THE ART OF SONG
Michael Gibson (centre) with David Gowland (left) and fellow Jette Parker Young Artist, baritone Josef Jeongmeen Ahn (right)
Last week, Michael Gibson sat down with David Gowland, Artistic Director of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House to discuss the art of song.
Read on to hear about the collaboration between pianist and singer, and the expression and poetry of the art form.
Michael Gibson:
My first question is, what are your feelings on the importance of song for a young developing singer?
David Gowland:
When I started the [Jette Parker] programme back in 2001, it was really important to me that we include song. As opera singers, many people, especially coming from all over the world, possibly hadn’t had experience of song. But in a two minute song you can explore language, interpretation, connection to the text. A song is just you and the poem and the composer, so it’s personal. Rather than playing a character, we learn more about you as an artist.
I’ve often wondered, if you look at a painting, for example, everyone has a different perception of it. In a song, a composer has taken a poem, set it to music, then the performer comes along, and then the audience is there. So, is it the poem? Is it the composer? Is it both of them? Is it the performer’s perception of the poem or of how the composer set it? Or is it the audience? That’s always intrigued me and fascinated me. It’s an open book. There’s just you, standing there with a pianist and an audience, with nothing else. It requires bravery, honesty, and real imagination.
Michael:
Fantastic. Last year, we did a recital together in the crush room where we performed Dichterliebe.
What was so lovely about that process from my perspective was the journey we went on with the piece. Along the lines of everything you’ve said, it was about being brave and making choices because it wasn’t really until towards the last few rehearsals that we came to a decision on where the cycle was going to go.
With song cycles, there’s a little bit of an overlap with operas in the sense that there’s a through story…
David:
There’s a journey, isn’t there?
Michael:
There’s a journey that you’ve got to go through. But in the case of Dichterliebe, and with those cycles like Die schöne Müllerin, often it’s a tale of something like the vagabond on the journey and often it ends in death. But in that instance we found a place where it was about him saving himself, and that’s how we approached it.
Often, do you find it’s more organic, in terms of how the process works, than going in at the start of rehearsals with a set idea about how you’re going to portray a particular character or particular themes?
David:
Yes, what was beautiful about the Dichterliebe that we did last year was that as we got to the end, it wasn’t ever the same journey for the character, for the protagonist. Depending on how we both felt on the day, and on the audience, we found a freedom that it was never the same story. It’s exciting when it gets to that level because you feel like you’re improvising by the time you get to a performance and that you have freedom. I think we both found that, didn’t we?
Michael:
A hundred percent. It’s like we had a kind of framework.
David:
Yes, a framework.
Michael:
But there’s lots of fluidity within that. I totally agree. Speaking as a singer, I think one of the things that takes the most adjusting to when it comes to working on a recital is the stillness that you need to find. Obviously, if you’re on stage you have the freedom of the entire stage to move around. You can use your physicality more to help find that expressiveness, and that also has an effect on your voice. It’s very different in a recital setting in that you have to find that stillness. Is there anything in particular from an accompanist’s perspective, its obviously a collaboration, but anything that could help support the singer in that sense?
David:
When it comes to the recitals I always say, listen, you’re the boss, let’s discuss. And it’s collaboration, as you say. Depending on the song, I need to understand or be in tune with what each singer wants to say, how they feel the poem and make sure that I’m supporting that. And whether the accompaniment is maybe a landscape. It’s different from opera where you have a production and you have a staging and everything.
Sometimes what the piano is doing in the introduction is painting that landscape. Or, maybe it’s also showing what the protagonist is perhaps not saying or expressing emotionally. It’s being in tune with that, and that’s the beauty of it. There are no rules, and it’s free. It’s how we want to be in tune with the librettist, with the poet, with the composer, and that will change depending on the venue and depending on the audience.
Feeling that you’re being spontaneous and in tune with each other, and that with every breath we’re breathing together, we’re thinking the same. There’s no push and pull, but there’s a sort of mutual collaboration in how we turn a phrase.
Michael:
Yes, I agree with that. Again, going back to the Schumann last year, being in sync with the breathing. And in the case of Dichterliebe, so many of the songs are quite short with very sudden intros into the following song. It’s about syncing up that sense. And for the recital next week, there’s an element of that going on for sure because we are doing some sets of three or four songs that are all interlinked, by Debussy, Strauss, so I completely agree.
