Art Song Canberra
Susan Ellis – soprano
Dianna Nixon - piano/voice
Wesley Music Centre,
Forrest 26 November
Reviewed by Len Power
A program with texts by Patrick White, Mary Gilmore and
Emily Dickinson might sound like it could be a bit heavy-going, but, combined
with the music of Peter Sculthorpe, Vincent Plush and Aaron Copland and the
fine singing of Susan Ellis and piano and dialogue accompaniment by Dianna
Nixon, the audience was treated to a memorable concert.
‘Patrick White Fragments’, with music by Peter Sculthorpe
was first performed in 2009 as part of ‘The Voss Journey’. It’s a sensuous, delicate short work that was
sung by Susan Ellis with great precision.
It was a rare opportunity to hear ‘The Plaint Of Mary
Gilmore’ song cycle by Vincent Plush. A
famous Australian now known to most of us only as a portrait on the ten dollar
note, Mary Gilmore had a colourful life which the song cycle describes in great
detail. Vincent Plush has produced a
major work in which the music is woven around the texts of Gilmore’s letters,
describing three distinct periods of her life.
 |
| Susan Ellis |
Susan Ellis captured the forthright character of this fascinating
woman extremely well in her vocal performance.
Dianna Nixon provided strong piano and dialogue accompaniment and she was
joined on piano by Tilda Blackbourn-Rooney for a well-played short sequence
requiring four hands.
It was a surprise to discover that the composer, Vincent
Plush, was in the audience. He advised
us that he had not heard a performance of his complete song cycle in over 30
years. It’s a work that should be
performed more often.
 |
| Dianna Nixon and Susan Ellis |
In the second half of the program, Susan Ellis sang the
‘Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson’ with music by Aaron Copland. The unique language of one of America’s
greatest poets fit beautifully with Copland’s music giving a sense of the
country and its people in the mid-1800s.
Susan Ellis gave a hauntingly sensitive and emotionally honest
performance of this work, completing an enjoyable afternoon concert.
Photographs by Peter Hislop
This review was first
published in the Canberra City News digital edition of 27 November 2017.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7’s ‘On Stage’ program on Mondays from
3.30pm and on ‘Artcetera’ from 9.00am on Saturdays.