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Tchaikovsky Recital (Vishnevskaya/Rostropovich)
This week I’m still exploring the role of the accompanist, especially from unusual, unsuspected talents. Here is soprano Galina Vishnevskaya who married the famous cellist Rostropovitch, but here Rostropovitch is at the piano for an entire recital of Tchaikovsky.
Gerald Moore: The Unashamed Accompanist
Since we’re looking at the art of “the collaborative pianist” I think it’s time to hear from Sir Gerald Moore, perhaps my favorite singers’ pianist. He played with all the greatest singers of his day and really knew his craft. If you can listen to him through this to the end you will be rewarded.
Brahms Lieder (Christa Ludwig/Leonard Bernstein)
I once was criticised as having “played like a conductor”. Or so I thought. The critic said later “Oh no, I thought it was wonderful. Colorful, orchestral sounds, structurally solid, and not careful the way some accompanists are.” Wow, I thought.
Schubert Lieder (Fischer-Dieskau/Richter)
I remember Vladimir Horowitz playing the Schumann Dichterliebe with Fischer-Dieskau (from memory) at Carnegie Hall. It was pretty wonderful, if unusual. Here is the same inimitable Fischer-Dieskau with another famous pianists, the great Sviatislav Richter. Who know Richter could play Schubert so sensitively?
Debussy: Chansons de Bilitis
The songs are famously erotic, and singers now tend to present them in a rather sultry tone—but this actually goes against Debussy’s intentions. The singer who he selected to premiere the piece, Blanche Marot, was actually selected for her virginity.
Bob Dylan: Masters of War (sung by Odetta)
As our country once again reacts to a horrific act of violence, I found myself coming back to Dylan’s “Masters of War,” performed by the incredible voice of the civil rights movement, Odetta.
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: “Lord, to thee each night and day” from Handel’s Theodora
My favorite singer of all time is Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Watching Lorraine in this performance, I’m awed once again by the depth of the connection between her body, heart, and voice. To me, her sound is like the voice of the earth and of our deepest humanity.
John Taverner: Dum Transisset Sabatum
This piece is by John Taverner, a very early British composer who lived 1490-1545. It’s an Easter piece, depicting the moment just before Mary Magdalen discovers that the stone of Jesus’s tomb has been rolled away – so even though it’s for Easter, the music still is filled with the bleakness of Holy Week, with plangent trebles soaring high above the altos.
Hugo Wolf: Ganymed
I fell in love with this recording of Dawn Upshaw’s Naumberg Recital with Margo Garrett on the piano when I was a student at Juilliard. It was actually Steve Blier who divined that this song would turn out to be a life-changingly meaningful piece for me, and assigned it to me to learn when I was studying with him there.
Jule Styne: I’m Naive
One of the anomalies of my life as an artistic director is that I have to think about Christmas in June. Our annual Goyishe Christmas program at Henry’s is set for December 12, and it would be smart to get a cast assembled sooner than later. It’s been a little easier to turn my mind to GC this year because it has been so cold outside. I seriously thought about wearing a scarf on Wednesday, and now wish I had
Sir Granville Bantock: Song to the Seals
“Song to the Seals” is one of those simple tunes that can create a magical aura. Tenor Robert (“Bobby”) White turned me on to it and gave me the music. The first time I programmed it was just after Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died in 2006. It tells the story of a woman who sings with so much power and feeling that all the creatures of the ocean gather around to hear her. Lorraine was that kind of musical enchantress too, casting spell after spell with her voice.
Adam Guettel: Hero and Leander
Trawling through YouTube I found the recording Darius de Haas I and I made of Adam’s song “Hero and Leander,” from “Myths and Hymns.” If Fauré and Stevie Wonder had had a baby, this is the music that blessed child would have written.
Tchaikovsky: Gently the soul ascended to heaven
Tchaikovsky could spin out melodies with the ease of Richard Rodgers (another composer on my desk this summer). This graceful song, which has the lilt of a ballet piece, also has a strange gravity. My brain can’t figure out where it comes from, but my soul feels it.
Gabriel Kahane: Where Are the Arms
We’re commissioning Gabriel Kahane to write us a song cycle for a February premiere. I have had some great experiences playing Gabe’s music and I am thrilled he agreed to give us something new. He combines too-cool-for-school Brooklyn hipster with a sweet tenderness that I find endearingly old-fashioned.
Old Man River, sung by Paul Robeson
For the final Song of the Day of my week here at NYFOS, let me introduce you to the reason I became a singer: Paul Robeson. If ever there was an human embodiment of the traits I most value in an artist and human – communication, fearlessness, skill, an open heart, a brilliant mind, hard work, and a deep sense of service – it was Robeson.