ÜBERWÄLTIGEND!

 Ammiel Bushakevitz and Konstantin Krimmel

(Photo by Joseph Sinnott)

We have just spent a week with two extraordinary artists, leaving us almost lost in a world of German Romanticism,--not everyone's cup of tea but very much the beverage of choice of the lieder lovers who packed Butenweiser Hall at The 92nd Street Y. Mastering the three song cycles of Franz Schubert (and yes, they were mastered) and performing them all in one week must have made enormous demands on the artists; giving undivided attention makes a demand on the usually restless New York audience as well. One only heard the quiet rustling of the pages of the translation booklet.

For our part, we neither followed along the translation nor did we take notes. This exception to our usual concert reviewing led to our complete immersion in the experience, as contrasted with the very first time we heard these Schubert song cycles in the same venue sung by a very famous baritone. At that time we were new to lieder and had to read the translation. It was a fine starter for us,  and can be considered responsible for initiating a lifetime of interest in art song and a wish to learn German. We have come a long way!

Although primarily focused on the subtleties of interpretation, the refinements of technique in both baritone Konstantin Krimmel and collaborative pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz were not lost on us. Herr Krimmel can tell a story with such variety of vocal coloration, subtlety of phrasing, and depth of feeling that one can focus on the storytelling with the means of achievement only affecting us on a subtle level. With even a minimal knowledge of German one knew exactly the nature of the story he was telling. Bushakevitz evinced such total command of his instrument  that the accompaniment revealed the setting as well as the unconscious feelings of the poet narrator.

Our favorite of the three evenings was the darkest-- Winterreise. We call this "50 Shades of Black". It is the chronicle of a man's descent into madness after a romantic rejection. Perhaps the poet Wilhelm Müller meant the work to be taken a bit ironically but Schubert put his pen to paper with emotional intensity and psychological validity. In perfect Schubertian partnership, piano and vocal line augment each other. In the same fashion, Krimmel and Bushakevitz complemented each other in limning both the natural elements of a countryside winter and the mental decompensation of the hero.

So, we view the cycle as a matchless work of art involving poet, composer, singer and pianist. We members of the audience can in no way feel detached but we take this journey together. If we do not feel shaken to the core as "Die Leiermann" fades to a close, then the artists have not succeeded. This perfect partnership had the hero depersonalizing and derealizing in succession, hallucinating the two suns, shivering in the cold, fantasizing that crows and signposts were to be taken personally. There are only a few bars of momentary and false hopes, one when the piano gives us the hoofbeats of the horse drawing the postal coach which just might contain a letter from the lost beloved--but doesn't. And once again when the hero awakens from a sweet dream; but depression rapidly overtakes him as Schubert switches readily from major to minor, as he so often does. One cannot believe how artistry can create so many versions of despair. Fifty shades of black indeed!!

Our second favorite was Die schöne Müllerin which tells a somewhat different story but one no less tragic. The arc of the story follows our young hero who sets out to make his place in the world, finds a job with a miller, falls in love with the miller's daughter, mistakes her interest, despairs over her fickleness, and intends to drown himself in the same brook that powers the millwheel. The story offers the singer a wider latitude of emotional expression from gaiety to misery and offers the pianist an opportunity to limn rushing water and turning mill wheels. Schubert was a master at creating imagery by means of melody and rhythm and our pair of artists picked up on every subtlety with consummate technique and intense emotionality.

The final evening was Schwanengesang which was not published until after Schubert's tragic early death. This work is filled with variety but doesn't tell a story. Several songs stood out, probably because we have heard them so often in concert. Ludwig Rellstab's "Liebesbotschaft" and "Abschied" begin the collection on a rather cheerful note and his famous "Ständchen" touches our heart with its tender importuning.. After some rather sad songs, Johann Gabriel Seidl's "Die Taubenpost" lifts our spirits with its cheerful message and lilting rhythm. Heinrich Heine contributed two seaside texts of contrasting mood, the cheerful "Das Fischermädchen" and the painful "Am Meer". The final two songs are also settings of Heine and they are songs of torment with "Der Doppelgänger" expressing the torment of lost love and "Der Atlas" expressing the torment of the futility of existence.

Rather than letting the audience leave in a state of depression, our generous artists offered the soothing balm of a Ralph Vaughn Williams song that was lovely but seemed trivial after the depths attained in the cycle. We cannot leave you Dear Reader without reiterating our deeply held belief that one of the major failures of  contemporary art song is the use of boring contemporary text that neither rhymes nor scans. Hearing three evenings of crispy enunciated German that does rhyme and scan left us feeling fulfilled. We would prefer to feel sadly fulfilled by music that still haunts us days later than to hear something contemporary that we will forget within an hour. Schubert's melodies are repeating over and over in our mind's ear and we are even cherishing the sorrow we felt for the unhappy protagonists. We live in the Age of Cool and how refreshing and meaningful it is to recognize that sorrow is part of a deeply felt life.

We will not close without mentioning something that puzzled us in  Die Schöne Müllerin, mainly because we had never before heard embellishments of the vocal line, and we have heard this cycle more times than we can count, sung by both famous artists and by students. We were obliged to consult with a couple pianist friends of ours who informed us that it is not incorrect. We don't care whether it is "correct". It was just something unexpected that we will have to hear again before we decide whether we like it or not.

In any case, we feel so grateful to have spent a week with two artists engaged in legitimate artistic exploration without grandstanding. This is a week we will not soon forget!

