SHEFFIELD'S alto soloist in Mendelssohn's Elijah at the City Hall next March offered a concert of mélodies, Ballades et Histoires.
Mélodie, the equivalent of German Lied, is not easy for non-French singers as command of the French language's finer points of poetic expression is essential for entirely successful performances.
A well-schooled voice and smooth vocal delivery hel
ps too, the English mezzo scoring heavily on these counts, but her pronunciation tended toward Anglo-French, though she rarely exaggerated musical line for effect – anathema to mélodie!
Unlike Lieder, usually more direct and emotionally uninhibited, mélodie eschews overstatement and often sounds understated by comparison, the great French baritone Pierre Bernac describing it as the "art of suggestion" (why idiomatic diction is important), while Debussy said the "words colour the music."
No Debussy here in mélodies from the early 20th century but there was a song cycle by the undervalued, Debussy-influenced André Caplet, Five French Ballads (poems Fort), contrasted impressionistic gems beautifully sung by Bickley while harnessing a voice with lots of power.
Better-known cycles were Poulenc's six delightful thumbnail sketches in Apollinaire's Le Bestiaire (The Beastiary) and Ravel's more satirically zoological Histoires Naturelles – Natural Histories (Renard).
Three emotionally-contrasted songs by the supremely melodic Hahn, strictly chansons – slightly more vocally animated than mélodies – were a model of vocal restraint, as was an unannounced encore by Satie: La Diva de l'Empire.
Fiona MacSherry's playing of the often technically-fiendish and extravagant piano parts was outstanding and as much a joy as Susan Bickley's singing.
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