Barbara Hannigan: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Jan. 26, 2018 | Tom Huizenga -- In these days of wireless earbuds, streams and podcasts, the notion of people gathering to hear a lone classical singer (with a pianist) perform densely structured art songs in a foreign tongue seems almost laughably quaint.
Yet the vocal recital, as a performance genre, is still alive. And one of the most memorable recitals I've witnessed in a long time sits on this page, in a condensed form, thanks to the extraordinary soprano Barbara Hannigan and her accompanist Reinbert de Leeuw.
The night before this Tiny Desk concert, the two musicians gave a beautiful and intense recital at Washington's Kennedy Center. The songs, all in German, came from a heady period in Vienna, when music was transitioning from the swells of romanticism to the uncharted waters of modernism. Four of those songs make up this Tiny Desk performance. The bonus here is that these impassioned dispatches become even more intimate.
Consider the opening song, Alexander Zemlinsky's "Empfängnis" (Conception). The harmonies are sweet, but almost too rich, like overripe fruit, when Hannigan sings lines like, "Und wie ich sehend meine Arme breite" (And as I open my arms with longing). You can hear the end of a musical era.
An indefatigable champion of new and modern music, Hannigan (who is also a conductor) has given the world premieres of more than 80 pieces. The voice is simply gorgeous - silvery, buttery-smooth throughout the registers, with crystalline top notes emerging from thin air and charged with emotion.
In Alma Mahler's "Licht in der Nacht" (Light in the Night), Hannigan taps into the mysterious sparkle of a little yellow star twinkling through black skies as de Leeuw's piano explores wayward harmonies. Hugo Wolf's "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt" (Only One Who Knows Longing) is a hymn to the yearning heart. De Leeuw explains that the key of G minor, in which the song is written, never materializes. It's all about the longing for G minor.
The final song, "Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm" (the first music by Arnold Schoenberg to grace the Tiny Desk), offers a double dose of sensuality. Hannigan's beautiful middle register and creamy phrasing paint the scene: Jesus asks Mary Magdalene for her comb because it will remind him every morning that she once kissed his hair. Hannigan calls the song "erotic" and she delivers on that feeling when, at the end, she cries out the name "Magdalena" with a lustrous, silken tone, touched with anguish.
Hannigan told the audience that her Kennedy Center recital felt like "a sacred moment of people coming together in very deep concentration." At this Tiny Desk recital, it happened all over again.
SET LIST
Alexander Zemlinsky: "Empfängnis"
Alma Mahler: "Licht in der Nacht"
Hugo Wolf: "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt"
Arnold Schoenberg: "Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm"
MUSICIANS
Barbara Hannigan (soprano), Reinbert de Leeuw (piano)
CREDITS
Producers: Tom Huizenga, Morgan Noelle Smith; Creative Director: Bob Boilen; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Morgan Noelle Smith, Alyse Young; Page Turner: Suraya Mohamed; Production Assistant: Salvatore Maicki; Photo: Jennifer Kerrigan/NPR
For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

[@rjwusher]

Rest in peace Reinbert de Leeuw (1938-2020).

[@Tensioner]

I'm just glad people like this exist.

[@emmanuelrodriguezsilva9613]

I've recently discovered Barbara, and I feel lucky to find her here, along with this extraordinary pianist. Tiny desk is a project which truly shares emotions all over the world. Thank you so much.

[@randomprimate]

0:00 Zemlinsky - "Empfängnis" (1897) 4:54 Mahler, A - "Licht in der Nacht" (1915) 9:35 Wolf - "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt" (circa 1889) 12:57 Schoenberg - "Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm" (1899)

[@BIGBOYWITHBIGHAT]

Kudos to the pianist. Such an amazing beauty in his playing.

[@Alix777.]

Reinbert de Leeuw is a renowned conductor too, you should check his work, especially concerning Galina Ustvolskaya music.

[@BIGBOYWITHBIGHAT]

Thank you! :)

[@rjwusher]

Also Reinbert de Leeuw's Satie recordings, including Socrate with Barbara Hannigan are very worthwhile.

[@sjonb2]

Reinbert the Leeuws work introduced me, and all of Holland i might add, to modern music. He's a great man.

[@lubayart]

. ..unfortunately, died 2 years after this recording

[@arugula_fan]

She is INCREDIBLE. Watch her performances of Mysteries of the Macabre!

[@ivomdcoliveira]

Luis True. Just by luck, I was today rewatching them before this npr surprise. They are unforgettable.

