Concert in the Aalener Villa Stützel

Noble arrangements of the songs of the legendary Leonard Cohen, embedded in Renaissance chansons: Stützel was offered a musical pearl in the Aalen villa.

Eels. What a voice. What a warm bass. Leonard Cohen’s songs are in good hands with Joel Frederiksen. The audience at the “Ensemble Phoenix Munich” concert on Sunday evening in the Villa Stützel in Aalen also shared this opinion.

Timeless elegance and seamless fit

But it is not just the songs of the Canadian multi-artist, who died in 2016, that the quartet interprets in extremely elegant arrangements under the heading “A Day with Suzanne”. The real mystery of this concert is how Frederiksen, the young soprano Emma-Lisa Roux, the viola da gamba professor Hille Perl and the viola da gamba player Domen Marincic embed the Cohen songs in French chansons of the Renaissance. Like “Suzanne” in “Susanne un jour” by Orlando di Lasso right at the beginning. It sounds so natural, as if they were created together. They are indeed timeless, as the leader of the ensemble explains.

And this knitting pattern is wearing. “A Thousand Kisses Deep” is married to “Un jour l’amoureuse Sylvie” by Pierre Guédron, who lived from 1570 to 1620.

Much older is “Adieu mes amours” by the Franco-Flemish composer Josquin des Prez, which wraps the group in the “Famous Blue Raincoat”.

Does that make saying goodbye easier? “Dance Me to The End Of Love” finds the perfect setting in the Prelude and Pavane, which are enchantingly plucked on the lute by Emma-Lisa Roux, and the Galliarde by Pierre Attaignant. The lutes are built more for quiet tones; together with the two violas da gamba, they can really show off, as in the “Devil the Care” that concludes before the break.

The bird feels extremely comfortable on the wire between a French and an English nightingale.

“Le Phoenix” then rises up to the sun and says “So long, Marianne” – it’s beautiful enough to make you cry.

The bassist from the USA, who plays the lute, thought about what would fit with Cohen’s epic “Hallelujah”. He found the “Hallelujah” from “The Evening Hymn” by the Englishman Henry Purcell. The two pieces flow together in a beguiling way when played together with his young colleague.

The ensemble thanks the audience in the Villa Stützel for their warm applause with Cohen’s “Who By Fire” and the English folk song “Scarborough Fair”.