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2023 Hay Festival – Schubert Plus with Soraya Mafi and Ian Tindale

Sarah Walker presents Schubert Plus, performed by Soraya Mafi and Ian Tindale at Hay Festival, with works by Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and others.

Sarah Walker presents Schubert Plus, with music performed by the soprano Soraya Mafi with pianist Ian Tindale, recorded at St Mary's Church, Hay-on-Wye, during the 2023 Hay Festival. Much of this concert explores the meeting of eastern and western cultures. Goethe created a collection of poems published as his Book of Suleika, much of which was influenced by the Persian poet Hafis. It tells the love story between the poet Hatem, and Suleika. There is a parallel here between Goethe himself, and the Austrian actress and dancer Marianne von Willemer, who in their private letters to each other, called themselves Hatem and Suleika. Soraya Mafi explores a number of these Suleika settings, composed by Schubert, Schumann, and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Further settings of texts by Goethe are performed in the music of Wolf, and Mafi continues her Eastern and Western journey with the music of Beamish, who sets a poem by Hafis, and Kashini’s setting of a text by the 13th-century Iranian poet Rumi. The concert also includes with a sequence of songs by French composers, including Fauré’s depiction of the roses of Isfahan, and Bizet’s Farewell of the Arabian hostess.

Soraya Mafi, soprano
Ian Tindale, piano

Schumann: Lied der Suleika, Op 25 No 9 (Myrten)
Fanny Mendelssohn: Suleika II, H-U 210
Schubert: Suleika I, D720
Fanny Mendelssohn: Suleika III, H-U 306
Schubert: Suleika II, D717
Schubert: Geheimes, D719
Schubert: Versunken, D715
Beamish: The Nightingale
Kashani: The Heart Snatcher
Saint-Saëns: Tournoiement, Op 26 No 6 (Mélodies persanes)
Fauré: Les roses d’Ispahan, Op 39 No 4
Bizet: Adieux de l’hôtesse arabe
Wolf: Als ich auf dem Euphrat schiffte
Wolf: Hochbeglückt in deiner liebe

Produced by Luke Whitlock

57 minutes

Music Played

  • Robert Schumann

    Lied der Suleika (Myrthen, Op 25)

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Fanny Mendelssohn

    Hay LC Wed 2/14 Fanny Mendelssohn Suleika II

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Franz Schubert

    Suleika I, D 720

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Fanny Mendelssohn

    Suleika III

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Franz Schubert

    Suleika II

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Franz Schubert

    Geheimes, D 719

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Franz Schubert

    Versunken, D 715

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Sally Beamish

    Nightingale (4 Songs of Hafez)

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Mahdis Golzar Kashani

    Heart Snatcher

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Camille Saintâ€Saëns

    Tournoiement (Melodies persanes, Op 26)

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Les Roses d'Ispahan (4 Songs, Op 39)

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Georges Bizet

    Adieux de l'hotesse arabe

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Hugo Wolf

    Hoch begluckt in deiner Liebe (Goethe-Liede)

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.
  • Hugo Wolf

    Als ich auf dem Euphrat schiffte (Goethe-Liede)

    Performer: Ian Tindale. Singer: Soraya Mafi.

Broadcast

  • Wed 31 May 2023 13:00