[@diogenesagogo]

I saw her do that live, a couple of years ago. I also saw her conduct a Mozart piece for small orchestra, then slowly turn to the audience & sing a part from The Threepenny Opera (Jenny I think). Goosebumps everywhere. She's phenomenal.

[@gillesmatheronpro]

Just seen it, some 5 minutes ago. Still speechless from such genius and pertinence. Nothing to add, nothing to substract... just perfection of art. She truly is in a class of her own.

[@dctrbrass]

That was one of the best performances that I've ever seen. Incredible accuracy/tuning on that very hard material. I think she has perfect pitch. Sure sounds like it.

[@johannesdenee6007]

Barbara and Reinbert, you make my heart glow.

[@Holostone]

"Longing for a solution that doesn't come." Brought tears to my eyes. So many of us can relate.

[@jblusse]

I have to say it's a bit odd that Reinbert de Leeuw is only so briefly mentioned in the description. He is a legend!

[@leoenrico]

I cant describe what I felt listening her voice....she is amazing!!!

[@powlobo.m.b.]

Having seen the Idles playing in the same space as this and having loved both performances equally makes me think how awesome you guys are when reaching out for good music!! Thanks 🙏

[@Yoavmw]

This is gorgeous... moving... honest... I’m in tears. Bravi to them

[@f.scott.fitzbeagle]

So beautiful. So glad I found this. This pair is so talented.

[@christopherroberbush]

Oh my this is beautiful

[@angelportal5378]

After watching the grammy's ..i needed this

[@mblanton2]

plouk zoing she won a Grammy this year!

[@Claude1Rochon]

Agayjauahaufh Ahhhhh Ahahahah !

[@SpaceLion87]

10 seconds in the piece and I liked, favourited and searching for more

[@groofay]

Rest in peace Reinbert de Leeuw. You were an inspiration to many of us.

[@sadiqmohamed681]

That was a wonderful surprise. What a great voice. I think this a case where entrancing would be the correct term!

[@alaingagnon4392]

Magique et magnifique Barbara Hannigan. Votre talent est éblouissant....

[@jesperrasmussen1852]

A beautiful trio. B.H is The sound of LOVE.

[@michaelyannette579]

Barbara is absolutely remarkable...and watching her conduct and sing is on a whole other level of artistry. What an incredible woman!

[@gillesmatheronpro]

Can't find anything more appropriate than, just : thank you.

[@paulomatos1127]

amazing songs and barbara's voice is just otherworldly

[@saetmusic]

Wow! Hannigan puts just as much of herself into every note of the music here at a Tiny Desk Concert as she does soloing in front of the Berlin Phil.!

[@justinw1563]

Goosebumps!

[@jeanviana1894]

Melhor canal...melhores musicos e cantores

[@Ulisses011]

Aeee, tem BR que curte os NPR Tiny Desk o// Qual o seu favorito até agora?

[@pierrenelis655]

Toujours magnifique ! Une artiste craquante et talentueuse.

[@taylormitz9149]

God I love her so much, the call at the end of Schoenberg “Magdalena” gives me chills so much wanting from this moment. All of it is so beautiful

[@lordspucke8938]

both top stars for me.biggest respect

[@stewartmcdowall2285]

An absolute joy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@miggysmallz4985]

An amazing way to start your day

[@dion1949]

Thanks for giving the page turner credit.

[@jochensimon8632]

It was a wonderful tiny concert with an excellent vocal performance and excellent piano accompaniment. The short explanations relaxed the whole thing best. It was an absolut musical stroke of genius. Thank you very much.

[@staffanolofsson8201]

I believe this piano has had many meetings with great pianists, not only Reinbert de Leeuw. So when it retires it has many memories to think of. By the way, RIP Reinbert de Leeuw.

[@nohaylamujer]

I adore you Barbara Hannigan.

[@iandsmith]

"Longing for Gminor" I learned a lot from these brilliant guys about resolution.

[@AnnyJacky00]

This is not my type of music but I absolutely appreciate and enjoy the compositions especially as a German speaker and lord her amazing voice!

[@endorphinsmusic]

So maybe it is yout type of music after all :)

[@MedSou]

beautiful❤❤❤

[@january2798]

Wish captions would work w this. Would love to understand the words. Thanks for sharing such great talent and skill. So beautiful.

[@macclift9956]

Beautiful!

[@Nookinizm]

Thanks.

[@physicsparty8963]

This is the best. Bravo.

[@saracantamucho]

Amazing. Thanks

[@zhouli4625]

So beautiful...

