Already highly welcomed and applauded in the Peninsula Summer Music Festival’s Opening Concert, here was a chance to hear two principal performers from the Opera Gala, nicely staged in the unique architecture and design of the intimate concert room in the Moorooduc Estate.
Program notes described today’s music as “communicating the essence of the human condition, with all its joys, struggles, suffering and delight”, so Schumann’s famous song cycle Dichterliebe Op. 48 (A Poet’s Love), staged in a designated Music Salon in the magnificent Moorooduc property, with airy views of sea, sky and acres of summer vines, was always a gorgeous attraction.
It seems to be a popular practice to present classical programs as “re-imagined” or “deconstructed”, as in today’s program description: Dichterliebe – deconstructed. Does a pastiche of added songs by Kurt Weill and piano solos by Mendelssohn truly shine new light on the poetry of Heinrich Heine, when the combination of Schumann, Greco and Kelly offered us a most sensitive, colourful, and beautifully spiritually connecting musical experience in their Dichterliebe song cycle? Audience members may have more easily gained a deeper understanding of the interspersed “juxtapositions” with all texts and translations being part of the performance.
With the music flowing continuously, the artistry of both performers held us emotionally in a silent breathlessness at times, immersing us in a most expressive story. In the opening wistful, “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai”, the text was quite realistic: “when the buds sprang … and the birds all sang … love sprang up in my heart”, and our spirits were indeed lifted by the lush green vines on the Salon’s windows, stretching across a beautiful valley, and we did expect the resident Peacock to appear and join the song as he is renowned to do. With the soft stone walls and floor, Kelly balanced the strong clarity and broad resonance of the grand piano with intelligence and sensitivity, producing varied textures and most careful pedalling work to match Greco’s perfect delivery and colours of Heinrich Heine’s poetry and text. In this “set”, “Aus meinen Träne” and “Die Rose, die Lilie” were followed by the most poignant miniature, “Wenn ich in deine Augen seh”, so touchingly expressed by Greco’s immersion in the bliss of the kiss, the lingering awareness of an earlier pain and sorrow, now replaced by love. His fine facial and hand gestures touchingly held the present moment in strongly communicative reflective pauses.
Next, Clara Schumann’s romantic gentleness and flowing melodies were supported by an intricate and detailed piano accompaniment in “Liebst du um Schönheit” (If you love for beauty). Gently and smoothly, the piano flowed immediately into a classic from 1943, Kurt Weil’s “Speak Low”, with perhaps an inconsistent swing feel, spicy percussive punctuation and a florid accompaniment for the smooth ballad style and romantic text of this gentle jazz classic.
Schumann’s “Ich will meine Seele tauchen” and “Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome” showed Greco excelling on centre stage, with highly expressive hand and facial gestures, touching our hearts. The growing dynamic of more strident masculine power and emotive expression from both piano and voice reached a powerfully emotive climax in “Ich grolle nicht” (I don’t hold a grudge). “I saw the night in your heart, I saw the serpent that devours it” – such fine word-painting.
As emotion was building, this newly designed recital format became more and more engaging with further thematic links in two songs by Kurt Weil: “My Ship” and “I’m a Stranger Here Myself”, as hints of sadness and questioning the beloved brings tears and loss of love, so aptly mirrored in Clara Schumann’s “Ich stand in dunklen Träume”.
Robert Schumann’s “Das ist ein Floten und Geigen” brought much orchestral texture and tonal brilliance from Kelly’s consistently responsive phrasing, clarity of line, and sympathetic accompaniment of Greco’s professional delivery – together they never missed a beat. In “Hör ich das Liedchen Klingen”, Schumann’s saddest descending two-note pattern on the piano was so tenderly repeated, falling like unstoppable tears – quite a touching moment of the lover’s unceasing woe, his loneliness more evident in the final musical phrase with just single notes descending on the keys. “Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet” has one of the most spare piano accompaniment ever, again with repeated patterns of falling tears, with Kelly adding bell-like tones with special effect. Folding his arms and striking a new pose, Greco revived the confidence of youth, inspired by young dreams in “Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen”, and a shift to the stage and big band era with the jazz classic ballad: “These Foolish Things Remind Me of You”.
Piano solos gave Greco two short breaks as Kelly impressed us with the essential romantic portraits of dreams and nature with Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, setting the stage to proceed the final trio of Schumann’s Dichterliebe: the dreams of “Allnächtlich im Traume”, “Aus alten Märchen winkt es”, and “Die alten, bösen Lieder”. Again, the strongly emotive gestures of Greco matched his powerful and expressive voice as he closed the scene, burying both his old love and his suffering.
This audience wanted to hear more from these fine performers, and Greco warmed the atmosphere with Erich Korngold’s Gluckwunsch (I wish you happiness) – a send-off connecting not only the textual themes of the program, but also the styles of mellow romantic jazz ballads from musical theatre.
Photo supplied.
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Julie McErlain reviewed “Schumann: Dichterliebe”, presented as part of the Peninsula Summer Music Festival 2026 at Moorooduc Estate on January 6, 2026.
