POISE AND PRESENCE

Bronwyn Schuman and Anneliese Klenetsky

Soprano Anneliese Klenetsky is about to say farewell after eight years at Juilliard, from pre-college to Master of Music; we are pleased to report that she will be staying in New York City for the immediate future--so we can avoid a tearful goodbye. A presence like hers is a joy to behold, as beautiful of spirit as she is of voice, and as well endowed. We enjoyed her gracious tribute to Juilliard almost as much as her performance.

We will never forget her starring role as the Governess in Britten's Turn of the Screw, nor her spirited performance in NYFOS at Juilliard, nor her performance with Juilliard 415, not to mention the numerous recitals.

As a matter of fact, we were delighted to revisit works that she has performed before, among which the set which contrasted views of Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet was our favorite. Brahms' Fünf Ophelia-Lieder are gorgeously melodic and portray Ophelia as a pathetic victim; Richard Strauss' Drei Lieder der Ophelia portray her as deranged. The same text set to wildly different music gave the singer an opportunity to show off her versatility.

Ms. Klenetsky has a bright and brilliantly focused soprano that is never harsh; she employs it with fine technique that never calls attention to itself but exists to serve the music. Following the two sets of Ophelia songs, she ended her program with a charming a capella folksong "Let no man steal your thyme", the melody of which had a rather Irish sound.

Another set that we have previously heard her perform comprised songs by Francis Poulenc--the anxious tale of "Le disparu" counterintuitively set to jolly piano music, the sad "C" and the surreal "Fêtes galantes". Ms. Klenetsky has a real feeling for Poulenc and his ironies. She uses gesture generously to get the songs across.

The evening opened with an assist from the harpsichord (Francis Yun) and a string quartet comprising violinists Rachel Ellen Wong and Ethan Lin, violist Sergio Muñoz Leiva, and cellist Madeline Bouïssou. Vivaldi's work In furore lustissimae irae, sung in Latin, opened with a spirited Allegro, the heavily ornamented line of which provided Ms. Klenetsky with the opportunity to display marked flexibility. There was a sorrowful recitativo, a Largo and a rapid fire conclusion with a melismatic "Alleluia".

The Händel which followed was more to our liking. "Caro! Bella!" from Giulio Cesare amounts to the swapping of endearments and we found it endearing, thanks to a delightful performance by Ms. Kelentsky and countertenor Jacob Inbar. We were completely captivated.

Even better was "Io t'abraccio" from Rodelinda in which the overtones of each singer's voice augmented those of the other's. Mr. Ingbar had some low notes here but was undaunted. Both singers excelled.

There was also a cycle of songs by Lili Boulanger, the sister of the famous Nadia Boulanger. This promising musician died tragically at the age of 25. Neither the text nor the music of the cycle Clairières dans le ciel appealed to us but the performance was highly expressive and made good use of dynamic variation. The piano writing was more interesting than the vocal line but we did like the melodic "Nous nous aimerons tant".

It was an impressive and enjoyable farewell recital; tribute was paid to all those folks who fostered Ms. Klenetsky's development as an artist, especially her teachers Edith Wiens and the late Sanford Sylvan, who would have been very proud of her.

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BIG AND BEAUTIFUL

Bronwyn Schuman and Katerina Burton

We love big beautiful sopranos with big beautiful voices and were delighted to get a further hearing of Katerina Burton whom we so enjoyed as the housekeeper Mrs. Grose in Britten's Turn of the Screw. Since then we have heard and enjoyed her sizable soprano a few more times; yesterday we found ourself grabbing one last chance to hear her at her Graduate Diploma Degree recital before she departs for Opera Theater of St. Louis' Young Artist Program.

Every time we have heard her in recital she has performed songs of Joseph Marx, a choice which delights us. Yesterday she explained that the composer defied the atonal and serial innovations of his contemporaries (Berg and Schoenberg) to write tonal melodic music. This serves to explain why he never achieved the fame he merits and also why we like his songs so much!

