The Royal Conservatory, Toronto
Sunday 4 March 2012, 3:00
Koerner Hall, The Royal Conservatory, Toronto
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Julius Drake (piano)
Programme
Robert Schumann: Dein Angesicht, Op. 127, No. 2
Lehn deine Wang’, Op. 142, No. 2
Es leuchtet meine Liebe, Op. 127, No. 3
Mein Wagen rollet langsam, Op. 142, No. 4
Robert Schumann: Liederkreis, Op. 24
Morgens steh’ ich auf und frage
Es treibt mich hin
Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen
Lieb’ Liebchen
Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden
Warte, warte wilder Schiffsmann
Berg’ und Burgen schaun herunter
Anfangs wollt ich fast verzagen
Mit Myrten und Rosen
Interval
Johannes Brahms: Sommerabend, Op. 85, No. 1
Mondenschein, Op. 85, No. 2
Meerfahrt, Op. 96, No. 4
Der Tod, das ist die kuehle Nacht, Op. 96, No. 1
Johannes Brahms: Nine Lieder, Op. 32
Wie raff’ ich mich auf in der Nacht
Nicht mehr zu mir zu gehen
Ich schleich umher
Der Sturm, der neben mir verrauschte
Wehe, so willst du mich wieder
Du sprichst, dass ich mich täuschte
Bitteres zu sagen denkst du
So stehn wir, ich und meine Weide
Wie bist du, meine Königin
Note: The concert will be broadcast on CBC Radio Two’s In Concert on May 6.
Soundbites
Tamara Bernstein, The Globe and Mail, 5.3.2012
Tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Julius Drake are thrillingly attuned
“…On Sunday, that ideal partnership expanded to embrace tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Julius Drake, who were thrillingly attuned to emotional nuance in an on-the-edge performance of Schumann’s Liederkreis, Op. 24 and other Heine settings by the composer. ….
Throughout, Bostridge and Drake were musical soulmates. I can’t resist singling out the piano’s fleeting, ghostly horn call that slipped into the last song of Liederkreis, and Drake’s moving solos in the Brahms song “Es traumete mir,” which opened the concert by piling musical question upon question (in a very Schumann-esque way). …
I’ve heard Bostridge in several Canadian halls now – two of them excellent – but the Koerner takes the cake. You felt that singer and hall were part of the same instrument – the hall a huge, wooden resonating chamber that allowed the singer to dare anything, even the softest pianissimos.”
Tyran Grillo, The Cornell Daily Sun, 5.2.2012
A Walk in the Magic Garden: Bostridge and Drake Bring Lieder to Bailey
” … Julius Drake, a recitalist and professor at London’s Royal Academy of Music, provided stunning accompaniment to Bostridge’s singing. Drake maintains an alchemical interest in Robert Schumann and in German lieder, or art songs, both of which fuse together through the composer’s setting of Heine’s poems in the op. 24 Liederkreis (Circle of Songs). The cycle, written during Heine’s Year of Song, is dedicated to his wife, Clara. Despite its passionate origins, the Liederkreis tends to fall by the wayside of Schumann’s monumental Dichterliebe, though one can hardly deny the mastery with which piano and voice share their creative duties in both. It was spellbinding to watch Bostridge and Drake pour over twenty years of collaborative experience into Schumann’s blend of folk idioms. …
Drake, meanwhile, proves himself supremely attuned to every color change and stands respectfully poised on the edge of drowning. He listens to the voice just as the voice listens to itself, intoning with the wavering realism of a reflective surface. … “