b67610a.qxd 19/12/2006 19:32 Page 16 WHLive0013 Made & Printed in England Lorraine Hunt Lieberson mezzo-soprano Roger Vignoles piano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson mezzo-sopran0 Recorded live at Wigmore Hall, London, on 30 November 1998 songRoger Vignoles piano GUSTAV MAHLER Fünf Rückert Lieder 01 Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft 02.51 02 Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder 01.28 ARCHIVE 03 Liebst du um Schönheit 02.37 04 Um Mitternacht 06.56 Songs by Mahler, Handel 05 Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen 07.03 and GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL Peter Lieberson 06 Evivo ancora … Scherza infida from Ariodante 07.44 07 As with rosy steps from Theodora 08.07 PETER LIEBERSON from Five Rilke Songs 08 O ihr Zärtlichen 03.05 09 Stiller Freund 04.10 10 Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s spoken introduction to: 01.02 11 Triraksha’s aria from Ashoka’s Dream 05.30 encores TRADITIONAL 12 Spiritual: Deep River 03.16 JOHANNES BRAHMS 13 Unbewegte laue Luft Op. 57 No. 8 04.42 Total time: 59.22 A BBC recording b67610a.qxd 19/12/2006 19:33 Page 2 GUSTAV MAHLER (1860–1911) Song recitals on Wigmore Hall Live Fünf Rückert Lieder: Available from all good record shops and from www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/live Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder Liebst du um Schönheit Um Mitternacht Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen Song was fundamental to Mahler’s creativity, as important a genre for him as was the symphony (which it often nourished). And the five settings of poems by Freidrich Rückert, together with the cycles Kindertotenlieder – also to poems by Rückert – and Das Lied von der Erde, constitute by common consent his finest songs. Four of the five songs were written in the summer of 1901, in versions with piano and with orchestra. Liebst du um Schönheit followed a year later but was orchestrated only in 1916, and then not by Mahler himself. SIR THOMAS ALLEN baritone DAME MARGARET PRICE soprano The Rückert cycle is not actually a cycle at all. When the songs first appeared MALCOLM MARTINEAU piano GEOFFREY PARSONS piano in print they were issued individually. Only in 1907 were they collected together, Songs by Beethoven, Wolf, Butterworth, Songs by Schubert, Mahler and Strauss and even then there were two non-Rückert songs added to the batch, both set- Vaughan Williams and Bridge WHLive0008 tings of texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn.Thussingerswho choose to perform WHLive0002 all five songs are at liberty to present them in any order which works for them, and JOYCE DIDONATO mezzo-soprano DAME FELICITY LOTT soprano JULIUS DRAKE piano Hunt Lieberson’s choice of sequence works as well as any. GRAHAM JOHNSON piano Songs by Fauré, Hahn and Head Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s beautifully poised performance begins with the Fallen Women and Virtuous Wives Arias by Rossini and Handel second published song, Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft, a piece which anticipates Songs by Haydn, Strauss, Brahms and WHLive0009 much later Mahler in its spareness of texture and other-worldly flavour. Then Wolf Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder, the first song in the published order, is both WHLive0004 SOILE ISOKOSKI soprano MARITA VIITASALO piano somewhat secretively feverish and passionately joyful, blatantly addressed to a PETER SCHREIER tenor Songs by Sibelius, Strauss and Berg lover (Alma Schindler, no doubt, whom Mahler was later to marry). Liebst du um ANDRÁS SCHIFF piano WHLive0011 Schönheit, the last song in the published order, is a simpler kind of love song, Schubert Songs WHLive0006 2 15 b67610a.qxd 19/12/2006 19:33 Page 14 JOHANNES BRAHMS influenced by the flavour of Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben. Um Mitternacht, Unbewegte laue Luft Op. 57 No. 8 placed fourth both here and in the printed collection, is the longest and perhaps most searching song. Finally we hear the third song in the published order, Ich bin Unbewegte laue Luft, Motionless mild air, der Welt abhanden gekommen. It movingly expresses both Mahler’s craving for Tiefe Ruhe der Natur; Nature deep at rest; Durch die stille Gartennacht Through the still garden night isolation and equally – and pertinently, given Hunt Lieberson’s frail health – his Plätschert die Fontäne nur; Only the fountain splashes; vision of an eternity wherein the weary might take rest. Aber im Gemüte schwillt But my soul swells Heissere Begierde mir; With a more ardent desire; (1685–1759) Aber in der Ader quillt Life surges in my veins GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Leben und verlangt nach Leben. And yearns for life. Evivo ancora … Scherza infida from Ariodante Sollten nicht auch deine Brust Should not your breast too Sehnlichere Wünsche heben? Heave with more passionate longing? As with rosy steps from Theodora Sollte meiner Seele Ruf Should not the cry of my soul Throughout the 1990sLorraine HuntLieberson enjoyed Nicht die deine tief durchbeben? Quiver deeply through your own? aclose relationship with the San Francisco-based Leise mit dem Ätherfuss Softly on ethereal feet Säume nicht, daher zu schweben! Glide to me, do not delay! Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, singing a number of Komm, o komm, damit wir uns Come, ah! come, that we might important Handel roles under that band’s conductor, Himmlische Genüge geben! Give each other heavenly satisfaction! Nicholas McGegan, including the physically and (Georg Daumer 1800–1875) English translation by Richard Stokes psychologically demanding title part of the 1734 opera Ariodante at the 1995 Göttingen Handel Festival and on the subsequent recording. It was, of course, a triumph. Ariodante sings his aria ‘Scherza infida’ near the beginning of Act II, erroneously believing the object of his affections, the Princess Ginevra, to be involved with Polinesso. In fact Polinesso has deceived him. ‘Ginevra’ is Dalinda (who really does love Polinesso) in disguise. This touching but emotionally complex aria tells as much of Ariodante’s indignance and jealousy as it does of his deep hurt. www.wigmore-hall.org.uk One of Hunt Lieberson’s most memorable stage performances was as Irene in Peter Sellars’s production of Handel’s great English oratorio of 1750, Theodora, first seen at Glyndebourne in 1996. The wonderful Act I air ‘As with rosy steps’ is a moving statement of faith, sung even as Irene’s friend Theodora seems about to endure sexual violation by Roman soldiers because of her refusal to offer incense to their gods in honour of the Emperor Valens. Hunt Lieberson’s performance here is as powerfully poignant as it was in the opera theatre. 14 3 b67610a.qxd 19/12/2006 19:33 Page 4 Triraksha’s aria from Ashoka’s Dream PETER LIEBERSON (b. 1946) from Five Rilke Songs So many years have passed, and we are old. But time, time has given me no certainty. O ihr Zärtlichen Once this was a lord who needed me to conquer; Stiller Freund He clung to me, then faltered. I tended him and longed for him, longed for him. Triraksha’s aria (‘So many years have passed’) from Ashoka’s Dream Ah, moving in dream-like half-light, my steps were sure. Now the landscape that I walk in breaks apart. The composer Peter Lieberson first met Lorraine Lost, I dream of waking. Hunt, as she then was, in 1996, when together with Where is my life? director Stephen Wadsworth he was casting his first Where is the ground where my own longings dwell? opera, Ashoka’s Dream. The piece, written for Santa My son … Where shall my son find his life? Fe Opera, is based on the true story of an Indian What future? emperor who converted to Buddhism and adopted anon-violentpolicy.Huntwasdulyengaged to sing the lead female role, Ashoka’s second wife, encores Triraksha. She was soon to be offered another kind TRADITIONAL of engagement by the composer too. Spiritual: Deep River arranged by H. T. Burleigh In the aria ‘So many years have passed’ (Act II Scene 8 of the opera) Triraksha Deep river, my home is over Jordan is contemplating the future of her son, musing on how, despite the passing of Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground time, uncertainties endure. In the next scene she will blind Kunala, Ashoka’s son Deep river, my home is over Jordan by Lakshmi, the punishment for which is exile and the passing of the line of Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground succession to Lakshmi. Oh don’t you want to go to that Gospel Feast Lieberson’s five Rilke settings were composed in 2001 specifically for the That Promised Land where all is peace? woman who had in the meantime become his wife. ‘When I was growing up’, he Deep river, Lord, I want to cross over into campground. writes, ‘my mother, whose first language was German, would often quote lines from Rilke. I have been drawn to his poetry ever since. Rilke seems to evoke feelings, states of being that are at the edge of awareness, mysterious but close to the heart. One can’t always understand exactly what he means. I believe this is a deliberate elusiveness in order to provoke our intuition.’ O ihr Zärtlichen and Stiller Freund are the first and third songs of the set. O ihr Zärtlichen has a childlike quality, while Stiller Freund is more mysterious, and considers self transformation as a foil to life’s woes. It’s not hard to detect a 4 13 b67610a.qxd 19/12/2006 19:33 Page 12 PETER LIEBERSON special affection in Hunt Lieberson’s ripely expressive performances of her from Five Rilke Songs husband’s music here. O ihr Zärtlichen O ihr Zärtlichen, tretet zuweilen O you tender ones, walk now and then encores In den Atem, der euch nicht meint, Into the breath that blows coldly past, Lasst ihn an eueren Wangen sich teilen, Upon your cheeks let it tremble and part; TRADITIONAL Hinter euch zittert er, wieder vereint.