[@thinkforyourself2109]

She is a great singer, but I also appreciate her incredible facial expressiveness.

[@Racosz]

Late Romantic-Expressionist German music with a hipster scenography... Barbara Hannigan is simply amazing (and de Leeuw too)

[@dashiellv]

Soothing voice.

[@slyspy9819]

I love the arts and all it's forms and all music , I just wish i knew what she was saying I think I would appreciate her more

[@endorphinsmusic]

Amazing

[@walterthemusician8741]

Tiny Desk gives us another nice surprise!

[@markdavidsonjewell]

Delicious. Delightful. Decadent. Divine.

[@halfabeet]

RIP Reinbert de Leeuw

[@johnrondeau8500]

I love her lower range her vibrato seems to calm down? I love her attention to consonants it makes me think of my former voice teacher the late Soprano, Chloe Owen. When she did the mezzo di voce the vibrato also relaxed. Is she really a Mezzo

[@felixdeckers8863]

She also sings coloraturo in opera... But she sure sounds like a mezzo wen singing Liederen

[@OngoingBox]

ooh! Didn't know this existed until, well, now. Big fan of Hannigan's performance of Hans Abrahamsen's Let Me Tell You -- fantastic piece. This video is wonderful!

[@OngoingBox]

also RIP Reinbert de Leeuw :(

[@Teona1212]

Excellent!

[@bplus2932]

not my cup of tee but i can truly appreciate this. thumbs UP!

[@yuehchopin]

tief bewegt

[@mistergamba80]

Love Barbara, is a complete charm ; Reinbert de Leeuw look like a man, but sound like a nature force!

[@inspector7112]

Great voice and beautiful Irish woman

[@blanquis1824]

Great!

[@brainrussell6811]

Surreal singer.

[@gundifreitag6813]

Besides the flawless singing, her German pronounciation is perfect! Passes as "real"😀

[@mu4990]

Classically trained singers spend years perfecting diction.

[@BenniArt]

They do, but unfortunately not many succeed at getting this good; I say this being both, a native speaker and a musician :)

[@mblanton2]

Gundi Freitag I believe she lived in Germany for a number of years.

[@rjwusher]

Mrs Hannigan lives in Amsterdam and is married to a Dutch actor. Dutch is quite similar in structure, syntax and sound to German.

[@yuehchopin]

sehr gut

[@GabsQuebecoise]

Quisiera que mi vida dejara de ser un secreto que sólo yo conozco

[@eottoe2001]

She's 47 and doesn't look it. Her voice is fabulous.

[@josjanssen6733]

It is almost a year ago since Reinbert passed away, and the insane gaping wound in our musical world is still there. Who will come close to picking up his legacy ? And Barbara ? She just goes from strength to strength. What a fantastic artist. Maybe she can help in keeping Reinbert's legacy alive.

[@pipityri]

Oh Barbara...

[@vannigio6234]

uah! che bellezza!

[@GUSSS15]

For the old Gods and de new's sake, Ygritte sings wonderfully!

[@JK-rt2jj]

Singers normally prefer the bathroom to the bedroom. This studio sounds like a bedroom. So hard to make this kind of repertoire sound good, like these two great musicians definetely did.

[@boonbrazy338]

wow

[@PaulvanDruten]

2Doc: De Matthäus Missie van Reinbert de Leeuw Do 13 apr 23:05 • VPRO • 75 min Een film over het mysterie van muziek, de bezieling van musici en de onstuitbare bevlogenheid waarmee componist en dirigent Reinbert de Leeuw opgaat in Bachs monumentale Matthäus Passion. www.npo.nl/2doc-de-matthaeus-missie-van-reinbert-de-leeuw/13-04-2017/VPWON_1256432

[@NoferTrunions]

CC translation would have been awesome.

[@miguelcruz9065]

En la Boca del Desierto estuvo aquí.

[@GoksuHazalSubas]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@kxish]

thank you tiny desk for this. I think some people might say this style of music is not worth presenting, but I disagree. I had this video on loop for 4 hours and I have to say it was the best sleep I've had in months. On the down side, when I woke up, the loop was still playing and it was so annoying that I punch my moniter. Currently I'm posting from my new laptop, but that's ok.

[@yonatanpandelaki]

KCPIO Loool this comment

[@ivomdcoliveira]

The drama!

[@giorgio1943]

Short sad story

[@fabian5002]

Is this a legit story?

