Words and Music - Face

How does one analyse a face? The common cliche of a phenomenon being greater than the sum of its parts could not be more apt. I’ve tried to create a journey, beginning with faces in a crowd – each unique – as observed by Whitman. The focus shifts onto the eyes, the windows of the soul. From Newton’s laid back arrangement of the jazz classic Angel Eyes , through Poulenc’s surreal La Dame Aveugle (the blind woman) to a knowing glance from the winking, blinking maid, it’s all rather tiring so what better way to sink into a slumber than with a children’s poem Wynken, Blynken and Nod which I still read to my own little ones at bedtime. Barlow’s ecstatic eulogy on the face of a loved one is tinged with sadness, for there is a large age gap between them. Not such a problem for young Narcissus, as he unwisely falls for his own reflection, a story echoed by the wicked queen in Little Snow White as she gazes into her mirror. The music here is Tcherepnin’s Narcisse et Echo, rarely heard and yet so effective. Age will always win in the end, of course, eating away at youth’s bloom. Wilde’s Dorian Gray thinks he has the answer – give away your soul and hide a portrait in the attic. Simple! But we all know it won’t end there… What about those who are born without beauty? Mary Webb’s heroine in Precious Bane is cursed (as she sees it) with a hare lip. Another facially challenged hero is Rostand’s Cyrano, unforgettably portrayed on screen by Depardieu in a film which used Burgess’s virtuosic translation as subtitles. The sad fact is that for those who are not blessed with beauty or are cursed with some facial flaw, finding a partner is very hard work. Eliza Cook’s Song of the ugly maiden is one of the saddest poems I know, particularly poignant when you remember that in the 19th century when it was written, marrying was essential for any woman who wanted any kind of independence or financial security. Like any fairy tale, we all need a happy ending, so as little Gerda kisses away Kay’s tears in the Snow Queen we can see clearly that love is the ultimate salvation. A kiss communicates so much, from that first sensation of electricity – so wonderfully described in Purcell’s erotic Sweeter than roses, to tenderness from an old friend. Beauty is only skin deep, and as Ella sings so wonderfully, when we eventually find our soul mate, we come to love that face which we see every morning over the breakfast table, no matter what it looks like. Helen Garrison (producer) Readers: Michael Maloney (MM) and Lesley Sharp (LS) Hildegard of Bingen O pulchrae facies Sequentia DHM GD77020 Walt Whitman Faces (extract) MM David Newton Angel Eyes Linn AKD 087 Mary Elizabeth Coleridge Eyes LS Poulenc La Dame Aveugle (from Le Bal Masque) W. Holzmair (baritone) Saito Kinen Orchestra S. Ozawa Philips 456 504-2 Edward Lear Limerick MM Fred Emerson Brooks The Girl That Winked Her Eye LS H. Warren/J. Mercer arr Nelson Riddle Jeepers Creepers F. Sinatra Capitol 0 7777 48470 2 5 Eugene Field Wynken, Blynken, and Nod LS Gurney orch Finzi Sleep C. Maltman (baritone) BBC SSO M. Brabbins Hyperion CDA67065 George Barlow To a Face MM Harle Since first I saw your face S. Leonard John Harle Band Argo 452 605-2 Christopher Marlowe Was This the Face MM Piazzolla arr. Lluís Vidal Milonga del ángel P. Mainetti (bandonéon) Orquestra de Cambra Teatre Lliure Josep Pons HMC 901595 Christina Rossetti In an Artist's Studio LS Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray MM Brothers Grimm Little Snow-White LS Nikolai Tcherepnin Narcisse et Echo Residentie Orchestra The Hague G.Rozhdestvensky CHAN 9670 Ovid Trans. Joseph Addison The Story of Narcissus (Metamorphoses) MM Ramón de Campoamor Trans. Thomas Walsh Two Mirrors LS Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray MM George Michael Cowboys and Angels Epic 491705 2 Mary Webb Precious Bane LS Dowland Pavan Lachrimae Antiquae Fretwork Virgin VC 7 90795-2 Anon trans. William Cowper Beware the Crystal Brook MM Edmond Rostand trans. Anthony Burgess Cyrano de Bergerac MM Liza Lehman If no one ever marries me Janice Watson and Steuart Bedford Collins 15082 Eliza Cook Song of the Ugly Maiden LS Tavener Tears of Angels C. Gould BT Scottish Ensemble Linn CKD 085 Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray MM Vaughan Williams Intermezzo “My Bonny Boy”: Andantino (from English Folk Song Suite) RNCM Wind Orchestra T. Reynish CHAN 9697 Hans Christian Andersen The Snow Queen LS Debussy The Snow is Dancing P. Rogé Decca 443 021-2 Elizabeth Allen Kisses LS Purcell Sweeter than roses N. Argenta (sop) N. North (archlute) R. Boothby (gamba) Virgin VC 7 59324 2 Lucien Stryk Winter Storm MM & LS Gershwin arr Riddle Funny Face E. Fitzgerald N. Riddle and his Orchestra Verve 825 024-2