Elizabeth Llewellyn and Simon Lepper

Queen’s Hall 7/8/24

Elizabeth Llewellyn soprano, Simon Lepper piano

Songs by Finzi, Chausson,  Strauss, Coleridge-Taylor, Dvorák and Puccini

In today’s Queen’s Hall concert, Elizabeth Llewellyn’s sumptuous voice and Simon Lepper’s responsive playing carry us through a well-chosen programme of songs in five languages, sung entirely from memory.

Unusual settings of English song begin each half of the programme.  Gerald Finzi’s 1958 ‘Till Earth Outwears’ is a posthumous collection of his settings of Thomas Hardy poems.  The songs date from various periods in Finzi’s career and include poems from different stages in Hardy’s long life, which share a sense of nostalgia, often regret for past loves and wry reflections on time which “shakes this fragile form at noon/with throbbings of noontide.”   Finzi clearly relished Hardy’s odd phraseology and the way he pushes ideas forward through run-on lines.   Elizabeth Llewellyn has also got to know this poetry well, and with fine Lieder technique she tells their stories, and ensures that her breath carries every idea through to its end. The quirky ‘The Market-girl,’ provides a sunny interlude with reflections of a brief love affair.

I was looking forward to hearing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Sorrow Songs,’ his setting of Christina Rossetti’s poems which dates from 1904, when his career as a composer was well-established. Vocal works  by Coleridge-Taylor became a lock-down project for Elizabeth Llewellyn and Simon Lepper, resulting in a CD in 2022.  The term ‘sorrow songs’ was sometimes applied to African American spirituals, a genre which often influenced the composer; however the four settings we hear today are firmly within the English song traditions of the period.  ‘Oh what comes over the sea’ is an energetic opening to the sequence, with Elizabeth Llewellyn at ease in her dramatic high notes, and Simon Lepper providing a tempestuous accompaniment. The other songs are quieter lyrical settings of the poems, with poignant references to death.   Well done to both musicians for making these lovely songs better-known.

The four Chausson songs provide close-up descriptions of the colours of leaves, hummingbirds and butterflies with Simon Lepper’s rippling and multilayered accompaniment to ‘Sérénade Italienne’ contrasting with the sparse underpinning to ‘La Dernier feuille’ (the last leaf).  The Strauss Lieder which conclude the first half are impeccably phrased with apparently effortless legato.

In six short pieces from his 1889 ‘Love Songs’ Dvorák mixes defiance with the tales of unrequited and lost love, as shown in the characterful song with off-beat accompaniment about an abandoned partner “staggering round the house.”  The Czech folk-inspired music makes this an appealing set.  The final songs by Puccini give Elizabeth Llewellyn the opportunity to show off  her operatic skills.  A heavier tone and some portamento give weight to ‘Sol et Mare’, while her acting talents come into play in the short ‘Casa mia, casa mia’ in which she folds her arms contentedly as she surveys her domain. The lullaby ‘Sogno D’or’ ends on a floating soft high note and in the final ‘Morire?’ the pianist pauses to allow an extended operatic flourish before the end.

After considerable applause, we’re rewarded with a Coleridge-Taylor encore, one which Elizabeth Llewellyn says shows him to have been ahead of his time: despite its title, ‘Life and Death’  could come from a 1930’s musical.  So having admired the Lieder singer and the operatic diva, we end with the star of musical theatre!  This concert can be heard on Radio 3 on Friday 9th August at 1pm, and on BBC Sounds.

A final thought: a perfect example of ‘Rituals Which Unite Us’ is surely Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’ – 30 minutes of rhythmic choruses, pounding orchestration and a big tenor solo…

Photo credit: Jess Shurte