[@TheCjgjjj123]

s/o page turner

[@paulorafael0309]

This shit is dope

[@DAVIDSOLARINO]

❤

[@mauromedina1821]

Tiny Desk for connoisseurs

[@Yallgonnamakemelosemymind]

Will Justin Nozuka ever be invited?

[@dimasrahmat94]

EDEN PLS!

[@SapphireDreamssss]

Please get Lomelda on here

[@VincentVader]

Made my dogs howl

[@zillion3d]

15:22

[@rohamsaberi3589]

this is not her usual kind of repertoire 😅

[@finosuilleabhain7781]

She could have brought here some lame crossover nonsense, but that's not this woman. Voice.

[@Meleny95]

maybe invite Fiona Apple?

[@juanalcocer1104]

yall need to get blessed feathers on here

[@misacruzader]

Oh is NPR becoming self-aware? "laughably quaint"

[@L0VEisAmixtape]

Hater

[@sambridges4670]

Pianist looks like Stick from Daredevil

[@joshliggins2260]

U Guys Should Get Brent Faiyaz Next!!!

[@Claude1Rochon]

Taylor Swift ? how on Earth is music = $$$$ ?

[@ElGuitaristo79]

Oh that´s German!? I listened for minutes then I realized. I am German, by the way...

[@seppstarthebest]

so i'm not the only one having trouble to recognize my mother's tongue :)

[@ElGuitaristo79]

Auch wenn ich mich anstrenge, ich versteh kein Wort :-/ Dachte erst, das wäre was Skandinavisches ;-) Aber natürlich sehr schön vorgetragen!

[@andramoie]

Ich habe schlechte Neuigkeiten für dich: Es könnte sein dass du kein Deutsch sprichst.

[@lokilix]

MSTR 79 would this mean that her pronunciation is bad? Or is it because of the high large notes? Just wondering

[@andramoie]

I think she has a very good pronunciation.

[@geometriemuffel]

hi NPR please invite AlunaGeorge :)

[@dion1949]

Decadence in a good way.

[@johnbrian4516]

We need Donald Glover to come to the show. Who else agrees?

[@peanutbutterjellyfish2665]

The piano player??? He looks like he is about to keel over.

[@stevenpam]

What a gift to live to that age and be able to maintain and use such a wonderful skill

[@peanutbutterjellyfish2665]

Steven Pam no doubt....

[@roberthumber1957]

Just gotta give him some credit though. Not only is he an incredible pianist, he is one of the best conductors of contemporary music in the world.

[@Red4350]

looks can be deceiving

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

Why can't you furnish a more respectable and classy backdrop for these concerts? I mean, it looks like someone's basement laundry room. Come on. NPR can do much better.

[@L0VEisAmixtape]

Of course they can but it's a part of the brand.

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

"The vocal recital, as a performance genre, is still alive." Well, hardly. Because of massive cultural disinterest, not only is attendance down but song recitals are becoming rarer and rarer. And intelligent ones even rarer. Then there is the problem of recitalists pursuing fruitless outreach agendas by dumbing down programs and turning their presentations into idiotic and often embarrassing chatty sessions (e.g., Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, Sondra Radvanovsky). That said, this is not the case with Hannigan, who recently completed a highbrow, serious and challenging North American tour, from memory to boot. Oh, that's another pet peeve: recitalists unable to communicate the music's soul (Innigkeit) either because they are plain incompetent or because they have their noses buried in the score or because of deficient to nonexistent language skills. Or all three. Unacceptable. UPDATE: So I watched the entire video and Hannigan also turned this presentation into a chatty session. It's a No-No.

[@arugula_fan]

doGreatartistsgrowontrees? Get over yourself

[@doGreatartistsgrowontrees]

Luis Well, that's a grand, intelligent and eloquent counter-argument.

[@arugula_fan]

I could say the same sarcastic thing about your initial post. But more precisely, it's grandiose. I'm sure Hannigan welcomes the opportunity to present the music she's singing in an informal setting and wants to explain the thought behind her program to an audience with no program notes available to them and who probably don't have any background on the composers or that she's performing. Hannigan didn't have to be "chatty," but she chose to because she thought it would enrich the experience of this particular audience. She doesn't typically talk in recitals or concerts. I just don't understand what possesses you to care. Go watch any of her other videos (her Ligeti is great) if it bothers you.

[@TheBluetoo99]

Very well said Luis.

[@catalinagalan]

Really? Just focus on the music, god... who cares if they talk? (and it actually helps people learn, understand, and relate to this music, unfamiliar to many).