After captivating Melbourne audiences with superb contributions to two performances of Faure’s Requiem with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Siobhan Stagg and Roderick Williams joined forces with pianist Timothy Young for a recital to make every father in the Iwaki Auditorium feel like a Father’s Day king. Whereas many in the audience have followed the many international successes of our little Aussie soprano with keen interest and great pride, Welsh baritone Roderick Williams is probably mainly known in Australia for his distinguished performance at King Charles’ coronation. After their tour of our major cities, however, his name will be firmly engraved in the memories of those who heard his rich, warm voice.
What first lifted the spirits for this recital was the entrance of Stagg wearing a vivid candy-pink confection of a gown, and the opening item continued to set the happy tone. Both singers are seasoned performers on the operatic stage, and the Papageno/Pamina duet “Bei Männern” from Mozart’s The Magic Flute allowed them to charm the audience with their lively interactions and an unexpected degree of informality as they sat next to each other on the edge of the platform; simple, and sung with technical ease, this affectionate sharing of the joys of marital bliss was a thorough delight.
Timothy Young could not have been more sensitive to the singers and the demands of the music in this and all items, whether they be piano reductions of works by Mozart or Verdi or Art Songs. His performance of Chopin’s Mazurka, Op.17, No.4 half way through the program was deft and graceful, the slow melancholy meditation with flashes of passion dovetailing well with the emotional scene from La Traviata that preceded it.
Before an item or bracket of items, the singers spoke of their meeting in 2017 for The Magic Flute and their current Australian tour, which was now drawing to a close. It was a shock to learn that they were just about to board an international flight within hours – part of the vagabond life of the singer. This made Vaughan Williams’ “The Vagabond” from Songs of Travel particularly pertinent. Roderick Williams sounded in familiar territory, his voice ringing as he brought the song to vibrant life. His diction is about as good as it gets – a great help in the absence of program lyrics – and his physical dynamism makes him an excellent communicator.
One of Siobhan’s Stagg’s latest projects has been the recording of songs by the Dutch-born American conductor pianist and composer, Richard Hageman (1881-1966), whom she regards as unjustly neglected. Possibly the most popular of his songs is “Miranda”, an up-tempo number with a Latin-flavoured rhythm. It is a shame that the recording won’t be able to show the physicality she brings to a performance, clapping, swaying and generally having a terrific time. Still, this and the other two Hageman songs she included in this program attested that it is one recording that should be in every Christmas stocking – along with her recent Debussy/Strauss recording with the MSO.
Before singing the most wonderfully poignant version of Clarke’s Down by the Salley Gardens, followed by Finzi’s setting of “O Mistress Mine”, Williams pointed out that Miranda was also the name of his wife – another nice personal touch and part of the general friendliness of the occasion.
The whole encounter between Violetta and Germont senior from La Traviata Act 2 Scene 1 transported us to the villa where Violetta had been been living with Alfredo at her considerable expense. A table and two chairs constituted the “set” for the recital, enabling one singer to sit and enjoy while the other sang. For this operatic duet, the furniture also made a credible setting for the interaction, enabling the audience to enter more fully into the scene of persuasion and sacrifice. Williams’ light-hearted description of Violetta as a “floozy” might have brought a laugh, but a little more information regarding the situation and what the folder was all about would have been useful for those less familiar with the details of the story. Nevertheless, the singing was superb with both singers spinning out long legato lines with supreme breath control. Stagg’s pianissimo is one of the joys of this earth: pure, floating gorgeous resonance. Dramatically, she was totally in the moment – a quality that has always marked her performances.
After interval, a number of French songs, including two from Ravel’s Cinq Mélodies populaires grecques, were followed by “I want magic” from André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Not only does our soprano sing French songs wonderfully with the appropriate accent, she also made such a credible Blanche DuBois that you could see this as being a future role for her.
Now in the American vein, we heard Williams’ own arrangement of “Ol’ Man River”, evidence of his skill as a composer of some note as well as having a voice that can encompass a wide range with evenness and ease.
For the final programmed item, we heard a humorously Australian take on “Let’s call the whole thing off’ from Gershwin’s Shall We Dance. So it was not just tomato/tomato pronunciation but also preferences for marmite/vegemite and toilet/dunny descriptions – until Timothy Young called the whole thing off with a heavily Australian-accented “Come on, ya bloody idiots!”
Despite the rush for the plane, we were favoured with an encore: a duet of “Somewhere over the rainbow”. Although an appropriate conclusion, it was disappointing that no music by an Australian composer had been included, even as an encore; it seemed an unfathomable oversight.
Blanche had wanted magic, and that is precisely what this audience got, right from Mozart’s Flute. A generous program – one and a half hours with no interval – performed by three gifted artists was also a perfect way to celebrate the first day of Spring.
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Heather Leviston reviewed “Siobhan Stagg and Roderick Williams in Recital”, presented as part of the MSO Winter Recital Series at the Iwaki Auditorium on September 1, 2024.
