Liza Lehmann (1862-1918)
Un destin étincelant
Lucile Richardot (mezzo-soprano), Marie-Laure Garnier (soprano), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (baritone), Anne de Fornel (piano), Manon Galy (violin)
rec. 2024, La Maison de l’Orchestre national de l’Île-de-France, Alfortville, France
English texts and French translations included
La Boîte à Pépites BAP11 [60]
In the last couple of years, I’ve very much enjoyed reviewing a number of releases on the La Boîte à Pépites label, through which I’ve discovered a lot of excellent music, most of which was previously unknown to me, by female composers. Unsurprisingly, the label has focussed on recording music by French composers, but I’m delighted to find that they have now turned their attention to a British composer, Liza Lehmann.
I learned a great deal about Liza Lehmann from the comprehensive booklet essay by Anne de Fornel. A soprano, she studied with Jenny Lind at the Royal College of Music. After an acclaimed London debut in 1885, she enjoyed a highly successful career, which included singing with the Berlin Philharmonic under Joseph Joachim in 1887 and, the following year, London performances of Lieder by Robert Schumann in which her pianist was Clara Schumann. In 1894, however, she retired from performing – “without a sigh of regret”, as she said – upon her marriage to Herbert Bedford. Happily, it seems that her husband was a cultivated man who, unlike many husbands of the era, did not hold his wife back. She had composed music even while active as a performer and now, without the distractions of a busy singing career, she became much more prolific as a composer. Though she composed in other genres, her forte lay in art songs; Ms de Fornel tells us that Lehmann composed more than 350 songs between 1888 and her death in 1918. Here we have a small selection of twenty-four songs from that output. The documentation lists the publication dates of each song and it will be seen that these range from 1896 until after Lehmann’s death; five of the songs were published posthumously. The album has been given the title ‘Un destin étincelant’ (A brilliant destiny).
The majority of the songs are performed by the French mezzo, Lucile Richardot. In How Sweet the Moonlight Sleeps Upon This Bank she’s joined by the Anglo-French baritone Edwin Crossley-Mercer and he also has a solo, The Beautiful Lady. The Guyanese soprano Marie-Laure Garnier similarly sings one duet with Richardot, The Guardian Angel, and has a solo item, The Lily of a Day. One other artist appears: violinist Manon Galy joins Anne de Fornel for the sole instrumental item on the programme, ‘Ah! Moon of my Delight’ from Lehmann’s song cycle In a Persian Garden. Anne de Fornel is a constant throughout the programme. I’ve encountered the mezzo Lucile Richardot once before; I liked her contributions to one of this label’s volumes of music by Rita Strohl (review). I’ve also heard Marie-Laure Garnier on this label’s three-disc set of music by Charlotte Sohy (review). To the best of my recollection, though, I don’t think I’ve heard the other artists previously. All the songs are sung in English. Lucile Richardot’s pronunciation very occasionally betrays the fact English is not, I presume, her first language. However, these instances are rare and she enunciates the texts clearly – her diction is admirably clear – and convincingly.
I don’t propose to discuss every song; instead, let me pick out a few which struck me as especially noteworthy. The Lake Isle of Innisfree is a setting of well-known words by W B Yeats. I liked the song very much and Lucile Richardot delivers it well and with good expression. To my ears, there’s a bit of an edge to her tone, though by no means in an unattractive fashion; maybe it’s linked to the fact that she’s singing in English and taking special care to deliver the words clearly. I found that as the recital progressed, I noticed this edge – if such it be – less, and overall I enjoyed her singing very much. Dusk in the Valley, a setting of words by George Meredith, is a lovely composition. I admire the way Richardot and de Fornel distil a mysterious atmosphere. How Sweet the Moonlight Sleeps Upon This Bank is one of my favourites in this programme. Some of the words from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice will be familiar to all those of us who know and love Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music. This passage from the play is a dialogue between Lorenzo and Jessica and Lehmann makes her setting a duet for baritone and mezzo. Crossley-Mercer and Richardot sing very well indeed; both deploy warm, pleasing tone. Lehmann’s musical response is excellent; her music – and this performance – conveys the gentle rapture of the text. Much later in the programme, Crossley-Mercer returns to sing The Beautiful Lady. He impresses again; his voice is firm and expressive. It’s a good song and he delivers it very well.
The other duet in the programme is The Guardian Angel for which Richardot is joined by the Guyanese-born, French-trained soprano, Marie-Laure Garnier. Edith Nesbit’s poem, which voices the bedtime prayer of a young child is, frankly, twee. However, Lehmann arguably saves the song from drifting into excessive sentimentality through her decision to use two voices which intertwine throughout the song. Ms Garnier’s solo item is The Lily of a Day, a setting of lines by Ben Jonson. This is an expressive song but two aspects of the performance made me thoughtful. One is that Garnier seems to put a bit too much pressure on the highest notes; the other is that I had the impression, perhaps wrongly, that she wasn’t entirely comfortable singing in English.
