Phyllis Bryn-Julson

[snyprrr]

What do you all think of her? I think she nailed Luonnator, and I tend to look for her name when choosing things such as Boulez or Wuorinen.

[cassandra]

I surprised at the lack of response. Or is she not enough of a Diva (in both positive and negative terms)?

I was introduced to her voice at a BBCSO rehearsal of Max Davies' Stone Litany. Then I discovered Ancient Voices on Nonesuch. Like another of my favourite performers, Cathy Berberian, she has made a name for herself with more recent music, whilst not forgetting there is other repertoire. When I knew she was to record Pli selon pli I had to get it (said ain't I, LP and CD?). Along with Jane Manning, these three singers made more recent music come alive for me like few other musicians.

I have a modest recorded collection, but if there is a choice and Bryn-Julson is a performer, I would prefer to get her recording over most others.

[mjwal]

Is there another Ancient Voices I don't know about? Because Ancient Voices of Children on Nonesuch was Jan de Gaetani - I've had that LP for decades, wonderful performance, even if the work doesn't grab me the way it did in the 70s.
I missed Stone Litany, more's the pity, being a Max fan - didn't have the money to buy all those Collins CDs when they came out, then the MaxOpus site's sales system crashed owing to mismanagement.

[zamyrabyrd]

She's very impressive in Britten's "Our Hunting Fathers":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZCCuKdsits

The 2nd part is about "Rats" - quite evocative scoring and coloratura for the singer.

ZB

[cassandra]

Is there another Ancient Voices I don't know about? Because Ancient Voices of Children on Nonesuch was Jan de Gaetani - I've had that LP for decades, wonderful performance, even if the work doesn't grab me the way it did in the 70s.
I missed Stone Litany, more's the pity, being a Max fan - didn't have the money to buy all those Collins CDs when they came out, then the MaxOpus site's sales system crashed owing to mismanagement.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. My memory is failing me more and more. Not for the first time have I amalgamated these two individual and impressive ladies into one, though I am sure I heard P B-J in Ancient Voices somewhere in my dim and distant past. As for Stone Litany, that was a rehearsal by the BBCSO sometime in the 70s (?). Again I may be amalgamating memories, but I have the feeling Boulez was conducting (if not, it was somebody else with as incredible an ear as the conductor picked up on two notes in the middle of some dense texture that were slightly late), which struck me as odd at the time as I thought it was far too conservative a work for him to conduct at that time.

[mjwal]

Don't apologise! It's so easy if you hear a record and a concert with different singers to get them confused years later if you don't keep checking. I've enjoyed and admired Bryn-Julson, by the way, but never felt her voice to be very remarkable qua vocal colour; I don't know that I would even recognise it. That is subjective, unlike singing style and ability, I think. To my ears Jan de Gaetani's voice had a unique sound quality. I remember her voice as lower than B-J's, but in a piece like AVOC this was not so apparent probably. I can remember her repertoire on disc as covering 19th C Lieder and mélodies, Ives, Schoenberg, Hindemith (Requiem) and Crumb. B-J was maybe a bit more adventurous?

[snyprrr]

Don't forget her Luonnatar.

[bhodges]

I was lucky to hear Bryn-Julson live a number of times, including one of her last performances: in 2003 she appeared in NYC with the Southwest Chamber Players in Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. Even though she was 58 at the time, her voice was still in good shape and her interpretation was mesmerizing.

--Bruce