A rich sophistication of thought running through this programme that seems worlds away from the typical debut recital: Awakenings from Laurence Kilsby & Ella O’Neill

Awakenings: Brahms, Saint-Saens, Wolf, Schoenberg, Stenhamer, Rebecca Clarke, Prokofiev, Hugh Wood, Jake Heggie, Weill, Britten: Laurence Kilsby, Ella O’Neill; AVI Music
Reviewed 15 July 2024

An intriguing & eclectic programme full of disturbing elements complemented by performances of remarkable maturity enlightened with the dark, burnished tones of Kilsby’s voice

On this disc from tenor Laurence Kilsby and pianist Ella O’Neill on AVI Music (in co-production with SWR Kultur), under the title Awakenings we are presented with a programme that moves from Brahms to Saint-Saens, to Wolf, to Schoenberg, to Stenhamer, to Rebecca Clarke, to Wolf, to Prokofiev, to Hugh Wood, to Jake Heggie, to Weill, to Schoenberg, to Britten, to Clarke to Heggie. It is quite an eclectic mix, yet the songs are drawn together under quite a sophisticated theme. As Kilsby explains, “There is an idea that the darkest, most lustful and impulsive versions of ourselves stem from our innocence being corrupted. This idea forms the basis of this programme through its sub-themes of inexperience, naivety and corruption.“

There is a rich sophistication of thought running through this programme that seems worlds away from the typical debut recital. For a start, few of the songs are well-known and few pop up in the recitals of young singers. Also, having chosen such a surprising and questioning subject for the recital, Kilsby and O’Neill bring it off with poise, sophistication and real depth. There is a burnished darkness to Kilsby’s tone, that really suits the music, and his performances have a questing thoughtfulness that real impresses. 

This is not a lyric tenor that settles for singing familiar Schubert or 20th century English lyrics. Instead we have an examination of the darkness of the human soul, as in each song Kilsby and O’Neill cast their questing eyes deep. The songs form something of an arc, from youth to experience, from the sixteen-year-old youths in Saint-Saens’ La Coccinelle and Wolf’s Der Knabe und das Immlein to the performers reimagining Jake Heggie’s Animal Passion as an exemplar of older experience. Towards the end of the recital comes Britten’s Canticle 1, My beloved is mine, with its portrayal of a deeper, developed yet passionate relationship.

Two of Schoenberg’s Brettl-Lieder succeed in combining a cabaret feel with a far more sinister undertow, whilst Stenhammer’s Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklungs möte is far less demonstrative yet still remarkably disturbing. This sense of disturbing undertones continues with Rebecca Clarke’s The Sea Man which receives a remarkably mature and complex performance, bringing out the different threads in the song.

Prokofiev’s Trust Me (from Five Poems, Op. 23) is remarkable for its combination of mystical lyricism and expressionism, a far cry from what we expect Prokofiev to sound like and Kilsby has great fun in the way he stretches the line out over O’Neill’s shimmering piano. Hugh Wood’s Robert Graves setting, Horizon sees Kilsby’s rather knowing narrator unfold a story over a quasi-habanera. It is an enormously confident performance of a sophisticated song and makes you hope the two will record the whole of Wood’s Wild Cyclamen from which it comes. Jake Heggie’s Snake (from his cycle Eve-Song) has parallels with the Wood, but Heggie mixes in a jazzy style that Kilsby has real fun with.

Weill’s Complainte de la Seine is finely sung, but with that dark burnished tone and a feel for the words bringing a lovely undertow to the song. Though written for the French stage, this is a real song deserving of the sort of adult treatment it gets here. The early Schoenberg song, Schenk mir dinen goldenen Kamm has a wonderfully expressive expressionist lyricism to it, so much so that my first thought was, was that Schoenberg?

Britten’s Fish in the unruffled lakes gets a finely poised performance, though here I would have ideally liked more crispness to the declamation of the text. With My beloved is mine, Kilsby unfolds the vocal line with considered ecstasy over O’Neill’s poised piano. They don’t rush and manage to seem effortlessly flowing whilst allowing lots of space. The penultimate song is more Rebecca Clarke, a darkly intense and vivid account of her terrific Tiger, Tiger. We end with the second Jake Heggie, Animal Passion with the two performers really having fun with this jazzy telling of a disturbing story.

The booklet includes Kilsby’s enlightening introduction and O’Neill’s informative notes about each song, but there are only texts in the original languages, you have to explore the links provided to get translations.

As I have said, this is far more than an impressive debut disc, there is something sophisticated and very mature about both Kilsby and O’Neill’s programme and performances. I loved it, and I can’t wait to hear what they do next.

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) – Unbewegte laue Luft (8 Lieder and songs Op. 57) (1871) [04:02]

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) – La Coccinelle (1868) [02:16]

HUGO WOLF (1860-1903) – Der Knabe und das Immlein (Mörike-Lieder) [03:13]

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG (1874-1951) – Mahnung (Brettl-Lieder) (1901) [03:35]
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG – Galathea (Brettl-Lieder) (1901) [03:24]

Wilhelm Stenhammer (1871-1927) – Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklungs möte (2 Songs from ‘Idyll and epigram’, Op. 4) (1893)  [05:27]

REBECCA CLARKE (1886-1979) – The Seal Man (1922) [05:48]

HUGO WOLF – Nimmersatte Liebe (Mörike-Lieder) [02:19]

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) – Trust me (Five Poems, Op. 23) (1915) [02:44]

HUGH WOOD (1932-2021) – Horizon (Wild Cyclamen, Op. 49) (2005/2006) [02:59]

JAKE HEGGIE (*1961) – Snake (Eve-Song) (1996) [03:19]

KURT WEIL (1900-1950) – Complainte de la Seine (1934) [04:47]

ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG – Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm, (4 Songs Op. 2) (1899) [03:45]

BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976) – Fish in the unruffled lakes, (Six Auden Settings) (1938/rev. 1942/43) [02:34]
BENJAMIN BRITTEN – My beloved is mine (Canticle I, Op. 40) (1947) [08:48]

REBECCA CLARKE – Tiger, Tiger (1933) [04:21]

JAKE HEGGIE – Animal Passion (Natural Selection) (1997) [03:44]
Laurence Kilsby (tenor)
Ella O’Neill (piano)
Recorded July 2023, SWR Hans-Robaud-Studio, Baden-Baden
AVI MUSIC 4866025 1CD [67:14]