Ms. Burton's instrument is rich and full with spacious resonance at the top and Marx's songs offer many opportunities to show it off. It would be difficult to pick a favorite but we particularly enjoyed the tender "Selige Nacht" as collaborative pianist Bronwyn Schuman joined in with gentle arpeggi. Both artists invested "Der bescheidene Schäfer" with charm. There was an immediacy to "Waldseligkeit" that we felt to be shared among the poet, the composer, the two artists, and the audience.

Equally thrilling for us was the set of songs by Jean Sibelius, sung in Swedish. We did not know that he composed over a hundred songs, having heard only a few of them. (This gives us something to look forward to!) The four selected by Ms. Burton were familiar to us, especially the passionate "Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte" and "Var det en dröm" in which the low notes didn't phase Ms. Burton at all. "De första kyssen" was beautifully phrased and "Soluppgång" made use of dynamic variety to great effect. 

Three 20th c. English songs on the program offered pleasures of varying degrees. We had not heard of British composer Michael Head but his strophic song "The Ships of Arcady" pleased us with its lovely melody, rhyme scheme, and repetitive motif. Ivor Gurney's "Sleep" lacked an interesting vocal line so we found our ears tuning in to the haunting piano writing, so well played by Ms. Schuman. Frank Bridge's "Love went a-Riding" is familiar to us and we always enjoy it.

The set of songs by Charles Tomlinson Griffes, settings of text by Fiona McLeod, failed to hold our attention in spite of the fine performance. Again, the lack of a compelling vocal line allowed our attention to wander to the piano.

On the other hand, two French songs compelled our attention by virtue of their melodiousness and Ms. Burton's fine French. Henri DuParc's "L'invitation au voyage" always carries us away to a land of fantasy and Reynaldo Hahn's "Si mes vers avaient des ailes" was sung with appropriate romantic delicacy.

The program closed on a high note with four songs by Rachmaninoff in which singer and collaborative pianist met in perfect partnership. "Ne poy, krasavitsa, pri mne" has always been one of our favorites. The Eastern melancholy touches our heart and the melismatic singing, like a glorious vocalise, weaves its way into our ears and enchants us. (We had the thought then that we'd love to hear Ms. Burton sing "Bachianas Brazilieras".)

"Son" introduces a gentle Russian melancholy over a dream of yearning, whereas the dream of "Zdes' khorosho" is a dream of solitude and communion. The evening ended joyfully with the seasonally appropriate "Vesenniye vody". The snows are melting, the streams are swollen, Spring is here!

Thank you Katerina for this fulfilling recital (and all the other ones as well) and best wishes in St. Louis! You are destined for success.

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GROWING...GROWING...GROWN!

Kady Evanyshyn onstage at Paul Hall

We have been writing about Kady Evanyshyn for at least five years and witnessing her growth as an artist. What we recognized from the very beginning was her gracious stage presence, engaging personality, and finely textured mezzo-soprano instrument. It took us longer to learn to pronounce her name than it took us to perceive her star potential. Some singers just stand out right away and we are not alone in recognizing this feature.

We have heard Ms. Evanyshyn in recital, singing everything from Monteverdi to Brahms, and have seen her perform in operas, notably Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor and in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. We have heard her in many languages as well. Perhaps what stands out for us most was her performance of Moussorgsky's Nursery Songs. She applies the same sense of drama developed on the operatic stage to her performance of art songs.

Last night we attended her Master of Music recital at Juilliard (that polisher of gems!) and had the opportunity to greet and share opinions with her teacher Edith Wiens. Both of us were thrilled.

The program she chose was an interesting one, marked by variety and adventure. Three chansons by Reynaldo Hahn opened the program. Although Hahn composed in the first half of the 20th c., his songs show a great respect for the past by virtue of their melodic delights and their themes. As we understand it, Ms. Evanyshyn auditioned for Juilliard with a Hahn song and saw its inclusion last night as a means of coming full circle.

"A Chloris" is a love song without a single dark note and perfectly suited to the singer's joy in singing. "L'énamourée", on the other hand, let us share the feeling of wanting to bring a dead lover back to life. "Fêtes galantes" is filled with charm like the Fragonard painting that springs to mind when we hear it. The works were performed in fine French with long lovely lines, just as Hahn intended. Collaborative pianist Bronwyn Schuman reflected the same joy in harking back to the past.

