(Photo: Marco Borggreve)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10th<\/sup> July 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n Embodying\nmusic with an unparalleled dramatic sensibility, soprano and conductor Barbara\nHannigan is an artist at the forefront of creation. Her artistic colleagues\ninclude Simon Rattle, Sasha Waltz, Kent Nagano, Vladimir Jurowski, John Zorn,\nAndreas Kriegenburg, Andris Nelsons, Reinbert de Leeuw, Esa Pekka Salonen, Christoph\nMarthaler, Antonio Pappano, Katie Mitchell, Kirill Petrenko, and Krszysztof\nWarlikowski. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a\nsinger and conductor the Canadian musician has shown a profound commitment to\nthe music of our time and has given the world premi\u00e8re performances of over 85\nnew creations. Hannigan has collaborated extensively with composers including\nBoulez, Zorn, Dutilleux, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Sciarrino, Barry, Dusapin, Dean,\nBenjamin and Abrahamsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last\nseason marked the beginning of her Principal Guest conductor role at Gothenburg\nSymphony. She also had conducting and singing engagements with London Symphony\nOrchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra,\nM\u00fcnchner Philharmoniker, and was artist in residence at Orchestre\nPhilharmonique de Radio France. Hannigan also premi\u00e8red the role of Gerda in\nBayerische Staatsoper\u2019s production of Hans Abrahamsen\u2019s The<\/em> Snow\nQueen<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For the 2020-21 season, Hannigan will continue her collaboration with the Gothenburg Symphony and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. She will also conduct Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, LUDWIG and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, as well as tour with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. She will return to the Bayerische Staatsoper to reprise her role of Gerda in The Snow Queen<\/em>, will sing and conduct Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine<\/em>, and give the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s new opera Salome<\/em> as both title role and conductor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hannigan\u2019s album as both singer and conductor, Crazy Girl Crazy<\/em> (2017), won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal album. Other recent albums include Vienna: fin de si\u00e8cle,<\/em> and Satie\u2019s Socrate, <\/em>both with pianist Reinbert de Leeuw. In spring 2020 she released her latest album on Alpha Classics, La Passione<\/em> with works of Nono, Haydn and Grisey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020\nBarbara launched Momentum: Our Future,\nNow, <\/em>a major international initiative driven by leading artists supporting\nyounger colleagues. She also continues her\nacclaimed work with Equilibrium Young Artists mentoring initiative, which she\nlaunched in 2017. May 2021 will see Hannigan awarded the prestigious L\u00e9onie Sonning\nMusic Prize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we start, I just wanted to check something\n(for the readers). I\u2019ve seen scores entitled \u2018Symphonic Excerpts from Lulu<\/em>\u2019. Is that exactly the same score as\nthe \u2018Lulu<\/em> Suite\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, that is the Lulu <\/em>Suite. With the five movements:\nRondo, Ostinato, Lied der Lulu, Variations and Adagio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Great. So, to go straight for the jugular, how\non earth do you go about preparing to both sing and<\/em> conduct a piece like this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, it\u2019s interesting. Of course, conducting a thirty-five minute piece this complex was a huge undertaking for me, even though I\u2019d already sung the suite with Vladimir Jurowski,[1]<\/a> and sung the whole role in the 2012 production at Le Monnaie, Brussels.[2]<\/a> I hadn\u2019t done my second production of Lulu<\/em> yet, so it wasn\u2019t as if this was a role that I had sung every year for the past ten years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To conduct a piece like this, you have to go into a very deep analysis of the score. I think the most important thing with Lulu<\/em> (and with many other works written in this era using the same method) is that each character: Lulu, Dr. Sch\u00f6n, Alwa, the Schoolboy, the Athlete, Schigolch, Geschwitz etc. has their own tone row. I think of it as their theme song. The first thing I was advised to do, learning the opera as a singer, was to learn everybody\u2019s tone row, forward and backward. Once you know them, you always know to whom you are referring. In some moments Lulu will sing Dr. Sch\u00f6n or Alwa\u2019s material to them; Lulu is a kind of mirror for every character. After that you also have to learn the Erdgeist\/Earth Spirit theme (which consists of two consecutive fourths). Then you have to become familiar with some of the other chords that represent things like the painting, for example. That\u2019s what I did when I was preparing to sing Lulu, and it stood me in good stead. Once you know a tone row well in either direction, you know how it\u2019s going to continue. It\u2019s an extremely intelligent, methodical and disciplined way of learning the role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So then, as a conductor, as soon as I opened the score for the Lulu<\/em> Suite