Miah Persson, Swedish Song, Wigmore Hall

At the Wigmore Hall, .there's long been a tradition of Swedish song.  We've heard many of the greats, Anne Sofie von Otter, Barbara Bonney and others. Miah Persson and Roger Vignoles are in this constellation. One of their earliest London concerts was built around their 2003 recording Soul and Landscape (Hyperion). Since then, Miah Persson has become one of the most significant lyric sopranos in this country. The pair have been back many times at the Wigmore Hall, but it was still a pleasure to hear them, particularly in repertoire that is "new" to English audiences.

Persson and Vignoles began their programme with Emil Sjögren's Sechs Lieder aus Julius Wollf's Tannhäuser, (1884). Not Wagner's Tannhäuser but a setting of an epic poem written in 1880. As Geoffrey Norris writes in his knowledgeable programme notes, Wollf  (1834-1910) liked subjects "of a mythical past...described somewhat derogatorily as Butzenzenscheibenpoesie, a Butzenscheibe being an old form of archery target", like those round fake-archaic window panes we see in mock-historic pubs. Although I hadn't read Norris's notes until I started writing this piece, that's exactly how I felt about the songs. Sjögren, (1853-1918) chooses sections that deal with love, and are sweet rather than dramatic. Don't even dream of Wagner. These are songs that evoke late 19th century middle class values. "Ich möchte schweben über Tal und Hügel " let Persson sing very quietly. This Tannhäuser (or Elizabeth) is a gentle soul.

Tchaikovsky songs of the same period brought out Persson's abilities as dramatist. In "Sred' shumnovo bala" (At the Ball, op 38/3 1878), Tchaikovsky paints dance rhythms into the piano part, and pathos into the voice. The ball is cheerful, but the beloved eyes are sad. It's a secretive song, but Persson makes you notice the subtle ciontrasts of mood. "Solovey" (op 60/4 1886) stressed Persson's voice slightly, but in "Cradle Song" (op 16/1 1872) she managed to convey the strange darkness behind this lullaby with images of eagles.

Five songs by Lars-Erik Larsson (1908-1986)  to words by Hjalmar Gullberg followed. Larsson and Gullberg worked together frequently and their cantata "Förklädd gud" (God in disguise) is a staple in Swedish choral singing circles. (It's even on youtube). Larsson worked in broadcasting, so he appreciated music that would have broad popular appeal, even though he studied with Alban Berg and was the first Swedish composer to experiment with serialism. These songs, here transcribed for voice and piano,  have charm, rollicking piano, and contrasting cleanly arching vocal lines. "Skyn, blomman och en lärka"  (The cloud, the flower and the lark) was lit up by Persson's ability to smile into her singing, adding warm tone. In "Kyssande vind" (the kiss of the wind), the piano rolls up a storm. Someone is stealing a kiss, disguised as the wind. The song ends with a flourish, and Persson sings with such happiness that you know the kiss is welcome.

More familar songs by Edvard Grieg, in which Persson excels. "En svane" (op 252 1876) had the right hint of melancholy. Elizabeth Schwarzkopf's recording, in German, is hauntingly beautiful, but the song is even lovelier in Norwegian.  "Mens jeg venter" (On the water, op 60/3 1893-4) was particularly beautiful. Vignoles playing sparkled : you could visualize light shining off the ocean waves. "Bro, bro, brille" goes the refrain, and Perssons makes it joyous. 

The highlight of this recital, for me, anyway, were the songs from Gösta Nystroem (1890-1966). Nystreom is one of the finest Swedish composers, whose "Sånger vid havet" (Songs by the sea), "På reveln" (At the reef) and "Själ och landskap"  (Soul and landscape) are a part of the repertoire of any female Swedish singer. Miah Persson of course does those for soprano: Nystroem inspired her first major recording nearly 10 years ago.  Here she chose two songs from Nystroem's incidental music to "The Tempest" (1946).  Given Nystroem's fascination with oceans, it's hardly surprising that the orchestral parts of this music are wildly turbulent, complete with wordless chorus. The two songs Persson and Vignoles pick reflect the magical side of the story, "Where the Bee sucks" and "Come unto these yellow sands" (in Swedish) are exquisitely lyrical, capturing the strange magic that Shakespeare conjures. The refrain "Hark! Hark! bow-wow" becomes "Hallå, Hallå, Å", whuch gives Nystroem a chance to write exotic ulullation, which Persson sings with clear, bright tones. Later, the refrain "Ding dong bell" becomes ("Bing, bång, farväl") , and Persson's voice rings like a silvery bell.

