Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 things to know about VSO's Measha Brueggergosman Sings Mahler
The acclaimed Canadian soprano performs in a virtual concert that also features work by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Measha Brueggergosman reinterprets works by everyone from Erik Satie to Nina Simone to Gustav Mahler.
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra presents Measha Brueggergosman Sings Mahler via TheConcertHall.ca April 3 at 7:30 pm PDT. It will remain online for the remainder of the season.
ONE OF THE most powerful and versatile voices in Canada, Measha Brueggergosman reinterprets works by everyone from Erik Satie to Nina Simone. Measha Brueggergosman Sings Mahler is the title of Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s new virtual concert, pre-recorded at the Orpheum Theatre and premiering April 3.
On the program are selections from Gustav Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Lieder from the Youth’s Magic Horn), which had its world premiere in Wien, Germany, in 1905.
The VSO will also perform Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Four Novelletten for String Orchestra, Op.52. Here are five things to know before taking in extraordinary pieces on your own couch.
Mahler set 14 German folk and nursery songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Lieder from the Youth’s Magic Horn) to music over a period of almost ten years while he was also working on symphonies. He’s credited for sparking interest in a musical genre that was uncommon at the time: the humorous ballad-like orchestra lied, a lyrical German art song for solo voice.
Some of the songs in Des Knaben Wunderhorn were written for children, but don’t let that make you think they’re all fun and frolic. “Even in these songs, we soon notice a new tone, a tone in which mischievousness alternates with vicious satire, lending these songs a hidden depth and ensuring that they are by no means as naïve or straightforward as they otherwise seem,” notes the Hampsong Foundation. “The folk-like design of many of them is merely the basis on which Mahler expends his playful humour with positively virtuosic skill.”
Brueggergosman, who’s based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, is artist-in-residence at Opera Atelier, a Toronto opera and ballet company that focuses on the Baroque era. However, she is intent on proving her vocal prowess is not limited to operatic scores. Last year, during the pandemic, she released Measha Jazz, an album in honour of 20th-century Black vocalists such as Simone and Sarah Vaughan, imbued with everything from funk and gospel to blues and Francophone folk. Dedicating the album to her father, Brueggergosman—a self-described born-again Christian, quality-coffee advocate, and Foodie (with a capital F)—put out weekly tracks for free download. “I’m essentially returning this album to its Source,” she says on her website. “This is my offering. And I offer it with joy and thanksgiving, with the humble prayer that all who fall under the sound of this album’s tracks would be prompted to SERVE OTHERS with whatever is at your fingertips.”
The program begins with Coleridge-Taylor’s Four Novelletten for Strings and Percussion, Op. 52, written in 1903: No. 1 in A Major- Allegro Moderato; No. 2 in C Major – Larghetto; No. 3 in A minor – Valse: Andante con moto; and No. 4 in D Major – Allegro molto.
Born in Victorian England in 1875, he was the son of an English woman, Alice Martin, and Daniel Taylor, a doctor originally from Sierra Leone, who was studying medicine in the U.K. Taylor’s African roots can be traced back to a group of freed slaves who remained loyal to the British crown throughout the American revolutionary war. Facing racial prejudice, Taylor later returned to Africa and had no further contact with his wife and child. Samuel’s mother named her son after Samuel Taylor-Coleridge, the British poet whose works she adored.
Coleridge-Taylor went on to become a renowned violinist, conductor, composer, and professor who championed the music of marginalized people.
“The Four Novelletten for strings (further enhanced by colourful percussion effect) date from the early 1900s and provide a wonderful example of his melodic and harmonic invention within a dancing European framework,” notes the VSO.
This concert is being dedicated to Ronald Laird Cliff, a businessman, philanthropist, and member of the Order of Canada who continues to be a supporter of the VSO after 65 years. “Ron’s leadership and philanthropy [have] helped guide and transform the VSO, and shape it into the success story it is today,” the VSO says.
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