I was looking for the hauptstimme (primary voice) and nebenstimme (secondary voice) in each section. This is the way Berg constructs the music in the opera. He marks this all through his scores (Schoenberg did the same thing) with an H or an N so you know who he feels is the main and secondary voice. Anyone else is less important. I dealt with the score in this very analytical way according to these rules: whose tone row; what is the harmonic structure; who has hauptstimme; and who has nebenstimme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though I only sing\nin the third and final movements, all the material is taken from specific parts\nof the opera. The opening Rondo, for example, is mainly material from the second\nand third act \u2013 very little is from the first. If you place it well you know\nexactly what was happening in the opera at that time, even though no one is\nsinging. The most important thing in this suite is to tell the story. All my\nefforts to analyse and understand the direction, the shape, the hauptstimme,\nthe nebenstimme, whose tone row etc. are so I can tell the story. And for the\nstory we need character, so really it\u2019s all in the development of character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One amazing thing that\nI learned is that Berg not only writes the tone rows on a horizontal line (that\u2019s\nhow we sing, right?) but he also writes them vertically, lining them up one on\ntop of each other. That just blew me away. The third way, which is even more\nextraordinary, is that he does it diagonally. I was in a state of absolute awe\nat how he was able to compose using such an intricate and disciplined structure,\nand yet the piece is so completely emotional. It just breaks your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I think about\nhow I\u2019m going to tell the story. I was in a pretty unique situation. Anyone who\nhas sung the role of Lulu belongs to a very special club. If you\u2019ve managed it\nand survived, it\u2019s already something. But then to conduct it\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Right. You didn\u2019t really have many friends to\ncall on about that, I imagine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (laughs) No. To sing it\nyou\u2019ve lived her life and death, so to conduct it is extraordinary. I\u2019ve\nconducted it with quite a few orchestras now, and recorded it. I realised that\nI kind of become Lulu showing us her life. It\u2019s Lulu that\u2019s telling the story,\nand that happens even more in the second half of the piece (from the third\nmovement onwards) when I turn around to the audience. But even in the beginning\nI\u2019m still thinking about it in a dramaturgical way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I come on stage and I start, it\u2019s Barbara conducting, and then at a certain point Lulu infiltrates and she takes over more and more until I become her. Then she never leaves until the very end of the piece when I sing \u2018Lulu mein engel\u2019 on the last few pages [p.137] . This is normally the Countess Geschwitz\u2019s line, so I made two decisions about it. Number 1: I don\u2019t think of it as Geschwitz\u2019s line, I think of it as Barbara\u2019s line, and Number 2: I don\u2019t turn to the audience at the end when I sing it. [3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n I noticed that. I wasn\u2019t sure if it was\nsomething to do with the orchestra needing you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No, no. It\u2019s because\nit is a kind of disembodied moment. I had a conversation with Sir Simon Rattle\nabout the piece, and I think it was his idea that I shouldn\u2019t turn around to\nthe front, and instead sing to the orchestra. I have had occasions when I don\u2019t\nsing to the front in other pieces as well, but with this piece I thought that\nwas a brilliant suggestion. So I sing it to the orchestra and let it be lontano\n(which means \u2018far away, as if from a distance\u2019). I wouldn\u2019t do it any other way\nnow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I watched the talk you did on Lulu<\/em> at the Southbank Centre.[4]<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That was before I\nconducted it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, 2013. I thought it was interesting that you\nsaid you feel as if you\u2019re singing the voice of both Lulu and Berg. When you\nthrow being a conductor into the mix (just that little extra thing you\u2019re doing\nthere) how many people are inside you then?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Laughs) Well, I\nthink everybody\u2019s altogether. As far as the conducting of it goes, there is a\ncharacter who enters and takes control of the piece \u2013 that is mainly Lulu\/Berg.\nIt shows the orchestra what they need. That is the dominating force, because this\nmusic is all about character. Otherwise it just sounds like modern music. All\nthe time you are showing them the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That really came across when I watched you\nconducting it. It felt like you were giving the audience a different route into\nthe music.