© meche kroop

I LOVE LUCY

Lucy Arner and Hans Pieter Herman

Any time a singer undertakes to learn one of Schubert's magnificent song cycles, we are overjoyed. Although the current spell of Springlike weather deprived the performance of Winterreise of its seasonality, we approached the evening with a high level of anticipation. We are usually swept away in a torrent of emotionality. Although our current social climate involves plenty of "ghosting" and single people are far more likely to rush toward a new partner when disappointed in love, still, we all know people who are filled with despair over a breakup. The so-called "excesses" of German Romanticism are nowhere near gone from the emotional landscape.

Although last night's interpreter stated in the program notes that he was astonished that two 30-year-old men could have created a work so profound, we ourself are not surprised. Genius does not wait for middle age. As a matter of fact, we have heard students at Juilliard interpret the work in a fashion that drew us in, leaving us in a pool of tears.

Last night, we were not drawn in by the vocalism and found ourself instead listening acutely to the piano collaboration of Lucy Arner who limned every single reference to natural elements, employing every variations of color and dynamics at her disposal. Every time the harmonies shifted we felt a shift in our emotions. Changes from minor to major caused our heart to leap with hope; returns to the minor mode were wrenching.

The singer, the very renowned Dutch baritone Hans Pieter Herman, may have had his own feelings about the work but his interpretation did not touch our heart. Wilhelm Müller's passionate poetry and Franz Schubert's memorable melodies failed to blossom for us. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out why, since most of the audience seemed more than satisfied with the performance.

For one thing, Mr. Herman's voice could be considered rather too heavy to portray a young man; at times he sounded stentorian.  For another, although being self-absorbed can be thought of as consonant with the poet's mental state, staring up into the non-existent balcony left us feeling left out. We didn't feel a connection with the singer.

During the introductory "Gute Nacht", the singer was very still, but as the cycle progressed, he employed plenty of gestures, none of which felt organic or spontaneous. Perhaps Mr. Herman was alone with sorrows of his own but we couldn't feel along with him.

It is admirable that despite the hearing loss we read about in the program, Mr. Herman achieved perfect intonation. We wish the dynamics had been as well realized.  Certain words were hit hard and jumped out of line; sometimes the words chosen for emphasis seemed idiosyncratic. We missed the subtlety of gradual crescendo and decrescendo. We will say that the German was perfect. 

There were a few lovely moments, especially in the quieter lieder.  In "Irrlicht" there was a beautifully floated high note."Der Lindenbaum" is one of our favorites and we particularly enjoyed the piano prelude in which the piano echoed the phrase and Schubert's voicing produced an excellent imitation of a French horn.

Ms. Arner's playing was on point throughout. In "Rast" and in "Einsamkeit", we not only heard the poet's plodding steps but we felt them. The piano part captured the false cheer of the poet's delusional dream in "Frühlingstraum". In "Die Post", we felt the hoofbeats of the horse and heard the sound of the posthorn. In "Im Dorfe" the piano created the growling of the dogs.

The cycle ended on a haunting dirge in which Mr. Herman successfully lightened his voice. We will restrain ourself from trying to interpret "Der Leiermann" and be content with the mystery of it all.

© meche kroop

HUMMing ALONG

Benedicte Jourdois and Äneas Humm

It was a little over three years ago that we first heard the then-20-year-old Swiss baritone Äneas Humm. He was already famous in Europe and was invited here by the German Forum who presented him in recital. We were astonished to hear someone so young and so gifted.

Yesterday Mr. Humm completed three years of study with Edith Wiens at Juilliard, earning his Master of Music degree. He arrived as a finely cut gem and Juilliard provided the polish. His voice has expanded in the lower register and rounded out in the midrange.

Most Swiss are adept with several languages and Mr. Humm is no exception. Although German is the one spoken in his hometown Zürich, he sounds terrific in French as well. But he also sang in Hungarian!

Our initial hearing of Mr. Humm involved some Grieg and introduced us to the songs of the prolific  early 20th c. composer Othmar Schoeck who happily avoided atonality and wrote some lovely songs. Both would appear on yesterday's program.

The program opened with Cantata#4 De Profundis by the 17th c. composer Nicolaus Bruhns, composed and sung in Latin. He was accompanied by Caitlyn Koester's harpsichord, violinists Chiara Stauffer and Naomi Dumas, and cellist Madleine Renée Bouïssou. The lowlying tessitura seemed not to daunt Mr. Humm, nor did the alternation of legato and staccato. We particularly enjoyed the melismatic singing which took on the character of a vocalise.

Mr. Humm's attention to dynamics and appropriate gesture marked the entire program. There was a set of three songs by Edvard Grieg from Op. 48, our favorite of which was the familiar and charming "Lauf der Welt" which was perfectly suited to Mr. Humm's personality. Otherwise we heard a finely rendered crescendo .

The Schoeck songs were deeply felt and beautifully played by collaborative pianist Benedicte Jourdois, whose playing has always given us great pleasure. She seems to breathe with the singer, providing a perfect partnership. In the Fauré songs which followed, Mr. Humm was nominally "on the book" which seemed unnecessary to us since he knew the material. This generally leads us to focus more on the piano and we were rewarded with some gorgeous arpeggi in "En Sourdine".

Four short folksongs by Bartok would have been enjoyed more had their been translations.

