Big Man Sings

national | arts and media | news report Monday October 02, 2006 19:10 by Sean Crudden - impero sean.crudden at iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945

"Put Your Whole Self In ............."

Andras Schiff brought a world-class singer to Dublin last night. Not the first time he has done this - I remember fondly a recital he gave in The National Concert hall with Peter Schrier a number of years ago when they presented "Die Schone Mullerin" in a never-to-be-repeated and excellent recital. It is a matter of regret, perhaps, that there were few enough people in the audience (a lot of empty seats) to hear last night the truly remarkable voice of Robert Holl - a mature singer whose technique is non-pariel.

As part of The Irish Times celebrity concert series 2006/2007 "Andras Schiff Chamber Music Weekend" took place this past weekend at The National Concert Hall. The third of three recitals featured Andras Schiff (piano) and Robert Holl (baritone) and took place last night, Sunday, 1 October 2006.

The program was

5 selected songs by Schubert on lyrics by Johann Mayrhofer, Auf der Donau D553, Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren D360, Der Schiffer D536, Der entsuhnte Orest D699, Fragment aus dem Aeschylus D450.

2 selected songs by Schubert on lyrics by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Prometheus D674, Granzen der Menscheit D716.

Im Abendrot D799 on lyric by Karl Lappe.

INTERVAL

Hugo Wolf

Three Michaelangelo Sonnets

Joannes Brahms

Vier ernste Gesange Opus 121

Holl generously gave two encores - the first a song by Brahms and the second a song by Schubert.

I have some regrets and some uncertainties about this excellent recital. During the first half of the concert I kept my eyes fixed on the singer, Robert Holl, to the neglect of the text (which I had read over quickly before the performance). Would that I had four eyes so that I could have watched both. During the second half I followed the text quite assiduously.

During the first half the slightly over-enthusiastic audience clapped every individual song and they came in too quickly with applause not respecting the attempts of the singer to establish mood by pausing introspectively after each song. This aspect of affairs improved remarkably after the interval following a quiet injunction from the singer not to clap between the songs in the Brahms section.

Of course I am a paranoid person - and I don’t want to be boring about it - but I felt, at times, that it was not a case of ADD but that there was outright ignorance and bad manners apparent in parts of the audience near me with talking during the music, unnecessary and intrusive coughing, and inexplicable incongruous noises - some of this taking place at the most delicate parts of the recital. And I was sitting in one of the best and most expensive seats in the house.

Robert Scholl is a large man - a man in the Big Tom mould. He involved his whole body and personality in the projection of the texts. He gave the impression of a man who was making a big effort and in the end this effort paid off. He really "got his arse into it" in golfing parlance.

His voice is not dry but neither is it fruity or overblown. Never was he lugubrious or heavy and there was extraordinary buoyancy and resonance even in passages where the performers slowed the music right down in low registers.

For me the highlight of the whole recital was the Brahms section. Naively, perhaps, I always think that these songs are a full reflection of Brahms’ personality and the singer last night caught the mood of these songs quite authoritatively and quite beautifully. I felt that the performers did full justice to the music of Brahms and to the texts. It is too easy to fall into the trap of being oratorical and declamatory in this music. I thought Holl’s mood was calm and mature - a man surveying the scene and quietly counting the odds. With insight and without fear.