Unravelling Ravel

Holy Trinity Church, Haddington, 10/9/2025

Joshua Ellicott (tenor), Alisdair Hogarth (piano)

Having hit the mercifully rare Haddington gridlock just before 3pm, I arrived at this intriguingly titled recital just after Joshua Ellicott and Alisdair Hogarth had started, and so I missed the short introductory words. Apparently, they were not particularly illuminating anyway, and nor were the programme notes, so this review is a sensory and auditory response to what I heard, with no facts or intellectual purpose available.

That I found it such an excellent recital is entirely down to the descriptive singing and playing of our two artists today. I had heard Mr Ellicott before in oratorio, and had been impressed by his voice, but had no idea that he was such a fine communicator with an audience, even in such a varied programme in French, German, English and Hebrew. I was unfamiliar with Alisdair Hogarth, but was very impressed by his playing, much of it solo and not accompaniment.

As I understand it, the basic concept (terrible word!) of the recital was Maurice Ravel’s place in musical history, the composers who had influenced him and in turn, the composers who had been influenced by his music. Sadly, and this seemed to have been acknowledged by the performers, there was not quite enough Ravel in the programme on which to make much of a judgement on these varied influences. We heard his 5 Songs based on Greek folk melodies, his wordless Vocalise, and one of his Two Hebrew Songs, Kaddish, a hymn in Hebrew praising God. These are all interesting works, but hardly at the core of Ravel’s output, and it was notable that many of the songs and piano pieces chosen to represent influences, in both directions, were much better compositions.

There was also quite a lot in the programme notes about improvisation being central to this approach to programming, but there didn’t seem to be any improvisation going on. This may be ignorance on the part of the listener, but again, without any explanation of what was going on, I was and am still in the dark.

So, despite the general confusion, was this a good recital? I have to say that it was, and that was down to the obvious empathy between the performers. It was fortunate that, buried within the concept, there were several jewels of song to enjoy, and Joshua Ellicott sang them superbly. He possesses a very high-lying voice naturally, which sits very agreeably above the stave. I was reminded of the young Peter Pears, the voice for which Britten wrote much of his vocal output. It’s a shame that most of the major recordings Pears made were when his voice had coarsened somewhat, from the fresh and vibrant instrument that Britten loved into almost a caricature. Mr Ellicott possesses the same vibrancy and elegance and can also allow his voice to command a large room with ease. For me, he sounded at his best in the two well-known mélodies, ‘Les Berceaux’ by Fauré and ‘L’Invitation au Voyage’ by Duparc, with its simply wonderful poetry by Baudelaire. I have never been able to work out what Baudelaire was writing about, but it sounds magnificent – “Lá, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté,

Luxe, calme at volupté.”

I don’t know where he’s going, but I want to be there!

Mr Ellicott and Mr Hogarth performed this great song superbly, with lots of volupté.

Schumann’s notoriously difficult ‘Mondnacht’ was beautifully delivered, as was ‘Summertime’ in the second half. Ravel and Vaughan Williams spent three months together in 1908, and the English composer in particular learned a lot from his French teacher. We heard Vaughan Williams’ ‘Silent Noon’ which was once again ravishingly sung by Mr Ellicott, but again the influence was scarcely evident here. Ravel’s influence on VW’s Pastoral Symphony is much clearer, but beyond the scope of this recital.

Therein lies the problem. All these influences are entirely credible and fascinating, but this recital didn’t really explain anything, and so one is left thinking, “What have I just heard?” The answer is:  ‘A jolly good concert, but not an entirely satisfying one!’’

Photo credit: Andrew Godfrey