The next set was in German and we are pleased to report that the singer's German is just as good as her French. We found nothing to pick on! For the Strauss lieder, the always wonderful Chris Reynolds provided the piano collaboration. Two of our favorites bookended the set. In "Du meines herzens Krönelein" we loved the way Ms. Evanyshyn used different vocal coloration when the poet describes his beloved and when he describes other women.

The set ended with a passionate delivery of "Zueignung" that ended in a thrilling crescendo that filled Paul Hall with overtones. In between the two we heard "Die Georgine" (from the same Op. 10) in which the poet compares the autumn dahlia to his late blooming love. Mr. Reynolds captured the lush late Romantic harmonies.

Of the three Marc Blitzstein songs, our favorite was "Stay in my Arms". The text "Let's just be lazy; the world's gone crazy!" resonated with us. The other two were settings of text by e.e. cummings which look fine on the page but resemble Dada. It was quite an accomplishment for the singer to make sense out of what psychiatrist call "word salad". We don't know why Blitzstein chose to set them but...there they are.

The second half of the program found Ms. Evanyshyn "on the book" but we can understand why. Joseph Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne are written in a language unknown to us--Occitan. On the page the words are clearly from a branch of Romance languages but as different from French as is Portuguese.

Ms. Evanyshyn clearly demonstrated the humor of "Lou boussu" in which a hunchback courts a maiden without success. In "Oï ayaï" a woman refuses to get out of bed until her husband goes to the fair on several errands to buy her various articles of clothing. The verses repeat and repeat and our singer's facial expression showed us how the husband felt. The humor of both songs was good natured and sweet. For this set, the accompaniment was played by Jonathan Stauffer on the theorbo. He played as beautifully as he did yesterday at another Juilliard concert we reviewed. The choice of theorbo was a happy but unexpected one.

The program ended with a group of folk songs set by Luciano Berio in typical mid 20th c. modernism. The stage was filled with musicians: violist Lauren Siess, cellist Philip Sheegog, flutist Emily Duncan, clarinetist Nikki Pet (doubling on piccolo), harpist Deanna Cirielli, and percussionists Benjamin Cornavaca and Simon Herron.

Our curiosity made us want to inspect the panoply of percussion instruments. We heard some mighty strange sounds! The orchestration was interesting but, truth to tell, we might have preferred hearing Ms. Evanyshyn singing a capella! The modernism of the music did not seem to carry the simplicity of the folk songs.

Actually, the first two songs "Black is the Color" and "I Wonder as I Wander" are not folk songs but were composed by John Jacob Niles. The first was introduced by some harsh dissonance on the viola. Now what does that have to do with a man admiring his beloved?

"Loosin yelav" was sung in Armenian and included the piping of the piccolo.

"Rossignolet du bois" was sung in French and featured the clarinet.

"A la femminisca" was sung in the Sicilian dialect and had the feeling of a dirge.

"La donna ideale" was sung in ancient Genoese dialect whilst "Motettu de tristura" utilized Sardinian dialect and involved some rather eerie sounds. The nightingale was represented by the piccolo.

We recognized the Occitan dialect from the previous Auvergne set in the next two songs "Malurous qu'o uno fenno" and "Lo fiolaire". Both were filled with humor.

The set closed with "Azerbajian Love Song" which permitted our lovely singer the opportunity to indulge in some lovely melismatic singing and even a trill.

This was an opportunity and an adventure. We are unlikely to hear the work again. One of the advantages of being in a music conservatory is having such a variety of artists available for such events.

We have high hopes for Ms. Evanyshyn's future. We are sure that she will successfully bridge the gap between conservatory and professional life.

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ANOTHER GREAT LIEDERABEND AT JUILLIARD

Richard Fu and Michelle Geffner

We alway enjoy a liederabend at Juilliard because we get exposed to a variety of material sung by different students of the Juilliard Vocal Arts Department.

