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

LUCA PISARONI and WOLFRAM RIEGER

Luca Pisaroni (photo by Marco Borggreve)

For us, an evening of 19th c. lieder might be our very favorite vocal event.   To have two truly incomparable artists onstage together in the not-too-large Zankel Hall was beyond our wildest dreams.  Bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, known to us before last night as a world-class opera singer, gave every evidence of being a world-class recitalist; we were thrilled to see a new aspect of his artistry.  Likewise, we have never attended a solo recital in which Wolfram Rieger has been the collaborative pianist.  The teamwork of the two artists resulted in an evening that set the bar for vocal recitals.  We were transfixed.

Mr. Pisaroni is in perfect control of his instrument and chose wisely in his selections.  For many of the earlier songs in the program, he used the lighter baritonal qualities of his voice, enabling the flexibility necessary for the ornamentation;  he revealed the majesty and depth of the bass range later on when the songs called for it. 

He has impeccable diction, making every word audible and comprehensible--very valuable since no titles were projected and we could not tear our eyes away to read the translations in the program. His phrasing always made sense and his ability to change the feeling tone from song to song, and even within a song, allowed us to feel the feelings along with him.

Mr. Rieger is a piano partner any singer would be fortunate to work with.  In last night's performance, he seemed to breathe along with Mr. Pisaroni while always bringing out the emotional subtext of the song.  He has a light touch that always supports but never overwhelms the vocal line.  The ease with which his fingers fly over the keys is nothing short of astonishing.

We agree with the common belief that Schubert was the greatest composer of lieder, not just in his own century but for all time; his work has never been matched.  We only wish that contemporary composers could learn from his vocal lines; from the way he wrote for the voice, one would think his background was that of a singer.  We mention this because holding this belief does not take away from the genius of Mozart, who tossed off his songs as gifts; nor of Beethoven or Mendelssohn.  They were titans, all of them.

Most of the songs on the program were familiar to us so it pleased us to just sit back and allow Mr. Pisaroni's communicative skills to invite us into the world of each song.  From the set of Mozart songs, we enjoyed the delicacy of "Das Veilchen", the lovely light piano figurations in "Komm, liebe Zither" and the charm of "An Chloë".  But when Mr. Pisaroni sang the philosophical "Abendempfindung" we were moved to tears, perhaps not flooding down our cheeks but surely moistening our eyes as we contemplated the message of the transitory nature of life.

In the set of songs by Beethoven, we particularly enjoyed the piano accompaniment and the gentle melody of "Zärtliche Liebe".  Mr. Pisaroni brought out the humor in "Der Kuss" which is one of our very favorite songs. 

He put particular color into the set of songs by Mendelssohn.  The rhythmic motion of the galloping elves in "Neue Liebe" painted quite a picture in our mind's eye.  The familiar "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges" was given a particular lyrical spin.

The second half of the program was Schubert, all Schubert and nothing but Schubert.  (You won't hear any complaints from a woman who heard almost all of Schubert's 600 plus songs at the hands of Lachlan Glen and Jonathan Ware.)  It was in the first grouping, all settings of texts by Heinrich Heine, that we heard the depths of Mr. Pisaroni's vocal register and the depths of  Schubert's despair as well as Heine's irony and bitterness. "Der Atlas" is a grim song and "Ihr Bild" expresses intense loss.  What a relief it was to hear the cheerful barcarole "Das Fischermädchen".  In "Die Stadt" the diminished arpeggios in the piano lent a mysterious air.  "Der Doppelgänger" was given a solemn reading and a sense of eeriness.

The group of songs composed to texts by Goethe included the four-voiced highly dramatic "Erlkonig".  The narrator is neutral, the father's voice is lower and attempts to reassure the sick child and the erlkonig's voice is high and seductive.  Mr. Pisaroni nailed three of them especially the oily erlkonig, but the frightened child sounded too deep and forceful for our taste.    "Grenzen der Menschheit" gave the singer an opportunity to exercise the very bottom of his register and the sweetness of "Ganymed" with its shift from major to minor mode was a lovely contrast.