The recital closed with Schubert songs, at which Mr. Humm excels. We loved Ms. Jourdois' rhythmic accompaniment in "Der Wanderer an den Mond" and the rocking accompaniment to "Der Jüngling an der Quelle". "Im Abendrot" came across as a devotional prayer and we simply swooned. Ms. Jourdois' slow chords enhanced the exquisite effect of Mr. Humm's tender pianissimo singing.

There was an encore, to our delight--Schubert's "Wanderers Nachtlied". Since travel is in Mr. Humm's immediate future, we can understand his choices! He is heading for the Weimar Opernhaus where he will perform a variety of roles. The one we would most like to see is his Papageno which will give plenty of leeway for him to express his engaging personality as well as his fine voice.

We hope he will return before too long!

(c) meche kroop

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.

(c) meche kroop

A NOVEL TAKE ON SCHUBERT'S WINTERREISE

Lech Napierała and Tomasz Konieczny at the Kosciuszko Foundation

Guest Review by Cullen Gandy.

Cullen Gandy is a former opera singer, based out of New York City, who writes about issues relating to the performing arts in America. You can see more at his blog www.arsravingmad.com which we recommend highly.

The building that houses the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City, now 101 years old, was the beautiful stage for an interesting new adaptation of Schubert’s famous Winterreise (Winter’s Journey). Music for the evening was provided by two considerable talents, in bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny and pianist Lech Napierała.

This recital featured an interesting twist on an established classical favorite; melding the haunting Schubertian harmony and melody of the inimitable song cycle, with the poetry of Polish writer Stanislaw Baranczak. A Harvard lecturer, and esteemed translator of many great works of fiction from English into Polish, Baranczak became enamored with Winterreise, and he determined to emboss it with poems that represent his own artistic experiences/ideas. This wasn’t simply some half-hearted attempt to jigsaw someone’s favorite poems into music they thought was appropriate. It was a deliberate endeavor, by a motivated artist, to imbue new meaning into the great works of the past. More of a posthumous collaboration than a ‘remix’.

But did it work?

As a preface, I should say that I spent a great deal of my graduate and post-graduate studies writing on, and singing, Winterreise (specifically the musical idioms Schubert used to represent text). It merits pointing out that Müller, the original lyric poet who wrote the text for Winterreise, published his work in 1822 and 1824, and Schubert set that text to music three years later. This is important to remember, because it means that the music was created with the words in mind, and not the other way around. The text initially informed the music, and, for the original iteration of the song cycle, they told a story in parallel.

In the original Winterreise, there are certain musical idioms that harken back and allude to ideas, words, emotions, and events that the wanderer has throughout the work. Though the songs, in a sense, can be seen as events or snapshots of the journeyman’s fateful voyage, they are thematically connected. The traveller walks, he leaves a note on the gate, he sees the wind playing with the weathervane, he sees a tree under which he used to sit, he sees a crow flying along with him, etc. All of these things are happening to him in real-time. As a result, no part of the textual story is exempted from Schubert’s influence. Rhythm, harmony, melody, silence, tempo, and macro-harmonic structure are all anchored to the wanderer’s experience of the journey. They transfigure the text, and serve as the setting of the story.

Though Baranczak’s poetry is often quite thoughtful and artful, his poems are disparate from the musical scheme over which they have been laid. As a result, the songs become more like individual vignettes, or one-off thoughts that occur to the poet as he is going through life. A journey of a certain sort, to be sure, but not one as coherent as that of the physical and emotional experience of Müller’s wanderer.

Müller was no Goethe or Rilke, and his poetic strengths lay with the ease of his meter and imagery. Though Baranczak mirrors much of Müller’s formal constraints, along with a certain German gloom, his poetry is often high-minded and political at times. There’s something avant-garde about it; treatises about the worse nature of humanity dialing in to hear about catastrophes, alongside the sports and weather news. It’s not the same kind of lyric poetry, and, to be fair, I don’t think it was supposed to be. But there was more than a little bit of cognitive dissonance on my part; hearing a continuous story in the music, and seeing an array of smaller stories in the room.

But it’s not important to talk about what this work is supposed to be, let’s simply take it for what it is.

This work is a fine artistic effort to breathe new life into a cherished medium. Polish is a lovely language in which to have this music set, and it shares much of the depth of character that German affords sung poetry. Baranczak’s poems, while not uniformly well-woven into the vocal line, were generally unobtrusive, and often quite complimentary. That just means the right kind of vowels went where they were supposed to go. I was prepared to be skeptical, or bored, but was quite entertained. There were deviations, too, in tempo and musical interpretation; many that enlivened the senses, and a few that didn’t hit the right mark for me.

The evening’s vocal offering by Mr. Konieczny (who can currently be heard at a number of productions at the Met) was as ambitious and thoughtful as the piece itself. His is a noble tone; befitting of his usual Wagnerian repertoire. The singing was vivid and full of color, only occasionally veering off of the breath in one or two of the higher, softer passages. The majority of the cycle was marked by his pleasing and even singing, even down through the very lowest notes. He sang over a stand of music, but was only lightly tethered to it, and he afforded a rich, interpretive, sometimes declamatory understanding of the text; in every phrase and line. He acted the words so effectively, that I came out of the room thinking that I understood Polish. Alas, I do not.

Mr. Napierała played the music exquisitely. Each touch felt as though it was choreographed instead of it being played. His interpretation had an extemporaneous feel to it; as though it were something totally new.

Together, the two of them seemed almost telepathically connected. Each song was marked by crisp rests, dynamic changes, fluctuations and continuities in tempo; catching the audience off guard again and again. Between them, there was a laser precision to each musical consideration in each song. It was really exciting to hear.

