Reviews
Elegant and balanced program from accomplished musicians
A Taste of Honey: Christina Wilson, mezzo-soprano; Robert Harris, viola and Alan Hicks, piano. Art Song Canberra, Wesley Music Centre, March 21.
This elegant concert brought together three supremely accomplished musicians to play a balanced program of music well-suited to the Indian summer afternoon. A good crowd attended the concert indicating continued firm support for art song in Canberra. The combination of viola, piano and mezzo-soprano voices was a welcome change from more conventional ensembles. Robert Harris draws a unique blend of delicacy and sonority from the viola.
I felt that the segments that demonstrated the strengths of the ensemble to best advantage were the Three Songs for Voice, Viola and Piano by Frank Bridge and Terence Greaves; and A Garden of Weeds - settings of texts by Jacqueline Froom. The musical writing in these works skilfully created space between the three voices represented by the ensemble members. The sinuous detail in the viola part complemented the melodic line of the voice so that although they operated in a similar range, each part enhanced the musical ideas expressed by the other without clouding the sounds in the lower register. While the title of Garden of Weeds suggests flippant musical content, this was not the case.
Wilson cleverly characterised each of the plants in her vocal delivery bringing each weed personality to life and drawing an enthusiastic response from the audience. Her technical mastery came to the fore in the contrasts she was able to depict. Her smoulderingly sensuous portrait of Poppy was dispelled by the amusingly belligerent Thistle supported by mellifluous viola and insinuating piano. Hicks and Harris created some special magic with their interaction in these pieces as the accompaniment has some really intriguing jousting tonalities.
While I thought there was some awkwardness in Tregaskis's arrangements of the two Keats poems, Bridge's Three Songs -settings of texts by three different poets - provided beautiful vocal lines for Wilson and viola and piano parts that shone in the hands of these musicians. Alan Hicks's accompanying style is unerringly empathetic, working with the strengths of his fellow musicians to colour and enhance the musical conversations.
There were some lovely moments in the Eight Gypsy Songs by Brahms. In the Five Negro Spirituals by Arthur Benjamin, Harris and Hicks demonstrated that instruments can sing with almost recognisable words. I look forward to hearing further collaborations of this satisfying musical partnership as they explore new repertoire.
Jennifer Gall
The Canberra Times, Tuesday March 23, 2010.