United Kingdom Love With out Borders: A Journey in Three Chapters: Aigul Akhmetshina (mezzo-soprano), Jonathan Palmer Lakeland (piano). Milton Courtroom Live performance Corridor, London, 30.9.2026. (CC)
Whereas Bashkir/Tatar (and British citizen, as she proudly reminded us from the stage) mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina’s current Decca disc, Mujer Deadly, with Antonio Pappano on piano, explored the femme fatale and love from a feminine perspective, this recital, rigorously curated by Akhmetshina and Jonathan Palmer Lakeland, shifts the emphasis to Love as an idea and expertise in its numerous kinds. From the idealised love of the Romantics to Broadway and music contemporary off the web page, Akhmetshina and Lakeland took us on a night in three ‘chapters’: Russian track portraying Love in its idealised facet; the second exploring its darker facets of toxicity, hurt, heartbreak and loss, and its repercussions (can we cease ourselves loving once more in consequence?); and at last, love through a brisker, freer perspective.
The primary track, ‘Morning,’ is the second of Rachmaninov’s Six Romances, Op.4 and units M. L. Yonov, who presents a portrait of a radiant world because the Daybreak says to the Day, ‘I really like you’. Vocally, it was the right opening because it begins within the singer’s lowest register – and Akhmetshina’s voice is maximally resonant and safe down there. It acted as a reminder as to simply how big Akhmetshina’s voice is, and the way lyrical she could be. The core of this quick track was fantastically conveyed,
There is no such thing as a Rachmaninov on the Decca disc, so good to listen to some right here, his ‘I Look forward to Thee’ (the primary of a set of 12 Romances, Op.14, textual content M. Davidova). It’s the good complement to ‘Morning’: now, the solar has set, however Nature is once more used as the first metaphor. The protagonist awaits their lover. Akhmetshina was fantastically shaded, dolorous at first, earlier than hope seems through a maximally florid piano half. Lakeland’s tone was skinny, although, heard from simply over midway down the corridor; the piano mentioned Steinway on the aspect, however the precise sound someway didn’t equate.
One other first of a set of Romances subsequent, however now from the pen of Balakirev: ‘I Liked Him’ the fifth of 10 Romances. It’s impressed to incorporate this composer, whose songs deliver a lot pleasure. This one is to a textual content by the short-lived poet Aleksey Vasilievich Koltsov (1808-42, generally referred to as ‘the Russian Robert Burns’), a textual content of incendiary love: ‘I’ve liked him / extra ardently than the day and the hearth’. Balakirev’s line is impulsive, ever aspirational in its ascents towards a glowering piano. The piece incorporates extra contrasts however is not any much less Russian. This can be a terrific track, and Akhmetshina’s sense of emotional warp and weft was faultless (as it’s on her album). Lastly for the primary chapter, Tchaikovsky, his ‘Whether or not the Day Reigns,’ the sixth of seven Romances of 1880, its lengthy piano opening properly performed by Lakeland, Akhmetshina very good in conveying the track’s opening out. This can be a track of fervent devotion (‘All my ideas, emotions, songs and vigour. At all times for you!’), the right crowning of the primary chapter, and positively ecstatic right here.
The second ‘chapter’ opened with a Rimsky-Korsakov track – like Balakirev, we desperately want to listen to extra of this aspect of his output. ‘Captivated by the Rose’ is from his 4 Romances, Op.2 and is one other setting of Koltsov. Its lengthy melismas take is to the world of Sheherazade and Tsar Saltan, all so evocatively delivered by Akhmetshina. It’s really the earliest track of the recital (1866 – the primary group spanned 1880-96) and positively shines with inspiration in its depiction of a forlorn nightingale. The geography shifts magically to Argentine composer Carlos Guastavino’s La rose y el sauce (The Rose and the Willow, 1942) to a poignant textual content by Francisco Silva y Valdés. A weeping willow, this – and the way cleverly the music’s parallels with the earlier track create continuity (the vocal melismatic stay, as an example) whereas the harmonies take us throughout the globe. A shift then to France and a composer maximally related to Akhmetshina: Bizet, right here Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe (to a textual content by Victor Hugo, from his 1829 assortment, Les Orientales). This track of leave-taking is carefully aligned with the musical world of Carmen (that character is Akhmetshina’s signature position) however predates it by practically a decade. Apparently, heard on this context, in mode and manner it’s the French equal to the Guastavino, and unsurprisingly, Akhmetshina was completely in alignment.
