Samling in Masterclass
Marchmont House - 02/03/24
As a stand-in reviewer, originally intended to be Kate Calder’s driver, my approach to this wonderful – right word – experience is not informed by Kate’s musical knowledge, although she has done her best to educate me. So I’m going to start from where I do have expertise – as a former Subject Lead Assessor for University teaching quality – by focusing on the pedagogy: on how the vastly experienced Scottish singer, Marie McLaughlin, the Samling Artist, James Baillieu, now one of the leading accompanists and chamber music pianists of his generation, and the opera singer turned stage director, Susannah Waters, taught their students. They did it by the old, tried and best method – praise, correct, praise. Praise what they had done well; correct what needs correction; praise when they get it right after correction: the method for training paratroopers according to a former colleague who did just that!
The class leaders emphasized different aspects although in their engagement with singers and pianists they all covered the same essentials. McLaughlin in her work with the mezzo, Alexandra Pouta, worked on the actual singing process and the importance of emphasizing key words in Bellini’s ‘Se Romeo t’uccise un figlio’. Pouta has a lovely strong voice which filled the impressive music room at Marchmont, but McLaughlin got her to modulate her singing to bring it up in strength rather than going full blast from the off. I enjoyed her first version but saw the effect of the training when she sang it again. With soprano, Charlotte Bowden (seen in the photo with Marie McLaughlin) McLaughlin paid a lot of attention to how she should breathe and use her body, and again the effect was noticeable in improving what was already a delightful rendition of Richard Strauss’s ‘The presentation of the Rose’. This is the ‘Rosenkavalier’ duet between Sophie and Octavian, a mezzo in a trouser role, and here Scottish pianist, Daniel Silcock, played Octavian’s part.
Bowden also partnered the baritone, Felix Gygli, in Papageno and Pamina’s duet, ‘Bei Männern’ from ‘The Magic Flute,’ with Ella O’Neill, Samling’s house pianist, accompanying. Susannah Waters spoke of the need to remember who the singers must relate to – each other, the conductor and the audience. She brought in a young woman from the audience to demonstrate how varying tempos from different conductors can affect the performance, by moving one way to speed up and another to slow down and requiring the singers to respond. Waters also coached tenor, Hugo Brady, again accompanied by O’Neill, in his rendition of ‘Frosty Night’ from Madeline Dring’s ‘Night Songs’. Here she stressed the importance of distinguishing between different parts of speech in the text. Three audience volunteers, representing nouns, verbs, and adjectives, stood with their backs to the singer, and Brady tapped the appropriate one on the shoulder as he went through the song. Again the purpose of the training and its effect were evident.
Baillieu guided Gygli and Silcock, in their approach to Schubert’s ‘Wer nie sein Brot mit Tranen’ by encouraging them to enter into the world of the old harpist with a terrible past. I’m not sure I would agree with his assertion that a Schubert in the 20th century might have become the greatest psychoanalyst, more likely a great case history, but in this context he was making a good point. He also coached soprano, Hannah Crocker, and the Samling Artist pianist, Zany Denyer in their performance of Debussy’s ‘C’est l’extase langoureuse’. For the singer his emphasis was on shaping the words to fit Debussy’s desire for luxury, and on the role of gesture in conveying the sense of the text to the audience. He engaged with the pianist in relation to exact technique in presenting the music to the audience and singer.
This review has focussed on the teachers and teaching. What would be my grading of it? Alpha Plus, Plus, Plus – experienced and knowledgeable professionals passing on their craft to emerging artists in the best and friendliest fashion. What about the singers, the music, the programme and the venue? Each piece was prefaced by a brief account of it by a singer and then sung – to my mind beautifully - but I then could see how the masterclass procedure delivered improvement. The afternoon concluded with a rollicking rendition of Verdi’s drinking song from ‘La Traviata’ the ‘Brindisi’ by all the singers, first men, then women, then all together, accompanied by the two young pianists duetting. I was tempted to stand and cheer which I usually don’t do! Samling Artists at this stage are promising young professionals. All of them, singers and pianists, are people to watch and listen to with great enjoyment as they go forward in their careers The venue, a Berwickshire great house just off one of my regular cycle rides, is superb, though only reachable along single track roads. That splendid organization, the Samling Institute, has brought off another triumph on the basis of a week long residence culminating in a master class. In a conversation with two audience members in the break – excellent coffee, tea and cakes – I said that what I could do was review the experience and that is what I have done.
To find out more about the Samling Institute and details of future performances see their website here.
Cover photo: (c) Mark Pinder Photography
