Scottish mezzo-soprano Rowan Hellier and pianist Sholto Kynochpresent 'The Voice of Desire' in this special lunchtime concert at Perth Festival of the Arts.
The Voice of Desire examines longing, and our collective human trait of never being quite satisfied with what we have! A gorgeous mix of songs by Scottish contemporary female composer Judith Weir and the brilliant English live-wire Kate Whitley, alongside two masters of German Lieder: Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
The programme opens with Eight Songs (Lieder und Gesänge) to texts by G. F. Daumer Op. 57 by Johannes Brahms. Of an unusual sensuality for Brahms, the texts are variations on the subject of intense passion and yearning from both male and female perspectives, set to some of Brahms’ most sublime music, as in the final Unbewegte laue Luft.
In The Voice of Desire by Judith Weir, each poem is a conversation between human and bird. Be it climate or conflict, the birds have a more sophisticated viewpoint than the human hearers. Has nature something to remind us, if only we would listen?
Written in the first weeks of her long awaited marriage, Clara Schumann’s Sechs Lieder Op 13 are tiny, intimate jewels.
The recital closes with Kate Whitley's ethereal This Is my love poem for you, with words by contemporary British Egyptian poet, playwright and performer Sabrina Mahfouz: It’s a place I never knew until I knew you. Where tube maps of mistakes make sense; where the unaired space given to start breathing makes sense; where I, not just my borders, make sense.