… As she was with Weill’s Je ne t’aime pas, the epitome of French cabaret, a track commissioned by French chanteuse and actress Lys Gauty (who additionally commissioned Complainte de la Seine). The track places sing strains with spoken, and Akhmetshina made the many of the contrasts; however there was simply the sensation that she was not utterly in congruence with Weill. She actually was in what was ‘most likely’ the UK premiere of Elena Roussanova’s 2025 track Mujer Deadly (which provides the Decca album its title). The smoky vocal line is encrusted with diamante roulades on the piano. ‘Love is a candy, ferocious poison’ is the primary line; the melody seeks repeatedly to fly, although, to imagine. Roussanova exploits the glory of Akhmetshina’s voice within the aspirational ascents because the protagonist pleads for love to return and keep. The chapter, and the primary half, closed with considered one of Piazzolla’s higher items, Yo soy Maria, during which Lakeland let his hair down (metaphorically and actually, as Akhmetshina’s tidying afterwards attested) through the numerous glissandos. It was a second of pure virtuosity, with Akhmetshina on a parallel crescendo of involvement with the textual content.
We did all want a little bit of an interval after that. Submit-rest, a usually extra up to date take a look at idealised love, with an embedded Rach-and-Tchaik Rückblick: the astonishing melancholy of Rachmaninov’s ‘How Honest This Spot’ (the seventh of 12 Romances, Op.21), Akhmetshina so at dwelling right here on this quietly exultant celebration of Nature as reflection of deity (full with echt-Rach melody within the piano that might nearly come from the Second Piano Concerto), and, from 20 years plus earlier, ‘Softly the Spirit Flew As much as Heaven’ (Op.47/2), to Tolstoy,
The efficiency of Britten’s scrumptious ‘Inform Me the Fact About Reside’ from the Cabaret Songs that opened the second half (and third chapter!) was surprisingly lacklustre from each performers (and included a little bit of a mistaken flip). It’s barely low voltage on the Pappano recording too – and in each, the ‘choosing your nostril’ line loses its impact. Akhmetshina is healthier at Gershwin, for certain: The Man I Love by the Gershwins (Ira wrote the phrases), initially from the 1924 musical comedy Girl Be Good and later Strike Up The Band, however recognized very a lot as a track in its personal proper. This felt nearly symphonic within the stay efficiency (extra so than on Decca). And extra from the Golden Age: Kurt Weill’s ‘Communicate Low,’ from the 1943 Broadway musical, One Contact of Venus.
The piece by Lakeland, The Temple Bell Stops … is a part of an even bigger work in progress for mezzo, choir and orchestra and is the newest piece right here. Tonally-based, a little bit Impressionist, that is an emotionally wide-ranging piece that certainly must be heard within the context of Lakeland’s bigger canvas – though easy but efficient, it felt a little bit overwhelmed, sandwiched between Tchaikovsky and Bernstein. It was this final’s beautiful ‘Someplace’ from West Facet Story which finally put us again on monitor (I say ‘finally’ due to a barely rocky begin from Akhmetshina) earlier than Julie Styne’s Folks, with its extraordinary lyrics by Bob Merrill. A stunning track, and the right finish to a thought-provoking programme.
Clearly, a variety of effort over many months has gone into this programme, and Akhmetshina stays a guiding mild of the up to date vocal panorama. However surprisingly, the night felt a little bit unfinished; not fairly there but. Almost, for certain, however nonetheless as but not totally realised.
Colin Clarke
Rachmaninov – Morning, Op.4/2 (1891); I Look forward to Thee, Op.14/1 (1894); How Honest the Spot, Op.21/7 (1902)
Balakirev – Romances: No.5, I Liked Him (1896)
Tchaikovsky – Whether or not the Day Reigns, Op.47/6 (1880); Softly the Spirit Flew As much as Heaven, Op. 47/2 (1880)
Rimsky-Korsakov – Captivated by the Rose, Op.2/2 (1866)
Guastavino – La rosa y el sauce (1942)
Bizet – Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe (1866)
Weill – Je ne t’aime pas (1934); One Contact of Venus – Communicate Low (1943)
Piazzolla – Maria de Buenes Aires (1968): Yo soy Maria
Britten – Cabaret Songs (1938) – Inform Me The Fact About Love
Gershwin – The Man I Love (1924)
Lakeland – The Temple Bell Stops … (2025)
Bernstein – West Facet Story (1957) – Someplace
Styne – Humorous Lady – Folks (1963)
