Wednesday’s concert in the RBA was a challenging programme of song by contemporary women composers presented by soprano Ariane Cossette and pianist Brian Cho.  Kaija Saariaho’s Quatre instants sets four related poems by Amin Maalouf.  In some ways it’s in the same sort of psychological space as their L’amour de loin; love at a distance, love requited and unrequited, love sensual and quasi-spiritual, but musically it’s very different.  It’s much more abrasive and (mostly) less lyrical.  Sometimes its really busy and quite angry.  It’s also very, very complex and often quite loud, demanding great skill and stamina from both performers.  The piano part features loads of trills and arpeggiation and the vocal line has awkward intervals and even screaming.  It was handled really well.

Cecilia Livingston’s three movement cycle Salt Air is less demanding for both performers and audience.  Each poem (by Duncan McFarlane and the composer) tells the story of one of the women in Homer’s Odyssey from her point of view.  So in “Calypso” we get a lyrical, even jazzy, lament by the nymph for the departed hero.  By contrast “Circe” is quite tongue-in-cheek with the sorceress expressing her contempt for men as merely what they eat and fit only to be beasts, while “Penelope” asks what love means during a long separation.  It’s elegiac but also surprisingly joyful in mood as the queen remembers her “darling boy”.  Fine performances again with perhaps a little less obvious strain!

Finally, Jodi Goble’s short, ecstatic setting of Emily Dickinson’s “Wild nights! Wild nights!” from Valentines from Amherst.  A bit of a lollipop at the end of a demanding recital.  It’s great to see our young musicians up for the challenge of presenting such complex and difficult material.

Photo credit: The Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre