Listen & tracks
3 of 16 tracks have a preview · 14 works · 56:04
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1 Les Filles de Cadix Léo Delibes 3:13
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2 Du bist die Ruh Franz Schubert 4:12
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3 Die liebe Farbe Dermot Tutty 5:49
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4 Oh! Quand je dors Franz Liszt 5:06
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5 Chanson triste Henri Duparc 3:38
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6 La Vie antérieure Henri Duparc 4:46
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7 Zueignung Richard Strauss 1:52
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8 Kennst du das Land? Hugo Wolf 6:40
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9 La Zingara Gaetano Donizetti 4:03
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10 Ma rendi pur contento Vincenzo Bellini 2:45
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11 Fair House of Joy Roger Quilter 2:28
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12 Like to the Damask Rose Sir Edward Elgar 3:30
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13 Kaddisch Maurice Ravel 5:12
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14 Hymne à l’amour Édith Piaf 2:50
The album’s title, Hymne à l’amour, comes from the song by the great French chanteuse Édith Piaf. This is an exquisite collection of romantic art songs, from beautiful classics by Schubert and Liszt to a brand-new piece by one of Siobhán’s singing teachers in Melbourne, Dermot Tutty. Siobhán has been singing some of these songs since she was at school in Mildura; others joined her repertoire after she moved to the UK. All of them hold beauty, honesty and special meaning for her.
Composed to highlight the partnership between singer and pianist, art song is an ideal outlet for Siobhán and Amir’s individual gifts and their warmth as a duo. This is their first studio album together.
Both were first-prize winners at the 2012 Mietta Song Competition, in separate awards for singer and accompanist.
In the artist’s words
My father has often accused me of possessing a vivid imagination. Apparently, he is correct. Having taught young tenors and baritones for two decades, I have spent countless hours exploring the songs from Schubert’s masterpiece, Die schöne Müllerin. It’s a predictable romantic scenario; a young softy leaves his family home to explore the world. He hears a babbling river, and, being easily led, follows the brooklet till he arrives at a mill. Our hero finds employment therein, but is soon frustrated by his weak arms and inability to impress the miller’s beautiful daughter. He falls heavily for the blue-eyed girl, who in turn falls for a muscly hunter who happens by. The hunter is no softy. The young innocent is consumed with melancholy and, in Schubert’s original “Die liebe Farbe”, asks to be buried in the turf and for his grave to be covered in green; the maiden’s “favourite colour”. The youth then drowns himself in the very river which first brought him to the girl.
But, what if the beautiful maid of the mill had a younger sister? A sensitive soul with emerald-green eyes, and a soft spot for softies? Perhaps, in a cruel twist of fate, the young wanderer doesn’t even notice her. Brokenhearted, the younger sibling feels as though her green eyes are lost amidst the cursed, bosky surrounds; not like the bewitching blue eyes of her vacuous sister. This new song transports us harmonically from the B minor key of Schubert’s original, to the most distant F minor. Before the final stanza, the piano tells us that the young girl looks up and is struck with a new hope; if the grey sky were to clear, then perhaps her sister’s seductive sapphires would be hidden by the expanse of blue. Then, would she finally be noticed?
Reviews
This recital of art songs by soprano Siobhan Stagg and pianist Amir Farid served to introduce their CD of the same name. More a sensual, rich celebration of love than a hymn, this was a well-paced and varied program that was essentially mirrored in the recording. Featuring a young singer who already has a number of awards and favourable reviews to her credit, and one of the most sensitive accompanists in town, Hymne a l’amour could hardly be anything but a success, and so it proved. There to review the concert, I nevertheless purchased a copy of the CD after hearing it. No deals, no discounts – with my own money. What more need I say? ★★★★½
These two skilled, accomplished and committed artists gave a wonderful concert of art songs, on the fruitful theme of love, at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Saturday 6th April. The varied, attractive and finely chosen program drew songs from composers such as Schubert and Duparc to Elgar, Bellini and contemporary Australian Dermot Tutty, whose O Where Is the Dove?, with his own lyrics, was a particular highlight. ... One splendid melody followed another, by Schubert, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss, and the finale was Hymne à l’amour, lyrics by Edith Piaf and music by Marguerite Monnot, composer of Irma la Douce. Siobhan Stagg has a warm, skilful voice, accurate and flexible with a beautiful tone and sensitive phrasing, and is well matched by her brilliant accompanist, Amir Farid. The intelligence, generosity and range of this concert were remarkable, and I am glad to relate that the songs have been recorded by Move Records, itself a solid supporter of Australian performers and composers over several decades. If you missed the concert, purchase of the CD is strongly advised!