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I was also interested in the comment you made\nabout being left with both Stockholm Syndrome and Survivor Guilt after singing\nthe role. How do you feel after conducting<\/em>\nit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, it\u2019s not the\nsame when I conduct it. Singing the whole opera is such a marathon and it\u2019s\ncompletely overwhelming. It\u2019s exhausting \u2013 you just can\u2019t do anything else. But\nwhen you conduct a programme like this it\u2019s usually just one of four or five\npieces on a programme, so in that sense I have to let it go and move on to the\nnext piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love this suite. Even\nwhen I sit here and open the score and see all my little notes, I think \u2018when\nam I going to conduct this again?\u2019 I was supposed to sing it in April in Denmark,[5]<\/a> so\nI don\u2019t know when I\u2019ll sing it again. I was supposed to sing the entire role in\nMay in Cleveland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh yes, the concert performance. I\u2019m sorry to\nhear that. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I\u2019ll sing the opera\nagain in a couple of years, so I know that I\u2019ve got another crack at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People often refer to the balance Berg strikes\nbetween portraying the emotional lives of the characters and the intellectual\ncomplexity of the work. When you\u2019re rehearsing and conducting Berg, do you\nbalance both approaches?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I\u2019m conducting I\ndo let them know. Basically, the way I start any rehearsal is by running the whole\npiece. I don\u2019t stop unless there\u2019s a train wreck. I don\u2019t do the third movement\nbecause I save that until the end. I usually do the Ostinato (the second\nmovement) under tempo because it\u2019s very difficult \u2013 I do it slower and at\na lower dynamic the first few times. I tell the orchestra what\u2019s happening in\neach movement because I realise that they like to know and it gets them\ninterested. I might say to the saxophonist \u2018you realise you\u2019ve got Alwa\u2019s theme.\nYou\u2019re my half-brother\/lover and you\u2019ve been in love with me your whole life\u2019. Or\nI\u2019ll tell them what the text was at that moment, and what\u2019s happening in the\nstory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s especially true\nin the first movement, because it is very full, and leaps forwards and\nbackwards in memory and time. I tell the orchestra that. I say that we are on either\nside of before and after when Dr. Sch\u00f6n has died, it\u2019s like a mirror. I\nwill sing their tone rows to them if I think it\u2019s important so that they familiarise\nthemselves with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I get to the Variations,\nI tell them they happen in Paris. The Variation song [bar 45] wasn\u2019t even\nBerg\u2019s melody, it\u2019s actually a song that was written by Wedekind that Berg set.\nFor the Adagio I tell them how it begins with Geschwitz groaning and saying \u2018I\nwant to kill myself\u2019 and thinking about all the different options of suicide she\nhas. Finally she says \u2018just let me speak to your heart and have pity on me\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At bar 44 [p.123] in\nthe final movement they have <\/em>to know\nthat this is when Jack the Ripper and Lulu have entered the shabby little flat.\nThe orchestra needs to know that the love theme with Lulu and Jack is Dr. Sch\u00f6n\u2019s theme. I explain what happens and how it happens. It\u2019s almost like a\nslow Bach chorale\/death march, until we get to bar 78. I explain to them how\nI\u2019m going to beat it, that it\u2019s going to be very long, and also what Jack says\nafterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can feel if an orchestra\nwants to hear the story or not. In my case, I\u2019ve never found an orchestra that\ndidn\u2019t want to know, so that\u2019s great. Of course, most of them don\u2019t speak German,\nor if they do they\u2019re so busy looking at their parts that they can\u2019t stop and\nlisten to decipher a long vowel. So I explain the text quite a bit. But I don\u2019t\ndo that the first time I come into an orchestra rehearsal, I just get down to\nbusiness. It\u2019s when I come back to it and rehearse each movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the third\nmovement I have a few different ways of rehearsing it. One way (because I\nalways have the pianist right in front of me in the orchestra) is that I will\nsing the Lied der Lulu with the piano reduction, if the pianist is prepared to\ndo so. Then the orchestra can follow their parts and hear exactly how I want to\nsing it. It\u2019s very helpful for them, instead of trying to follow the conducting,\nmy breath, and so on. They can just sit back and I give them a little \u2018Lulu\u2019s\naria concert\u2019. Then little by little, as we rehearse it, they become aware of\nwho has the hauptstimme, or the nebenstimme \u2013 if it\u2019s in the trumpets, or in\nthe first violins, or the vibraphone. We all learn who to follow. Depending on\nhow self-sufficient the orchestra is I will eventually do less and less, and by\nthe second day of rehearsal I turn away from the orchestra and sing it with my\nback to them. With some orchestras I don\u2019t conduct it at all. That, I think, is\nthe highest level of achievement. With other orchestras I still have to give\nsome cues and show the tempo. It depends on the concertmaster, it depends on\nhow much the orchestra is used to playing without a conductor. So it\u2019s\ndifferent everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the performance that\u2019s on YouTube[6]<\/strong><\/a>\nI was watching to see if you were giving cues whilst singing. At 17m25s you seem\nto look to the right for the trumpets, and you toss your head ten seconds later\nat 17m35s to bring in the horns. Ten seconds after that you use hand gestures that\nseem to support the violins. Is that all cues for the orchestra?