Last updated: 13 June 2011
The third Song Prize recital took place in the New Theatre, Cardiff on Monday 13 June.
View a photo gallery from recital three.
Andrei Bondarenko - Ukraine
Accompanist: LlÅ·r Williams
V molchan'ji nochi taynoy (Op 4 No 3) - Rakhmaninov
In this setting of a poem by Afanasy Afanas'yevich Fet, translated as 'In the silence of the night', the poet remembers the beloved's smile, her voice, her hair, things he has said to her. He will try to forget them, then bring them to his mind again. Eventually, he will awaken the night, calling her name.
Nebbie - Respighi
'Mists' is a setting of words by Ada Negri. The singer watches, suffering, cold and alone, as the mists rise across the silent plain. Crows are cawing, tree branches sway, as the broken-hearted poet laments his loneliness.
Zur Rosenzeit (Op 48 No 5) - Grieg
The poet sings to the wilting roses, an allegory for his dying love affair. He remembers the days when love was young and hope sprang in his heart. The text is by Goethe, based on 'Wehmut' (Melancholy) from the Singspiel 'Erwin und Elmire'.
Chanson à boire (Don Quichotte à Dulcinée No 3) - Ravel
This is a merry Spanish dance, the 'jota', in which Don Quixote toasts the joys and pleasures of drinking. What's the use of a woman, he says, if she frowns on your drinking. Good wine makes you laugh like a boy.
Oj ty, divcyno zarucenaia - Kos-Anatolsky
The poet addresses his fiancée, whose heart is as prickly as blackthorn and whose words are as sharp as a razor. Her eyes shine so much that they set his heart on fire.
Susanne Braunsteffer - Germany
Accompanist: Gary Matthewman
Nuit d'étoiles - Debussy
The poet is full of melancholy under the starry skies, as he remembers his dead lover. He hears her soul in the dreamy forest; he stands by their fountain and sees her blue eyes in the water and the stars. The poem is by Théodore de Banville.
Mondnacht (Op 39 No 5) - Schumann
In this nocturne, the sky seems to kiss the earth, the breeze rustles through the fields and the forest, and the soul flies home across the land. The poem is by Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff.
Kennst du das Land? (Op 79 No 29) - Schumann
This is the sad song of Mignon, from Goethe's book Wilhelm Meister which inspired many settings by composers as diverse as Schumann, Schubert, Ambroise Thomas, Wolf and Tchaikovsky. Mignon sings of her longing for her homeland of lemon blossoms, the bright and shining house and the rocky, shrouded mountain. She feels alone, and very sad.
Die Nachtigall (Seven Early Songs No 3) - Berg
The nightingale sang the whole night through in the garden, making the roses come to life. The girl, once a wild young maid, now walks in the garden, deep in thought, unafraid of the sun's heat. The poem is by Theodor Storm.
Befreit (Op 39 No 4) - R Strauss
In Befreit ('Freed'), one partner of a married couple is dying, leaving the other to care for their children. The couple have built their life together, but will part happily and will meet again only in dreams. They have released each other from sorrow. The poem is by Richard Dehmel.
Helen Sherman - Australia
Accompanist: James Baillieu
Heimliche Aufforderung (Op 27 No 3) - R Strauss
In 'Secret Invitation', a setting of a poem by John Henry Mackay, the poet longs to find a suitable moment to quietly arrange with his lover to slip away from the party. Whilst all their friends are revelling, they will meet and make love under the rose bushes in the garden.
Die Nacht (Op 10 No 3) - R Strauss
Night comes from the forest and takes all the colour and light from the world - everything we hold dear. It steals the silver of the stream and the gold from the cathedral's copper roof. The singer tells his beloved to draw closer, afraid that night will also steal her from him. The text is by Hermann von Gilm.
The Highland Balou (A Charm of Lullabies Op 41 No 2) - Britten
A mother hopes her baby, Donald, will grow up strong, so he can first steal a horse, then use it to cross the border into England to steal cattle from Carlisle. The poem is by Robbie Burns, based on a Gaelic nursery song, 'Cagaran Gaolach'
A charm (A Charm of Lullabies Op 41 No 4) - Britten
This lullaby is not very soothing - threat follows threat, as the mother tries to quieten the baby and make him sleep. She will whip him with a snake and submerge him in fire and brimstone: she will send him to hell, where Cerberus will bark at him and the Furies will lash him. The poem is by Thomas Randolph, who lived in the 17th century.
The nurse's song (A Charm of Lullabies Op 41 No 5) - Britten
This lullaby is much more soothing - the nurse assures the baby that she will always rock him and keep him safe. She calls on the gods to be his shield and comfort and to bring him good fortune. The text is by the 15th century poet, John Phillip.
Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen (Op 12 No 2) - Clara Schumann
The singer tells of the beloved's arrival in her life, in storm and rain. They grew close - did he steal her heart or did she steal his? Now spring is here and the storm has gone. He continues his journey, but she is happy to see him leave as he will be forever hers. The poem is by Friedrich Rückert.
Valentina Naforniţǎ - Moldova
Accompanist: Simon Lepper
Ya li v pole da ne travushka byla? (Op 47 No 7) - Tchaikovsky
"Was I not a little blade of grass in the field?" asks the young girl. Her destiny - to be mown down and dried in the sunshine. "Was I not a little wild rosebush?" she asks. Her destiny - to be uprooted and tied in a bundle. "Was I not my father's daughter?" she continues. Her destiny - to be forced to marry an old man she does not love. The text is by Ivan Zakharovich Surikov.
Oh! Quand je dors (S282/1) - Liszt
The poet longs for his beloved to come to him as he sleeps. Her gaze will lift the dark shadow from his face, a kiss from her lips will awaken his soul, and the beloved will be transformed from an angel to a woman. The poem is by Victor Hugo.
Gretchen am Spinnrade (D 118) - Schubert
Gretchen sits at her spinning wheel, sad because she has been abandoned by Faust. She has no peace, and her heart is heavy. She searches for Faust constantly, looking for his walk, his smile, and thinking of his kisses. This is one of several settings Schubert made of scenes from Goethe's Faust.
Le galop (Op 4 No 2) - Enesco
The rider bids his horse to gallop through the woods and streams, over fences and ditches, his hooves making sparks, his mouth foaming, his breath coming fast. The chief of the tribe calls on all the young men to advance, and the rider closes his eyes and lets the horse carry him into the great unknown. The poem is by Sully Prudhomme.
