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Contemporary Classical - Thea Derks Sep 27, 2025

Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir: ‘Sylvia Plath combined beauty with the grotesque’

In her poem Lady Lazarus, Sylvia Plath explores themes such as the oppression of women, suicide and resilience. Icelandic soprano Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir took Aribert Reimann’s cycle of the same name for solo soprano as the starting point for her recital with pianist Kunal Lahiry in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw on 1 October. This forms part of an ECHO-tour through Europe.

Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir (Reykjavík, 1993) discovered the poetry of Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) as a teenager: ‘I was deeply moved by her intimate, confessional writing style and admire her ability to juxtapose the grotesque with beauty. – And her poetry is teeming with double meanings and ironic twists.’

Expectations from women

She feels a strong personal connection to Lady Lazarus, which Plath completed a year before her suicide: ‘This poem is a ruthless and vulnerable, yet fierce self-portrait full of metaphors. She describes her suicide attempts in an almost casual, yet theatrical way. In addition to struggling with mental illness, she had to contend with the social expectations of women who pursued both domestic and artistic ideals in the 1950s and 1960s. As a woman and mother, I empathise with her; the theme is still highly relevant today.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq2LOhaf97o

However, it was not her own idea to focus her recital on Aribert Reimann’s (1936-2024) cycle Lady Lazarus: ‘Kunal, my friend, colleague and pianist, suggested it and I was immediately enthusiastic. This seventeen-minute a cappella composition for solo soprano is just as intense as Plath’s poem. It requires an enormous range, flexibility and dramatic stamina. At the same time, Reimann leaves plenty of room for imagination. I think it’s an incredibly cool piece and I’m happy to take on the challenge.’

Reimann’s cycle forms common thread

Incidentally, the cycle does not sound continuous, explains Guðmundsdóttirt: ‘We have divided Lady Lazarus into five sections and placed them in the programme as a kind of pillar, as a common thread. In between, we include contrasting or similar songs by other composers. We were inspired by the different “chapters” of the poem and the composition; the relationship with the original can be abstract, intuitive or musically motivated.’

‘In the poem, a woman confronts death and rebirth, talking about the experience of being used and objectified, but always coming out stronger. That is why we wanted to explore themes such as suffering and resistance. We found lamentations full of noble suffering and songs that question social conditions and the limits of endurance. Meditations on awe and terror, but also cries for liberation.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgixNLw4hM0

Thus Reimann’s poignant setting of Plath’s nonchalant opening line about her third suicide attempt, “I have done it again”, is followed by the resigned songs “Blondel zu Marien” by Schubert and “Do Not Stand by my Grave and Weep” by Carol Ann McGowan. Section three, based on her sober verse “The first time it happened I was ten”, is followed by Christian Jost’s unsettling song “Der explodierende Kopf” (The exploding head), about a suicide forced by a father.

Indictment of patriarchy

Guðmundsdóttir: ‘Like the poem itself, the programme can be read as a powerful indictment of patriarchy, as a description of how women struggle with and against overwhelming forces. Unintentionally, Plath became a feminist literary icon because she spoke openly about her struggles. Nowadays, this is commonplace, but in her time it was revolutionary.’

‘Her words are so powerful because of their raw portrayal of female suffering and objectification. She also criticises male authority figures – religious, patriarchal, political – as destructive and warns them that she is no longer their victim. At the end of her poem, she “rises from the ashes” and devours the men who controlled, harmed or belittled her.’

New work by María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir

María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, also from Iceland, is composing a new piece for this concert series, Náðarstef (Grace Theme). Why her? ‘I’ve wanted to work with María for a while, she is a versatile musician. She was in the band Amiina, which I listened to a lot as a teenager, and she has been working with Sigur Rós for some time, a band that has also had a big influence on me. She seemed to me to be the perfect person to write a piece that fits the theme of our recital.’

‘We met her for a work session earlier this year, but she is still hard at work (our conversation took place in early June, TD). I am very curious to see what she comes up with. Maybe we will use interesting effects for the strings in the piano, maybe I will make my debut on a wine glass. Who knows! And no, María is not setting Plath’s poem to music; we are leaving Lady Lazarus to Reimann.’

The recital concludes with Henry Purcell’s “By Beauteous Softness”, a hymn of praise to the powerful yet gentle manner in which Queen Mary ruled Great Britain alongside her husband William of Orange. Was this song chosen especially for Amsterdam? ‘No,’ laughs Guðmundsdóttir, ‘that’s pure coincidence; we’ll perform it in every city on our ECHO tour.’

This is a slightly abridged version of an article I wrote in Dutch for the October issue of Preludium, the magazine of Concertgebouw and Concertgebouw Orchestra

#AribertReimann #ÁlfheiðurErlaGuðmundsdóttir #KunalLahiry #LadyLazarus #MaríaHuldMarkanSigfúsdóttir #SylviaPlath