Perhaps one of the most famous of Gösta Nystroem's works is his "Sinfonia del Mare" (1946-8) a magnificent symphonic poem with a song in its midst, to a poem by Ebba Linqvist. Arising from the wild ocean intensity of the music, the song seems almost supernatural.  "Just as one flees the beloved, not bearing to be consumed", goes the poem, "So I have fled the sea". But just as life without love is in vain, the poet must leave sunny days in the forest, drawn back to "a sigh of the wind from the sea". Persson and Vignoles do an arrangement for piano and voice, so the emphasis is on the second strophe. "I must return, and sit by the sea and know. That is all there is on earth". This is the title of the poem, and its meaning.

A full review will appear soon in OPERA TODAY.

Aaaah, Miah !!! Swedish Songs, Oxford Lieder

I have a friend who has worshipped Miah Persson since she was a student. So when she married and moved to England, he was bereft and I was thrilled. How fortunate we are to be able to hear Miah, especially at Glyndebourne. .Her Mozart is outstanding, but then, so too is her Britten, her Strauss, her Sibelius, her Mahler, her baroque..... She has exquisite lyrical tone, and a range that moves easily and flexibly. But what makes her special is her wit and charm. When Miah sings, you always sense musical intelligence. Megastar as she is now, she hasn't forgotten her roots, so it was wonderful to hear her at The Oxford Lieder Festival in a programme of Swedish songs. Indeed, she made her mark in Britain with her Hyperion CD "Soul and Landscape" in 2003.

"Soul and Landscape" refers to the Gösta Nystroem group of songs Själ och landskap, which she sang again in Oxford, this time with Matti Hirvornen, a superlative interpreter. Landscape is briefly sketched - snowfall, sea, rocks, wind, but the real landscape Nystroem and his poet Ebba Lindqvist are dealing with is internal.  Terrain is a metaphor for longing: open horizons of the soul. Matti Hirvornen shapes the delicate traceries, bringing out the elusive grace in these songs. He's much, much more idiomatic than Roger Vignoles was (sorry, but it's true). Persson's voice has blossomed beautifully, and she sings with much greater colour and depth. No comparison bertween the 2003 recording (where piano is too heavily miked) and this exquisite live performance.

Even more magical is På reveln (On the rocks) from 1948. Almost unbelievably diaphanous textures (Hirvonen is brilliant). The vocal part is luminous too. Livets drömlika skönhet....vin sin evighets rand. (life's dreamlike beauty... on the edge of eternity). The song is as gossamer as the wings of the white butterflies in the text, which flutter in the sunshine. Again, it's a mood poem, for the poet Anders Osterling is standing on rocks between sea and land. Soon the tide will draw in, and the night, and the moment will be gone forever.

Miah Persson doesn't often sing in places as small as the Holywell Music Room (120-140 at a pinch). She made no compromises given the size of the room, and seemed to relish the chance to sing as intimately as if she were singing in her own home. A set of Ture Rangström songs, to poems by Johan Ludwig Runeberg and Bo Bergman, (who lived until 1966). Echoes of Edvard Grieg (hear En Svane in Sommarnatten), but otherwise these songs occupy a strange, but comtemporary world even when the texts coyly refer to maidens and trysts. Pan is glorious. Livets stora hunger stiger stark och god, och mitt sommarblod sjunger. (Life's deep hunger rises strong and my summer blood sings.) Anna Larsson sang this same song the previous evening: a unique chance to hear mezzo and soprano versions in close proximity.

Grieg's German songs op 48, and Jean Sibelius's Swedish songs to conclude. Phenomenal phrasing, lovely warm timbre. Våren flyktar hastigt (Spring flys away swiftly) and War det en Dröm? Which summarizes the spirit of these songs. Scandinavian summers don't last long, and hard winters will return. But for a moment, live to the full and enjoy. Which summarizes so much of the life-affirming, open-hearted  nature of this music, despite its Sensucht.

photo : Mina artistbilder

Anna Larsson Swedish Songs Oxford

It's ironic that Jean Sibelius is the best known composer of Swedish song. But Sweden ruled Finland and much of Scandinavia for many years, and Sibelius grew up speaking Swedish, not Finnish. That should indicate the richness of Swedish culture. This weekend of Swedish Song at the Oxford Lieder Festival 2011 should help  raise awareness of the glories of Swedish Song.

Daniel Grimley perceptively analysed the songs in the recital which followed. This is the kind of depth we need more of. Grimley knows his subject well (he wrote the book on Grieg, landscape and identity) and has perceptive things to say. Too often these days talks and notes are "filler" produced by people who have no idea what they're talking about. It's anti-learning. (I walked out of something at the South Bank recently, as did several others).

