Fêtes Galantes: Musical Gallantry at Wigmore Hall

Simon Keenlyside and Graham Johnson's concert at the Vienna Konzerthaus featured songs by Schoenberg and his pupil Hanns Eisler, as well as Britten, Wolf, Schubert and Brahms. These consummate artists made a difficult program seem easy to perform and even easier to listen to.

The first part of the Celebrity Recital which brought the Leeds Lieder Festival to a close was entitled “Schubert Looking North”, which included a section on German versions of British poets.

It was hard to choose from the fascinating menu for The Composer’s Echo (the title for this Leeds Lieder Festival), which is described as “a feast of song from the great Western European tradition which fuses poetry and music” by the festival’s director, Jane Anthony.

Marian Anderson, the famed African-American contralto, once remarked of Kathleen Ferrier, “My God, what a voice – and what a face!” This concert was a Centenary Celebration of Ferrier’s art at the Wigmore Hall, and I reflected (not for the first time) how aptly Anderson’s words could also apply to Alice Coote, the evening’s distinguished soloist.

Ian Bostridge et Julius Drake proposent une interprétation exceptionnelle du cycle schubertien, sublimée par la mise en scène de Deborah Warner et les lumières de Jean Kalman, jusqu'à l'énigme finale.

Magnifiquement interprétée par Les Talens Lyriques et le Chœur de chambre de Namur, l'œuvre de Bach a éclipsé le Stabat Mater de Pergolesi, donné par un B'Rock Orchestra et un René Jacobs en petite forme.