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So how does that work? Do you agree with individuals\nbeforehand how you\u2019ll give them a cue, or do they just watch you for a gesture\nof some kind at a particular point? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the latter. I\ndon\u2019t say exactly what I\u2019m going to do, but they know that it\u2019s for them by that\npoint. We usually spend quite a bit of time rehearsing that third movement\nuntil they\u2019re comfortable. It\u2019s a very collaborative way of working because in\nany piece, when I\u2019m singing and I have my back to them, they have to be quite\nvocal about it if they\u2019re not comfortable. Normally, many orchestras don\u2019t say\nanything and are just silent. In this Lied I insist on two things. Number 1:\nthat they don\u2019t accompany me, but are truly in partnership with me. If they accompany\nme they\u2019ll be late, and Number 2: they have to tell me if something\u2019s not\nworking for them, as once I\u2019m singing a high C or D I cannot hear if they have\na problem, because I\u2019ve got so much buzz going on inside my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ostinato in the suite is the same palindromic\nsection we hear in the middle of the opera. Do you explain all of that to the\norchestra?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well I always make a\nlittle joke at bar 37 where we get to the turnaround. I say, \u2018see? Now it\u2019s\neasy \u2013 we just have to do it all backwards!\u2019 The Ostinato is really tough \u2013 you\nhave to get the right character. They don\u2019t need to know so much about this moment,\njust the Erdgeist (Lulu\u2019s) theme because everybody\u2019s playing that at the\nbeginning. It\u2019s shimmering through the entire orchestra. The movement is like a\nmanic bee bop. Berg compresses it, which is extraordinary, creating a kind of Doppler\neffect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s quite difficult around measure 28-29. You\u2019ve got Lulu\u2019s theme bursting out in all these different instruments. It starts within those two bars, and goes from piano and trumpet to trombone, to bassoons and horns, to English horn, saxophone and trumpets again, then to the three flutes, two oboes and clarinet. That is extraordinary. They need to know that\u2019s Lulu\u2019s theme. When they know that, they recognise that they are the hauptstimme. The same thing happens again in bar 45-46 but in reverse. It goes through all the instrumental groups and you\u2019ve got to bring all of those out again. The Ostinato is just an incredible thing to work on \u2013 it\u2019s so vivid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To be honest, as a singer I\u2019m usually offstage at that point during the opera, and I\u2019m often listening to it fall apart. Conductors simply don\u2019t have enough rehearsal time to get the Ostinato as tight and as intricate as they would like. I\u2019m usually half-listening and frustrated while changing costume. It\u2019s very funny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does that need a lot more time than the other\nmovements, then?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It depends on the\norchestra. It depends on how rhythmic they are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019d like to know more a little more about how I rehearse: once I\u2019ve run through all the movements I usually go back to the beginning of the Adagio, and I work on tone. I work on the rational versus the irrational, the mind versus the heart and the intensity of sound that I need. If the orchestra is able to get that tone, I\u2019m usually really happy. I find that the last movement is so emotional and beautiful that it\u2019s the best one to start with, because everyone will make an immediate emotional connection to that. Then I usually go back to the ostinato and I do technical work, doing it slowly, under tempo and under dynamic. Then I will go to either the first or the fourth movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first movement,\nas I said, is the hardest. That\u2019s a lot of work and characterisation, so I\nusually come to that after a break. I won\u2019t come to it before one because\nthey\u2019ll be tired and getting a little bit distracted. The easiest movement, in\na way, is the Variations. The trick, again, is balancing the hauptstimme\nbecause the horns have the Marquis theme (this is the guy that wants to sell\nLulu into prostitution). With the Wedekind song [bar 45] it\u2019s very hard to make\nsure that we give this frothy Viennese party atmosphere, yet still hear the\nmain voice (which are the dampened horns in the middle), so I work on that. Then\nthe trombones take over this chorale melody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s difficult after that\nbecause the trombones, flute, English horn and saxophone take it over, and\nthey\u2019re all quite low in their registers. It has this strange centre of gravity,\nand then finally ends with a flourish. I usually end the rehearsals with Lulu\u2019s\nLied or do it before the break because I often reduce the strings for that. I\ndon\u2019t do it so much anymore, but I used to because it was easier. Now I find\nthat everybody wants to play it, so I just say \u2018look if you want to play it\nthen you have to play it with more sensitivity\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how much did you reduce the strings by?