From an artistic perspective, this setting is worthy for the examination of more audiences to come.

(c) meche kroop

HOW YA' LIKE THEM APPLES?

Natalia Katyukova and Paul Appleby at Zankel Hall

Tenor Paul Appleby is another artist who began his career about the same time as we began writing about the vocal arts, a simultaneity that leads to our deep investment and joy in his success.  Instead of writing yet another encomium, we invite you, dear reader, to use the search function to read dozens of reviews of this outstanding artist. We would prefer to get right into last night's program which was so carefully designed by Mr. Appleby, with intentions described in detail in the program notes.

We will skip right to the Schubert which is where the pathway from our ears to our heart was direct. Every recital we attend leaves us with an "ear worm" and we cannot silence Mr. Appleby's tender tenor timbre ringing in our ears as he performed "Ständchen". It took us back about five years when he performed an entire program of serenades in Santa Fe. Mr. Appelby can serenade us any time at all!  What a treat!

For reasons elucidated in the program notes, our terrific tenor reordered the seven Rellstab songs to fit in with the theme of the program. We had no objections to the reordering although we did not quite grasp the storyline he devised. No composer has equalled the lied output of Franz Schubert; his major-minor shifts and modulations of key seem to wrench our heart in a most satisfying way.

Both Mr. Appleby and the superb collaborative pianist Natalia Katyukova brought out the emotions of the songs. The natural elements like babbling brooks and rustling tree tops were finely limned on the piano. The mood of anxiety in "Aufenthalt" was countered by the lively and cheerful "Abschied". The grim "Kriegers Ahnung" has a low tessitura that did not daunt Mr. Appleby.

We loved the way he asked the questions "Hinab?", "Warum?" and "Und Du?" in "Frühlingssehnsucht" which ended with a powerful and passionate "Nur Du!" The set ended with a Seidl song "Die Taubenpost", notable for its rollicking rhythm and charming text. We always have a quibble and here it is. The consonants were not crisp throughout the entire Schubert cycle. 

By contrast, the diction for the songs in English was perfect and every word was clear. Songs of Imagined Love by contemporary composer Hannah Lash were based on four of the Schubert songs which would be heard later in the program. This was a world premiere and was commissioned by Mr. Appleby who sang them off book.

We daresay that Ms. Lash's songs will be performed long after Schubert's are forgotten--and not a moment before! They are not bad; they were just not interesting to us. When there is no melody in the vocal line our attention focuses on the piano and we enjoyed some pleasing tinkling sounds.

We did not enjoy the unpleasant sounds of George Crumb's "The Sleeper" in which the piano was violated.  The music desk was removed and the pianist stuck her hand inside and groped. We call this a case of "piano abuse".  If a composer wants plucking he can call upon the all-too-willing harp who flaunts her strings! The piano likes her strings tapped gently, if you please.

This was the first time we heard Benjamin Britten's Winter Words: Lyrics and Ballads of Thomas Hardy. We are a huge fan of Hardy's novels and have always thought that the stories would make great operas. But his poetry left us cold, as did Britten's setting. Clearly Mr. Appleby loves this cycle and poured his heart and soul into the performance.  It just is not our taste.

We did enjoy Mr. Appleby's melismatic singing, especially on the word "journeying" in "Midnight on the Great Western" in which Ms. Kotyukova produced the clacking of a railway train. We also admired the way Mr. Appleby colored his voice differently for the narrator, the child, and the convict in "At the Railway Station, Upway".

Also on the program was a short setting of a John Milton text by Handel--"Thus when the sun from's wat'ry bed" from Samson. The text rhymed and scanned and the melody was memorable with a fine opportunity for Mr. Appleby's melismatic singing.

We hoped for an encore from Candide but instead we got two pleasing songs--"Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms" by Thomas Moore, and Frank Bridge's charming "Love Went a-Riding".

(c) meche kroop

UNCOMPROMISING ARTISTRY

Julia Bullock and John Arida onstage at Weill Recital Hall

There is an air of devoutness about soprano Julia Bullock!  There is such devotion to her art and to whatever she chooses to put on her program that she inspires devotion in her audience. Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was not nearly large enough to hold the legions of her fans; but her artistry is so intimate that the hall is a perfect fit! Perhaps she should have been given a second night to accommodate everyone that clamored to hear her. We feel a sense of privilege to have been there.

We have been writing about Ms. Bullock since we began this blog. However, she first came to our attention when Lachlan Glen presented his year-long Schubertiade, employing the services of his fellow students at Juilliard. Sadly, the website for which we wrote is no longer extant and we cannot access those reviews.

But for the past 6 years, Ms. Bullock has had our admiration in a number of operatic roles (Cendrillon and Vixen Sharp-Ears are best remembered), at New York Festival of Song, in solo recitals, in Juilliard liederabende, at a Juilliard Vocal Arts Honor Recital, at a Young Concert Artists recital, and a Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert. Did we miss anything? Oh yes, a master class with Eric Owens.

Let us take a closer look at the reasons for our consistent admiration. Ms. Bullock is blessed with a gorgeous instrument which has darkened and expanded with time. We heard some impressive tone at the lower end of the register in the last set of songs on the program.

But there is so much more to her artistry. She does occasionally repeat a song from one recital to the next but mostly she tackles new material. She translates the songs herself and there is never any doubt that she is immersed in the text.  We have no doubt that she is visualizing what is in the text and we see it through her eyes.

