United Kingdom Oxford Lieder Festival 2022 [1] – Clara and Robert Schumann, Brahms, Weill: Kate Royal (soprano), Christine Rice (mezzo-soprano), Magnus Walker (tenor), Julius Drake, Eunji Han (pianists). Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, 14.10.2022. (CR)
Clara Schumann – Das Veilchen; Geheimes Flüstern hier und dort, Op.23 No.3; Walzer; Die gute Nacht, die ich dir sage; Beim Abschied
Brahms – Zigeunerlieder; Die Schwestern, Op.61 No.1; Die Meere, Op.20 No.3; Phänomen, Op.61 No.3; Walpurgisnacht, Op.75 No.4
Robert Schumann – Herbstlied, Op.43 No.2; Erste Begegnung, Op.74 No.1; Sommerruh, WoO7; In der Nacht, Op.74 No.4
Weill – Berlin im Licht; Youkali; Nanna’s Lied; Buddy on the Night Shift; Es regnet; Je ne t’aime pas; Alabama Song
In this year, celebrating its twenty-first season, Oxford Lieder Festival explores the theme of ‘friendship in song’. Although most of the songs presented in this opening concert dealt with love – at least in a humorous or ironic manner – they are the sort of pieces that may have been intended for, or are most effectively performed within, convivial gatherings. The fact that a number of those in the principal part of this recital require two singers enhanced that sense of collegiality.
At the centrepiece of this performance was the whole set of eight songs which Brahms arranged for solo voice from his more numerous set of Zigeunerlieder. Christine Rice and Kate Royal shared out those songs between them, combining only in the duet of the last one and engaging in dialogue in one other, but even so, their origins as settings for vocal quartet still served as a reminder of the communal purpose of Brahms’s uncharacteristically light-hearted cycle. Rice conjured something of the ‘gypsy’ atmosphere with her generally moody, woody tone – even sassy for ‘He, Zigeuner, greife in die Saiten ein!’ to open. If there might have been more playfulness for ‘Wisst ihr, wann mein Kindchen’, wider vibrato for ‘Kommt dir manchmal in den Sinn’ engagingly plumbed the depths of its wistful emotion.
Kate Royal sounded a touch brittle in her couple of solos in that cycle but was more at ease with the comedy or dark humour of the separate Brahms settings ‘Die Schwestern’ and ‘Walpurgisnacht’, and in the radiant parallel lines with Rice of ‘Phänomen’. The range of Weill songs (some of them arrangements from his musical dramas) also brought out a duskier quality from her, and a more seamless flexibility as she shifted among the jazzier colours and harmonies required, especially in ‘Youkali’, the vision of a utopia which elicited an almost choking regret in the last lines as the singer recognises ‘But it’s a dream, it’s folly, there is no Youkali!’. Rice shone with appropriate radiance and humour for ‘Berlin im licht’.
In between the Weill and Brahms came four duets by the latter composer’s friend and mentor, Robert Schumann, given more strenuous, urgent readings than most of the other pieces in the recital. Julius Drake set the tone of tragic earnestness in the introduction for ‘In der Nacht’ on the piano, just as he cogently set the scene for each song and then remained an equal partner in the musical storytelling without stealing the limelight.
To preface the programme, two performers from the Festival’s Emerging Artists scheme gave a clutch of songs by Clara Schumann, filing in the link of friendly relations among Brahms and the Schumanns. Magnus Walker sang those warmly, with broad projection emphasising important words or climactic moments, if sometimes just slightly underneath the given tone. Eunji Han was a discreet, effective accompanist, but could indeed have taken more risk to be more overtly expressive and make these performances more impressive still.
Curtis Rogers