Artists
Siobhán Stagg
soprano
With a voice of “ravishing tone” and “radiant” stage presence (The Age), Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg is a rising star on the brink of an international career.
Amir Farid
piano
Amir Farid has been described as a highly creative musician – a pianist of great intelligence and integrity who brings strong musical substance to all that he does, imbuing it with his own experience and understanding, and who distinguishes himself for all the right reasons.
Sir Edward Elgar
composer
Edward Elgar’s music carries English romantic warmth into the concert hall: long-breathed melodies, rich harmony and tunes that lodge in the ear, from the intimate charm of Salut d’Amour to organ writing of near-symphonic scale.
Franz Liszt
composer
Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic era. His vast output reshaped piano technique, invented the symphonic poem and pushed harmony toward the twentieth century.
Roger Quilter
composer
Roger Quilter’s art songs, more than a hundred in number, set Shakespeare, Herrick and Shelley with a clear English lyricism that has kept them in the recital room for generations.
Maurice Ravel
composer
Many consider Maurice Ravel a major composer for the piano as well as a genius of orchestration. It remains a surprise how few works make up his total output for the instrument: all his piano compositions can be performed in under two and a half hours.
Franz Schubert
composer
Franz Schubert (1797–1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. In only thirty-one years he left a vast body of work, including over six hundred Lieder, and remains among the most frequently performed composers.
Hugo Wolf
composer
Hugo Wolf (1860–1903) was an Austrian composer, celebrated above all for his intensely expressive art songs, or Lieder, and for chamber works such as the Italian Serenade.
Vincenzo Bellini
composer
Bellini’s operas and songs are built on long, graceful bel canto melodies that balance florid embellishment with a deceptively simple lyric line. His writing still supplies Italianate colour for recital and instrumental programmes alike.
Léo Delibes
composer
Léo Delibes wrote French Romantic ballets and operas that put melody, colour and theatrical grace at the centre of the score. Coppélia, Sylvia and Lakmé still define him; so do lighter mélodies and salon miniatures built for charm rather than weight.
Gaetano Donizetti
composer
Gaetano Donizetti wrote more than seventy operas in the early Romantic bel canto style. His scores range from sparkling comedies such as L'elisir d'amore and Don Pasquale to tragic dramas including Lucia di Lammermoor and Anna Bolena.
Henri Duparc
composer
Henri Duparc left a handful of late-Romantic mélodies that still define the French art song: long-breathed lines, restless piano writing and an almost unbearable concentration of longing set to Baudelaire, Gautier and Goethe.
Marguerite Monnot
composer
Édith Piaf
composer
Édith Piaf wrote and performed modern French chanson and cabaret songs that turn love, loss and regret into plain, unforgettable statements. Her lyrics for Hymne à l'amour and La Vie en rose still carry the force of lived feeling.
Richard Strauss
composer
Richard Strauss wrote Lieder of lyrical sweep and romantic intensity: songs that bloom with wide vocal lines, shifting moods and the glow of late-Romantic harmony. His pages ask for firm shape, fine tonal control and real expressive colour.
Dermot Tutty
composer
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Siobhán Stagg · soprano
- Amir Farid · piano
Technical credits
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Producer
Blake Stickland
Vaughan McAlley
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Recording Engineer
Blake Stickland
Vaughan McAlley
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Editing Engineer
Blake Stickland
Vaughan McAlley
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Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 56 minutes 4 seconds
- Release date
- 18 Mar 2013
- Categories
- Classical, Vocal
- Musical work copyright
- © 2013 Move Records
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2013 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3360
- EAN
- 9314574336023
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