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Cora Burggraaf soprano & Patrice Lamure baritone
with Julius Drake piano The original intention for this Park Lane Group event was that M Cuénod would attend and be interviewed by Graham Johnson; however, despite his being in excellent health, as we were assured, he decided with much reluctance that the risk of travelling from Switzerland was too great at his very advanced age. There had been telephone conversations with him from London earlier in the day, & it is regrettable that a taped interview was not set up for us, the technology being so easy. Before the recital there were instead reminiscences with Julius Drake, who took part with Hugues Cuénod in a famous performance of Poulenc's Barbar, The Elephant and who then worked with the great man on numerous occasions. He was 86 when he made his Wigmore Hall debut and at his Master Classes was 'high spirited and perpetually youthful'. We learned that Cuénod attributes his vocal longevity (still on stage at 90) to having 'never had a voice to lose'! Next was a selection of his recordings back to 1935, including Chiome d'oro from the well loved Boulanger collaboration which introduced many of us to Monteverdi (HMV DB 5040, 1937) and, in Schweitzerdeutsch, Schubert's unknown Schweizerlied to Goethe's poem! Most characteristic of the sound I remember from Glyndebourne (Don Basilio) and elsewhere was Fauré's Automne, recorded 1980 - IMV 1016. Hugues Cuénod always gave primacy to words, & Park Lane Group supplied all the texts with translations of the songs by Satie, Debussy, Duparc, Fauré, Poulenc and Chausson, chosen to represent music close to the veteran singer's heart. PLG presented two young singers in familiar favourites from the chansons repertoire. The soprano Cora Burggraf is a multiple prizewinner, now studying at the Royal College of Music, but she may have not been in best voice; there was a worrying shrillness in higher register, but she understands this music and I look forward to hearing her again. The suave French-born baritone Patrice Lamure, currently at GSMD in London, had the advantage linguistically and sung with an endearing intimacy for the Wigmore Hall audience, supported in kind sympathetically by Julius Drake, but capable of expansion at climaxes and even an apt roughness in Poulenc's allons plus vite and Ravel's drinking song. A name to watch and a satisfying PLG evening.
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101st
Birthday Party