Although I would like to hear Christiane Karg sing Susanna, Pamina or Musetta – three of the roles she has performed in her young career in her native Germany – the loyal Edinburgh recital audience was understandably more than happy to be present for her debut lieder recital.
A programme that looked almost recklessly diverse – Strauss, Faure, Debussy, Poulenc, Brahms and Berg – turned out to be meticulously designed in a manner that matched her superb singing. Reaching out to her audience (literally) from the start, Karg is an expressive stylist, but one with elegant dynamic control. In Strauss's floral songs she was letting us in on a secret as often as she revealed a drama. The floral theme – echoed in the skirt of her green dress – continued in the French sequence, for which Karg turned coquettish, showed equal facility with the language, and displayed utter command of tempo in partnership with the ever-excellent Malcolm Martineau, Debussy's Verlaine settings leading straight into Poulenc's Fleurs. It was the most modern song in the programme, but what had already been a clever route-work was to continue just as fascinatingly after the interval.
Adding an after-dark tone to the flower lyrics, the all-German second half saw her playful in Brahms covering two decades, and conversational in late Strauss (from 1918) that preceded earlier, but more contemporary Alban Berg. These Seven Early Songs were not published until a decade later than the Strauss Brentano settings, and are short but beautifully crafted and not a million miles from Broadway.
Thematically as well as musically, this was an exquisite journey, but it would be a pleasure to follow Ms Karg pretty much anywhere.
HHHHH
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