Her programming is highly personal and a bit idiosyncratic. We go where she leads and take pleasure in the novelty. She began the program with four lovely Schubert songs which reminded us of our first exposure to her artistry in a church on the Upper East Side, at the Schubertiade we mentioned above.

Ms. Bullock clearly expresses her feminism and anti-racism. The opening song "Suleika I" was written not by Goethe, as she pointed out, but by his lover Marianne von Willemer. Accompanied by the superb collaborative pianist John Arida, we could feel the breeze created by rippling piano figures. The last verse was repeated twice, deeply felt, and differentially colored each time.

Friedrich Rückert's charming text for "Lachen und Weinen" provided opportunities for major-minor shifts. The confused adolescent mood was sustained through the piano postlude. Goethe's text for "Wandrers Nachtlied II" held us in a peaceful place.

The strophic "Seligkeit" was written by Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty, a man of the cloth who abdicated for a life of poetry. In this song we hear a tribute to earthly bliss.

Dear readers, were you waiting for me to complain about Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs?  You will be surprised to learn that we actually enjoyed them. Props to any singer who can show us what there is to appreciate about a  previously disparaged work of art. It's something like sitting down with a person you thought little of and learning that they have a lot to offer!

So what helped us turn that particular corner?  We suppose it was that Ms. Bullock's aforementioned devoutness gave us insight into people who choose a life of devoutness and monasticism. Her intense involvement with the songs was matched with superlative English diction such that we understood every word. In "Saint Ita's Vision" we saw in our mind's eye the woman clasping the baby Jesus to her breast!

The good cheer of "The Heavenly Banquet" gave way to the grief of "The Crucifixion".  But our favorite was and always will be, "The Monk and His Cat" which struck us as a great recipe for a good relationship--alone together, each with his own work, neither hindering the other, without tedium or envy.

Focusing on feminism, Ms. Bullock chose selections from a late work by Gabriel Fauré--La chanson d'Ève. She spent some time explaining the work and its theme of unfolding as the biblical Eve tries to find her place in the world.

There was quietude and simplicity in the piano at first but we heard some lovely rippling figures in "Veilles-tu, ma senteur de soleil".

The last set comprised bluesy and jazzy numbers highlighting the Afro-American experience, and especially that of women. Ms. Bullock took pains to tell us when the female member of the composing team had been neglected, like Pat Castleton, the wife of the credited composer Spencer Williams, for the song "Driftin' Tide". It was here that we began to appreciate the artist's strength at the lower end of the register.

Maceo Pinkard's "You Can't Tell the Difference After Dark" was written for Alberta Hunter. Sometimes humor can be a good method of confronting prejudice.  We also heard "Downhearted Blues" made famous by Bessie Smith, and "Our Love is Different" by Billie Holliday.

Two Nina Simone songs made an appearance. "Revolution", in an arrangement by Ms. Bullock herself, was sung a capella and ended in a stunning vocalise. Using a prepared piano, Mr. Arida accompanied Ms. Bullock in the very upsetting "Four Women", utilizing a repetitive and insistent motif.

As encores, we heard Connie Converse's "One by One" and finally, to make sure the audience left in a cheerful mood, Josephine Baker's "La Conga Blioti" which was so well done that we speculated on Ms. Bullock doing a one-woman show about Ms. Baker.

What an incredible evening!

(c) meche kroop

SALON DE LA VOIX

Nathaniel LaNasa and Helaine Liebman at the National Opera Center\

The inauguration of a new vocal series is music to our ears both literally and figuratively.  Shall we say "fig/lit"? As so many talented singers are doing these days, young artists are not waiting around to be cast but are casting themselves in starring roles. We heartily approve of this trend.

Ms. Liebman's idea is to update the concert experience and to encourage music lovers to attend with an informal approach.  One helps oneself to a glass of wine, one meets and chats with the artists, one listens, learns, and enjoys.  One is even encouraged to ask questions and to submit suggestions for future recitals of which we hope there will be many.

In place of titles and libretti, Ms. Liebman introduced each song in an engaging fashion. We felt as if we were invited to a friend's home for a party with entertainment. And what entertainment it was! In a beautifully balanced program, we heard opera, art song, and cabaret--all serving to demonstrate the versatility of this excellent young soprano. Last year she performed a fine Micaëla for Amore Opera and we also heard her several months ago in ARE Opera's Gianni Schicchi. It was about time for us to see another side of her artistry.

The program opened with Ilia's aria from Mozart's Idomeneo--"Padre, germani, addio". Ms. Liebman conveyed all the ambivalence of the Trojan princess who has lost everything and is now a captive of the Greeks whom she hates, except for Idamante, the son of Idomeneo. With a bright resonant sound and the subtle use of expressive dynamics, we learned everything we needed to know about the character.

Four songs by Franz Liszt allowed the artist to show off her fine French. The texts were all by Victor Hugo and all were about love, but the moods were different.  Ms. Liebman employed a warm vibrato for "S'il est un charmant gazon" and the delicacy of Mr. LaNasa's piano augmented the romantic feeling. 

"Oh! Quand je dors" has an exquisite melody and builds to a thrilling climax.  Here, Mr. LaNasa's piano made much of some lovely arpeggi. "Comment, disent-ils" was delivered with charm and personality. Plus, there was a trill to thrill. "Enfant, si j'etais roi" had a different expansive mood and an insistent accompaniment on the piano.

