Miriam Allan and Ironwood
Finely tuned and utterly lovely
City Recital Hall, Sydney Monday 6th April
IT IS hard to imagine an ugly sound ever coming from Miriam Allan. Even if she were yelling at the dog, it would be sweet and persuasive. Singing Purcell and Handel, the noise she makes is consistently lovely. So lovely that it is almost a relief when she takes up the microphone and cracks a couple of jokes about last week's power outages, which were responsible for this concert being rescheduled. She is human, after all.
Miriam Allan and Ironwood, an ensemble of some of Australia's leading baroque specialists, have been touring Australia for Musica Viva with a program celebrating the music of Henry Purcell (born 1659) and George Frideric Handel (died 1759).
It is a finely tuned offering, in every sense of the word. The first half is a beautifully constructed medley of Purcell's theatre, dance and vocal music, full of the theatrical spirit of the masque. Fairest Isle from King Arthur is delivered with warmth and a stately lilt, the chaconne from The Fairy Queen drives the action forward with infectious enthusiasm, and in Music For A While Allan creeps in, reedy and mysterious, before letting the richer tones of her voice resonate.
Throughout the proceedings the classy continuo team of Kirsty McCahon on bass, Neal Peres Da Costa on harpsichord and Daniel Yeadon on viola da gamba provide the musical lifeblood of rhythm and bass.
The second half is all Handel's, starting with a seamless performance of his Trio Sonata in G Major, Op. 5 No. 4, followed by Silete Venti. Despite this being a sacred cantata, the performers maintain a strong sense of drama; Allen's first utterance, "Silete" or "silence", is arresting, while the aria Date serta fades tantalisingly to nothing. It is only in the final Alleluia that Allan unleashes a few overtly virtuosic flourishes: the entire concert has been a display of vocal and instrumental virtuosity, but the standard of perfection is so consistent that it never draws attention to itself. This is setting a high bar indeed.
Sydney Morning Herald 8 April 2009
Reviewer: Harriet Cunningham
Miriam Allan & Ironwood
Melbourne Recital Centre, Saturday 28th March
What a sensuous and spiritual treat to be ensconced in the new Melbourne Recital Centre with its fine acoustics, listening to these young but virtuoso exponents of baroque music perform works by Purcell and Handel.
The timber-lined Elisabeth Murdoch Hall has been designed with chamber music in mind, and the experience of listening to soprano Miriam Allan and the seven-piece chamber ensemble Ironwood was intimate and intense. The instrumentalists are all Australian musicians, who have worked here and overseas and have performed together as Ironwood since 2006. Miriam Allan is also Australian, born in Newcastle, and has been developing her remarkable voice, initially as a protégé of Dame Emma Kirkby, in England and Europe. Their Melbourne concerts are part of a national tour, a homecoming for Allan, who has worked with every member of Ironwood on various projects.
The first half of the programme consisted of a unique selection of songs and dances by Purcell (1659-1695), most of them from his semi-operas The Fairy Queen, The Indian Queen and King Arthur. The selection imitated a masque, or ceremonial entertainment, typical of the composer’s time. Purcell’s secular songs were mostly composed for plays but, on the whole, only the songs have survived. Allan’s interpretation spanned a variety of emotions, and the acoustic qualities of the hall allowed her and the players to drop back at times to the barest pianissimo.
Allan’s voice is light, eminently suited to the chamber format, with a clear and ringing higher register but with an emotional depth and warmth that reaches across to the audience. The ensemble of two violins (Rachael Beesley and Julia Fredersdorff), viola (Nicole Forsyth), double bass (Kirsty McCahon), oboe (Kirsten Barry), cello and viola da gamba (Daniel Yeadon), organ and harpsichord (Neal Peres Da Costa), played with obvious enjoyment, fine musicality and in perfect balance.
The musicians are all early music specialists and use gut strings on period and modern instruments. Daniel Yeadon played a viola da gamba for Purcell and a cello for the Handel. Neal Peres da Costa played a small organ and an exquisite eighteenth century French double manual harpsichord.
The second half was devoted to the music of Handel, firstly the instrumental Trio Sonata, which Ironwood played with great dynamics, and lastly the cantata Silete Venti, a sacred piece sung in Latin. Allan returned to the stage for this work and made a dramatic vocal entry in the first recitative: Silence, winds! Her voice was assured, with exquisite passages of coloratura in the arias and a joyous sense of reverence. The ensemble played with equal passion and intricacy.
An encore was demanded and Allan introduced it with charm and self-deprecation. It was ‘her’ song, allocated by her father: Handel’s Miriam’s Tuneful Voice!
Australian Stage Review 30 March 2009
Reviewer: Carol Middleton
Miriam Allan & Ironwood
Adelaide Town Hall, Thursday 26th March
SOPRANO Miriam Allan, instrumental septet Ironwood, music by Purcell and Handel and the Adelaide Town Hall - all made for each other.
Allan's voice, sweet, pure, childlike in its flexibility, with just the merest touch of vibrato, is the perfect vehicle for baroque music.
Over a full hour of Purcell songs and dances, largely drawn from his operas and masques, Ironwood's Rachael Beesley and Julia Fredersdorff (violins), Nicole Forsyth (viola), Kirsty McMahon (double bass) Daniel Yeadon (cello, gamba), Neal Peres Da Costa (harpsichord, chamber organ) and Kirsten Barry (Baroque oboe, recorders) were as one.
Action and intimacy alternated in a program so carefully planned, so beautifully performed, so authoritatively delivered even the audience obeyed every signal
Music for a While wrenched both the soul and the gut and Fairest Isle, Dryden's salute to England in better times, sparkled especially brightly in a glittering spread of jewels.
Then it was Handel's turn to be celebrated. Ironwood took every trick played by this eminently tricky composer in his Trio Sonata in G minor op 5 No. 4, five movements related to popular dance forms.
Although his cantata Silete Venti is textually sacred, the fine print and the music are frankly secular. With utmost good taste, Allan occasionally let fly with a spectacular vocal ornament, as if bubbling over with happiness.
The encore must be noted. Allan learnt Oh Had I Jubals' Lyre from Handel's oratorio Joshua when she was just nine.
The Advertiser 31 March 2009
Reviewer: Elizabeth Silsbury
Purcell and Handel in Harmony
Llewellyn Hall, ANU, Canberra, 12 March 2009
Soprano Miriam Allan and the Ironwood ensemble performed works by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) and Geroge Frideric Handel (1685-1759). The first half of the concert was a collection of Purcell's songs - he was a master of the genre. They are beautifully balances: consonance and dissonance, light and shade, and the parts within the ensemble are all in elegant proportion. Allan's voice was lovely, crisp and clear, with a briliant upper register. The second half was all Handel, and began with Ironwood playing the Trio Sonata in G major. It was fantastic - this ensemble is quite something.
Music has to move forward, to draw you along with it. In baroque music this is done with a particular emphasis on harmony (rather than melody). So the performance of this style is all about weight, landing on the harmonies to give emphasis and provide the music with a sense of dynamism. Ironwood are, to say the least, very good at it. Their level of communication was also a joy to watch - particularly between cellist Daniel Yeadon and harpsichordist-extraordinaire Neal Peres Da Costa. This continued with Allan's return for Handel's Silete Venti.
The evening ended with the encore Oh! had I Jubel's lyre from Handel's Joshua - the words appropriately continue, "or Miriam's tuneful voice". It was performed beautifully.
The Canberra Times 19 March 2009
Reviewer: Harry White