Wednesday’s lunchtime recital in the RBA featured Simone Osborne; currently appearing as Norina in Don Pasquale, and pianist Rachael Kerr.  It was a well curated selection of songs apparently, at least partially, inspired by sleep deprivation singer and pianist both have small children!).  There were three sets of four songs.  One in each set was by a Canadian composer backed up by two others that were thematically related.

So the first set featured birds.  Godfrey Ridout’s arrangement of She’s Like The Swallow was supported by Viardot’s Grands oiseaux blancs and Grieg’s “Ein Schwan” from Sex digte af Henrik Ibsen.  It worked.  The Ridout got a reasonably folk song like treatment, the Viardot was dramatic and the Grieg was just beautiful.  A good start.

The second set was more personal and dream themed.  It was anchored by Iman Habibi’s “Lily and Monarch” from the cycle Silent Awakening that Simone commissioned while still a student to mark the passing of her grandfather.  It’s a beautiful and complex piece combining poetry by Housang Vassal rendered into English by Habibi interspersed with text by Simone’s grandfather in Farsi.  Really quite touching.  It was bookended by Sibelius’ “Var det en dröm” from 5 Songs and Berlioz’ “Le spectre de la rose” from Les nuits d’été.

Sticking with the personal, the third set was anchored by Ian Cusson’s “Dodo, mon tout petit” composed for the 2017 revival at the COC of Harry Somers’ Louis Riel and sung by Simone in that production.  it’s a lovely piece and it was sung beautifully.  The theme of motherhood was extended by Schumann’s bouncy “An meinem Herzen” from Frauenliebe und Leben and some proper Strauss singing in “Wiegenlied” from the Fünf Lieder.

And so, appropriately foir a last set, to parting with Debussy’s langorous “C’est l’extase langoureuse” from Ariettes oubliées.  Following that, Bellini’s “La ricordanza” from Quattro sonetti was given the proper bel canto treatment (of course).  And so we were up to seven languages for eleven songs (the Grieg being in the German not the Norwegian version).  And then the last number on the programme; Cecilia Livingston’s jazzy Parting.  It’s a complex and compelling piece to a text by Janey Lew that seems determined to demonstrate the insignificance of human existence (fair enough really!).  It was a really good performance especially by Rachael on this one.  The encore was John Greer’s arrangement of Allister McGilvary’s Song for the Mira; redolent of Canadian summer that was, apparently, finally making an appearance in Toronto.

It was a cleverly constructed recital with lots of variety and continuous interest; maybe leaning more to the dramatic than the philosophical (from Simone… really?).  And it was all very well sung and played and Simone’s language skills were impressive (at least so far as I can judge…  My Farsi isn’t so great).  A very pleasant way to spend a lunchtime.

Photo credit: Karen E. Reeves