How does one choose Schubert songs to perform from his oeuvre of over 600 lieder? Actually, it doesn't matter much because one cannot go too far wrong with anything Schubert wrote.  We found the three selections we heard a good "tasting menu". "An die Musik" was sung with earnest simplicity. The sentiment requires no embroidery.

"Gretchen am Spinnrade" in which Mr. LaNasa's piano gave us the obsessive background of the text as well as the relentless spinning wheel, allowed Ms. Liebman some moments of erotic rapture as she imagined Faust's kiss. This had us wishing that Schubert had written an entire opera based on the Faust legend.

In "Die junge Nonne", we were given a very clear character study and we knew exactly why this troubled young woman chose a cloistered life.

The Kurt Weill song from Street Scene seemed like a cabaret song.  We understood every word of "What Good Would the Moon Be" and enjoyed the melody.  This was not so for two selections from Daughters of Britannia by Iain Bell.  We could only catch a word here and there. The sounds were interesting and we liked the propulsive piano writing and some interesting figuration but the heroines are part of British history and so unknown to us that we really didn't care about them.

We won't mind if we never hear those songs again but the Rachmaninoff that followed was enchanting. We cannot believe that we used to think that Russian was an ugly language!  The more Russian songs we hear the better we love the sound. "Z'des khorosho" was particularly lovely.

"Siren" had a repetitive figure in the right hand of the piano that resonated particularly strongly with us.  But our personal favorite was (and probably always will be) "Ne poy krasavitsa pri mne" in which the text expresses nostalgia for a love left behind, accompanied by the most haunting melody. There is a vocalise in this song that always gets us right in the heart! We love the way the melody in the voice alternates with the melody in the piano.

"Ditja, kak cvetok ti prekrana" is Rachmaninoff's setting of a translation of the tender Heinrich Heine poem "Du bist wie eine blume" which was set by Robert Schumann and about a hundred other composers.  The program ended with the very timely "Vesenniye vody" or "Spring Waters" as we know it. This song was bursting with excitement as the snow melted and the streams produced white water.

We even got an encore, "Someone to Watch Over Me" by George and Ira Gershwin from their 1926 musical Oh, Kay! We love to hear American musical theater treated with the same care as lieder and chansons. It was the perfect end to a beautiful recital.

Watch our FB page (Voce di Meche) and we will let you know about the next installment of Salon de la Voix which we believe will take place in June in Brooklyn. You won't want to miss it!

(c) meche kroop

YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS SCORES A HIT!

Renate Rohlfing and Samuel Hasselhorn at The Morgan Library

Every generation produces its own standout artists! It is clear to us, after hearing baritone Samuel Hasselhorn on two occasions, that he is the standout baritone of his generation. He won first prize in the Young Concert Artists Competition in 2015 (among a legion of other awards and prizes) and gave a groundbreaking recital at Merkin Hall last year which we reviewed. (http://www.vocedimeche.reviews/search?q=samuel+hasselhorn)

If anything, our excitement about his career has only grown, along with the growth of his artistry. Once again, we were impressed by the ease of his stage presence, the mature timbre of his voice, his crisp diction (even in English), his storytelling prowess, and his ability to color his voice with all the tones of the vocal palette.

The major work on this afternoon's program was Schumann's Dichterliebe. With collaborative pianist Renate Rohlfing matching his mood every step of the way, Mr. Hasselhorn led us through the many stages of recovery from a disappointing romance. Anyone with a minimal knowledge of German could easily follow the text with its multiple metaphors.

The feelings were so intense that it was difficult to believe that the dramatics were just dramatics. It seemed as if Mr. Hasselhorn were living through the many shades of grief in real time. We only hope he has never had such despair, nor ever will.

Heinrich Heine's text may seem excessive by today's standards but anyone who has lived through the loss of a love will understand that the loss of a fantasy of future happiness is excruciatingly painful.  Better to write or sing about it than to turn to alcohol and drugs!

The way Mr. Hasselhorn interpreted the song cycle is that the poet is reflecting upon the past--his initial joy and subsequent despair as he works through his loss-- until the final song of the cycle. He employed a sweet color for "Im wunderschönen Monat Mai"; the song doesn't exactly end but trails off in a whiff of nostalgia.

"Wenn ich in deine Augen seh'" shows the poet at his  most confused. Mr. Hasselhorn's coloration gave voice to the ambivalence.

"Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome" begins with some seriously ponderous chords in the piano echoed by the voice, depicting the great cathedral of Köln. The poet sees the face of his lost love everywhere, even in a painting of the Virgin Mary.

In "Ich grolle nicht" Mr. Hasselhorn began with a stalwart surface and a position of denial but his interpretation allowed the anger over the woman's betrayal to burst forth in an explosion of rage.

Ms. Rolfhing had her chance to shine in the hurdy-gurdy piano part of "Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen" but changed to a pensive mood in "Hör ich das Liedchen klingen" as Mr. Hasselhorn indulged in some 19th c. German Romantic grief. Today we would call it a "pity party".

"Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen" begins with irony and ends, like the earlier "Ich grolle nicht" with an eruption of anger. The next song "Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen" is one of consolation and required an entirely different coloration. 

"Ich hab' im Traum geweinet" asks the singer to begin a capella; he is joined by rhythmic chords in the piano which punctuate his sad dreams like the beating of an aching heart. In this lied and the subsequent "Allnächtlich im Traume" he is working through the loss. Haven't we all had dreams in which a dream element that seemed important has vanished evanescently? Imagine the skill required for the singer to convey this puzzled quality!

