Karita Mattila Recital Program Complete For Carnegie Hall

Accompanied by pianist Martin Katz, Finnish soprano Karita Mattila will sing a recital program on December 10, 8PM, at Carnegie Hall in New York.

"The first half of the program is devoted entirely to the music of France, beginning with one of Francis Poulenc’s most beloved song cycles. Banalités is the tongue-in-cheek title concocted by avant-garde poet Guillaume Apollinaire—the “banalities” of existence are anything but banal when turned into art. Poulenc’s cycle encompasses languorous boredom in a hotel room, the giddy whirl of Paris, tragic love, and Surrealist wordplay. French genius Claude Debussy was recovering from a serious case of Wagner addiction when he composed the Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire (Five Poems of Baudelaire). Set to texts by one of France’s greatest poets, these are among Debussy’s richest, most complex mélodies (19th-century French art song) that recall memories of bygone lovers, meditate on sensual pleasures and regret, and envision the afterlife. Born in Somero, Finland, Karita Mattila is among the world’s foremost proponents of music from her native country, including compositions by Aulis Sallinen—one of Finland’s most distinguished

Mattila with Katz in Helsinki

composers. Tonight, we hear a song cycle on four poems by Finnish poet Paavo Haavikko. During the heyday of radical music innovators like Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, composer Joseph Marx struggled to cling to his late Romantic origins. Presently, his gorgeous lieder are coming back into sight and sound; tonight, we hear five of his best songs in different moods." [Source] The full program listing is after the jump and you can read the full program notes by clicking here.

POULENC Banalités
·· Chanson d'Orkenise
·· Hôtel
·· Fagnes de Wallonie
·· Voyage à Paris
·· Sanglots
DEBUSSY Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire
·· Le balcon
·· Harmonie du soir
·· Le jet d’eau
·· Recueillement
·· La mort des amants
AULIS SALLINEN Four Dream Songs, Op. 30
·· Man made from sleep
·· Cradle Song for a dead horseman
·· Three dreams, each within each
·· There is no stream
MARX "Nocturne"
MARX "Waldseligkeit"
MARX "Selige Nacht"
MARX "Valse de Chopin"
MARX "Hat Dich die Liebe berührt"