Art Song Canberra
Wesley Music Centre
Sunday May 19
Reviewed by Len Power
‘Russian Lullaby’ was a program of Russian songs presented
by members of Songmakers Australia – Andrea Katz, piano, Merlyn Quaife,
soprano, Christina Wilson, mezzo-soprano, and Andrew Goodwin, tenor.
The first half of the program comprised a number of lullabies,
some amusing and some that were darker in tone, by composers Glinka,
Tchaikovsky, Kabalevsky and Mussorgsky.
‘Cradle Song’, by Glinka, a beautiful duet for soprano and
tenor, was an excellent opening number, displaying the richness and fine blend of
the voices of Merlyn Quaife and Andrew Goodwin.
Tchaikovsky’s ‘Winter Evening’ was sung with great accuracy
and feeling by Andrew Goodwin. Andrea
Katz’s piano accompaniment for this song was exceptional. Christina Wilson followed with a very amusing
‘There Was An Old Woman’ by Kabalevsky.
Sung very well, her playing of this old woman also had real depth of
character.
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| Left to right: Andrea Katz, Merlyn Quaife, Andrew Goodwin and Christina Wilson |
Andrew Goodwin and Christina Wilson then gave us another
finely sung duet with ‘The Lark’ by Glinka.
After interval, artistic director and piano accompanist,
Andrea Katz, set the scene for ‘From Jewish Poetry’, a song cycle by
Shostakovitch. Composed in 1948 after the
composer’s denunciation in 1947, the composer's situation and the official
anti-Semitism of the time made a public premiere impossible until 1955. The cycle is one of many works by
Shostakovich to incorporate elements of Jewish music.
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| Andrea Katz |
The eleven songs of the cycle were all memorably sung. The opening song, ‘Lament over the death of a
small child’ was a chillingly beautiful work sung superbly by Merlyn Quaife and
Christina Wilson.
Other highlights included ‘The dramatic father’ sung by
Wilson and Goodwin, ‘Zima’ sung by all three performers, ‘Song of the girl’,
sung by Merlyn Quaife and the finale, ‘Happiness’, again sung by all three
artists.
This was a nicely balanced concert with generally lighter
works in the first half and a more sombre and dramatic tone for the second
half. Very well sung by the three
singers with fine accompaniment by Andrea Katz on piano, this was a memorable
afternoon of song.
Photos by Peter Hislop
This review was first
published in the Canberra City News digital edition of 20 May 2019.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast on the Artsound FM 92.7 ‘In the Foyer’ program on Mondays
and Wednesdays at 3.30pm.