 |
| Louise Keast |
Presented by
Revival House Project
Drill Hall
Gallery
Saturday 1st
July, 2017
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
Louise Keast
is a soprano with a passion for lieder. She also has entrepreneurial flair,
which has resulted in the formation of the Revival House Project an initiative
aimed at producing collaborative encounters between emerging practitioners of
art song to explore innovative ways of presenting lieder to new audiences, and provide
performance opportunities for local performing artists.
For its
first “Liederabend”, which Keast described as “an introduction to lieder
focussing on four composers who have made significant contributions to the
genre”, Revival House Project assembled a cast of three accomplished singers,
Louise Keast herself, Louise Page and Karen Dalzell, who, accompanied by
pianists Lucus Allerton and Colleen Rae-Gerrard presented an attractive and
varied program of works by Schubert, Brahms, Wolf and Strauss.
Presented in
the cosy Drill Hall Gallery, to an impressively large audience seated among the
current Robert Boyne’s exhibition, “Liederabend” commenced with the five
artists filing into the gallery. Seating themselves along the gallery wall in
full view of the audience, they watched each other perform.
A large
screen was positioned beside the grand piano on which were projected
translations of the lyrics in English, allowing those non-German speakers in
the audience to enjoy the sound of the original words, as well as understand
what was being expressed in the songs. It worked a treat.
The first
half of the program was devoted to the songs of
Schubert and Brahms, with Keast accompanied by Lucus Allerton, getting the
evening off to a bright start with a delightfully animated performance of
Schubert’s Die Manner sind mechant, (All
Men are Bad), and two other Schubert compositions.
 |
| Lucus Allerton and Louise Page |
Louise Page
contrasted Schubert’s dramatic Die junge
Nonne with an exquisite rendition of Brahms well-known lullaby, Wiegenlied. Keren Dalzell joined Keast for the Brahms
duet, Die Meere and Page delighted
with another Brahms lied, Vergebliches
Standchen.
 |
| Louise Keast and Keren Dalzell |
The second
part of the program consisted of a selection of songs by Hugo Wolf and Richard
Strauss, shared among the three singers. Highlights included the three Wolf Morike-Lieder, Er Ist’s sung by Keast, Verborgenheit,
sung by Dalzell, and Page’s Elfenlied,
and an exquisite rendition by Page of Richard Strauss’ Ich Schwebe, for which Rae-Gerrard
provided sensitive accompaniment.
 |
| Keren Dalzell |
It was
interesting to observe the contrast in the styles of the three singers. Keast, shining in songs which displayed her
effervescent style, Dalzell, more reserved but exhibiting beautifully
controlled tone, and Page, whose outstanding artistry and elegance enhanced
every song she interpreted. It was also interesting to muse as to whether the exaggerated expressions
and gestures favoured by singers of lieder to assist the understanding of
lyrics sung in an unfamiliar languages, might now be passé, as the result of the
introduction of surtitles.
 |
| Lucus Allerton |
Hardly
lieder, but certainly very welcome, was the stylish piano solo by Allerton,
whose amusing introduction to Saint-Saens Dance
Macabre, perfectly complimented the rest of the program, as did the
delicious wine and cheese refreshments on offer during interval.
 |
| Colleen Rae-Gerrard |
Revival
House Project has announced two further projects, “Phase One Intent” at the
Drill Hall Gallery in October 2017, and “Spanisches Liederabend” at the Wesley
Music Centre in April 2018, both featuring Louise Keast and associates. This
initial “Liederabend” has certainly wetted an appetite for more of Ms. Keast's
forays into the art of Lieder.
All images by courtesy of Peter Hislop
