The start of an all-too-quick remembrance of a special singer we'll be hearing from (too briefly) in an upcoming Mahler 3 post

[(MORE) PROPER EXPLANATION TO COME,
plus another whole installment (though not today for that!)]

MOZART: Exsultate, jubilate (motet, Exult, rejoice),
K. 165: iv. Alleluja

Judith Raskin, soprano; Cleveland Orchestra members, George Szell, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in Severance Hall, May 11, 1964

by Ken

Yes, yes, we have some things to talk about, but not just now. There's all kinds of things in the works, which I'll tell you a bit more about when I get the rest of this "sampler" post up -- execept to note that when we return to Mahler 3, we're going to be hearing, all too briefly, from a singer I worry has been forgotten. Although she had a lovely voice, it wasn't one of the sort that by itself thrills you, and you didn't necessarily feel you'd had a chunk of repertory suddenly illuminated for you. But Judith Raskin (1928-1984) did something maybe better: A performance of hers pretty much always left you feeling good.

I have these clips ready (though the Stravinsky is so fresh, it's still warm), and I really wanted to get something posted on Sunday. But even in so skimpy a sampler, there's more I want to share -- like some moments from her Nannetta when Leonard Bernstein conducted Falstaff at the Met, and more Mozart, and some songs . . . and, well, I'm still not quite sure what else. Maybe I'll have something to say about these excerpts, or then again maybe I won't. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

(1) ABOUT THE "ALLELUJA"

This luscious performance comes from an Exsultate, jubilate that originally occupied one side of a Szell Mozart LP that otherwise didn't have absolutely tight logic, in spite of which it became one of the readiest "go to" record in my collection.

Most of a lifetime later I can vouch that I adore both works, but I can't imagine that at the time I was looking for this particular coupling -- and I honestly don't remember which work I was shopping for. The Exsultate you now know something about; the Sinfonia Concertante -- featuring Cleveland concertmaster Rafael Druian and principal violist Abraham Skernick -- is still possibly my favorite recording of a piece I adore. I guess it worked out, because both sides of that LP got plenty of play. Nevertheless, it seems worth noting that since that original LP issue I don't believe the two performances have ever shared a disc. I have them both on CD, but on separate CDs. The Exsultate is still only semi-logically coupled, sharing a CD with the performance we're about to hear --

(2) A LOVELY MAHLER 4 WITH GUESS-WHO AS SOLOIST

In case you hadn't noticed in the "Alleluja," one of Raskin's hallmarks was a sincerity and directness of expression that, coupled with a voice just about perfect for the music, made for a wonderful conclusion to Szell's enduringly vital Mahler 4.

MAHLER: Symphony No. 4 in G:
iv. Sehr behaglich (Very contentedly):
"Das himmlische Leben" ("Heavenly Life")


Judith Raskin, soprano; Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in Severance Hall, Oct. 1-2, 1965

(3) FINALLY (FOR NOW), J.R. IN ANNE TRUELOVE'S GREAT SOLO SCENE

Boy, does that basic sincerity and trustworthiness of Raskin's come into play in The Rake's Progress. It seems to me desperately important that Anne, in her limited opportunities, have us squarely on her side. When Stravinsky did his stereo remake of The Rake, he could hardly have had the role better cast.

STRAVINSKY: The Rake's Progress, Act I, Scene 3 (complete):
Anne Truelove, "No word from Tom" . . . Aria, "Quietly, night, oh! find him and caress" . . . Aria, "I go, I go to him"

The setting is the same as Scene 1: The garden of the house of TRUELOVE in the country. On the right side of the house, a fence with an iron gate.

Summer night, full moon. ANNE comes out of the house in traveling clothes.

ANNE -- Recitative
No word from Tom. Has love no voice?
Can love not keep a May-time vow in cities?
Fades it as the rose cut for a rich display?
Forgot! But no! To weep is not enough.
He needs my help. Love hears, love knows,
love answers him across the silent miles, and goes.
Aria
Quietly, night, oh! find him and caress,
and may thou quiet find
his heart, although it be unkind.
Nor may its beat confess,
although I weep, it knows of loneliness.
Guide me, oh! moon, chastely when I depart,
and warmly be the same.
He watches without grief or shame;
it cannot be thou art
a colder moon upon a colder heart.
TRUELOVE [from inside the house]: Anne!
ANNE -- Recitative
My father! Can I desert him and his devotion for a love who has deserted me? [Starts walking back to the house, then stops suddenly] No. My father has strength of purpose, while Tom is weak and needs the comfort of a helping hand. Oh God! protect dear Tom, support my father, and strengthen my resolve. [She bows her head, then rises and comes forward with great decision.]
Aria
I go, I go to him.
Love cannot falter,
cannot desert.
Though it be shunned,
or be forgotten, though it be hurt,
if love be love, it will not alter.
Should I see my love in need,
it shall not matter what he may be.
[She goes through the gate of the garden.]

END OF ACT I

["I go to him" at 5:41] Judith Raskin (s), Anne Truelove; Don Garrard (bs), Truelove; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in London, June 16-20 & 22-24, 1964


OKAY, THAT'S IT FOR NOW --

But coming up in the next day or two we'll have the rest of our Judith Raskin meet-and-greet, and next week we should have, finally, the next installment in our Mahler 3 traversal, which I think will require one more post after that. I have to tell you that it's an amazing piece to live with -- I finally understand that what Mahler meant with that seemingly nutty notion that a symphony should contain all of life. Which incidentally prompts some thinking about a composer like Mahler (or especially Wagner with all his operas but especially the Ring cycle) would think of the opportunity technology has given us to live with and truly begin to absorb music of such degrees of intricacy, complexity, and scope.

And in the offing is a series that will kick off with no less than George Gershwin himself demonstrating at the keyboard that sure enough he had rhythm, but with a bunch of other examples where it seems to me that all kinds of musical secrets depend on performers who have rhythm, a pretty complex issue when you think of it as what makes a piece of music, you know, go.

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