Classical Music - La Scena Musicale

sewing girl in Charpentier’s Louise in 1953. Good things
happened shortly after: singing in Beethoven’s 9 th
Symphony in Montreal under Otto Klemperer, Messiah in
Toronto, her European debut in Paris in 1955 and her New
York debut in 1956. A defining moment came in
February,1957, when the great Bruno Walter chose her as
the soloist in Mahler’s Second Symphony, in performances
that marked Walter’s farewell. In her long career,
Forrester sang for many other great conductors including
Barbirolli, Beecham, Bernstein, Karajan, Krips, Reiner, and
Stokowski, but her collaboration with Walter had the
greatest impact on her career. Under his tutelage,
Forrester became one of the most celebrated Mahler
interpreters of our time. Her “Abschied” from Das Lied
von der Erde is supremely moving. So it is too bad that for
contractual reasons, Forrester – an RCA artist at the time
– was unable to record it with Walter for Columbia.
Fortunately, a live recording of Walter’s very last Das Lied
with Forrester and Richard Lewis, taped in Carnegie Hall in
1960, is available on CD (Music & Arts 4206).
In its prime, the Forrester voice is best described as a
force of nature – a big sound that comes from deep within
and envelops the listener with its smooth, opulent, dark
timbre, in a range that descends from mezzo-soprano
highs to the most resonant of contralto lows, all employed
with intelligence and musicianship. Besides being a superb
Mahlerian, Forrester was a fine exponent of the music of
the great masters spanning three centuries, from Bach and
Handel to Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann,
Strauss, Wagner, Rachmaninoff, and 20 th century composers.
Despite her international fame – in her heyday she
gave 120 performances a year on five continents – she
remained quintessentially Canadian, averaging 30 performances
a year in her home country. She toured China
and Japan as a representative of Canada on several occasions.
Many Canadian composers like Srul Irving Glick,
Oskar Morawetz, and R. Murray Schafer, wrote music especially
for her.
Primarily a concert artist, the bulk of Forrester’s operatic
performances happened fairly late in her career. Still,
she was a noted Brangaene (captured on video with Jon
Vickers and Roberta Knie from Montreal), Dame Quickly,
Erda, Ulrica, Madame Flora, the Old Countess in Pique
Dame, Herodias, Klytemnestra, and the Old Prioress in
Dialogues of the Carmelites. Her searing portrayal of
Madame de Croissy in her death throes in a Canadian
Opera Company production of the Poulenc opera is
unforgettable. Despite possessing histrionic skills to wring
the last tears from an audience, Forrester was a happy person
in public. Her entrance into a room was announced
with her resonant speaking voice, her infectious, hearty
laugh followed by her smiling face. “I never had any problems
with conductors. They like me because I show up on
time, know my part, and I am cheerful.”
It is doubtful that any Canadian classical singer is as
decorated as Maureen Forrester. The recipient of 30 honorary
degrees, she was named Companion of the Order of
Canada (1967), was Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier
University (1986-90), and served as chair of the Canada
Council (1983-88). By the
1990s, she had scaled back
her international activities,
but continued to be active
on the concert stage. In the
mid 90s, composer-pianist
David Warrack wrote
Interpretations of a Life, a
collection of bittersweet
songs based on material
from her life and career. The
two took it on tour across
Canada and the songs are
recorded on CD. As her illness
advanced, she performed
only occasionally. To
the best of my knowledge,
her final public performance
was a full-length benefit
concert for the Toronto
Sinfonietta in June, 2001.
With the help of friends and
family, she continued to
appear as guest at various
public functions and galas.
Research tells us that
long-term memory is the
last to go – Maureen continues
to respond to the sound of music. I recall a concert
given by soprano Mirela Tafaj in a private home in
Maureen’s presence about three years ago. She not only
came alive and responded vividly to the singing, but
shared the finer points of vocal production, her tricks of
the trade as it were, with the singer after the concert.
Later she sat by the piano to join in a round of familiar
songs. Once again, she was in her element. This is how I
would like to remember Maureen Forrester. p
PHOTO: JOSEPH SO
PHOTO: JOSEPH SO
music scene Winter 2006 29