Jean Meikle Memorial Concert
Wigmore Hall, London
22 December 2005
Sophie Daneman (soprano)
Janis Kelly (soprano)
Ann Mackay (soprano)
Catherine Pierard (soprano)
Dorothea Roschmann (soprano)
Susan Bickley (mezzo)
Ruby Philogene (mezzo)
Christine Stotijn (mezzo)
Louise Winter (mezzo)
Derek Lee Ragin (countertenor)
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Gerald Finley (baritone)
Robert Lloyd (bass)
Ileana Ruhemann (flute)
Nicholas Daniel (oboe)
Joy Farrall (clarinet)
Ursula Leveaux (bassoon)
Richard Watkins (horn)
Rie Yanagisawa (koto)
Natalie Clein (cello)
Kitty Drake (recorder)
Julius Drake (piano)
Roger Vignoles (piano)
A concert to celebrate the life of Jean Meikle, erstwhile music agent, devotee of Wigmore Hall and passionate music lover. The concert, devised by her son Julius Drake, will feature many of her favourite artists, all of whom are generously donating their services to fund a scholarship, in her name, for an outstanding voice and piano duo.
Programme
Johann Sebastian Bach: Natalie Clein
Prelude from Suite in C for cello BWV 1009
Johann Sebastian Bach: Susan Bickley, Amy Whittlesea, Kitty Drake, Natalie Clein, Julius Drake
Esurientes implevit bonis
Ludwig van Beethoven: Mark Padmore, Roger Vignoles
Adelaide Op. 46
Franz Schubert: Christianne Stotijn, Julius Drake
Nachtstück D672
Nachtviolen D752
Auflösung D807
Robert Schumann: Ian Bostridge, Julius Drake
Stille Liebe
Frage
Stille Tränen
Hugo Wolf: Gerald Finley, Roger Vignoles
Heimweh
Begegnung
Interval
Kohachiro Miyata: Rié Yanagisawa
Sekibetsu no mai
David Matthews: Louise Winter, Nicholas Daniel, Julius Drake
First movement from A Congress of Passions Op. 63
Francis Poulenc: Ileana Ruhemann, Nicholas Daniel, Joy Farrall, Richard Watkins, Ursula Leveaux, Julius Drake
Allegro Vivace from Sextet for Wind and Piano
Reynaldo Hahn: Susan Bickley, Janis Kelly, Ann Mackay, Roger Vignoles
Quand la nuit n’est pas étoilée
Fêtes galantes
Francis Poulenc
C
Fêtes galantes
Reynaldo Hahn
À Chloris
Erik Satie
Je te veux
Spirituals: Robert Lloyd, Julius Drake
Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen (arr. Burleigh)
Oh, Peter, go ring them bells (arr. Chambers)
Deep river (arr. Burleigh)
Songs of Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Weill: Sophie Daneman, Susan Bickley, Ann Mackay, Janis Kelly, Robert Lloyd, Louise Winter, Gerald Finley, Ian Bostridge, Christianne Stotijn, Julius Drake, Roger Vignoles. Including
Surabaya Johnny
The Tale of the Oyster
The Physician
Always true to you in my fashion
In the Still of the Night
All
Grand Finale arr. David Matthews
What the critics say
Barry Millington, The Evening Standard, 23 December 2005
Wigmore Hall, Gala for Jean
The name of the late Jean Meikle may not be familiar to many outside the music business, but the protégés of this inspirational agent included such celebrities as Ian Bostridge, Gerald Finley and many others. Her son, the pianist Julius Drake, assembled a glittering roster of musicians for this gala concert to raise money for a scholarship in her name.
Inevitably, given the large number of soloists, there was an element of heterogeneity in the programming. But there were identifiable strands to confer a measure of coherence, too. The Dutch mezzo Christiane Stotijn offered a Schubert group, sung with fine shaping of line and sensitivity to words.
Bostridge brought his inimitably subjective delivery to bear on three of Schumann’s Kerner Lieder, closing with a superbly controlled climax to Stille Tränen that left no doubt of the illusory nature of the happiness referred to in the final line. Finley’s rendering of two of Wolf’s Mörike Lieder was no less impressive, the confiding intimacy of Begegnung conjured with gripping intensity.
The first movement of David Matthews’s A congress of Passions was eloquently performed by soprano Louise Winter, oboist Nicholas Daniel and Julius Drake, while a distinguished line-up of wind players gave a movement of Poulenc’s sparkling Sextet.
The inky depths of Robert Lloyd’s cavernous bass invoked the spirit of Paul Robeson in three spirituals, and an entertaining sequence of cabaret songs was delivered by the above singers and more. Outstanding was Janis Kelly’s Surabaya Jonny, which I have never heard surpassed for its blend of incandescent rage and heartbreak.
To end, the entire company joined in a witty arrangement by Matthews of Irving Berlin’s Cheek to Cheek “I’m in Heaven,” they sang, and looking down on these talented performers in the hall she loved, Jean Meikle would surely have echoed the sentiment.