Episode 282. Janet Baker @ 91
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How can it even be that our beloved Janet Baker is turning 90 today? I have been so moved by all the tributes pouring in and I feel compelled to add my humble wishes to all the others.
Last year while perusing the bins at Academy Records in New York, I came across an obscure live LP of Janet Baker that made me gasp in surprise and delight: her New York song recital debut at Town Hall on December 2, 1966, which featured works of Mozart, Schubert, Fauré, Duparc, and Berlioz, all composers central to her repertoire. This appearance was the capstone of her first New York season, which had already included a performance with the Melos Ensemble of vocal chamber music at Hunter College; concert performances of Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (which starred in the title role the flaming Greek comet Elena Souliotis), and the title role in Handel’s Serse. At the end of her first New York season came this, her first full Liederabend in New York City. Janet Baker is heard in her youthful prime and reveals herself, not at all surprisingly to those who had already begun collecting her early commercial recordings, to be a singer touched by the divine fire. The recording also serves as a sound document of the exceptional artistic partnership between Baker and the pianist Martin Isepp (who was also the son of her voice teacher Helena Isepp, who was also the teacher of Heather Harper, whom we heard last week on her own Countermelody episode). Today’s episode was originally released a year ago for my Patreon supporters, and, because this recital has never received as wide a release as some of Baker’s other live concerts, it is a particular hono(u)r and joy to present it to you today as we celebrate her 91 years on this earth.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Town Hall Recital, New York debut, December 2, 1966
Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano
Martin Isepp, pianist
I
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Vado, ma dove?, K. 583
Parto, parto (La clemenza di Tito)
II
Franz Schubert: Heimliches Lieben, D. 922 (text Caroline Louise von Klencke)
Abendröte, D. 690 (text Friedrich von Schlegel)
Der Sieg, D. 805 (text Johann Mayrhofer)
Abendstern, D. 806 (text Johann Mayrhofer)
Auflösung, D. 807 (text Johann Mayrhofer)
Gondelfahrer, D. 809 (text Johann Mayrhofer)
III
Henri Duparc: Au pays où se fait la guerre (text Théophile Gautier)
Soupir (text Sully Prudhomme)
Hector Berlioz: Two songs from Les nuits d’été, Op. 7 (texts Théophile Gautier)
I. Villanelle
VI. L’île inconnue
IV
Gabriel Fauré: Après un rêve, Op. 7/1 (text Romand Bussine)
Les roses d’Ispahan, Op. 39/4 (text Leconte de Lisle)
Fleur jetée, Op. 39/2 (text Armand Silvestre)
Aurore, Op. 39/1 (text Armand Silvestre)
Notre amour, Op. 23/2 (text Armand Silvestre)
Encores (introduced by Janet Baker)
Franz Schubert: An die Musik, D. 547 (text Franz von Schober)
Johannes Brahms: Das Mädchen spricht, Op. 107/3 (text Otto Friedrich Gruppe)
Gabriel Fauré: Chanson d’amour, Op. 27/1 (text Armand Silvestre)