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well I used to reduce\nthe strings to 10, 8, 6, 5, 4 from 16, 14 or 14, 12 etc. but sometimes I haven\u2019t\neven had that much. With the LUDWIG orchestra I think I had 12, 10 etc. for the\nentire work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The interesting thing\nis that the third movement is not an aria, it says \u2018Lied der Lulu\u2019 (\u2018Lied\u2019\nmeans song). She never gets an aria in the whole opera. It\u2019s a big statement\nabout her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You know, that\u2019s also the case with Don\nGiovanni.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hmmm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don Giovanni never gets his own aria, and he\u2019s a\nmirror of whoever he\u2019s seducing or manipulating. So if he\u2019s with a character\nfrom the lower class he will sing simple folk-like melodies, and when it\u2019s the\nelite the music is more highbrow. He doesn\u2019t have his own style.[7]<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s interesting. I\nnever thought of it like that, but it makes sense. I\u2019ll have to let it ruminate\na little bit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you think Don Giovanni would prey on Lulu?\nI\u2019m wondering what would happen if the two mirrors met: the narcissist and the\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026Earth Spirit! Oh she\nwould make mincemeat of him. He wouldn\u2019t prey on her \u2013 I think they\u2019d probably\njust have a really good time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Laughs) Have you ever seen the NYPhil digital\narchive?[8]<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh yes. I\u2019ve seen a\nfew scores on it, but not this one. My assistant and I were using it to look at\ndifferent scores of Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 4 because I was doing a big study on his\nsymphonies during the lockdown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah right. I saw the Lulu <\/em>Suite score on there, with markings by the conductor Erich\nLeinsdorf.[9]<\/strong><\/a>\nThere are just very occasional notes he writes in, like what pages of the main\nscore the suite refers to, a dynamic adjustment (a diminuendo in the Adagio) or\ntempo alterations, and he clarifies the rhythms on the last page. He also makes\nnote of where he needs to beat 4 rather than 2 in the Adagio. Do make you make\nany similar changes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I only alter the\ndynamics in the Lied. It\u2019s also because the orchestra\u2019s not in the pit, so I\nthink it\u2019s necessary to balance it a little differently. But I don\u2019t change any\nother dynamics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I think it must be\nincredibly difficult for any conductor to conduct this piece if they haven\u2019t\ndone the whole opera. I can\u2019t imagine how you would get inside it. You wouldn\u2019t\nunderstand the material flipping back and forth, especially the first movement.\nThat informs the character, so I think it\u2019s incredibly important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For you, as the conductor, what are the\ntrickiest parts of the piece?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think in the first movement the trickiest bits are some of the tempo transitions \u2013 the alternating between poco animato<\/em> and tranquillo<\/em>. They\u2019ve got to be really well negotiated and have a kind of freedom. It needs a lot of space and character, otherwise it just becomes pedantic. Tempo 1 is 69 and tempo 2 is 54 \u2013 you need to have that in your blood so you naturally get this \u2018schwungvoll\u2019 movement within it. Then you come to the Hymne on p.38 where the strings are pizzicato and the saxophone is playing Alwa\u2019s song. I always tell the orchestra what\u2019s happening here because Alwa is completely objectifying Lulu. He tells her that he can see through her dress, and goes through each part of her body and writes a little poem to it. It\u2019s really creepy,[10]<\/a> and has to have that quality to it. On p.42, negotiating all those fermatas is quite important, not everybody stops at the same time. You have to know how you\u2019re going to deal with that. The same thing happens in the Ostinato at the turning point in bars 36-37. This is very important to negotiate well for the orchestra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The other thing in\nthe Ostinato is the tempo. It says tumultuoso<\/em>,\nso I have to stay very calm while they\u2019re just going crazy! I get them to their\ntempo and then I have really slow down at the middle point and come to a stop.