A Recital of Mahler Lieder
Wolfgang Holzmair - baritone
Roger Vignoles - piano
Friends and guests of the school, including eighteen of our senior pupils, were treated to an evening of stunning music making in the Orangery on Friday 14th October.
Holzmair, an Austrian baritone with an international reputation for both Lieder and operatic roles, last visited Orwell Park in 2008, performing Schubert's song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin, to great critical acclaim. This occasion was an exploration of the Lieder compositions of Gustav Mahler; Holzmair performed several of the Volkslieder, characteristically march and dance-like songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, which were followed by Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen. The second half of the recital featured Lieder und Gesänge and the Rückert Lieder.
It was an extraordinary and inspiring evening; Holzmair combined technical brilliance with a depth of interpretation which brought each individual song to life, with a perfectly judged range of emotions, from mocking humour to great tragedy. The audience was fortunate to have comprehensive programme notes, and a full set of translations, provided by Janie O'Brien, and was thus able to participate fully in the musical journey that each song represented. Holzmair demonstrated the amazing capacity of the voice to convey a message, at times unafraid to use unconventional, and even harsh, tones in his reading of the text.
Regretfully, Holzmair's intended accompanist was unwell; we were stunned to discover his last-minute replacement was international chamber musician Roger Vignoles, a very distinguished accompanist indeed. His playing was effortless, intimate and powerful, and the duo acted as one for much of the recital. All the pupils who attended were captivated throughout, and coped extremely well with the immediate, and very physical, presentation of the music; two encores rounded off a wonderful evening.
Martin O'Brien
Director of Music, Orwell Park School