Schubert: Winterreise | Rachel Fenlon, soprano & pianist. Feb. 11, 2025, Jane Mallett Theatre.
On the Jane Mallett Theatre final Tuesday night, a extremely enthusiastic viewers, yours really amongst them, witnessed one thing extraordinary. It was a Liederabend given by Berlin-based Canadian soprano Rachel Fenlon.
On this system was Schubert’s Winterreise. To artwork tune aficionados, this 24-songs, 70-minute work is extensively thought to be the Mount Everest of German Lieder. To do it justice, the soloist wants fantastic thing about tone, technical prowess, stamina, heartfelt expression, and communicative energy, to not point out an iron clad reminiscence, when carried out with out a rating.
Soprano Rachel Fenlon has all of the above, to make certain. As well as, she has one thing that others don’t or at the very least haven’t tried to do — that’s, to taking part in the piano whereas singing. The vocal line and the piano rating in Winterreise comply with very disparate (if complementary) paths, making the thought of singing and taking part in a fully daunting proposal. I joke that you just want two brains to do it!
But, Ms. Fenlon has demonstrated that she will be able to sing and play on the similar time and do it with distinction. In keeping with her web site, she grew up singing in addition to taking part in the piano since childhood. She felt the urge to mix the 2 and ultimately gave an all-Schubert recital in Toronto whereas accompanying herself. This was the beginning of her extraordinary journey, one which has made her distinctive about classical vocalists.
Since that first efficiency, Fenlon has gone on to discover numerous repertoire and giving it to the general public in performances at festivals and live performance halls. Among the many huge 600 songs of Schubert, Fenlon was drawn to the Winterreise tune cycle like no different. She mentions on her web site that it was in the course of the begin of the pandemic in winter 2020 when she started learning this cycle, residing alone close to a forest exterior Berlin, minimize off from contacts with anybody.
The work, with its central theme of loneliness and solitude, resonated deeply together with her throughout this era of pandemic-enforced isolation. In the summertime of 2022, Fenlon sang it for the primary time in Berlin. When the time got here to make her first recording, Schubert was the apparent alternative, and what higher tune cycle than this elegant and heartbreaking Winter’s Journey? It was launched final October.
The CD
Because of Karen Choi of Balm Group, I used to be given an audio copy of Fenlon’s Winterreise on Orchid Classics for evaluation. Winterreise was once the area of the male singer, at the very least unofficially. Sure, it’s concerning the winter journey of a male protagonist, however there are many examples of feminine singers tackling male roles — simply have a look at the various “trouser roles” in opera!
On a private degree, I used to be uncovered to feminine interpreters of Winterreise early in my journey as an viewers member. I’m referring to the nice Lois Marshall who sang this cycle at Hart Home within the Nineteen Seventies, with Anton Kuerti on the piano. I used to be instructing at Trent College on the time and made my option to Toronto for this most memorable recital. I consider that efficiency was broadcast on the CBC and a compact disc was issued years in the past.
Since that early publicity, I’ve loved a number of feminine interpreters, together with the nice Brigitte Fassbaender. I heard Adrianne Pieczonka sing it precisely eight years in the past. It was unforgettable in additional methods than one, as I had the misfortune of falling and dislocating my proper shoulder whereas dashing to Mazzoleni Corridor. I braved the ache and heard her sing it earlier than going to Mount Sinai Hospital emergency. I joke that I had my very own Winterreise!
I’ve listened to Fenlon’s complete recording a number of instances, and every time I’m impressed by her fantastic thing about tone, innate musicality, and her marvellous piano taking part in. I confess I do want decrease voices on this cycle. Fenlon’s instrument is a lightweight lyric, as in comparison with the complete lyric of Pieczonka and Marshall, or the excessive mezzo of Fassbaender. However, I’m received over by Fenlon’s pretty tone, very nicely captured by the sound engineers in Domaine Overlook, Quebec the place the recording was made.
The Efficiency
Fenlon has already sung/performed it in lots of venues, in Germany, UK, Portugal, in addition to Vancouver. The viewers on the Jane Mallett Theatre on Tuesday was not huge, however educated and enthusiastic, and I dare say that they have been absolutely conscious that they have been witnessing one thing distinctive. I noticed many singers and folks within the music enterprise within the viewers.
After a heat welcome by the viewers, Fenlon proceeded to share her Schubertian journey, all 70 minutes with out an intermission, and with out a rating or textual content of any type. As within the recording, she sang with fantastic thing about tone, her pianism exemplary, and it’s not hyperbole on my half. Evaluating what I heard reside versus on the CD, and I did discover one distinction. On the disc, the voice is crystal clear right through. In individual, with the piano, with lid opened within the full stick individual, her center and decrease voice was not as clear because it may very well be. Kudos to the organizers for arranging the projected textual content.
I do like her interpretation, which is considerably understated. In relation to Lieder, there are two colleges of performers — the text-focused singers with an enormous quantity of “phrase pointing” and a spotlight to minute particulars, and people with much less apparent interpretation and simply let the sound of the voice communicate for itself, form of a “prima la voce” method. To my eyes and ears, I’d say Fenlon belongs to the second college.
Winterreise is an extremely shifting tune cycle, set to very touching textual content. And when the voice is gorgeous as nicely, it provides tremendously to the enjoyment. I’m glad Fenlon was capable of obtain each in her recital.
Her artistry is preserved for posterity on the CD. I urge any tune lovers to give it a pay attention. It’s a fantastic accomplishment and to not be missed.
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Joseph So is Professor Emeritus at Trent College and Affiliate Editor of Opera Canada.He’s additionally a long-time contributor to La Scena Musicale and Opera (London, UK). His curiosity in music journalism focuses on voice, opera in addition to symphonic and piano repertoires. He seems commonly as a panel member of the Massive COC Podcast.He has co-edited a e-book, Opera in a Multicultural World: Coloniality, Tradition, Efficiency, printed by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group).
