For more than a year, one reader in particular, a Toronto-area teacher, visual artist and passionate fan of art music and opera, has been sharing her impressions and insights via email. It’s time for them to go public, so, please, gentle reader, welcome Senta — our new correspondent with the Wagner-inspired pen name — to this space.
- Wouldn’t it be great to have more Off Centre Schubertiads in Toronto - October 27, 2013
Here are Senta’s musical impressions from last week:
Last Sunday, it was great for us to get another Lieder fix. Off Centre’s annual Schubertiad was a very pleasant afternoon. I enjoyed both of the youthful singers: soprano Jennifer Taverner and tenor Jeffrey Hill.
Jennifer’s voice was described in the programme notes as having a “lovely, silvery” tone which I thought was a very apt description. I really loved Jennifer’s evocation of tender yearning in Die Liebende schreibt and following that, her tormented Lied der Mignon III.
Jeffrey was described as “authoritative” and I felt this too. When he sang Erlkonig, I thought he had passed the test in my books. The way in which he unaffectedly changed his voice to port ay the four different characters of the song was impressive.
Seductive is a word that I would have used personally, as I was quite taken with this tenor. His devastating Ihr Bild was spectacular and left me wanting to hear the rest of Schwanengesang from him.
Other rare and delightful treats were the Fantasie in C major with the esteemed violinist Jacques Israelievich and pianist Boris Zarankin, as well as the Fantasie in F minor with pianists Inna Perkis and Boris. We have listened to these often at home and were pleased to finally hear them live. If only these Schubertiads would happen more often.
One little interesting occurrence that amused Our Son very much was a near catastrophe while Inna turned the pages for Boris during a song in the first set. She accidentally turned two pages of the score but thankfully Boris got back to the right page in time averting disaster.
I imagine there must have been a big row in their home later that evening with all the leftover Viennese pastries being thrown at each other. Anything can happen during a live performance, but I’ll be fans of Inna and Boris for life as I am so grateful for their artistry and their devotion to my beloved Schubert.
Schubert is the composer I adore above all others. When I found his songs, I discovered the music that I had been searching for all my life.
I can’t find that many personal connections except being humble (in nature) and being a vertically challenged (occasional) schoolteacher. His brief life was wretched and his genius was unrecognized outside his own circle. I am not at all wretched and I am certainly no genius but I think of him as my musical soulmate.
Those 600 or so gems (with only a few duds) of Lieder encapsulate every single human emotion. There is nothing else like it in the world. I often hear a song that I have thought to be the most beautiful ever written, then I hear another and yet another. His capacity for lyrical invention was limitless.
When I am listening to this achingly lovely music, I feel I have no other need. It is perfection.
Also last week, I had a listen to Suzie LeBlanc’s new CD, I Am In Need Of Music (Centrediscs). This new music wasn’t love at first listen for me, even though I adore Suzie. Sometimes all it takes is a few more tries. But maybe it won’t happen. That’s okay.
I think the best song for me so far is the enigmatic Sunday, 4 A.M. The poetry of Elizabeth Bishop is incredible. Like the little sandpiper I am always searching…
looking for something, something, something
Poor bird, he is obsessed
The millions of grains are black, white, tan and gray
mixed with quartz grains, rose and amethyst.
I did find another treasure this week in listening to Lang Lang and the Berlin Philharmonic’s new recording, Prokofiev 3 Bartok 2 (Sony Classical). I have neglected/ignored the magnificent Magyar Bartók for too long. He seems to have just as much testosterone as Prokofiev and this was just the explosive burst of energy that I needed to heat up a very chilly week! I’ll be looking him up more often on NML. I’m still discovering the composers everyone seems to know about already.
Senta
- Wouldn’t it be great to have more Off Centre Schubertiads in Toronto - October 27, 2013