David:
I’ve done Dichterliebe many times with different people, but what was fascinating about that was that you had very clear ideas about the space between the songs. Where you wanted to have a space and where you didn’t. That was different from other times I’ve done it because of the story that you wanted to tell with this character.
When you’re doing different groups by different composers of songs, you have to think, is there a journey through the whole thing or are they different people? What do you want the audience to take? How do you bring the audience on board with you?
Michael:
Something I did the first time for Dichterliebe last year, and I’m doing it now for everything, including for the concert next week, is something I worked on with Jayke [Branson-Thom – mind skills coach at the Royal Opera House]. We briefly spoke through each song individually, and then she said, “Ok, write one short sentence at the top of each song that describes exactly what you think is happening here.” And it could be from my own consciousness what I think is happening, or a scene from a TV series where you think, “does this describe their emotions in this song?,” you know what I mean. We spent a session just working on that, and that was really informative.
Like we’ve mentioned a few times, having a clear structure but fluidity around that, having almost this heading at the start of each song that was in my head and then the text and the piano around that, that helped inform what was already formed. We had clear ideas about what we wanted from each set and each song.
David:
We did. For myself, I often similarly think in colours. I attribute a colour to a song, like green. But what shade of green is that going to be? And how does that then change colour into the next song? Or I think a texture, like a velvet. Which just reminds me as an accompanist about the depth or the tone. I don’t necessarily need to share with the singer, but it’s a reminder for myself, because I’ve done [the songs] before, tone it down or tone it up, or maybe intensify this bit of an inner harmony or whatever.
Michael:
I also think about the power of silence. You know, apart from An die ferne Geliebte by Beethoven, whether it’s song cycles or just songs generally, there’s always that space in between them.
David:
Yeah, that’s powerful.
Michael:
And often whether that’s a period, depending on how the song is finished, whether that’s a resetting, or like you say, a change of colour, or a change of mood, or whether we’re continuing on into the next song with the same kind of atmosphere.
So, in all your experience, do you have a favourite song composer or composers? Or do you have perhaps a favourite song or set of songs?
David:
Strauss, I love Strauss. I love Wolf. Some of them are only around 58 seconds, but they’re like a microcosm of emotions. They’re huge pictures. And you know, when I’ve done the Spanisches or the Italienisches, the flow of that is such a challenge. But with Strauss I feel totally at home. Of course as a pianist I love Rachmaninoff. But I also love the French sound world, Debussy especially. But you know, I’m sure it’s the same with you, Michael, if you ask what’s your favourite opera, it’s always going to be the one you’re working on now.
Michael:
For sure.
David:
Because you invest a lot. So it’s the same with me, every recital programme I’m working on, that is my favourite song or that’s my favourite programme.
Michael:
It’s funny, three of the four composers you've mentioned there we’re doing in the concert next week.
David:
Oh, fabulous.
Michael:
Rita’s doing the Debussy Quatre Chanson de Jeunesse, I’m doing Opus 27 by Strauss.
David:
Oh, beautiful.
Michael:
I was talking about it with Lucy when we were putting together the programme and she suggested it, and I thought, I’ve not really done much Strauss.
David:
Oh, you should, it’s so good.
Michael:
And the experience of working on Elektra and Capriccio which we’re doing for the Jette Parker summer concert, I thought yeah it would be good to get on that bandwagon.
David:
Absolutely.
Michael:
And then I’m singing Arian by Rachmaninoff, that’s a great song.
David:
Oh, lord.
Michael:
We’re doing a wee Russian set, so…
David:
Well, there you go.
Michael:
There you go. Thanks very much, David.
David Gowland studied at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio. He joined the Glyndebourne music staff in 1987 and worked there for 20 years. He was Head of Music Staff at the Grand Théâtre de Genève 1989-96 and has worked as assistant conductor/senior coach with companies including Opéra National de Paris, Dutch National Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Théâtre Capitole de Toulouse, Teatro Real di Madrid, State Opera of South Australia and the Festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Chorégies de Orange, Salzburg and Wexford. He is a visiting tutor at the National Opera Studio, British Youth Opera, Scottish Opera Emerging Artists, New National Theatre Tokyo and all the major British conservatoires. He is a regular jury member for national and international competitions and has given masterclasses through Europe, Australia, America, Asia and South Africa. He has been associated with the Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House since its inception in 2000, initially as Director of Musical Preparation and from 2006 as Artistic Director.