Oxford- Lieder Festival: Holywell Music Room, St
John the Evangelist, Oxford, 11 – 26 October
2013.


October was an exceptionally busy month for  Oxford lovers of the human voice both on the opera stage and in the recital  room. The 2013 Oxford-Lieder Festival, with its usual packed programme of  singers at all career stages from student to full international reputation, was held from 11-26 October, interrupted by the now annual visit of Welsh National Opera at the New Theatre during the week of 14 October.

 The Lieder Festival opened as usual with the  Schools’ Project concert held this year in the Ashmolean Museum, organised by  Martin Peters, performing works by children from local primary schools. The  special themes this year were settings of the poems of Goethe, starting with a  Study Day on Day Two and performed throughout the Festival and the marking of  the Benjamin Britten centenary by the second weekend devoted to his life and  works, a film show and many concerts containing his work and a Winter Journey on  Day Eight. Unfortunately my attendance this year was severely limited to four exceptional evening concerts, the Master-Course concert and the final concert by Kate Royal partnered by Artistic Director Sholto Kynoch. Not only was I forced  to miss some of my favourite singers, Christine Rice, Roderick Williams, Sophie Bevan and many others but also student lunch-time concerts, the Master Courses at North Wall (this year under the direction of Roger Vignolles) and the younger artists’ early evening concerts.

The first concert I did attend was held in the Church of St John the Evangelist in
Iffley Road, Oxford’s newest arts venue, used for the first time by Oxford
Lieder. SJE Arts is based on the Theological College St Stephen’s House together
with the Church joined by cloisters. The Church itself forms a spacious
auditorium with a capacity of four hundred (though not all can hear well) with
adequate space for box-office, programme sales and a refreshment area. More
spacious than the Holywell Music Room it can accommodate the largest voices
which can blow the roof off the HMR, such as that of Sir Willard White who gave
the concert. With his wife soprano Sylvia Kevorkian and Eugene Asti (piano), the
first half of the programme consisted of Lieder by Schubert, Mendelssohn
Schumann and Brahms, the second of French and English songs. The first half
opened with Der Tod und die Mädchen  sung as a duet and ending with an impressive performance of Brahms’ Vier Ernste Gesänger with the voice resounding around the hall. It is sad that the piano lid was only half open so the sombre accompaniment did not have its  full effect. In the second half, the soprano had her chance with Liszt and  Duparc followed by a powerful performance of three of Berlioz’ Nuits d’été. There followed three Shakespeare Songs by Roger Quilter sung by White followed by two Spirituals. They left the stage together singing Death
and the Maiden with roles reversed!

I was able to attend two great baritone recitals  by singers of quite contrasted temperament Stephan Loges with Michael Dussek and Wolfgang Holzmair with Imogen Cooper. Loges performed an interesting  juxtaposition of Britten’s arrangement of Songs and Proverbs of William Blake with Schubert’s Schwanengesang, settings of Rellstab and Heine, ending with a song by Johann Seidl. Loges voice
  continues to grow in intensity and his interpretations in maturity so that
  today he can stand comparison with the world’s best, notable for his clarity of
  diction. With Dussek he formed a perfectly balanced duo.

The Schubert recital by Holzmair and Cooper was,  I think, the most remarkable I have ever attended. The two artistes appeared to  have nothing in common except for a deep love of and dedication to the composer,  Cooper as an interpreter of the piano music and Holzmair as a singer who uses
his whole body to convey the meaning of the songs. Each did their own thing with
Cooper playing the accompaniments as if they were solo impromptus or moments
musicaux. Yet together their two disparate styles blended perfectly giving a
performance of total unity. The programme was of settings of Meyerhofer. In an
invaluable pre-performance talk Laura Tunbridge described the close relationship
of poet and composer with forty-seven settings of poems, second only to Goethe.



Another memorable concert of music including
works by Britten and Shostakovich followed a very interesting talk by Philip
Bullock (Wadham) on the close interaction between the two composers and their
mutual influence. The programme clearly illustrated this. It was given by
soprano Joan Rogers with members of the Phoenix Piano Trio: Jonathan Stone
violin, Marie Macleod cello and Sholto Kynoch piano. Rogers has a most beautiful
voice. Bravely surmounting a heavy cold, she soon reminded us how charmingly and
naturally she sings in Russian. The
main works were Britten’s settings of six Pushkin poems under the title The Poet’s Echo sung in Russian, much
influenced by Shostakovich, and the latter’s impressive Seven
Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok with piano trio.

 Unable to attend any of the Master Course
classes, I was able to catch up on the new generation with their concert where
the nine participating duos each performed a brief selection from their
repertoires. The concert was held in the Holywell Music Room.with the large
Steinway lid fully open. This proved too much for some of the pianists who on
occasion drowned out their singers. The first thing to note is how much the
standard had improved over previous years, not least in the professional
presentation of the songs with the performers dressed in elegant evening gowns
or smart dinner jackets. Since the Course was designed for duos, they have first
to be judged as such and then the contribution of individuals. It was easy to
spot four duos who communicated with each other and with the audience as one.
First were soprano Julia Weatherby with Panaretos Kyriatzidis. I remarked they
would be hard to beat and so it proved in my opinion. They performed three songs
by William Walton, the singer drawing the audience in with flashing eyes. There
  followed mezzo Jane Monari and Richard Leach who performed three wonderful
  songs by Dohnányi not known to me. Third came a closely knit Korean duo,
  baritone Byung-Min Gil with Tae- Yang Jeong. Gil sang three songs by Roger
  Quilter with impeccable clarity of English diction, the pianist playing with
  equal clarity. The fourth to stand out as a duo were soprano Eleanor Janes and
  Clare Simmonds, performing Poulenc with elegant French diction. The final pair
  who apparently impressed most during the masterclasses, mezzo Jessica Dandy
  with Ben-san Lau did not shine at the concert maybe because of
indisposition.

The final concert was given by Kate Royal with  Sholto Kynoch in Schubert, Richard Strauss and Mahler. She has a beautiful silky smooth voice, particularly suited to the Schubert group from  the simple An Silvia to the  demanding Lied der Delphine. Kynoch  accompanied with exceptionally sensitive playing. It will be interesting to see if Royal is ready for the role of Marschallin at the 2014 Glyndebourne
Festival.