Sandrine Piau, Susan Manoff

Mendelssohn - Neue Liebe; Nachtlied; Hexenlied (Andres Maienlied)
Chausson - Amour d’antan; Dans la forêt du charme et de l’enchantement; Les heures
Berg - Seven Early Songs
Debussy - Fêtes Galantes Book I
Richard Strauss - Morgen; Die Nacht Op 10 No 3; Ständchen
Schoenberg - Four Songs Op 2
Britten - The Sally Gardens; There’s none to soothe; I wonder as I wander

One of today’s most sought-after sopranos makes her Aldeburgh recital debut in an eye-catching programme. A great communicator who works on the opera and concert hall stage, her reputation has been founded on superb characterful performances of baroque and classical music.

Here however she allies her sharp-edged clarity and easy unaffected warmth to nocturnal songs from the German Romantic tradition (the young Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss). These are blended with an intoxicating selection of music from the turbulent decades that straddle the turn of the twentieth century. There is a thrilling potency to every footstep, every new departure taken by the young Berg, Schoenberg and Debussy.

By contrast the cool detachment of Bitten’s idiosyncratic folk song arrangements seem to heighten the emotional directness of deeply-rooted opular songs from England, Scotland and the USA.