ARTISTIC COLLABORATION

 Juan Jose Lazaro, Rosario Armas, and Magdalena Kuźma

It seems odd that we have to issue a disclaimer but here it is...every word of our reviews expresses our own opinion in our very own words. We do not (and never will) employ Artificial Intelligence to speak for us. If we find it necessary to quote (even our own writing) we will place the words in quotation marks.

So let us now praise genius. What a remarkable recital we witnessed last night and what a joy it was for us to note the growth of artists of whom we are very fond. Hearing the same singers and pianists over a period of years demonstrates to us the manner in which inborn gifts respond to superb tutelage and achieve depths that come with maturity.

Juan Jose Lazaro first came to our attention at Manhattan School of Music about eight years ago when he was a participant in the late Thomas Muraco's Opera Repertoire  Ensemble. In the intervening years we have enjoyed his collaborative piano artistry on countless occasions. We well recall the brilliant recital he performed as he achieved his Masters Degree in Collaborative Piano. So of course we needed to be there for the recital he gave last night at Opera America, a requisite for his finally achieving his Doctor of Musical Arts degree.

Collaborative Piano is a highly specialized and demanding branch of the musical field. It requires not just consummate pianistic skills and intense knowledge of the enormous opera and song literature but also a unique ability to highlight the singing partner, often stepping up to the coaching plate to fine tune a performance. There is no room for grandstanding or stealing the show.

Last night's recital opened with Gustav Mahler's intense song cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Here, both pianist and singer have a two-fold task. The pianist must create a tapestry of sound, particularly illuminating the forces of nature that both mock and support the narrator of the text; the singer must somehow get the audience to experience the various emotions experienced by a person watching his beloved marry another. There is anger, regret, despair, and a futile attempt to heal. All this without the singer collapsing into a pool of tears. Only the audience is allowed such an emotional luxury of catharsis.

And this was perfectly accomplished by the mezzo-soprano chosen to sing it, Rosario Armas Alom, another artist whose growth we have been enjoying since her undergraduate days at Manhattan School of Music. This Mahler cycle is one of Ms. Armas' signature pieces and we would like to quote from our review from three years ago when we attended Ms. Armas' Masters Degree recital.

"... how many times we have enjoyed hearing a baritone singing Mahler's emotionally shattering cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; on a rare occasion we have heard a female singer make an attempt, leaving us with a kind of negative opinion of singers tackling works meant for the other gender. Last night was completely different! It was the essence of the text that came across as Ms. Armas completely disappeared. (If a baritone ever does the same with Schumann's Frauenlieben und Leben we may very well fall off our chair.)

Serving the music and the text to this degree requires the abandonment of self indulgence. The narrator in this cycle is suffering from the loss of his beloved and in spite of the beauties of nature he sinks into despair.  Eventually his agony yields to a calm acceptance.  Ms. Armas limned each and every emotion; even if the listener did not understand the German (which our singer enunciated with Teutonic perfection) one could not fail to understand."

Now, Dear Reader, imagine how much greater depths were plumbed after three years of growth and experience! Mr. Lazaro was with her emotionally every step of the way and what a journey it was. Something new was added by both member of this artistic team. The elements of nature were more intensely elucidated. And there were a couple phrases given a marcato reading that lent a special emphasis. We had not noticed that before. Through our ears and through Ms. Armas' artistry we felt a deeper experience. We had to pull ourselves together for the next set of songs!

Although there was Teutonic perfection in the Mahler, it was delightful to hear our two artists performing in their own language. (Ms. Armas is Mexican and Mr. Lazaro is Peruvian). Alberto Ginastera was a 20th century Argentinian composer and his Cinco canciones populares Argentinas are filled with Latin flavor, a flavor we always enjoy. Mr. Lazaro conveyed the rhythmic vitality to perfection.

Claude Debussy was a contemporary of Mahler but his Gallic style could not be more different. We love the mythic and impressionistic feel of his Trois chansons de Bilitis. It was here that both artists captured an imaginary world of antiquity, the gentle strumming of a lyre, the sensuality of a sexual awakening, and the chill of disillusionment.

The final set comprised six songs by Sergei Rachmaninov in which soprano Magdalena Kuzma gave us the gift of experiencing the emotions through her voice since we do not speak or understand Russian. We have watched her winning prizes at a number of competitions and always enjoy the Polish or Russian selections. Mr. Lazaro's piano seemed to love the lavish Russian Romanticism and so did we!

And so...we heard four different styles of music, each one given its full measure. We heard Mr. Lazaro accommodate to two different singers. We are ready to call him Dr. Lazaro. Perhaps the next time we write about Mr. Lazaro we will be writing about Dr. Lazaro!

© meche kroop