Music
Barbara Hannigan & Bertrand Chamayou
Wigmore Hall, London
5/5
Queen and king of the ancient magic
Once in a while you hear something truly groundbreaking. Barbara Hannigan and Bertrand Chamayou, like visitors from outer space, landed and left us spellbound with their musical vision. With a cleverly and ambitiously devised programme of Messiaen, Skryabin and Zorn, the two musicians deployed their capabilities and imagination to the full, creating 75 minutes of beautifully modulated intensity. Messiaen brought the brightness of devotion, Skryabin meditative turbulence and Zorn combined and transcended the two in the expression of primeval wonder in front of nature.
They began with Olivier Messiaen’s Chants de terre et de ciel (1938), an early song cycle for soprano and piano. The highly personal text on spiritual and sensual joy was written by the composer himself. It is a mesmerizing piece, more accessible and moving than some of Messiaen’s later work. Hannigan’s clean and controlled dramatic soprano and Chamayou’s sophisticated colours joined forces seamlessly to shape this unusual piece. The two have recorded it last year and hence have an in-depth understanding and feeling for the writing. There is a boldness to this freely mixed celebration of Messiaen’s wife, son and god, fervently Catholic and yet pagan in its openness and sensuality, which, while I do not share any of the religious sentiment, gives suitable material to the dramatic persona of Hannigan to bring this spirituality to the audience packaged as a digestible but still uncommon and exciting musical offering.
In the programme notes there was a beautifully written introduction to the evening by Chamayou explaining in brief how his collaboration with Hannigan came about and highlighting transcendence as the overarching theme of the concert.
The middle course consisted of two demanding piano pieces by Aleksandr Skryabin, giving the soprano some welcome rest and the pianist an opportunity to enrich the spirituality of the evening with another, completely different realm. Staying within the style of the French pianism, Poème-nocturne Op. 61 explored transcendent dreamlike states, while Vers la flamme, Op. 72 displayed a more agitated sense of doomed attraction, destruction and transformation. They may have seemed more low-key than the surrounding pieces, but they connected them in a surprising and challenging manner.
The culmination of the evening was the experimental song cycle Jumalattaret (2012) by John Zorn, a paean to Finnish Sami wood goddesses and spirits. Deemed unperformable due to its technical complexities and original ways of producing sounds, Jumalattaret finds a natural ally in the fearless performer that is Hannigan. The intersection of the mysteries of ancient spiritualities and the modern classical idiom creates an engrossing musical experience in the hands of Hannigan and Chamayou.
It is difficult to convey in words all the different ways in which this piece is creative and captivating. It begins with fairytale-style narration in Finnish which immediately transports you to another world. Then come the impersonations of the various divinities of the woodland, interspersed with short bits of narration. Hannigan, in her flamboyant vibrant blue and white dress, sings, but also chirps, hisses, huffs, blows, bubbles, flows, squeaks, screeches and screams, all with impeccable control. As the Queen of the ancient magic, Hannigan voices a stunning long crescendo and decrescendo in one breath. The rich resonance and precision of her high-pitched forte is remarkable and so is her vocal agility, tonal and emotional variety and theatrical presence. Above all, her control of her voice when enacting and embodying all these complexities is outstanding. Chamayou has an equally challenging part, sometimes plucking the strings in dramatic conversation with Hannigan, but mostly structuring this innovative piece with exemplary musicianship. The piano part may appear easier due to its lyric simplicity, but to create a unified whole with the extremely varied and other-worldly vocal part requires exceptional agility and sensitivity.
The big off-the-grid adventure in the Finnish forest had to come to an end, and these two musicians got a standing ovation from the conservative Wigmore audience. Who says contemporary classical music is boring and inaccessible?
