thu 28/03/2024

Iestyn Davies, Richard Egarr Wigmore Hall | reviews, news & interviews

Iestyn Davies, Richard Egarr Wigmore Hall

Iestyn Davies, Richard Egarr Wigmore Hall

An extraordinary celebration of homegrown talent

Not a lot of swooning goes on at the Wigmore Hall. Nor does it seem the kind of institution to endorse rapturous wailing, beating of the breast, or the throwing of either flowers or underwear. All of which leaves one with the problem of how to respond appropriately to a concert such as last night’s by Richard Egarr and countertenor Iestyn Davies. Decorous applause doesn’t quite seem to cut it when faced with such a joyous abundance of talent, and I’d have endured any amount of plague and/or restrictive corsetry for an authentic 18th-century atmosphere in which to experience this ecstatic evening of music.

Ferrari; Kapsberger; Cesti; Merula – hardly a big-name line-up, but a programme that offered a real insiders guide to the backstreets of Baroque. Curated impeccably, with each composer represented by unusual or particularly distinctive works, it was only in the second half (and encore) that we were allowed to return to more familiar ground with Porpora, Vivaldi and Handel.

Italian Court musician Benedetto Ferrari, represented by the plaintive song "Voglio di vita uscir" and cantata Queste pungenti spine, proved himself a rival to Purcell in his fondness for a good ground bass. Strumming and spilling over the harpsichord as though he were playing jazz piano, Egarr (pictured below) took Ferrari’s harmonic skeletal accompaniments and endowed them with flesh of as many shaded a richness as a Tintoretto saint. Heedless of such intrusions as time signatures or barlines, yet without ever losing connection to his singer, Egarr vamped his way around the harpsichord in a manner that would have been downright indecent had it not been so inescapably musical a response to Ferrari’s harmonic quirks.

Then there was Davies. Posing a real threat to the supremacy of Daniels, Scholl, Jaroussky and the like, this young British countertenor has been quietly building up his reputation both at home and internationally, and is now a rounded performer of serious heft. His is not the most distinctive of voices, and this in the best possible way. While a Purcell song sung by Scholl requires a layered listening process – a rather effortful peeling back of the Scholl to get to the Purcell underneath – with Davies there is such innate musicality and flexibility as to efface itself into the repertoire. The result is assured, with a generosity to its authority that needs not demand attention.

RichardEgarr011WEBGiovanni Kapsberger’s "Figlio dormi" together with Tarquinio Merula’s "Canzonetta spirituale sopra alla nanna" represented the evening’s quota of lullabies, yet couldn’t have been in greater contrast. The Kapsberger was an exquisitely drawn-out affair, complete with extended harpsichord episodes and opportunity for both musicians to vie for the beauty of their embellishments. The Merula made for rather less comfortable listening; with its insistent rocking rhythms and chromatic modality, the effect was sinister, a bizarre parody of the traditionally female genre of the cradle song subverted and distorted by the androgynous countertenor voice. Glorious, in an oddly Britten-esque way.

There was little in the more familiar dramatic cantatas of the second half to rival the concert’s unexpected opening section, but both “Mi far Barbara” from Porpora’s Oh se fosse il mio core and "Cor ingato despietato" from Vivaldi’s Pianti, sospiri offered splendid showcases to Davies's hitherto underused coloratura. His lightness of tone (which somehow still remains fully supported) flits its way with comfortable ease around even the most awkward of patterns, and the move away from the score also allowed his dramatic skills to emerge more clearly, displaying none of the physical awkwardness that seems to blight so many of our younger British singers.

Punctuating both halves were solos for Egarr: a Frescobaldi Capriccio and Handel’s Suite in D minor. While the former was as charming as it was disposable, the latter offered a rather more substantial challenge, growing through its movements (particularly the Air with its five variations) until it reached a sonority of organ-like breadth. Undeniably skilled in the manipulations of filigree counterpoint and embellishment it is in the bigger gestures that Egarr proves his quality, framing the details within an architecture of Palladian control and harmony.

With encores “Furibondo spira il vento” from Partenope and a shamelessly lovely "She Moved Through the Fair" (a token Irish number in honour of Wigmore director John Gilhooly, whose 10th-anniversary concert this was) with improvised harpsichord accompaniment, there was nothing left to be desired. Glorious music, well researched and performed with no less love than skill; the days of audiences swooning and shouting for their operatic idols may be past, but just a little of the 18th-century swagger remains in these two supreme performers.

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