Too Close A Circle For Such Big Music

The Age

Tuesday March 6, 2007

Clive O'Connell, Reviewer

Music Rigg Bequest Recital 5

Glenfern, East St Kilda, March 4

WHILE this latest of the Team of Pianists' recitals was billed as a centenary celebration of Marjorie Lawrence's birth, little of the great Australian soprano's repertoire was heard. In fact, the opening half was given over to Robert Chamberlain playing some Bach preludes and fugues, followed by that quintessential male song-cycle, Schumann's Dichterliebe, from baritone Laurence Meikle accompanied with distinction by Aura Go.

Lawrence's nine-year European and American career proved memorable for her Wagner interpretations and, although we heard nothing of her famous roles - Brunnhilde, Ortrud, Elisabeth, Brangane - Sunday's young artists moved into that composer's territory during the evening's later stages. Soprano Emily Xiao Wang sang the first of the Wesendonck Lieder and Meikle made a fine showing in both of Wolfram's arias from Tannhauser. But, apart from a Lawrence encore from Wang, Danny Boy, the remainder of the offerings included pieces that Lawrence did not attempt in public, such as O mio babbino caro, Una voce poco fa, Gershwin's Summertime, and I could have danced all night.

In fact, after the structured nature of the Bach/Schumann coupling, much of the recital's latter part impressed as something of a grab bag, with the soprano making her finest marks in Wagner's sinuous Der Engel and an affecting version of the Londonderry Air: clear and expressive, better shaped in dynamics and phrasing than its predecessors, and showing an empathy with Chamberlain's mellow accompaniment.

Performing in the main room at Glenfern, the National Trust mansion in East St Kilda, is daunting for any musician because each listener is so close to the music-making; each piano note is clear and a singer's intake of breath takes on a confronting physicality. Nonetheless, both Wang and Meikle travelled pretty well, although the soprano faced some difficult tasks, especially finding a comfortable interpretative level with the operatic and Lerner & Loewe numbers, which belong in much larger spaces.

© 2007 The Age

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