Hildegard
Behrens & Ken Noda in the Temple of Dendur
Lieder resounding: Songs of
anguish and joy, of tears and dreams, of hope and love
From love and death in folklore to love and death in real life, is where Ms. Behrens took the audience next. From the haunting melodies of yearning, anguish, and bliss of Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, by all accounts a foreshadowing of Tristan und Isolde, his great paean to love; to the more down-to-earth yet moving metaphors of Johannes Brahms' Mädchenlied (his spinning song), Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht (his song of life, death and unrequited love), and Meine Liebe ist grün (his ode to the simple, idyllic joys of love); the solitude and the touching intimacy of Alban Berg's Seven Early Songs, written before his break with tonality and thus perhaps some of his most lyrical, most easily accessible works; and the wariness that grips the heart at day's end, so melodiously expressed in Richard Strauss' Die Nacht 
*, but that soon dissolves in the sweet optimism of Morgen
and the outpouring of gratitude in Zueignung. It was a beautiful, thoughtfully assembled programme that exemplified both the folkloric origins of Lieder and its subsequent expressionistic underpinnings, the intermission serving to delineate the Romantics (Liszt, Wagner and Brahms) from the post-Romantics (Berg and Strauss). And by any measure, it was a hefty one: demanding of the singer both restraint and vocal power, beauty of sound, a reservoir of high notes, clarity of diction, and an ability to express a wide range of human emotion. Ms. Behrens delivered eloquently on all counts - with pathos, poignancy, and always with grace - undaunted by the acoustically challenging setting of glass and stone unique to this magnificent venue (where the only non-reflective surface was the red carpet lining the performers' path to the improvised stage). Pianist Ken Noda played beautifully - with >lightness of touch, deftness, dexterity, and great sensitivity; and with a flexibility that allowed the piano to be always supportive of the singer, even as it was at times engaged in dialog with the voice, or anticipatingthe essence of the song as prelude, or distilling it as postlude. And when the captive audience, breaking out into thunderous applause, asked for more, Ms. Behrens came back with a lilting, somewhat familiar tune in the style of a cabaret-lied. It turned out to be a rather unfamiliar piece, Draussen in Sievering, by the very familiar Johann Strauss. But it couldn't have prepared them for what came next when they clamored for more. And so a hush fell as the many Behrens fans in the audience recognized the rush of ascending, somewhat dissonant notes that were soon followed by a despondent "Allein! Weh, ganz allein!" This encore could very well have been the centerpiece of another concert! Needless to say, Elektra's Monologue (a Behrens signature piece, which many were hearing for the first time without orchestra) brought the house, and very nearly the temple, down. It was a magnificent evening indeed in the Temple of Dendur, that began with Lieder and ended with a bit of opera. And had it been in the year 15 BC, the goddess Isis would have been so pleased. - © GC/FanFaire2000 * from the album Premier Recital with David Syrus, piano, (EMI 7475512)
HILDEGARD
BEHRENS: she makes music worth seeing!
PROFILE PORTRAITS PERFORMANCES DISCOGRAPHY AWARDS QUOTES BRÜNNHILDE ELEKTRA SALOME FIDELIO ISOLDE MARIE SENTA THE KOSTELNICKA THE WOMAN 'R' KUNDRY DIE LUSTIGE WITWE about FANFAIRE AUDIOFILES NEW RELEASES FOOD & MUSIC VIDEO SUPPORT FANFAIRE! Buy your HOLIDAY GIFTS by CLICKING on FanFaire's AMAZON links.  Design and Original Content: FanFaire LLC © 1997-2009. All rights reserved. |
HILDEGARD BEHRENS
dramatic soprano
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