We had the opportunity to hear tenor Ian Bostridge in our country once again. Of course, we didn't want to miss that! After the benefit concert at Amuzhe was a guest with Brad Mehldau at the Klara Festival and now he performed at De Bijloke in Ghent with a unique program of British vocal music.
Although he is – in my opinion – also virtually unmatched among tenors as a song interpreter for the Romantic repertoire, as an authentic British singer this repertoire was practically made for him. The program he presented in Ghent immediately recalled his beautiful recording "The English Songbook" (piano Julius Drake) featuring composers such as Peter Warlock, Roger Quilter, Gerald Finzi, Ivor Gurney, Ralph Vaughan Williams and several others. And also a more recent recording "Requiem the pity of War" (piano Antonio Pappano) with George Butterworth and further German composers such as Kurt Weill, Gustav Mahler and Rudi Stephan). The title of the recital was indeed "Splendid Isolation" in which songs about sadness and loss were central. Especially songs from around the nineteen-twenties. Feelings of hopelessness, despair and disappointed longing dominated.
Apart from a selection from Along the Field and the more familiar On Wenlock Edge by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Bostridge performed songs by Peter Warlock and a long lament by Felix White: The Nymph's Complaint for the Death of her Fawn (1922)". A text by Andrew Marvell about the death of the nymph's favorite doe killed by hunters. Bostridge clearly felt right at home in the chosen repertoire. With his typical almost nonchalant yet simultaneously self-assured spontaneity, he made music in absolute harmony with the chamber ensemble, which was his ideal partner.
The somewhat wry, sometimes bitter tone of his voice in no way impedes its suppleness. It is an aspect of his fascination as a singer and it perfectly underscored the content of the songs here, but it doesn't prevent him from making flawless transitions from high tonality to deep tones. The voice carries and remains intact. This recital proved once again what phenomenal vocal control Bostridge commands. Combined with the repertoire that suits him particularly well, the recital became a truly top-notch experience.
The harmony with Oxalys was also brilliant. The ensemble opened the program with a warm-up piece, Seven Scottish Airs by Gustav Holst, before the more serious work began. With varying instrumentation, it accompanied Bostridge in a subtle and poetic manner in each song group. The Curlew by Peter Warlock to a text by W.B. Yeats was serenely introduced by the string quartet with flute (Toon Fret) and English horn (Piet Van Bockstal). In Felix White's long lament, the harmony with Elisabeth Smalt, viola, Jean-Claude Van den Eynden, piano and Piet Van Bockstal, oboe was ideal. The two works by Ralph Vaughan Williams (texts by A.E. Housman) proved that Ian Bostridge is a singer who feels right at home as a musician even in a chamber music setting.
A concert for which the hall of the Bijloke should have been packed. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, but whoever was there can certainly consider themselves lucky as a musical connoisseur.
WHAT: Splendid Isolation, Song Recital
WHO: Ian Bostridge, tenor and Oxalys
WHERE: De Bijloke Gent
WHEN: Saturday 29-4-2023
This concert will be broadcast on Saturday, May 6 during Klara Life.
