This report is about the Cardiff-Stuttgart Association event Ein Abend mit Deutschen Lieden that took place on Wednesday 10th April, 2024 at 19:00 in the Quaker Meeting House on Charles Street, Cardiff. Sarah Dunbar (Soprano) and Scott Baker (Guitar and Mandolin) presented and performed the songs.
The performance began at 19:30 after the attendees had had a chance to chat for a little while (in both German and English and a little Welsh, too, of course), drink some tea or coffee and take advantage of the snacks that were kindly provided. A reasonable number had arrived for this musical evening and were promptly seated.
The performers
Guitar and Mandolin player Scott Baker introduced the evening. Scott is a masters graduate from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and he balances his career as a teacher with regular performances. He was joined by soprano Sarah Dunbar who studied at the Welsh Academy of Voice and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Sarah has performed in venues across the world and has worked with a variety of opera companies including the Welsh National Opera.
The Programme
The performance by Sarah and Scott consisted of twelve songs, and Scott also played a number of solo pieces. The songs were:
Der Leiermann from the song cycle Winterreise (Schubert)
Heidenröslein and Ständchen, also by Schubert
Der Musikant by Hugo Wolf (which is an arrangement of a poem by Joseph von Eichendorf)
Lascia ch’io pianga (Handel) from the opera Rinaldo
Die Zeit by Carl Maria von Weber
Verratene Liebe and Mondnacht by Schumann
Mädchenlied by Brahms
Die Zufriedenheit and Komm, Liebe Zither by Mozart
Dido’s lament by Purcell, from his opera Dido and Aeneas.
There was just enough time remaining at the end of the evening for a few questions to Scott and Sarah, which ranged from Brahms’ underrated contribution to choral music, Sarah’s favourite language for singing (German, of course) and some fascinating additional information about the guitar, the mandolin and the zither from Scott.