He finds no escape into fantasy as shown in the longing "Aus alten Märchen winkt es" so the final resolution must be to bury the love and the angry songs in a hyperbolic coffin with a dozen giant pallbearers as described in "Die alten, bösen Lieder". The piano postlude achieves a kind of resolution with a nearly funereal peace.

The program also included some lighter material.  In a move worthy of Mirror Visions Ensemble, the same text, set by Schubert and Gerald Finzi, was performed.  Schubert's "An Silvia" was paired with Finzi's "Who is Sylvia" and we were surprised to learn that Shakespeare's words were as well set in English in the 20th c. as the German version was by Schubert in the 19th c. 

We generally don't care much for songs in English from the 20th c. but we were drawn to enjoy this music by Mr. Hasselhorn's and Ms. Rohlfing's fine performance of "O Mistress Mine". Possibly the elegant cadence of Shakespeare's text elicits good composition!

We were tickled by the singer's bird sounds in Hugo Wolf's "Lied des transferieten Zettel".  This is a setting of "Bottom's Song" from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, translated into German.

There was yet more Shakespeare to come. Erich Wolfgang Korngold set "Desdemona's Song" from Othello,  as well as "Under the Greenwood Tree",  "Blow, blow, Thou Winter Wind", and "When Birds Do Sing"-- all from As You Like It.

So, now we know. We like songs in English as long as Shakespeare contributed the text!

Still, returning to German for the encore left us smiling; it was the very sweet Schumann lied "Du bist wie eine Blume". Schumann must have been thinking of Clara when he wrote that gorgeous melody!

(c) meche kroop

SONGS FROM THE CELLAR

Michal Biel and Alex Rosen

The only event that could psych us up as much as the debut of a new opera company is the debut of a new vocal series. A vocal series that highlights the advanced students from the Juilliard Vocal Arts and Collaborative Piano Departments would have been at the top of our wish list. We attend and love the monthly liederabends at Juilliard and the graduation recitals as well.  But we are greedy for vocal music and we admire the entrepreneurial spirit that made possible this extra-curricular series of performances.

In this case, two of our favorite Juilliard pianists--Katelan Terrell and Michal Biel-- have coordinated a new series called Songs from the Cellar, having joined forces with Alessandro Pittorino, Executive Director of Arts at Blessed Sacrament where he serves as organist.  Indeed, descending the staircase at the 71st St. entrance, one would expect to find oneself in a cellar; but no, we find ourselves in a spacious performing space with a big wide stage and ample seating with excellent sightlines. What a find!

That stage was graced and held last night by bass Alex Rosen and pianist Michal Biel. Mr. Biel, who graduated from Juilliard last year, has played at so many recitals there that we knew exactly what high quality to expect. Mr. Rosen has also been seen, heard, and reviewed by us multiple times but we had yet to hear him perform a complete recital.

Just a couple weeks ago he starred as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor and gave a rousing performance filled with pathos and humor, not to mention full deep round tones. But his appearance was heavily disguised by makeup and a fat suit. Last night he appeared au naturel and we were reminded of how much we had enjoyed his way with Strauss' unique and lesser known songs, his part in Mozart's Requiem and his Monteverdi (with Opera Lafayette).

As soon as Mr. Rosen began singing some serious songs by Schubert, we recalled that we had heard him sing two of them before. When a singer performs songs we don't care for in a way that brings us to favor them, it tends to stick in our memory. The sacred "Grenzen der Menschheit" and the profane  "Prometheus" make a fine pair. We especially love Prometheus confronting Zeus with his anger and disappointment. In between the two we heard the sad tale of "Der Atlas", sung with powerful intent and plenty of variety in the piano.

What impresses us most about Mr. Rosen, aside from the textured tone, diction, and phrasing, is his storytelling ability. Each song becomes a mini opera; he pulls us into each story with his involvement in the text. He is not afraid to throw himself into the text with generous gesture and facial expression.

Happily there was plenty of Schubert on the program. The opening set was particularly suited to the storm outdoors which the appreciative audience had braved for the occasion. There were storms at sea, boatmen, rivers and such. When Schubert wrote strophic songs, he must have hoped that they'd find their way into the repertoire of singers like Mr. Rosen who would know how to change the vocal color from one stanza to the next.

We particularly enjoyed "Liebhaber in allen Gestalten", with its romantic text by Goethe, and "Auf der Donau", in which the two outer sections allow the singer some lyrical legato singing, with plenty of contrast for the turmoil in the central section. Mayrhofer's text is introspective and philosophical and the vocal line revealed the beauty of Mr. Rosen's lower register.

In terms of charm, we loved "Fischerweise", von Schlechta's tale of a fisherman and a "wanton" shepherdess who is not going to catch that fish!

Hugo Wolf's songs made an appearance on the program with his Michelangelo Lieder--Wolf in his most serious mood. "Alles endet, was entstehet" gave Mr. Rosen an opportunity to show off his lovely pianissimo.  "Fühlt meine Seele das ersehnte Licht" ended with a heart stopping downward scale in the piano.

Just as actors love a good death scene, singers love a good drinking song and Wolf wrote some that were fresh to our ears--"So lang man nünchern ist" and "Ob der Koran von Ewigkeit sei". They were fun but there was even more fun on the program.

Francis Poulenc's very first youthful song cycle--Le Bestiaire-- comprised six short poems selected from 30 written by Guillaume Apollinaire about denizens of the world of fauna.  We wish that he had set them all, or at least published the additional six about which we have only heard. There is such a variety of rhythm, color, and mood that it takes a singer of Mr. Rosen's caliber to make the most of them. We kid you not, dear reader, but Mr. Rosen actually made a face like a camel and moved like a shrimp!

