Celebrating the Voice: A Valentine’s Day Song Recital

Featuring selected Celebrating the Voice participants  

Eiméar Harper, soprano; Éadaoin Hassett, soprano; Ellen Mawhinney, soprano; Bláthnaid Nicholson, soprano; Anna-Helena Maclachlan, mezzo-soprano; Diana Salop, mezzo-soprano; Patrick McGinley, tenor; David Kennedy, baritone
Dearbhla Collins, piano
Morgane Fauchois, piano 

Presented by Liz Nolan, RTÉ lyric fm 

Brahms      Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52
Schubert    Erlkönig, D. 328
Duparc       Chanson triste
Schubert    ‘Erstarrung’ (from Winterreise), D.911, No. 4
Bachelet     Chère nuit
Debussy     La romance d’Ariel
Schubert    Gretchen am Spinnrade 

What better way to mark Valentine’s Day than with songs of love showcasing the voice, that most natural and remarkable of instruments, as eight of our most promising young singers – all participants in Celebrating the Voice, the professional development programme for young singers led by Artist-in-Residence, mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught – reveal its wonderful variety and versatility. 

Getting things off to a virtuosic start are Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes, an appealing collection of miniature love songs laced with the affecting immediacy of folk music. Accompanied by piano four hands, every lyrical note speaks of warmth and intimacy. 

Schubert, one of the greatest of all songwriters, gifts us the dramatic Erlkönig where the singer takes on four characters – a narrator, father, his son, and the supernatural creature who pursues the boy – all evoked with individual brilliance. Gretchen am Spinnrade vents the agony of obsessive love, while ‘Erstarrung’ from his sombre tale of unrequited love, Winterreise, is a searing portrait of a would-be lover’s anguish in winter’s deepest depths. 

Yearning, heart-aching love is conjured by Duparc’s lushly romantic Chanson triste, and Bachelet’s opulently operatic Chère nuit, composed for the Australian diva Nellie Melba. 

A beguiling evocation of love, Debussy’s La romance d’Ariel treats the soprano voice with elegant whimsy and eloquent fantasy.  

Presented by NCH