Recital

Simon and Malcolm Martineau will give a recital at the opera house in Zürich on 07 December 2023. 

Programme

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Ballade des Harfners op. 98a

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Liebesbotschaft D 957
Ständchen D 957
Die Stadt D 957
Der Einsame D 800
An den Mond in einer Herbstnacht D 614

Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)
aus «Mörike-Lieder»:
Fussreise
Denk’ es, o Seele!
Schlafendes Jesuskind
Auf eine Christblume II
Storchenbotschaft

Interval

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Nachtigallen schwingen op. 6/6
Verzagen op. 72/4
Über die Heide op. 86/4
O kühler Wald op. 72/3
Nachtwandler op. 86/3
Es schauen die Blumen op. 96/3

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Voici que le printemps L. 56/(52)

Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
En sourdine op. 58/2
Le Papillon et la Fleur op. 1/1

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Histoires naturelles

Encores

Hugo Wolf

Blumengruß

Franz Schubert

L’incanto degli occhi.

Hugo Wolf

Lied vom Winde

Gustav Mahler

Hans und Grete

SOUNDBITES

Translation of the original German text:

"The "Ballade des Harfners" by Robert Schumann, with the text by Goethe, was a bold start to the concert and demanded the full concentration of both the singer and the audience. Although the singer was still suffering from a slight cold, the five songs by Franz Schubert, "Liebesbotschaft", "Ständchen", "Die Stadt", "Der Einsame" and "An den Mond in der Herbstnacht", were nevertheless performed with great emotion.

This was followed by a further five songs from Hugo Wolf's "Mörike-Lieder": "Fussreise", "Denk'es, o Seele!", "Schlafendes Jesuskind", "Auf eine Christblume II" and "Storchenbotschaft". With Simon Keenlyside, you can feel that he literally immerses himself in his lyrics and is not just content to sing beautifully. He comes across as authentic and underlines the emotions with additional gestures, which is sometimes a little irritating.

Six songs by Johannes Brahms followed after the interval. "Nachtigallen schwingen", "Verzagen", "Über die Heide", "Oh kühler Wald", "Nachtwandler" and "Es schauen die Blumen". With Claude Debussy's "Voici que le printemps" and two songs by Gabriel Fauré, "En sourdine" and "Le Papillon et la fleur", Keenlyside also proved to be very familiar with the French language.

The program concluded with Maurice Ravel's "Histoire naturelles". These are five songs with texts by Jules Renard and are musical portraits of animals. The composer dedicated them to the animals that appear in them. Thus "Le paon", "Le grillon", "Le cygne", "Le martin-pêcheur" and "Le pintade". He has created an original atmosphere and always makes you smile.

Ravel's gems also demand great flexibility from the pianist. Simon Keenlyside's multi-faceted voice together with his piano partner Malcolm Martineau worked extremely harmoniously together, making these stories the highlight of the evening. At the end, the singer thanked the audience for their applause with three encores, the "Flower Greeting" by Hugo Wolf, a delicious arioso in Italian composed in the style of Rossini by Franz Schubert for the singer Luigi Lablache and the "Song of the Wind", also by Hugo Wolf.

With Malcolm Martineau, famous partner of many great singers, such a demanding program is in the best of hands and he once again gave a convincing performance at this recital.

Unfortunately, it must be noted that some of the audience felt they had to applaud after every song instead of waiting until the end of a song group. These visitors do not seem to be aware that this interrupts the planned sequence of events. Very distracting for the singer's concentration, but also for the rest of the audience. It would be appropriate to provide concertgoers with a corresponding note in the program booklet."