Our only complaint about this recital was its brevity.  But then it's always good to leave your public wanting more.  There will indeed be more, but not more of Mr. Rosen who has been snapped up by Les Arts Florissants, Opera Philadelphia, and Cincinnati Opera.

We urge you to get out your calendars and save March 9th, April 15th, and April 28th. We personally know the artists and can guarantee you a splendid evening at a modest cost.

About 6 or 7 years ago, pianist Lachlan Glen launched a series comprising Schubert, all Schubert, and nothing but Schubert lieder. Folks on Planet Opera are still talking about it.  We hope that 6 years from now, folks will be talking about Songs from the Cellar!  Don't miss out!  It's casual, comfortable, artistic...and there are projected titles so one doesn't have to look down at libretti.

(c) meche kroop

THE DIVA NEXT DOOR

Bryan Wagorn and Nadine Sierra

We rushed uptown to the Park Avenue Armory from our afternoon at the Morgan Library where we heard seventeen young singers competing for the generous awards given by the George London Foundation.  Only a glutton for vocal music could retain energy and enthusiasm. But the artistry of Nadine Sierra and her piano partner Bryan Wagorn ensured that our attention never flagged. 

It occurred to us that Ms. Sierra, not yet 30, would have fit right in with the demographics of the London competitors.  But Ms. Sierra won that competition eight years ago!  And performed a recital for them three years ago as well.  One might say that her star ascended very early. Indeed she was the youngest person to have won the Met National Council Award. And the awards just kept rolling in!

Ms. Sierra is now world renowned but she maintains the warmth, naturalness, and generosity of spirit that can bring an audience to its knees--and to its feet also, for a standing ovation. We have reviewed her performances more than any other singer.  Five years ago we called her "The Diva Next Door".  Earlier reviews have been lost but we have been impressed with her artistry from the very first time we heard her.

Last night she performed as part of a series held in the superbly restored Board of Officers Room at the Park Avenue Armory. The intimate space allowed us to feel up close and personal and its historic nature seemed perfect for a vocal recital.  And what a recital it was!

There was quite a bit of overlapping with a recital she and Mr. Wagorn presented three years ago at Pace University as part of a vocal series that sadly is no more. Our favorite part of both recitals was the Strauss. It seemed as if Richard Strauss wrote the songs with her in mind. The richness of tone, the musicality of phrasing, the artistry of the word coloring, and the intensity of involvement with the text all joined to give the feeling of newness to songs we have heard countless times.

Each song seemed like a mini opera and the listening gave rise to visual imagery, making each one a satisfying experience. "Zueignung" could not have been more passionate and "Allerseelen" could not have been more soulful, as Ms. Sierra caressed each word. The high notes floated up to the very high ceiling.

"Ständchen" was sung playfully and "Cäcilie" with passionate enthusiasm. Ms. Sierra invested "Morgen" with an ethereal quality and Mr. Wagorn's playing of the prelude set the stage perfectly.

Schubert's "Du bist die Ruh" was performed with delicacy and the kind of legato quality one expects in Italian, yet without any cheating of the consonants. The two artists matched each other's style in a most affecting manner.

Schumann's "Widmung" is a bit lower lying but presented no obstacle to Ms. Sierra. We could hear the composer's deep affection for Clara in every phrase.

We have heard Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs many times and have never warmed to them. In spite of the detested music stand, which Ms. Sierra did not seem to need, she was able to give them a full measure of artistry. As usual, the two we do appreciate--"Promiscuity" and "The Monk and His Cat" are not of a religious nature.

Our love for zarzuela was requited by the performance of "Me llaman la primorosa" from Gerónimo Giménez' 1901 El barbero de Sevilla, which is, yes, about some young singers performing the Rossini opera. This gave Ms. Sierra an opportunity to do the Musetta thing and the audience loved it. If there were one thing on the program that we'd want her to do without the music stand, this was it.  What a wonderful encore piece it would be.

Joaquin Rodrigo's mid 20th c. Cuatro madrigales amatorios was written in estilo antico and we always love hearing them for their solid Iberian flavor in the piano and the pungent text. "De dónde venís, amore?" was imbued with flirtatiousness.  In the final song "De los álamos vengo, madre" the final note was spun out like a silk filament and we held our breath.

We were not very familiar with the Turina songs which followed--settings of romantic text by Lope de Vega--but they were quite lovely.

Ms. Sierra is generous in sharing anecdotes with the audience and related how her Portuguese grandmother shared a musical language with her but not a spoken one. She sees her career as a fulfillment of the grandmother's journey. And so we were gifted with some songs in Portuguese.

Ernani Braga's "Engenho novo" is a rapid fire tongue twister that tickled our ears.  On the other hand, Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Melodia sentimental" is lyrical and romantic.  Both were composed in the mid 20th c.

Back came the music stand for Bernstein's "A Julia de Burgos" which we heard recently at New York Festival of Song.

Ms. Sierra expressed her gratitude to Marilyn Horne for jump starting her career and giving her worthwhile advice; she paid her tribute with an encore--Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer"--beautifully rendered in a very different timbre than the rest of the recital.

It was clear that the audience would not let Ms. Sierra off the stage without some opera and we heard a most enchanting performance of "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. What father could resist such a plea?

A word to the wise-- Ms. Sierra has just recorded her first album.  It should be a major success.

(c) meche kroop