Soprano Verena ReinThe German Embassy recently presented an evening of classical songs in German, a Liederabend featuring the well-known German soprano Verena Rein.
The concert was presented in collaboration with the Music Department of the School of Performing Arts of the University of Malta. Rein presented an excellently chosen programme, which spanned works from Brahms to Mahler and Weill and from Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf to Viktor Ullman.
The soprano was accompanied at the piano by Charlene Farrugia, whose excellence as a solo performer is matched by her ability as an accompanist. In lieder, as in most forms of classical song, the piano has the first and last word, sets and terminates the mood, which the singer expands in a wonderfully balanced partnership, during which the piano continues to enhance the message and underlines the nuances in the text.
The singer projected all the widely contrasting feelings very well
The choice was wide, no less than 23 lieder in all. Love is the most common theme: love in all its manifestations, its mood swings and alternating states of mind it causes. The singer projected all the widely contrasting feelings very well. As expected of a native German speaker, her diction was crystal clear, as was her English in Weill’s charming and almost naïve Buddy on the Nightshift.
It was only slightly less so in Je Ne t’Aime Pas and in the exotic Youkali Tango-Habanera.
These last three eventually took the recital to its final part, followed by Schubert’s Die Forelle as an encore. Earlier, however, the recital started with some work by Brahms, including the darkly mellow Alte Liebe and the clear imagery of the high-flying lark in Lerchengesang.
The Brahms selection ended with the despondent Verzagen, the stormy billowing waves evoked by the piano, reflected in the agitated singing. The tragedy of Ophelia’s broken heart and her mental instability was another good evocation in Drei Lieder der Ophelia (aus Hamlet).
Of the five works selected from Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch, the ones I found most effective were the last three; the irritated and uncontainable chagrin and hurt pride in Wer Rief dich Denn, the regretful Wie Viele Zeit Verlor ich; and the dramatically charged Verschling’ der Abgrund meines Liebsten Hütte.
In the selection of four from Mahler’s five Rückertlieder, and without detracting anything from the others, I was most taken by the second one, Liebst du um Schönheit Willen. Here, there was a very wide range of feeling, extremely well-expressed and controlled.
Later, the inclusion of four of Ullmann’s five Liebeslieder von Ricarda Huch, written on the eve of the war that was to kill him, reminded one of the evils of racism and consequent loss to humanity.
Quite remarkable was the wistfulness as expressed in Am Klavier, and the sheer beauty of the almost prophetic Sturmlied (Storm Song).