Music / “Persons of Interest”, Christina Wilson, mezzo-soprano and  Alan Hicks, piano. At Wesley Music Centre, April 3. Reviewed by LEN POWER.

IN Art Song Canberra’s latest concert, “Persons of Interest”, mezzo-soprano Christina Wilson and pianist Alan Hicks took us on a journey back through time. 

Many art songs have been written about figures real and imaginary, from myth and legend and from history and literature and the concert focused on a number of these.

Characters such as Orpheus, King David, Desdemona, Mignon and many others have been inspirational to composers over the centuries including Franz Schubert, Joseph Haydn, Edward Elgar, Arthur Sullivan, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Richard Rodney Bennett and others.

“Orpheus with His Lute” by Arthur Sullivan, set to the text by William Shakespeare from his play, “Henry The Eighth”, was the first item in the program. 

Christina Wilson sang it with great sensitivity, the warmth of her rich mezzo-soprano voice and her clear diction took the audience deep into the sweeping imagery of the song.

As the concert progressed, Wilson sang other musical settings of the same “Orpheus” text by composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ivor Gurney. It was fascinating to compare the approach to this text by these very different composers.

There were sets of songs by Franz Schubert including three Mignon songs, “A Garland for Marjory Fleming” by Richard Rodney Bennett to a text written by an eight-year-old girl, “The Shepherd” by Nigel Butterley to words by William Blake, songs for texts by William Shakespeare and others.

It’s very difficult to come up with highlights at a Christina Wilson concert as she sings everything with such skill and beauty. In addition, she has the dramatic ability to create the characters she is singing, adding an extra dimension to the songs. She and Alan Hicks work so well together, the results are simply sublime.

There was, though, one song that really stood out from the others because it was sung unaccompanied by Wilson. It was “The Singer”, composed by Michael Head to a text by Bronnie Taylor. This haunting song was a magnificent showcase for the purity of Wilson’s voice and the skill of her vocal technique.

Once again, Christina Wilson and Alan Hicks produced a concert of great quality that was highly entertaining. The near capacity audience’s appreciation of their work was evident by the enthusiastic applause at the end of the show.