Trouser roles

Last week to the Wigmore Hall to hear Alice Coote and Julius Drake give us a selection of Schubert songs. A recital chosen in part for its inclusion of  'Auf dem Wasser zu singen', a song which I have been fond of for some time in its version by Barbara Bonney and Geoffrey Parsons, noticed at references 1 and 2 but never before heard live - although I did once hear Barbara Streisland do it on Spottify through a genuine valve amplifier.

We had never heard Alice Coote or Julius Drake either, but I was interested to learn that Ms. Coote was best known for what opera buffs call trouser roles, something else that I had never before heard of.

House pretty much full, which meant that we had been relegated to row L, a bit further back than we really like these days, average age probably well over sixty. Flowers good, a new to us arrangement of white anturiums and deep red roses (I think).

Mr. Drake turned out to be rather older than his picture, and Ms. Coote rather bigger, clad in a tight, glittering, black dress. She also had impressive range and power, not least in this an impressive ability to switch, with break or falter, from one place to another. A switching which included both her (very expressive) face and her voice. They both used music, although Ms. Coote did not seem to be paying much attention to hers.

My strategy was to concentrate on the stage, more or less to the exclusion of the words printed in the programme, BH was the other way around. We both lose out, but as I have observed in the past, knowing German not at all and the songs hardly at all, something has to give. Overall, a good performance, an interesting change from our more usual song cycles. Audience very enthusiastic.

However, that said, I was rather disappointed with the water song. Maybe being used to hear it in isolation, it was a bit lost in this medley. Maybe a lyric soprano is better suited than a lyric mezzo-soprano. I was also rather disappointed by 'Erlkönig'. Maybe in this case a man is needed. Both restored to their former glory this morning by YouTube.

We missed the encore, which meant that we got an earlier train that we might otherwise - a good thing when one is tired and the trains are down to half an hour a time. The books at Raynes Park were plentiful but of rather poor quality. Paperback thrillers and ladies' fiction.

PS: it is annoying that I now have no idea what first brought 'Auf dem Wasser zu singen' to my attention. Was it Bostridge on the 'Winterreise'? Dates not quite right - and, in any event, no index, so it will take a while to find out for sure.

Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/to-clandon-or-not-to-clandon.html.

Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/lieder-time.html.

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/winterreises-old-and-new.html.