This was the first time we heard Mishael Eusebio who sang Beethoven with a lovely easy tonal quality, impressive for its tenderness.  No pushing here! The vibrato varied from the enthusiastic "Adelaide" to the melancholy An die ferne Geliebte, showing sensitivity to the text and plenty of vocal and facial expressiveness that would benefit from some gestural expression..

An die ferne Geliebte amounts to a song cycle about longing, text by Alois Jeitteles. The sorrow comes not from rejection but from physical distance and this longing was beautifully expressed by Mr. Eusebio in excellent German, and by Richard Fu's collaborative piano. It was unutterably sad.

Joseph Marx composed songs in the early 20th c. and we are always happy to see them on a program. Like those of Hugo Wolf they require repetitive hearing; they are less accessible than the lieder of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven.

Katerina Burton has an ample soprano that we think would be perfect for Strauss. She and piano partner Seoyon MacDonald performed five of Marx's lieder; our favorite was the sensual "Selige Nacht" (text by Otto Erich Hartleben), the sensuality of which was matched by our two artists. 

Shelby Cox was listed on the program as a mezzo-soprano but we did not hear any mezzo quality to her voice which was nevertheless quite lovely. She made sense out of three selections from Aaron Copland's settings of text by Emily Dickinson. We enjoyed Tomomi Sato's piano in "Going to Heaven". In "The Chariot", Ms. Cox spun out the end like a fine silken thread.

All singers love a mad scene and that of Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet was set by contemporary composer Benjamin C.S. Boyle. Now what's a mad scene without some coloratura fireworks? You will have to ask Mr. Boyle! We didn't find that his music added anything to Shakespeare's words. Still, Ms. Cox and Ms. Sato gave it a fine performance.

Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is taken from James Agee's prose, later used as a preamble to his  book A Death in the Family. It was composed in 1947 for soprano and orchestra but was here performed by soprano Michelle Geffner and pianist Richard Fu. Clearly Ms. Geffner loves this work and, we learned later, read the book; this explains the clarity with which she painted a picture of life a century ago. We have not read the book and cannot claim to be enthralled by the work but we were drawn in by Ms. Geffner's involvement with the text which she communicated effectively in clear English.

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JUILLIARD VOCAL HONORS RECITAL

Richard Fu, Bronwyn Schuman, Shakèd Bar, and Dominik Belavy

For those readers who have not read our prior descriptions of the Juilliard Vocal Arts Honors Recitals, here's the short version. Voice teachers at Juilliard nominate students of uncommon promise who then go through a rigorous audition process in which a distinguished panel of judges make their selection. The chosen recitalists work with their respective collaborative pianists to design a program for a recital at Alice Tully Hall. This is a win-win situation in which the artists get to perform for the general public and the public gets to join the Juilliard family as recipients of a generally thrilling evening of vocal entertainment.

Last night at Alice Tully Hall we enjoyed what amounted to two recitals for the price of one. Wisely, the artists did not alternate. We had a full hour of Schubert performed by baritone Dominik Belavy accompanied by collaborative pianist Richard Fu, and a very different recital of Israeli songs performed by mezzo-soprano Shakèd Bar with Bronwyn Schuman as pianist.

Although we loved Schubert's lieder long before, it was Lachlan Glen's year-long perusal of over 600 Schubert songs that revealed the wide scope and variety of his prolific output. Not every song he wrote is of equal quality but it is strange that most recitalists turn to the same handful of lieder for their programs. Not Mr. Belavy! He selected several of Schubert's less frequently performed songs and we found them to be of great value.

We cannot claim to have never heard them owing to Mr. Glen's ambitious venture about seven years ago; but we can claim to have perhaps forgotten them and to have enjoyed them afresh last night. The remarkable aspects of Schubert's compositions are a singable vocal line and a piano part that reveals the poet's subtext. He always finds the bittersweet element--the other side of the emotional coin, so to speak. He was also astute in his choice of text so that his music might enhance the intent of the poet. If only contemporary composers could do the same, we might be more open to contemporary art song.

