Susannah Lawergren
soprano
Benjamin Burton piano
Wesley Music Centre,
Forrest 8 April
Reviewed by Len Power
The works chosen by soprano, Susannah Lawergren, for her Art
Song Canberra concert, ‘Songs of Solitude’, covered a wide range of composers
from Schubert to Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Grieg and even Rogers and Hart.
Divided into two halves, she commenced with ‘Winter Journey’
songs. Opening with, appropriately, four
of Schubert’s ‘Winterreisse’ songs, Lawergren’s fine soprano gave these songs a
nicely introspective quality. ‘Will-o’-the-Wisp’ was the highlight of this set.
‘Was It A Dream?’ by Sibelius was beautifully sung and
Benjamin Burton’s piano accompaniment for this piece was masterful. Lawergren advised us that the song, ‘The
Forest Sleeps’ by Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén had been sung at her
wedding. It was clear from the
heart-felt performance she gave of this song that it meant a great deal to her.
Also in the first half of the program, Benjamin Burton gave
a hauntingly beautiful performance of the piano solo, ‘Clair de Lune’, by
Debussy.
The second half of the program looked at ‘Solitary
Characters’. Lawergren displayed the
purity and clarity of her voice with ‘The Listening Mary’, singing
unaccompanied and out of sight off-stage.
She followed this with a pleasingly atmospheric ‘Solveig’s Song’ by
Grieg. ‘The Desire For Hermitage’ by
Samuel Barber was also very well sung.
Also notable in the second half was her fine performance of
‘The Organ-Grinder’ by Schubert with a notably well-played accompaniment by
Burton. Two contemporary works by Ricky
Ian Gordon were for me the highlight of the concert. Lawergren sang the contrasting songs with a
nicely-judged depth of character and great feeling. Burton’s accompaniment was especially fine
with the tricky rhythms of ‘I Am Cherry Alive’.
The program finished with two amusing Broadway songs that
were fun but not as successful as the rest of this fine program. Her encore of Grieg’s ‘The Time Of Roses’ was
an excellent choice to finish an afternoon of memorable music and fine singing.
Photos by Peter Hislop
This review was first
published in the Canberra City News digital edition of 9 April.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7’s ‘On Stage’ program on Mondays from
3.30pm.
