Brahms was unlucky in love but poured his feelings into vocal music of fearsome range, writing more than 200 songs as well as that masterly depiction of a wounded heart, the Alto Rhapsody. The Liebeslieder Waltzes (1868), Op 52 and Op 65, are a different matter. Cheerful, short, full of wit, anger, joy, rejection, these part-songs are breezy and predominantly extrovert, all in waltz time and accompanied by one piano, four hands. Any number of voices can perform any selection. Too many at once can set nerves jangling. At Blackheath Halls last Sunday, the tenor Nicky Spence, in collaboration with pianist Joseph Middleton and the Leeds Lieder festival, chose ideal restraint: a brilliant quartet sang, live, for an hour, each song offering enchantment.
Spence, Middleton and the soprano Mary Bevan were joined by a trio of fast-rising artists: the mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, bass William Thomas and pianist Dylan Perez. These last performed as part of Barbara Hannigan’s Momentum initiative, set up in 2020: established artists invite younger colleagues to join them on stage, invaluable at this crucial phase of their careers. Barron’s sumptuous voice and natural vivacity and Thomas’s smouldering, rich-toned reserve blended perfectly with Spence’s acuity and Bevan’s passion. This welcome meeting of West Yorkshire and south-east London, warmly introduced by Natasha Loges, was worth every penny of the £10 ticket price.
From quartet to quintet and octet: the vocal ensemble Voces8 and their smaller sibling, Apollo5, have embarked on their Live from London: Spring virtual festival, with a classy and eclectic range of programmes from now until 22 April. The opening concert featured Jonathan Dove’s The Passing of the Year, with the composer as pianist. I’d been struck on first hearing by these settings of Blake, Nashe, Emily Dickinson and more. The work is even better on return. Elegiac but vivid and spirited, it’s a telling reflection of our times, ending with hard-won renewal.
Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes is available on demand until 28 February
Voces8’s Live from London: Spring festival runs until 22 April