It was a most generous program and we were surprised and delighted that Mr. Pisaroni gave us two encores.  He charmingly announced that he was tired of singing in German and did two songs in Italian, one by Beethoven, "L'amante impaziente", and one by Schubert, "Il modo di prender moglie".  They were lovely songs but at this point I would have listened raptly if he were singing the phone book.

What a completely satisfying evening!  The next time this duo gives a recital, guess who will be first in line.

ⓒ meche kroop

WILHELM MEISTERS LEHRJAHRE

Franz Schubert was but a babe in arms when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, a classic of German Romanticism; the two seminal artists never met but Schubert was inexorably drawn to Goethe's poetry and set his work more often than any other poet.  Most lovers of lieder are fond of the songs related to the aforementioned novel, particularly the songs connected with Mignon, one of the characters who made a great impression on the hero during his wanderjahre.

These songs were given a compelling shape by the artistic directors of Schubert@Co. at yesterday's recital.  While Jonathan Ware took on the collaborative piano work for the first half of the program, Lachlan Glen provided the narration directly from the novel, a narration that stitched the songs together into a meaningful evening.  We are familiar with the fine work of all the singers involved in the recital and we have never heard them so intensely involved and so present.  We attribute this to the effective dramatic concept.

Baritone Michael Kelly, who will be singing Die Winterreise next Saturday evening, opened the program with "Wandrers Nachtlied I," D.224 and closed the program with "Wandrers Nachtlied II", D. 768.  His arresting performance was marked by exquisite word coloring such that "süss" sounded just like honey tastes and "schmerz" produced an ache in our chest.  Bass-baritone Evan Hughes performed "Der Sänger" with his customary dramatic flair, but it was "flair squared".

Soprano Raquel Gonzalez sang "Heiss mich nicht reden" and "So lasst mich scheinen", also known as Mignon I and Mignon II from D. 726 and D. 727 respectively, using her gorgeous instrument to successfully evoke the plaints of a troubled child.  Following Mr. Kelly's lovely "Harfenspieler II" D.480, the collaborative piano was taken over by world-renowned Malcolm Martineau who, like Warren Jones, seems to breathe along with the singer.  His participation was evidence of the importance of Schubert@Co.'s artistic mission, a genuine treat which did not in any way detract from Mr. Ware's excellence in the first half of the program.

"Grenzen der Menschheit", D. 716 permitted Mr. Hughes to show off his vocal power at the bottom of the register with consummate expressiveness.  Baritone Jesse Blumberg gave an astonishing performance of "Gesänge des Harfners I, II, and III" (D. 478, 480, and 479 respectively), songs of such grief and loneliness that our eyes filled with tears.  Mr. Blumberg caressed each word, seemingly enjoying the flavor.  The result was riveting.

Ms. Gonzalez followed with "Nur wer die Sehnsuch kennt", D.359, not the version with which we are most familiar, but equally tragic and moving.  Soprano Simone Easthope took over from there with "Kennst du das Land" D.321; her just-right vibrato and involvement with the song made the far-off land for which Mignon pines completely visible in the mind's eye.  She followed this with "Gesange aus Wilhelm Meister I, II, III and IV", all from D.877.  This included a new setting of "Heiss mich nicht reden" and the version of "Nur wer die sehnsucht kennt" with which we are most familiar.  We felt like we were meeting a dear old friend wearing beautiful new clothes.

It would seem that Schubert just loved setting these songs over and over again, that the singers loved singing them, and the audience loved hearing them, as evidenced by the standing ovation at the end of the recital.

One cannot fail to be impressed by the hard work, love and dedication of everyone concerned with Schubert&Co.  There are many more recitals to come and lovers of lieder will be sated by the end of the project.  Or...maybe they will want a repeat next year!

(c) meche kroop