Lise Davidsen recital:  Wigmore Hall, 13/10/23

Lise Davidsen soprano; James Baillieu piano, Songs by Grieg, Schubert, Berg and Sibelius

This was a hugely enjoyable recital. This was because:

1. Ms Davidsen is an engaging presenter of songs. She’s willing to talk to the audience to give her perspective on some of the composers. She is also not just confident on the concert platform but good at acting out with her face and hands the story of each song (without going over the top)

2. Apart from some of the Schubert songs (e.g. An die Musik) this was unknown territory for me and I particularly enjoyed the Grieg songs (for instance ‘To my Son‘ and the song about the snail!). The Berg songs were typically angst- ridden and after a distance of 12 hours become somewhat indistinguishable but I think I recall enjoying Traumgekront the most. The Sibelius songs were very varied and I particularly enjoyed Little Lasse. In fact not all the Schubert songs I knew well – Am Tage alle Seelen I am sure I’ve never heard before, a beautiful song.

3. The quality of Ms Davidsen’s singing. She has extraordinary control over her voice so that she can both ping out top notes at full volume without any sort of wobble and sing softly and beautifully with absolute security. Hers is a wonderful voice…. We are very lucky to have the opportunity to hear her so often in London.

In a song recital I suppose every singer is stretched to their limits – the sole focus of everyone in the audience, having to sing more in a  evening than a major role in a Wagner opera, and having often  to deal with a mass of disparate material demanding very different approaches. Ms Davidsen was unfailingly musically sensitive and varied in how she sang, but I think it’s fair to say that her diction was sometimes less than crystal clear, and also that in the narrative well known songs such as Erlkonig one sometimes missed the clarity of story-telling that you’d get in the greatest lieder singers. But still – a wonderful evening…I’ve just picked up that Lise Davidsen is singing Salome for the first time in Paris next May. I must get a ticket for that…….