Anna Larsson and Matti Hirvonen chose an eclectic programme which started with Sånger vid havet (Songs by the Sea), by Gösta Nystroem (1890-1966). Sweden was neutral in 1944, but as Dr Grimley said, Swedish people weren't immune to the chaos around them. The "Song of the Sea" describes the ocean, sometimes windswept and turbulent, sometimes seemingly still in the moonlight, a thing of beauty which can turn menacing. Delicate diminuendos, sparkling figures that evoke images like light on water, or ocean spray. "Who are you who walk here, transient and fragile, who are you who trample the summer meadow?"  (Ute i skåre, Among the Rocks, Ebba Lindqvist). The landscape seems perfect, but behind it is unfocussed dread. Sonorous depths, especially in the piano part, evoking the power of nature, perhaps. In Havets visa (the sea's song) the poet Hjalmar Gullberg (1898-1961) briefly mentions the "voice which parts waters and makes light", but is even this haven completely safe? The last song, also Gullberg, ends "I await the moon, the friend in all misery, with him I can speak of the dead".

Anna Larsson was a wonderful Princess in the recent Puccini Suor Angelica (review HERE) and we're lucky she sings regularly in this country (twice at the 2011 Proms). Nystroem may be close to her heart, as she sang with great feeling. The cycle is a pinnacle of the Swedish mezzo repertoire. It's been recorded several times and there's also an orchestral version, though the piano version is more direct and intimate. The BIS recording (Birgit Finnilä) is probably best known, but there's also one by Nina Stemme from 2004 (she sounds very young). Larsson's mature enough that she can express the existential angst central to this wonderful cycle, with great depth. Because she's secure at the top and bottom, she sails the range smoothly. That upwards/downwards flow is itself part of the music for it reflects the movement of the seas.

Always pay attention to Oxford Lieder because here is where things happen.  Many new works, carefully chosen. Carin Bartosch Edström's Four Nocturnal Songs received its world premiere, and if the reception was anything to go by, it ought to be heard many times more. It's very distinctive. Firm ostinato on the right hand, rolling, circular figures on the left, creating brooding, internal tension. Matti Hirvonen is a leading exponent of Swedish piano music and a great song partner, who's worked with most Scandinavian singers from Elisabeth Söderström onwards. In this performance, you could hear why. The piano part in this cycle is dominant, and Hirvonen sculpts it firmly, for it's the foundation of the work, from which the voice emerges, as if in incantation.
 

Hearing Edström's Four Nocturnal Songs for the first time, one senses the originality of conception, even without a detailed reading of the words. The rumbling piano part suggests deep, primordial forces, over which the voices rise, as if from the still of the night. Indeed, the power of this cycle stems from its understated resolve. No need for histrionics in the voice part, for it's so well integrated with the steady rhythms in the piano, which rise and fall like breathing, with some quite magical quirky flurries.

The poems are by Edith Södergran (1892-1923) a Swedish speaking Finn, like Sibelius, who lived in Russia, and the Karelia, which was later ethnic cleansed. It's significant. Södergran grew up in a time of war, revolution and chaos, In one poem, a star crashes into the poet's garden. "Don't go out in the grass with bare feet" she warns, "my yard is full of shards" (It sounds better in Swedish). Then "Don't get too close to your dreams, they are madness". The third song, Nattlig Madonna is, as Dr Grimley said, an anti- lulllaby.  While her child sleeps in the night, a mother hears an angel sing. O vad världen växte ut i alla vidder närden lille sov! I think it means that while the child sleeps, the world outside is changing. At the very end, Larsson's voice ascends steadily up the scale. Morgonen stiger röd ur oceanen (Morning rises red from the ocean). It's beautiful, yet unsettling. Gentle and non violent as it is, Carin Bartosch Edström's Four Nocturnal Songs is very moving and assured. Defintely worth hearing again. Edström may not be known In Britain, but she's very experienced - check her out on Google.

Larsson and Hilvornen followed with four relatively familiar songs by Ture Rangström, including Vingar i natten (Wings in the Night), made famous by Anne Sofie von Otter, and songs by Strauss and Mahler, of whom she's one of the better intrepreters. But the Nytsroem and  Edström cycles were by far the highlight of the evening. Larsson and Hirvonen are performing the same programme tonight in Amsterdam (except the Edstrom songs)

Lots moreon Oxford Lieder on this site,pleasesearch.You might also like a piece on Onerva, the Finnish poet and  a description of the seminal film Korkalen