'In Her Voice' Art Song Settings of Women Poets.
- Apr 20
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 21
I am always on the look out for unusual Art Song repertoire, so was particularly excited to come across the CD ‘In Her Voice’ (Art Song Settings of Women Poets) by American soprano Emily Truckenbrod and her regular collaborative pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng. Of the seven composers represented here I had only heard of one, Muriel Herbert (1897-1984), who studied at the Royal College of Music with Stanford and left a large body of song compositions in a very attractive English pastoral style. A setting of Enid Clay’s poem ‘Crimson Rose’ establishes a mood of gentle adoration:
God set a crimson rose upon your mouth
And placed a singing bird within your throat
But your soft petals for a while have drooped
The bird has hushed her note.
Dear heart for you the crimson rose
once more shall blossom,
And the bird's note call again,
For love will crown them both,
and touch your lips,
That only your glad singing shall remain.
Lori Laitman (b. 1955) is an American woman composer of some eminence, so I feel ashamed I had not heard her work before. ‘Between the Bliss and Me’, three settings of Emily Dickinson, contains music suitably epigrammatic in style, with wisps of melody in the vocal line weaving in and out of the flowing accompaniment, as in ‘I could not prove’
I could not prove the Years had feet—
Yet confident they run
Am I, from symptoms that are past
And Series that are done—
I find my feet have further Goals—
I smile upon the Aims
That felt so ample—Yesterday—
Today’s—have vaster claims—
I do not doubt the self I was
Was competent to me—
But something awkward in the fit—
Proves that—outgrown—I see—
The most substantial work in the programme is Celius Dougherty’s ‘Eglantine and Ivy – Eight Songs from the Portuguese’ settings of poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (her husband, Robert Browning, called her ‘The Portuguese’ because of her dark colouring). These songs are very serious settings of very serious poems and do not always reveal their beauties easily (they resemble the songs of Max Reger and Hans Pfitzner in this regard and like these will amply repay close acquaintance over time). Having said that, ‘Beloved Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers’ is immediately attractive, as is the setting of Sonnet XX ‘Beloved my Beloved when I think’, which is particularly fine. Celius Dougherty (1902-1986) an American composer far better known in the USA than in Britain, also had a notable career as a pianist, accompanying several singers including the great bass Alexander Kipnis, who happens to be my favourite singer. This work obviously means a great deal to Emily Truckenbrod as she prepared a modern performing edition and here gives its World premiere recording. She proves a most worthy advocate.
Eric Funk (b. 1949) provides a simple but moving setting of Sara Teasdale’s simple bit moving poem ‘Let it be you’.
Let it be you who lean above me
On my last day,
Let it be you who shut my eyelids
Forever and aye.
Say a "Goodnight" as you have said it
All of these years,
With the old look, with the old whisper
And without tears.
You will know then all that in silence
You always knew,
Though I have loved, I loved no other
As I loved you.
More ambitious, but still accessible, are Eric Ewazen’s ‘Three Lyrics of Edna St. Vincent Millay’. Millay is notable in this collection as a poet who lived a full and active (even notorious) life. The majority of the others were reclusive, sickly or both. After a period of neglect and disparagement, Millay’s poetry has again risen in esteem (I hold it in very high regard) and Ewazen’s settings do her full justice. ‘Wraith’ in particular is truly haunting.
"Thin Rain, whom are you haunting,
That you haunt my door?"
—Surely it is not I she's wanting;
Someone living here before—
"Nobody's in the house but me:
You may come in if you like and see."
Thin as thread, with exquisite fingers,—
Have you seen her, any of you?—
Grey shawl, and leaning on the wind,
And the garden showing through?
Glimmering eyes,—and silent, mostly,
Sort of a whisper, sort of a purr,
Asking something, asking it over,
If you get a sound from her.—
Ever see her, any of you?—
Strangest thing I've ever known,—
Every night since I moved in,
And I came to be alone.
"Thin Rain, hush with your knocking!
You may not come in!
This is I that you hear rocking;
Nobody's with me, nor has been!"
Curious, how she tried the window,—
Odd, the way she tries the door,—
Wonder just what sort of people
Could have had this house before . . .
Ella Jarman-Pinto is a contemporary British composer who espouses a radical black feminist artistic agenda. Her setting of Jo Brandon’s ‘Shadow Mother’ is splendidly disturbing and makes me anxious to hear more of her work. She has released an album ‘Lemon Verbena’ which I shall certainly investigate.
You dance with your shadow
as I itch to step closer, merge us again.
One of you stains the wall, all hip and elbow
you dance. With your shadow
present I resent separation, aren’t I your shadow?
You outgrow wall-breadth. To loosen umbilical strain you dance with your shadow
You dance with your shadow
as I itch to step closer, merge us again.
One of you stains the wall, all hip and elbow
you dance. With your shadow
present I resent separation, aren’t I your shadow?
You outgrow wall-breadth. To loosen umbilical strain you dance with your shadow
you dance with your shadow
as I itch to step closer, merge us again.
One of you stains the wall, all hip and elbow you dance. With your shadow.
you dance with your shadow
you dance with your shadow
aren’t I your shadow? aren’t I your shadow?
aren’t I your shadow? aren’t I your shadow?
This stimulating recital concludes with ‘Vestige of a Woman’ settings of Christina Rossetti by Sarah Hutchings (b. 1984). This is an important addition to the many settings of Rossetti’s poems. ‘Song’ (O what comes over the sea?) in particular seems to me an instant classic!
Oh what comes over the sea,
Shoals and quicksands past;
And what comes home to me,
Sailing slow, sailing fast?
A wind comes over the sea
With a moan in its blast;
But nothing comes home to me,
Sailing slow, sailing fast.
Let me be, let me be,
For my lot is cast:
Land or sea all's one to me,
And sail it slow or fast.
Throughout, Emily Truckenbrod is a sensitive and passionate advocate of what might be called ‘sister songs’, an examination of women’s elemental passions. Her high, bright, vibrant voice and intelligent approach to text make her singing a constant pleasure.
Amy I-Lin Cheng plays splendidly, though for my taste her piano sound is not recorded with quite enough prominence– she deserves to be an equal partner. Another slight disappointment is that song texts are not included, although these are all available on-line so this is far from a serious issue. All in all, this is an important recording which deserves the widest possible circulation.
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