‘Schumann on Steinway’. Mezzo-soprano Angharad Lyddon and accompanist David Doidge at St David’s Hall, Cardiff 09/04/2019. Drawings (four images).
‘The Recitalists: ‘Schumann on Steinway, Angharad Lyddon and David Doidge at St David’s Hall’
This drawing is from my series of classical singers and accompanists, made from sketches at pre-lockdown recitals. Sketching in recital halls meant that I would not see my work until the houselights came up. This way I drew Angharad Lyddon while she sang Schumann’s doomed Waldesgespräch. Her performance infused the marks I made and its memory kept my practice going in the early stages of lockdown. Although unseen from my seat in the auditorium, I have inserted a piano keyboard to signify the subject of the drawing. There was something about that gleaming piano and glamorous musicians that reminded me of George Stubbs’ Newmarket paintings from the 1760s. I am of course aware of the difference between my spooling results and the accuracy of Stubbs’ technique for the glorious thoroughbreds that engaged him at Newmarket.