I saw thee weep.’ Turina varies the vocal line of each stanza, and the accompaniment, which starts with a staccato motif based on simple chords, develops more virtuoso characteristics at the end of the third verse, when we hear romantic arpeggios and guitar-like music to accompany the vocal cadenza with which the song ends.”
Olas gigantes
Elaine Alvarez, soprano and Warren Jones, piano
Tu pupila es azul
Elaine Alvarez, soprano and Warren Jones, piano
Besa el aura
Elaine Alvarez, soprano and Warren Jones, piano
Spring Nostalgia — Huang Tzu (1904-1938)
First watch this video with spoken program notes for this song cycle:
玫瑰三愿 (Three Wishes of a Rose)
花非花 (A Flower That's Not a Flower)
思乡 (Nostalgia)
Helen Zhibing Huang, soprano, and Michael Lewis, piano
Nightsongs – H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932)
“Adams is not an arranger of spirituals; he is an American composer that incorporates the syncopation, heavy rhythms, and soaring vocal lines found in black American music into a classical framework. His compositions exhibit a strong influence from the Romantic period with heavy emphasis on melody and the importance of the voice-piano relationship. Additionally, Adams’ works feature atonality used at times to create tension and characterize the emotion of the poetry… Adams’ magnetism, talent, and creativity are demonstrated in his vocal compositions. His vocal compositions are accessible, yet modem and challenge the singer and pianist that performs them.”
“For the most part, the poetry expresses universal concepts, no matter how personalized… When asked what he looks for in poetry that is being considered for a musical setting, Leslie Adams stated that he is concerned about the ‘feel’ and general contours of the text. Doubtlessly involved in this instinctive approach is sensitivity to potential word painting, not dissimilar from that encountered since the time of madrigalists… The piano plays various roles, sometimes revealing by arpeggios or other idiomatic figurations the harmony implicit in the vocal line, and sometimes responding to the melody, or providing an echo. At other times, it assumes melodic responsibility, or retains a thought while the voice moves on to a new idea. It is given handfuls of lush harmonies—tonal and luxuriantly colored triads. The cadences are often unexpected fresh delights, casting speculation on the modality that has led up to them. The rhythm grows immediately from the texts. Thus the works establish an organic unity and mood, immediately defining the emotional frame.”
Prayer
Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
Laura Ward, piano
The Heart of a Woman
Kevin D. Johnson, baritone
Nicolas Catravas, piano
Night Song
Reginald Smith, Jr., baritone
Nan McSwain, piano
Sence You Went Away
Darryl Taylor, countertenor
Maria Thompson Corley, piano
Creole Girl
Erica Gabriel, soprano
Annastasia Victory, piano
Of A Certain Age — Tom Cipullo (b. 1956)
Amy Petrongelli, soprano, and Blair Salter, piano
“American composer Tom Cipullo has written more than 100 art songs with music that is complex and challenging, yet firmly rooted in tonality and Romantic lyricism… he is described as ‘one of the rare emerging composers who can set texts with the utmost sensitivity and grace the human voice with exquisitely lyrical lines.’ Cipullo… credits Puccini and Sinatra for teaching him how to shape a melodic vocal phrase.”
“The soprano protagonist looks back, either in her imagination or in real terms, on a life richly lived. The texts, five by Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Lisel Mueller and one by Judith Baumel, range from the bittersweet and nostalgic to the humorous and tragic. Taken together, the poems offer a mature perspective on love, loss, ageing, and what it means to be a 21st-century woman.”
Smoke and Distance — Tonia Ko (b. 1988)
Lucy Dhegrae and Nathaniel LaNasa
“In Smoke and Distance, two separate texts by Lowell and Aldington are joined together, united by images of the night, the color blue, and an intense reflection on a past love. The ‘fireworks’ that are alluded to in the opening vocal monologue refer to both the literal spectacle and the metaphorical type occurring between two lovers. However, these sparks remain only in the narrator's memory. In setting these poignant texts, I chose to emphasize their intimate qualities. The piano part deviates from its traditional accompaniment role and is instead intertwined closely with the vocal line. In addition to echoing the voice, the pianist is also called upon to create its own resonance inside the instrument. This resonance—a sonic memory—extends the poetic recollection described in the texts. The dramatic climax of the piece occurs when the vivid images collide. It produces a realization that although despite the distance of time, the narrator's love has not completely disappeared and is simply renewed.”
Click here for Laura’s own text and translations.
Please play the video below to watch Laura’s entire “dream recital” as a playlist.
December 4, 2020
