Presented as “a celebration of friendship, artistry and music making”, “Other Love Songs” also marked the final performance of renowned soprano Merlyn Quaife as a member of Songmakers Australia. It has been a musical adventure that has brought some memorable experiences to audiences around Australia, particularly Melbourne, often in the Primrose Potter Salon at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
It is typical of Songmakers that every effort would be made to engage an audience by providing texts – sometimes in the original language plus translation, and in this case simply the English text projected onto the giant screen at the back of the Hanson Dyer Hall.
Also typical of Songmakers is the thought that goes into choice of repertoire. Schumann’s Spanisches Liederspiel, Op 74 (1849) may not be the most appealing of his vocal works, such as those earlier ones infused with the inspired passion at the time of his marriage to Clara Wieck, but they provided suitable variety – 3 solos, 5 duets, and 2 quartets – for this vocal quartet: Merlyn Quaife, Christina Wilson, (mezzo-soprano), Brenton Spiteri (tenor) and Nicholas Dinopoulos (bass-baritone). The texts of the 10 songs are based on folksongs and romances translated from Spanish into German, and Schumann considered that his Liederspiel (song play) would be his “songs that will perhaps spread the most widely”. It would seem that his critical judgement was not quite as spot on in this case, and this performance may well have been the first time that many people in the audience had heard them.
Whether running in parallel thirds as in the first duet for soprano and mezzosoprano soprano or in separate interweaving melodic lines, attention was given to a blending of voices. In the soft passages of “Love’s Grief” it was not always clear which female voice was which, even though the actual lines were discrete. Quaife’s ability to shape a phrase with a controlled diminuendo at the beginning of “In the Night” was masterly – in fact, some of the most exceptional singing came in the softer passages in this song cycle. There was also plenty of spirit, passion and even a sly smile to be had along the way, culminating in a surprisingly cheerful quartet given the preceding melancholy. “I am loved” also featured some excellent singing by Quaife on upper notes towards the end.
Brilliant polymath, Sir Stephen Hough, is best known as an outstanding pianist, but his output as a composer of note is considerable. His song cycle Other Love Songs was important enough to give this recital its title, and was understandably its centrepiece in terms of interest and artistry. Hough designed it to be performed as a companion for the Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer – a popular work with the same forces – four singers and two pianists – as the final item on this program: Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 65. Although Hough wrote a version for one pianist, Andrea Katz was faced with a formidable task in tackling the pianistic challenges, especially in “The colour of his hair”. Crashing chords, even requiring the use of the whole forearm, were accomplished with daring – and thrilling – bravura.
A mixture of duets and ending with quartets, the eight songs use texts by Claude McKay, Julian of Norwich, AE Housman and others. Unlike the more conventional romantic songs on the program, Hough celebrates other kinds of love: familial, gay and religious. The music itself is diverse in style ranging from bluesy through music-hall to the quiet intensity of the final setting of words from St John’s Gospel. On the one hand we had the witty “Madam and her Madam”, sung with playful character by Wilson, on the other the question and answer of Jesus and John sung with great sensitivity and velvety tone by Dinopoulos and Spiteri, who were joined by Quaife and Wilson as wonderfully ethereal voices for the “Agnus dei” of the final section. It was a compellingly mystical note to finish on – one that deserved time to absorb fully and to program this work just before interval could not have been more appropriate.
Near the end of the recital we saw a short, touching tribute from Quaife’s friend, collaborator and co-founder of Songmakers, Andrea Katz. “Before we sing our last song, we say farewell to our fearless queen, Merlyn the magician. Thank you for 14 amazing years. We (I) couldn’t have done it without you. Andrea and the Songmakers.”
The final song, with text by Goethe, could not have been more appropriate: “Now you Muses, enough!” from Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 65. All four singers joined Katz and guest pianist Alan Hicks to end the recital with a most beautifully blended moment of concord in a prolonged pianissimo. An appreciative audience marked the occasion with a standing ovation.
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Heather Leviston reviewed “Other Love Songs”, presented by Songmakers Australia at the Hanson Dyer Hall, Ian Potter Southbank Centre on November 26, 2024.
