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Site review by Castor September 21, 2010
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
When it comes to issuing unusual and thought-provoking repertoire on SACD, it would be hard to find a more imaginative and persuasive exponent of this policy than Morten Lindberg and his marvellous 2L label. Each new release is the start of a new musical adventure for the listener in which both the familiar and unfamiliar comfortably coexist in a carefully constructed programme. This release entitled ‘Come away Death’ is a perfect example of the 2L approach.
The mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland and her pianist Sergej Osadchuk have dared to compile a whole programme of songs on the subject of death; yet anyone imagining 63 minutes of unrelenting gloom will be more than pleasantly surprised by the results heard on this recording.
The disc’s title is represented by three very different settings of the well-known poem from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Jean Sibelius and Gerald Finzi. These make for fascinating comparisons in composing styles particularly when performed so beautifully as here by Kielland and her partner.
The Korngold setting taken from his ‘Songs of a Clown’ Op.29 is, as one might expect, melodic and lyrical with a kinship to Mahler’s ‘Kindertotenlieder’ and like the Finzi is sung in English. The Sibelius, sung in Norwegian as ‘Kom og bli død’ and originally written with a guitar accompaniment, is more austere and declamatory in style while the Finzi, arguably the finest of the settings, begins each verse with a few bars suggesting a stately funeral march before the singer enters with a melody of poignant sadness.
Interleaved with these brief songs are three more substantial pieces.
Wolfgang Plagge’s ‘Södergran-sanger’ sets four poems by Edith Södergran (1892-1923). In Plagge’s own words, “ The musical language of these four set songs attempts to reproduce and reinforce both the ascetic and the uninhibited aspects of Södergran’s incomparable language – the songs are somewhere in between recitation and traditional through-composed songs.” These songs have a fragile beauty and emotional power that Kielland and Osadchuck express with great sensitivity.
HVIL (Rest) by Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje and Aasne Linnestrå is a virtuoso piece of avant-garde composition for both voice and piano and is certainly the most challenging work on this disc. The poem, untranslatable into English, is a plea from the earth to the humankind to slow down and be more aware of the earth’s fragility; its political message clearly related to the issues around climate change. The singer is required to whisper, speak, sing and declaim the words of the poem over a complex piano part that often uses the extreme registers of the instrument as well as encompassing a huge dynamic range. The Nordlande Musikkfestuke, Bodø, commissioned the 20-minute work in 2008 and as Marianne Beate Kielland gave the premier there and the composer is co-producer for this recording one can safely assume that the performance given here is authoritative. It is not easy listening and I am not sure how often one would wish to return to this harrowing piece.
Kielland and Osadchuk complete their programme with a moving and vividly characterised performance of Mussorgsky’s magnificent ‘Songs and Dances of Death’. Nowadays these four songs are more often heard in the version orchestrated by Shostakovich and sung by a bass or baritone, but are equally effective in Mussorgsky’s original.
The sound quality of 2L’s 5.1 DXD recording made in Sofienberg Church in January 2009 is state-of-the-art. Those listening in multi-channel will be interested to see the two diagrams in the booklet notes that show the placements used for singer and piano (one for HVIL and one for the other tracks) relative to the microphones, and the very different aural results that emerge.
Presentation of the disc is equally immaculate, with full texts, translations and notes on the music provided.
If the content appeals don’t hesitate to acquire this intriguing SACD.
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Copyright © 2010 Graham Williams and SA-CD.net
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Review by wilbur July 7, 2012 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (MC): |
Wow! I had been tentative about buying this disc, as the pieces I knew well (Finzi and Mussorgsky) I would normally prefer with a man singing, but I decided to give it a go. Again: wow!
The thing that is perhaps the most stunning about this disc is the recording quality, which is simply astounding. I listen mostly to SACD over HDMI in multichannel these days - on extremely high quality equipment - and have some fabulous recordings. In my opinion the very hardest things the record are piano, on the one hand, and voice (both solo and choral) on the other. Even in the very best of recordings, one imagines one can hear some hint of instability on really forceful piano music in the extreme upper register. Also, I don't believe I have every really heard a powerful soprano voice - in high-octane delivery - outside of a live situation where the louder it gets the more effortless it sounds, with all the complex overtones creating an all-encompassing, overwhelming effect. Not even the very best recordings I have ever heard manage quite this sense of the "live" experience.
That changed last night when I played this recording. It is simply astounding in the rock-solid manner in which both 'instruments' are presented. The acoustic is reasonably dry, but with a bit of ring, and the perspective is pretty close. If this were a live concert it is where you would absolutely love to be, but often in a recording that is not quite the perfect perspective. Not here. Simply an amazing sound which opens and opens the stronger the dynamics, and I have to say that I have never heard a recording that really gets quite here. So, this is now officially (for me) the best recording I have ever heard. It seems this DXD stuff really has something to it.
Of course all this would be just a little ho-hum if the performances were not up to an exceptional standard. Fortunately, they are. The pianist is great, but Kielland is simply stunning. The Mussorgsky will blow you away.
A truly, truly magnificent effort from all concerned. Bravo. I have given 5 stars on recordings here before. On that scale this is an easy 6 stars. As as I said:
Wow!
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