We have been writing about Mr. Belavy for over four years and we are thrilled to witness his achieving the promise we then noted. His comforting baritone is warm and round. What struck us was his quiet command of the stage. He is not given to grand theatrical gestures but seems to get inside the song and to draw the audience in by means of phrasing and judicious changes in dynamics. 

We are so glad that he chose Schubert for his recital since we have already heard him sing in opera and also in art songs by other composers. We would like to add that not only did we find his German diction perfekt, but it passed muster with our German born companion. If there were one quality we wish to hear more of it would be variety of coloration.

Schubert set Goethe's "An den Mond" twice and we wish we had heard the two iterations consecutively to gain a better appreciation of Schubert's compositional evolution. They are both characterized by Schubert's bittersweet approach to mood, mode, and harmony.

Our favorite lieder however related to the water. In "Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren"  (text by Mayrhofer) the lied is introduced by some rumbling in the piano, so effectively played by Mr. Fu. Both singer and pianist became forceful when addressing the confidence of a man facing a storm. 

"Des Fischers Liebesglück" (text by von Leitner) tells a charming story in which the fisherman's sweetheart joins him for a rapturous sail on the lake. So why is it written in a minor key? We don't know but the mood is sweet and gentle and the strophic verses lulled us into a blissful state. Mr. Belavy smoothly negotiated the repeated upward skips and Mr. Fu was particularly expressive.

The lively charm of courtship was revealed in "An die Laute" (text by Rochlitz), a simple folklike song which was followed by the anxiety ridden "Alinde" in which a man queries a succession of people passing by whether they have seen his sweetheart, who seems to be long delayed. We were happy to have not known the song because our anxiety built with each person too busy to help the poet look; consequently, we enjoyed the relief when the sweetheart finally appears at the end!

"Nachtstück" is a lied more familiar to us; it is a song about death but a peaceful welcomed death--given a peaceful performance by the two artists. "Der Winterabend" was also peaceful but there was a marked swelling of intensity before the final verse in which the poet waxes nostalgic over a lost love in his past.

Mr. Belavy and Mr. Fu ended their program with Schubert's final song, the familiar "Die Taubenpost" (text by Seidl) from Shwanengesang. This was performed by Mr. Belavy with plenty of personality which set us up for the final change of mood; the poet's faithful companion is longing. Schubert was no stranger to mixed feelings!

Before moving on to Ms. Bar's adventuresome programming, let us mention that Mr. Belavy is having his Master's of Music recital on April 4th at 4:00 and will be performing these Schubert songs again. We will not miss this and neither should you!

Ms. Bar honored her Israeli homeland by performing a program of songs in her native tongue and we confess to being amazed by how beautiful the language sounded in song. We have heard Hebrew spoken and could never have predicted that this harsh language could be so lyrical. Israeli song has a brief history, barely more than a century. 

The young composer Noa Haran was given a commission by Juilliard and was present in the audience for the world premiere of her work Be'ad Ha'eshnav, translated as Through the Lattice. The text by Hadas Gilad seemed to be fantasies based upon passages in the bible. "Edat Re'iya" seemed to be a story about Potiphar's wife seducing or being seduced by Joseph. "Yevava" seemed to be the lament of a mother when her son fails to return from battle.

Ms. Bar is a compelling performer, as is her collaborative pianist Bronwyn Schuman. The audience could not hold their applause and erupted with enthusiasm after every single number. In contrast to our long standing appreciation of Mr. Belavy's artistry, Ms. Bar has only recently appeared on our radar screen as a compelling interpreter of the role of Dido in a recent highly original production of Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas at Juilliard (review archived). Now that we have seen another side of her artistry we are further impressed.

We loved her opening song "Khalamti et Shirat Hazamir" by Moshe Rapaport. If we never learn another word in Hebrew besides shalom, we will never forget that shirat hazamir means "nightingale's song". Not only did Ms. Schuman's piano create the song of the nightingale but Ms. Bar let loose with a volley of coloratura fireworks in the melismatic passages that exceeded that of any avian species! We do love sensual music!

