Slavonic Songs
St Michael’s Church, 1, Slateford Road, Edinburgh, 12/4/2025
Brian Bannatyne-Scott, bass, Caroline Taylor, soprano, Derek Clark, piano
This is the latest of a number of concerts organised by our colleague Brian Bannatyne- Scott at St Michael’s Church, a lovely late 19th century church currently under threat of closure. Typically Brian selects a programme of interesting songs, singing the bass programme himself, and showcasing some of the most talented young singers working in Scotland today, some of whom he worked with in his role as Honorary Professor of Singing at St Andrews University. Today we have the delightful soprano, Caroline Taylor, who is making a name for herself in recitals and opera performances across the UK. Both are accompanied by a musical star, Derek Clark, who was Head of Music at Scottish Opera from 1997 to 2023 and is now an frequent accompanist.
Previous concerts have focussed on German, as well as UK song. This time we have mostly Eastern Europe, with a first half introducing two lesser known and contrasting song cycles by the Russian Modest Mussorgsky, both sung in Russian, and the second half, after three wonderful vivid French songs by Claude Debussy, a promised cycle of ten Biblical songs, by Antonin Dvorak, in Czech.
Both Mussorgsky cycles are, as we would expect, vividly expressive. The first, bass, cycle, ‘Sunless’ or ‘Without Sun’, based on poems by Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, was written in the late 1870’s not long before Mussorgsky’s untimely, alcohol-related, death in 1881. They are, as we might guess from the title, expressive of unhappiness, rejection, despair and a pre-sentiment of death. Brian expressed all these with his usual spirit, and despite a growing suspicion towards the end that all was not 100% well with his voice, he gave a good account of this little performed but very striking group of songs.
They were followed by a contrasting cycle, ‘Dyetskaya’ (The Nursery), with words and music written much earlier in Mussorgsky’s life, reflecting aspects of his own upbringing on his wealthy parents’ rural estate south of St Petersburg. These songs are humorous, somewhat rebellious and fanciful. They were sung for us by Caroline Taylor, who not only has a beautiful soprano voice, but a fine comic line in sulky children. As a former foreign languages student she takes very intelligent care with diction and pronunciation, and as a very much former (and short-lived) student of Russian, I was challenged to follow some of the meaning, reinforced no doubt by Brian’s excellent programme notes, which gave us the words of all of the songs in English translation.
Following the interval, we were treated to more of Caroline in a ‘French detour’ to three 1880’s songs by Claude Debussy. These were ‘Nuit D ’Etoiles’ (Night of Stars), in which the poet sits beneath the stars dreaming of past loves, ‘Chevaux de Bois’ (Wooden horses), about a carousel and a night at the fair, and ‘Apparition’, reminiscing sadly but fondly about a lost love. These suited Caroline’s voice to perfection – vivid, lively, sometimes almost bell-like, but at the same time tender and reflective. A delightful performance.
The final item on the programme was Dvořák’s Biblícke Písně (Biblical Songs), based on a selection of psalms, sung in Czech. This had been eagerly anticipated but was understandably curtailed, as a result of the effect of a recent cold on Brian’s voice. He did however sing Psalms 97, 119 and 23, and gave us encouragement to look forward to the promised recording of the concert which will be available later in the year. Brian’s rendition of Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’, sung to Dvořák’s beautiful but, to us, unfamiliar music was stunning.