\nWithin five bars we\u2019ve got to get all the way back to Vivace<\/em> again. It\u2019s a very fast transition and they have really got\nto play like a big band. Of course, with the Lied there\u2019s this individual responsibility\nof each player. I usually encourage the orchestra to move more than normal in\nthe third movement. A lot of orchestras are taught not to move when they play, especially\nstring players. They\u2019re taught not to show the beat, and just sit up straight\nand play. I ask them to do the opposite, I want the section leaders really\nmoving. If the whole orchestra is like a flock of birds that\u2019s wonderful \u2013 I\nreally encourage that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Variations\nthere are these molto accelerando<\/em>\nmoments, changes in tempo and dynamic vertigo. I\u2019m trying to get this swirling\naround and dizziness into the music, as if you\u2019re in a hall of mirrors and\nthere\u2019s a mist on top of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love that metaphor. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah! Finally, the\nlast movement is particularly challenging because it\u2019s so slow and needs\nweight. When I first started conducting I had to learn how to deal with that\nweight, because I don\u2019t have a big boned body. I\u2019m small framed and very fine\nboned, so I had to find my way to show the weight and the legato. Every\nconductor is different \u2013 some do this in 4 and some do it in 2. The opening of the\nAdagio is quite difficult, because you alternate between this very, very even\ntempo \u2013 the senza rubato<\/em>, and the rubato<\/em>. This is the moment when Geschwitz\nis singing \u2018maybe I\u2019ll die with a knife, maybe I\u2019ll hang myself etc.\u2019. So it\nhas to have that constant switching between rigidity and no tempo. That\u2019s very\nimportant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brilliant. Well, we\u2019ve covered so much here! When\ndo you think you\u2019ll be conducting\/singing this again?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t think it\u2019s\ngoing to be soon because it needs such a big orchestra, and my next couple of\nseasons are already planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah OK. So what\u2019s the next piece you\u2019re singing\nand conducting?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Next week! It\u2019s Les Illuminations<\/em> by Britten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wonderful. Thank you so much for speaking with\nme, this has been really great.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh it\u2019s been my\npleasure Hannah. It was really nice to look at the score with you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography\/Recommended Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hall, P. \u2018The\nProgress of a method: Berg’s tone rows for Lulu<\/em>\u2019\nin Musical Quarterly<\/em>, Fall, 1985,\nVol.71, p.500 (20)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jarman, D. Alban Berg: Lulu <\/em>(Cambridge : Cambridge\nUniversity Press, 1991 2008)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jolly, J. \u2018Barbara Hannigan,\nas both conductor and singer, sheds a unique light on Alban Berg’s Lulu\nSuite\u2019 in Gramophone<\/em>, 2017, Vol. 95\n(1152), p.129<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perle, G. The Operas of Alban Berg: Volume 2 Lulu <\/em>University\nof California Press (12 Sept. 1989)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perle, G. \u2018Some thoughts on an ideal production of Lulu\u2019 in The Journal of Musicology<\/em>, Spring 1989, Vol.7 (2), p.244<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reich, W. \u2018Alban\nBerg’s Lulu\u2019 The Musical Quarterly<\/em>, 1\nOctober 1936, Vol.22 (4), pp.383-401<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strykowski, D. \u2018The Diegetic music of Berg’s Lulu: When Opera and serialism\ncollide\u2019 in Journal of Musicological Research<\/em>, 02 January 2016, Vol.35 (1),\npp.1-22 [1]<\/a> 27th<\/sup> April 2013, with\nVladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall,\nLondon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> Lulu<\/em>, Alban\nBerg. Production La Monnaie\/De Munt from 2012. Director Krzysztof Warlikowski,\nConductor Paul Daniel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> See https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XatVOukxxtE<\/a>\n\u2013 30mins35s (accessed 1st<\/sup> July 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6AhnOFwfBnM<\/a> (accessed 1st<\/sup> July 2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]<\/a> This performance on 19th<\/sup> April 2020 with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was cancelled due the Covid-19 lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [6]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XatVOukxxtE<\/a>\n(as in fn 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [7]<\/a> This comparison is also drawn by\nPerle: \u2018Berg saw his heroine as a latter-day counterpart of Mozart\u2019s Don\nGiovanni, and reincarnated conventions of the classical operatic tradition to\nestablish parallels between the musico-dramatic world of the Don and that of\nLulu\u2019 (1989: 57). Also \u2018\u2026 as in Don\nGiovanni<\/em>, sexual desire, oblivious to differences of wealth and social\nposition, exposes the artificiality of class distinctions and thus becomes a\npowerful means of social commentary and characterization. It is Lulu, the\nnatural and therefore innocent woman, who is the connecting link between the\nworld of the banker and that of the pimp, between the world of the aristocrat\nand that of the beggar, between the world of art and that of the most sordid\nviolence and brutality\u2019 (1989:34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [8]<\/a> https:\/\/archives.nyphil.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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