"Just listen to the beautiful Apparition, which closes this CD by the talented Belgian soprano Sheva Tehoval. The poem is a complex mix of images. The beautiful setting gives depth and unity to the stream of consciousness that the poem appears to be."
Katholiek nieuwsblad, 03-12-2021Sheva Tehoval, Soprano
Born in Brussels and the daughter of a blues musician, Sheva Tehoval already fell in love with French artsong (mélodie) when she was a teenager. At the age of 18 she moved to Germany, where the study of Lieder inspired her to progress in the German language. Sheva was thus able to refine her mastery of Lied repertoire at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne, then at the Royal Academy of Music in London, with professors such as Christoph Prégardien, Richard Stokes, Julius Drake, Graham Johnson, Michael Gees, and Malcolm Martineau.
Rewarded in numerous singing competitions, Tehoval’s artistry soon started attracting international attention. At age 23 she was the youngest laureate ever of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels; she garnered further prizes at the German National Music Competition (Deutscher Musikwettbewerb), the SWR Junge Opernstars competition (First Prize), and the Luitpold Advancement Prize at the Kissingen Summer Festival.
Sheva has already performed on many European stages, including the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Theater an der Wien in Vienna, the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, the Philharmonie in Cologne, and the Herkulessaal in Munich.
Apart from her success as an opera singer, Sheva has been frequently invited to give vocal recitals at a number of international venues: the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, the Schubertiada in Vilabertrán (Spain), SWR Festival Rheinvokal, the Bad Kissingen Summer Festival, and “Das Lyrische Salon” at Ettersburg Castle near Weimar; her most frequent duo partners at the piano are Christoph Schnackertz and Daniel Heide.
Her interest in a wide gamut of styles is notable, ranging from Classical/Romantic opera and concert repertoire, including the world of artsong and naturally the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Sheva’s great curiosity to learn new repertoire is the driving force that leads her to embark on innovative musical paths.
Claude Debussy was a French composer. He and Maurice Ravel were the most prominent figures associated with impressionist music, though Debussy disliked the term when applied to his compositions. He was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1903. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed.
Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of non-traditional tonalities. The prominent French literary style of his period was known as Symbolism, and this movement directly inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an active cultural participant
Among his most famous works are his Clair de Lune, his Three Nocturnes and his orchestral piece La Mer.
Arnold Schoenberg was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, but perhaps also one of the least listened to. Strikingly, Schoenberg was self-educated, even though his music is imbedded in complex music theory. It was Schoenberg who definitely departed from tonality and he developed the twelve tone technique. In this composition style, one has to use every twelve tones of the scale, before one can be repeated. The struggle to adhere to this dogma is clearly audible: his music is tense, hectic and particularly acute - and therefore at times not that accesible to occasional listeners.
Nevertheless, his music and his liberation of tonality had an enormous impact on all composers that came after him. Together with the music of his students Alban Berg and Anton Webern, his style is often referred to as the Second Viennese School, parallel to the First Viennese School of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, who, in a similar vein, changed the history of music for good.
His most performed works are his string sextet Verklärte Nacht, his five Orchestra pieces op. 16, and his opera Moses und Aron. The development of Schoenberg's music can be heard in his Five String Quartets in particular.
Just listen to the beautiful Apparition, which closes this CD by the talented Belgian soprano Sheva Tehoval. The poem is a complex mix of images. The beautiful setting gives depth and unity to the stream of consciousness that the poem appears to be.
Katholiek nieuwsblad, 03-12-2021
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