Music: A journey from Austrian intimacy to Nordic melancholy

Soprano Daniela Tabernig and pianist Fernanda Morello are set to present a concert exploring the intimate world of German Lied, focusing on the works of Alma Mahler and Edvard Grieg. The performance, scheduled for Sunday at the Usina del Arte, will feature pieces from cycles by the celebrated couple Alma and Gustav Mahler, alongside compositions by the Norwegian composer Grieg.

One highlight of the program is Alma Mahler's "En el jardín de mi padre" (In My Father's Garden). Tabernig, an Argentine soprano based in Spain, described the song as "full of incredible images and colors." She emphasized Alma Mahler's genius as a composer, noting that her talent was overshadowed by her husband, Gustav, during her lifetime. Tabernig praised Alma's creative harmonies and her skillful integration of music and text, stating that her melodies immediately capture the ear and imprint themselves on memory.

“

It is a song full of incredible images and colors. Alma was a brilliant composer, with extraordinary intellectual and artistic capacity, who, because of the era she lived in, was relegated to her husband's shadow, without the development and transcendence that her talent deserved.

The concert format, known as a Liederabend, focuses on the Lied, or chamber song. Tabernig highlighted the profound difference between opera and chamber music, emphasizing the greater intimacy of the latter. "The protagonist is no longer the theater but the poetry, the great inspirer of musicians," she explained. This genre, she added, delves into philosophical and existential themes, exploring life, death, nature, and the human condition.

Previously, Tabernig performed in the opera "Dementia" at the Teatro Colón. She noted the technical demands of that role, focusing on vocal projection and clear articulation, especially when singing in Spanish. She contrasted contemporary operas, which often feature rapid-fire text, with the more deliberate and expressive nature of Lied, where the word's meaning is paramount.

“

The great difference between opera and chamber music is the space of intimacy. The protagonist is no longer the theater but the poetry, the great inspirer of musicians. Here, one goes to the concert to hear a type of beauty that touches the most intimate and profound fibers of the human being, always from a philosophical and existential place. Because it is a beauty that speaks to us of life, of death, of pain, of nature…