Lehmann enjoyed much success with In a Persian Garden, first performed in 1896. This was a collection of twenty-two settings of poems from Omar Khayyam’s Rubáiyát, which she set for four different voices with piano. Anne de Fornel explains that the involvement of so many singers caused a number of publishers to reject it, though a publisher was found in 1896. On this programme we hear two excerpts. ‘Ah! Moon of my Delight’ was composed for tenor and piano; here, it’s given – very well – by violinist Manon Galy partnered by de Fornel, using the composer’s own transcription. That’s followed by ‘Ah! Not a Drop’. This is an impressive song which Richardot and de Fornel perform very eloquently. By The Lake, in which words by Ethel Clifford are set, is a fine song. At the start, the music has a restful stillness though later the setting becomes more impassioned. Richardot and de Fornel do it very well indeed and I appreciated the singer’s evident engagement with words and music.
The programme finishes strongly. Love, If You Knew the Light is a setting of words by Robert Browning. It’s only a short song but it’s deeply felt and Lucile Richardot performs it with great conviction. She also impresses in Thoughts Have Wings; this is musically quite simple but it’s very sincere. The last item on the programme is a setting of Christina Rossetti’s When I Am Dead, My Dearest. Lehmann wrote this song – her last? – just six weeks before her death; it’s very touching. Anne de Fornel tells us that Lehmann never really got over the death, at the age of just 18, of her elder son, Rudolf, in March 1916. She eventually returned to her teaching post at the Guildhall School of Music, where she had taught since 1914. However, Rudolf’s death was a crushing blow and things were never really the same after that. Liza Lehmann was only fifty-six when she died in September 1918.
It’s been a most interesting assignment to hear and evaluate these songs; to the best of my recollection, all were new to me. On the evidence of these recordings, Liza Lehmann had a genuine melodic gift. Without exception, all the songs benefit from attractive melodic lines. Her piano parts are effective, supporting the vocal lines very well and colouring the music nicely. Some of the songs struck me as being a bit too comfortably domestic, an impression that’s sometimes reinforced by the texts that Lehmann set. Having said that, though, there are far more songs here which are moving and expressive and I’ve mentioned several of those in the preceding paragraphs. I have one thought about the selection of the songs. I’m not in a position to judge the extent to which these songs are representative of Lehmann’s overall output in the genre but I’m somewhat surprised that there’s a preponderance of music that is in either a slow or moderate tempo. Indeed, of the twenty-four pieces offered here, only one of them, Good Morning, Brother Sunshine! has a genuinely lively tempo. Sadly, I find it one of the less appealing items.
Liza Lehmann has been well served by these performers. Lucile Richardot was a very good choice to take on the majority of these songs. Throughout the programme, the playing of Anne de Fornel is a consistent source of pleasure. She also contributes with equal distinction to another aspect of this project. She has written the extensive booklet essay about Liza Lehmann and her music and I’ve learned a great deal from her exemplary writing.
As is invariably the case with this label, the production values are high. The recorded sound is excellent throughout; an ideal balance has been achieved between the singers and the piano. The booklet, which runs to 68 pages, is handsomely produced; my only cavil is that the texts – and their French translations – have been printed in a font which is significantly smaller than the font which has been used for the notes. I found the texts challenging to read and though the singers’ diction is very good I would imagine that many listeners will want to consult the printed texts. It’s a blemish on what is in all other respects an excellent album.
The La Boîte à Pépites label has issued a series of excellent, ear-opening releases, furthering the cause of neglected female composers. This new release is another fine addition to their catalogue.
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Contents
Evensong (1916)
The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1911)
Dusk in the Valley (1922)
Breton Folk-Songs No°2: ‘I dreamt my love was singing’ (1909)
Echoes (1914)
How Sweet the Moonlight Sleeps Upon This Bank (1912)
In the Watches of the Night (1921)
Morning (1912)
A Bird in the Sky (1926)
The Guardian Angel (1898)
By The Lake (1914)
You and I (1897)
Good Morning, Brother Sunshine! (1916)
The Daisy-Chain No°4: ‘If no one ever marries me’ (1900)
In a Persian Garden: ‘Ah! Moon of my Delight’ (1896)
In a Persian Garden No 7: ‘Ah! Not a Drop’ (1896)
The Beautiful Lady (1912)
The Silver Rose (1911)
Oh, Tell Me, Nightingale (1910)
The Lily of a Day (1917)
Love, If You Knew the Light (1922)
When the Shadows Fall Tonight (1920)
Thoughts Have Wings (1909)
When I Am Dead, My Dearest (1918)
