This weekend, Graham Rickson published a review on The Arts Desk of William Berger’s new album, Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song, a collection of nocturnal Leider reflecting as Graham writes, ‘a sleepless night endured by a man lamenting his lost love’.
Put together by William himself, alongside his coach Nico de Villiers, Graham Rickson comments that although ‘what looks on paper to be an unlikely mixture of songs’ due to the diversity of music composed by Wolf, Gounod, Debussy and Vaughan Williams, the programme ‘makes complete sense in William Berger’s recital disc’ and ‘gains extra poignancy’ after reading William’s previous blog on The Arts Desk.
‘You’ll be beguiled by Berger’s voice and entranced by the more left-field musical choices’, he comments, also marking particular mention to three songs by English composers on the album, deemed ‘pure gold in the hands of Berger, including Warlock’s The Night: ’a stunner, as are two rarely-heard songs by Vaughan Williams and Richard Rodney Bennett’. Earlier in the night’s progression, William’s interpretation of Debussy’s Nuit d’étoiles ‘is sung with selfless delight’ and Raymond Yiu’s recently composed Sonnet ‘melts seamlessly in to the mix, the backward glances enchanting’.
Later in the song cycle, as Morgen marks the end of the night’s turmoil, Rickson emphasizes how the incorporation of a short Gounod piece as one of a couple of encores, works to ‘leave one feeling invigorated’ by William’s superb amalgamation of beautiful and deeply introspective music.
Read the full review here: http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/classical-cds-weekly-gershwin-william-berger-jack-quartet
(Written on September 11, 2012 )
William Berger has written article for The Arts Desk exploring the personal sentiment and the development of the programme for his debut recital CD Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song. The programme ties together works from composers including Mozart, Liszt, Wolf, Rodney Bennett, Raymond Yiu and more. Conveying “what a deeply personal expression this programme was and continues to be”, the article outlines the journey that develops throughout the song cycle, “of a young man yearning for a lost love during a restless, sleepless night”.
Developed as a programmatic recital, the cycle follows a progression from “odes to the beauty of the night”, before a turn to “death and darker things” with dreams haunted with the thought of his unresponsive lover. This pain in the darker turmoil is described by William as something that everyone can feel- “We have all felt the pain of a broken heart at some point in our lives. Indeed, it is part of the human condition”.
William comments that there is a certain ambiguity as to whether the absent lover is dead or alive, whether it is an unrequited love or whether her silence denotes the end of a relationship. He admits that the story has “kept changing over time” even for him, and will continue to be interpreted by each listener individually.
To celebrate the CD’s release in South Africa, William will give a recital of the programme on September 21st.
To read the full article, please visit The Arts Desk.
(Written on September 5, 2012 )
Every day the WildKat team scan the newspapers and blogs online to bring you a digested list of the day’s classical music news.
LA Times
Cultural Exchange: The diplomatic view of classical music
US State Department cables released by WikiLeaks offer sometimes-vivid glimpses into cultural diplomacy involving musical performances abroad. By Marcia Adair.
Gramophone
The conductor Kurt Sanderling has died
Born September 19, 1912; September 17, 2011
BBC Proms celebrates ticket sales success
More than two-thirds of events sold out.
The Telegraph
Berlin Staatskapelle/Barenboim, Lucerne Festival, review
On its final weekend the Lucerne festival made an extravagant flourish with three concerts by Daniel Barenboim and his Berlin Staatskapelle orchestra. Ivan Hewett Reports.
Don Giovanni, WNO, Wales Millenium Centre, review
John Caird’s new production for Welsh National Opera seems devoid of any thoughtfulness at all, says Rupert Christiansen.
The Arts Desk
Faust, Royal Opera House
Simple but stunning McVicar production achieves a level of profundity that almost had reviewer Igor Toronyi-Lalic in tears.
(Written on September 19, 2011 )
- Intern
- Tags: Barenboim, Berlin Staatskapelle, classical music, Don Giovanni, Faust, Gramophone, Ivan Hewett, John Caird, Kurt Sanderling, LA Times, McVicar, Proms, Royal Opera, Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph, The Arts Desk, Ticket Sales, Toronyi-Lalic, Wikileaks, WNO
WildKat PR are currently working with the fabulous lyric coloratura soprano Kim Sheehan. Kim is in high demand as a soloist, and has just begun a busy 6-month run of performing main roles in opera houses and festivals across Europe – Garsington, Winterthur, Gera, Bampton, Bauge, Buxton and Bad Lauchstädt.
Kim is currently performing the iconic role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Garsington Opera‘s innovative new auditorium. Kim has received some great reviews from this performance: The Arts Desk described her performance as ‘utterly brilliant’ and praised her for her ‘angelic upper register’, and the Financial Times highlighted Kim as one of the performers that ‘set the pulse racing’ in this particular production.
With Kim’s flourishing career seeing her perform both in the UK and internationally, Kim Sheehan is definitely one to watch! You can still catch Kim as the Queen of the Night by booking tickets on the Garsington website. Keep checking the WildKat PR blog for future reviews and news on Kim’s concert engagements.
(Written on June 6, 2011 )
Photo credit: Bill Cooper