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Recital
10 June 2007
Snape Maltings Concert Hall
as part of the 2007 Aldeburgh Festival
Simon Keenlyside
Malcolm Martineau
”Simon Keenlyside brings a charismatic stage presence and a depth of expression and characterization to the opera stage and recital room alike. In a typically thoughtful and wide-ranging programme, some of Schubert's perennial themes - nature, the forest, moonlight, the Wanderer, fleeting and transient love - find resonances in the lush
romanticism of Schoenberg and Pfitzner's early songs and Mahler's
exquisite, valedictory Ruckert settings”
Programme
Hans Pfitzner:
Zweifelnde Liebe, Op.6 No.1
ArnoldSchoenberg:
Erwartung, Op.2 No.1
Warnung, Op.3 No.3
Geübtes Herz, Op.3 No.5
Freihold, Op.3 No.6
Gustav Mahler:
From Fünf Lieder nach Rückert
Ich atmet' einen linden Duft
Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
Frühlingsmorgen
From Fünf Lieder nach Rückert
Liebst du um Schönheit
Um Mitternacht
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Interval
Franz Schubert:
Der Wanderer an den Mond, Op.80 No.1, D.870
An den Mond in einer Herbstnacht, D.614
An die Leier, Op. 56 No. I, D.7 3 7
Geheimes, D.719
Blondel zu Marien, D.626
Prometheus, D.674
Der Wanderer, Op. 65. No.2, D.649 First verse only
Daß sie hier gewesen, D.775
Die Sterne, D.176
Im Walde, Op. 93 No. I, D.834
This performance is being recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast as a Lunchtime Concert on 3 July 2007
What the critics say
Excerpt from a review by Erica Jeal for The Guardian, June 13, 2007
http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/livereviews/story/0,,2101515,00.html
“…The most consistently intense musical experience, however, came with a century-old repertoire back in familiar Snape Maltings on Sunday afternoon. Unafraid to take daring vocal risks, baritone Simon Keenlyside gave a programme with pianist Malcolm Martineau that included Pfitzner and early Schoenberg alongside some of Schubert's darker, more muscular songs, crowned by searing performances of Mahler's Um Mitternacht and the transcendental Ich Bin der Welt Abhanden Gekommen.”
Excerpt from a review by Hugh Canning for The Sunday Times, June 17, 2007
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/opera/article1934771.ece
“…During the 60th festival’s inaugural weekend, there was more magic from Alfred Brendel, in the music he does best – Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert – and from Simon Keenlyside, in a programme of lieder encompassing Pfitzner, Schoenberg, Mahler and Schubert, his darksome baritone in thrilling form, luxuriously underlaid by Malcolm Martineau’s eloquent pianism …”
Gareth Jones for EADT Suffolk and Essex Online, 19 June 2007
For the first half of their Sunday afternoon recital Simon Keenlyside and Malcolm Martineau served up a serious diet of Pfizner, Schoenberg and Mahler.
Pfizner, probably best known today for his opera Palestrina, wrote in a fairly conservative idiom and the song Zweifelnde Liebe, about unrequited love, showed a tantalising glimpse of a relatively unknown composer - perhaps we could have heard more?
Schoenberg's first three opus numbers are all songs, opus 1 within the nineteenth century German tradition but as early as opus 2 there are clear signs of a new direction. Erwartung has interesting chordal movements while Warnung is a tense, compelling piece with an angry start. Both performers combined well to create a sharp, edgy atmosphere in the latter and Keenlyside produced a warm lyrical flow in Geubtes Herz.
Mahler's songs are of a consistently high quality and there were many delights in this section. Martineau's piano accompaniment was a delight in itself and he gave full exposure to Mahler's rich invention such as the buzzing bees in Blicke mir nicht.
Keenlyside found a sombre desolation in Um mitternacht and a secure emotional control in the yearning Ich bin der Welt.
The second half was given over to Schubert and an eclectic choice from this most inspired of lieder composers. In an almost unbroken stream of pleasure I might pick out the piano imitating a guitar in Der Wanderer and the blazing start to Prometheus.
Or the singer's magical movement into happier mode in Blondel and his unalloyed pleasure in Dass sie hier. But, to be honest, two such distinguished musicians in Schubert can hardly go wrong - and they didn't.