NCH, Dublin

Schumann

–

Das Paradies und die Peri

Schumann originally planned his

Paradise and the Peri

– a setting of part of Thomas Moore’s

Lalla Rookh

– as an opera. In the end, however, he produced what he called “a new genre for the concert hall”, a secular oratorio that is more lyrical than dramatic, which keeps a seamless continuity between accompanied recitative and the arias and choruses, and the subject matter has resonances aplenty, which ensure the work is not merely secular.

The piece was a major milestone in Schumann’s career. For the first time, his contemporaries registered that although he had hitherto been known mainly through his piano music and songs, he could actually work successfully on the largest of scales.

Even his notoriously alienated father-in-law was prompted to acknowledge his achievement.

For music-lovers in 1843, the exoticism of a Peri seeking “the gift that is most dear to Heaven”, to get past “the eternal gate”, must have had something of the allure that blue-skinned aliens have to a 21st-century audience, though there’s a subtle reticence is Schumann’s music that’s more Eric Rohmer than Hollywood blockbuster.

That reticence, and the fall-off in appetite for Moore’s verse, have meant that the popularity of Schumann’s first international success faded in the 20th century. Gerhard Markson’s patient approach here suggested that it deserves more attention than it’s been getting.

The performance, given in German, was blessed by fine choral contributions from the RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, and a commanding narrative anchor from the Swiss tenor Bernard Richter. Markson’s conducting was not always kind to the Peri herself, soprano Sinéad Mulhern, who was at times unnecessarily masked by the orchestra. Mulhern’s singing lacked the detail of Richter’s, but she warmed to her task, and communicated well the Peri’s quiet wonder at the tear of repentance that secures her entry into heaven and her overwhelming joy at her success.

Tenor Dean Power’s contributions were all well turned, and bass Philip O’Reilly was at his best in his scene-setting aria in Part 3 – “Now upon Syria’s land of roses / Softly the light of eve reposes”.

The other soloists – mezzo soprano Anne Marie Gibbons, soprano Claudia Boyle and mezzo soprano Rachel Kelly – were more workmanlike. But the star of the evening was Schumann, whose unusual approach, involving moments with the intimacy of song and even some recitative for choir, was consistently subtle and rewarding.