A very different image was evoked in "Orkha bamidbar" as a caravan of camels wended their way through the desert. Ms. Schuman's piano clearly limned the oriental mode of the melody as well as the plodding of the camels. Later, her piano brought out the lyrical theme in "Shai" by Levi Sha'ar and was forceful in "Echezu Lanu Shualim" by Tzvi Avni.

The lengthy "Vidui" by Alexander Argov evoked feelings of anguish. Although we didn't always grasp the text, the feeling in the music came across. We appreciate the mashup of popular song, folk song, and art song; perhaps we may consider them one and the same. A good song is a good song, no matter its genre.

There were settings of texts from the Old Testament as well. Ms. Bar offered a lovely a capella start to Nira Chen's "Dodi Li" and the piano churned through Paul Ben-Haim's "Gan Na'ul". Aharon Harlap set Psalm 112 and 98. It was a thorough introduction to Israeli music.

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SHAKESPEARE IN SONG

Richard Fu, Marie Engle, Aaron Keeny, Bronwyn Schuman, and Erik van Heyningen

If a composer wanted to set English text to music, he couldn't do much better than Shakespeare. In a fine program curated by Dr. Lydia Brown for Juilliard Vocal Arts entitled "Shakespeare: The Bard in Song", we heard those marvelous young Juilliard artists interpreting a wide variety of these songs, culled from the 18th, 19th, and 20th c.

The main draw is the partnership between singer and pianist. All of the collaborative pianists were exquisitely sensitive to the singers they accompanied; all were supportive and light in touch. Nothing destroys a lieder recital more than a heavy-handed pianist. 

The highlight for us was the performance of soprano Anneliese Klenetsky with Bronwyn Schuman on the piano. Two sets were performed on the same theme--Ophelia from Hamlet--and the audience was so enraptured that they allowed both sets to proceed without interruption. It was so interesting to hear Brahms' Funf Ophelia Lieder contrasted with Richard Strauss' Drei Ophelia Lieder.

The text had been translated into German and was almost identical but the musical styles were totally different and Ms. Klenetsky's delivery was right on point. She opened with the Brahms and drew us in with the delicacy of her storytelling, as well as the way she used her gorgeous instrument. The Strauss was quite a contrast. Whereas Brahms' Ophelia came across as a pathetic victim, Strauss' Ophelia came across as deranged, intense and violent.

Much was asked of the artists and much was delivered. We came away wishing someone would write an opera from Ophelia's point of view, much as Tom Stoppard wrote a play from Rosenkranz and Guildenstern's point of view. Ophelia's distracted ramblings tell us things that went on "behind the scenes" so to speak, about her being dishonored.

Mezzo-soprano Marie Engle, just heard at Carnegie Hall Monday night, performed Erich Korngold's Four Shakespeare Songs, with Richard Fu as her superb piano partner. We liked the way Korngold used the text and loved the way the artists performed it. Desdemona's "Willow Song" from Othello emphasized the rhyme scheme without hitting us over the head with it. 

The other three songs used text from As You Like It. "Blow, blow, thou winter wind" made use of repeated downward scale passages and open fifths in the piano to emphasize the cold atmosphere. Our favorite, however, was "When birds do sing" which Ms. Engle and Mr. Fu invested with light-hearted expressivity.

The other 20th c. composers did not impress us as much. Gerald Finzi was represented by his Let us garlands bring, Op. 18, performed by baritone Erik van Heyningen and collaborative pianist Brandon Linhard. We definitely preferred the joyful and tuneful "Who is Silvia?" from Two Gentlemen of Verona and the lively "O mistress mine" from Twelfth Night which Mr. van Heyningen seemed to relish performing. Similarly for "It was a lover and his lass" from As You Like It.

Baritone Aaron Keeny was greatly appreciated for his relaxed and inviting stage manner. We cannot say we liked Michael Tippett's music. As far as 20th c. composers go, we far preferred his contemporary Korngold. His Songs for Ariel from The Tempest provided a low tessitura in "Full fathom five" but no melody to tease our ears. "Where the bee sucks" suited Mr. Keeny best and we enjoyed Jae Eun Park's pleasing piano accompaniment.

