Thomas Guthrie joined forces with Lewisham residents to create a present-day response to Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin marking the 200th anniversary of the song cycle and tapping into a bit of reliable South London community spirit too.
The Stories we Tell Ourselves saw Guthrie collaborate with performers in a refreshingly straightforward format combining selected highlights from Schubert’s work with newly composed songs performed by the chorus. Joining them at the perky new performance World Heartbeat in the shadow of the Borg-like American Embassy were Outcry Ensemble and Vox Urbane.
Guthrie’s combination of charisma and earthy vocal delivery means he can easily put an audience at ease and convey any required messaging. In that respect he doesn’t need presenter Alexander Armstrong whose sometimes Johnson-esque tone risks disingenuousness at odds with the event’s sincere intentions. What shines through is the warmth in the originating idea – bringing Schubert to the heart of Lewisham, introducing one to the other with a firm handshake and a warm smile.
There was genuine enthusiasm in the room both from performers and audience, in a way that captured some of a joyous sense of community I sometimes experience in the road where I live.
Awkward exchanges with presenter aside, I’d really like to see more of this going on on my doorstep. It’s unapologetically self-confident, authentic and inclusive. Hearing this song cycle accompanied by the rich colours of a string quartet gave this performance of ’s Die schöne Müllerin a musical theatre feel too. Im rather sorry I chose to go the Nine Elms gig rather than the second performance in the pub fifteen minutes walk away down the road from me at home in Catford.
Stories We Tell Ourselves with Thomas Guthrie, Gwyneth Herbert, the Mind and Soul Choir was at World HeartBeat in Nine Elms and the Fellowship Inn, Bellingham. Both events raised funds for MTFA and Papyrus, the UK’s leading suicide prevention charity.
Guthrie’s recording of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin with Barokksolistene will be released in November 2023 on Rubicon Classics.