The two artists also dipped their toes into the 18th c. with Haydn's "She Never Told Her Love" from Twelfth Night, to which he and Ms. Park gave a grave and subtle delivery. We enjoyed the varied dynamics and Mr. Keeny's lovely messa di voce.

If you have never attended a liederabend at Juilliard you owe it to yourself to attend one before the semester ends. They never disappoint and you will have an opportunity to hear the stars of tomorrow just before their stars ascend.

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LONGING, LOVE, AND LAUGHTER

Ryan Hurley, Marina Iwao, Santiago Pizarro, Bronwyn Schuman, Maxwell Levy, Kathleen O'Mara, and Brandon Linhard at Juilliard Liederabend

We accidentally spelled Juilliard with three "l"s, possibly because of the presence onstage of love, longing, and laughter. In another delightful liederabend, coached and curated by Cameron Stowe, an adventuresome program was offered without anything to injure our tender ears. As a matter of fact, our tender ears felt absolutely caressed.

So then, what was the adventuresome aspect? It was the creation of a faux song cycle by Schubert. Well, it wasn't exactly faux. Schubert composed the music for these four songs as a group.  However, Goethe wrote the texts separately and they were published separately, but a case could be made that Schubert had some resonance in mind as he composed the music, a resonance picked up by Mr. Stowe.

In any event, we enjoyed the juxtaposition as well as the expressive singing of tenor Ryan Hurley. "Der Musensohn" is well known and one of our favorites; we enjoyed the lively rhythms although we would have preferred a lighter touch in Marina Iwao's piano.

The following three songs are lesser known and we were happy that Ms. Iwao's enthusiasm abated so we could better hear the text. The plaintive text of "An die Entfernte" received the appropriate coloring from both voice and piano who matched better with each other. The sad feelings continued in "Am Flusse" whilst "Wilkommen und Abschied" ended on a more optimistic note.

We found ourselves wishing that we had poets like Goethe today. We also found ourselves wishing that the ignorant members of the audience would withhold applause after every song. Perhaps this advice could be stated right on the program!

There was more Schubert to come from Kathleen O'Mara with her lovely sweet soprano instrument. "Die junge Nonne" is such a wonderful song, filled with opportunity for variation in coloration which we hope Ms. O'Mara will develop. There could be more contrast between the storm and the inner peace felt by the young nun. We did hear that contrast in Cameron Richardson-Eames' piano.

We were so happy to be introduced to "Dass sie hier gewesen" with Friedrich Rückert's poignant sentiment. Come to think of it, we could also use a Rückert today!  The lengthy paean to the joys and pains of love found in "Lied der Delphine" was another newfound treasure.

Tenor Santiago Pizarro was on hand to offer songs by Franz Liszt. We never knew that "Im Rhein, im schönen Strome" existed and utilized the same Heinrich Heine text that Schumann set in his cycle Dichterliebe, with just a single word change. Liszt's iteration has a totally different feeling and we enjoyed Mr. Pizarro's delivery.

Collaborative pianist Bronwyn Schuman produced some fine rippling figures as backdrop to the voice. Other moods were created as well--the gloom of "Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam", the bitterness of "Vergiftet sind meine Lieder" and the confused feelings of "Freudvoll und Leidvoll". We think Mr. Pizarro will likewise develop more variety in his coloration.

The liederabend concluded with some cabaret songs by William Bolcom, sung with high drama and good humor by baritone Maxwell Levy, accompanied by Brandon Linhard. The only one of this group with which we were familiar was "Murray the Furrier". "Thius, King of Orf" was over after just one phrase. Perhaps our favorite was "Satisfaction". Mr. Levy has a real flair for cabaret and our conjecture is that he has spent some time with Steven Blier--or will do so.

Our major quibble with young singers is inconsistency in the pronunciation of the final "ch". Sometimes it is omitted; sometimes it is over-enunciated. Perhaps coaches don't work on it because they think very few people speak German. But we have to pick on something, don't we?

Nonetheless, we had a fine time at Juilliard and count on several more liederabende in 2019!

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