PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS

Carlos Martinez, Elizabeth Pope, and Saul Ibarra Ramos

Last night's recital was presented at Juilliard as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Music being awarded to Saul Ibarra Ramos for his achievements in the field of collaborative piano. Our experience in the field of collaborative piano is rather limited to the  particular aspect in connection with the voice. German lieder are our bread and butter. It was for this reason that we dropped everything to hear this excellent recital.

Carrying the vocal part was the lovely soprano Elizabeth Pope whom we have enjoyed on prior occasions and who just so happens to be married to the pianist. We admit we are particularly interested in couples in this field with respect to how well they seem to pick up on each other's cues and also because we feel a concern for their future careers which can pull them in two separate directions or to two distant venues. Like everything else in life, there are pluses and minuses, rewards and risks

Let us focus now on the positives. The first half of the program featured Ms. Pope singing a selection of lieder in German, a song cycle in French, and an American song unknown to us.  Of major interest was an 1832 setting by Franz Lachner of a text by Heinrich Heine that we immediately recognized as having been set by Robert Schumann in 1840 as part of his cycle Dichterliebe. 

We are always surprised by the various interpretations different composers can give to the same text. Whereas Schumann's "Mein Traum" is rather engraved in our memory, we found interest in Lachner's setting which was new to us. Mr. Ibarra Ramos lent emphasis to the pulsing piano which made us think of the poet's pounding heart, whilst Ms. Pope affected a pianissimo dream like aspect which gradually built to a climax.

In a similar situation, Charles Ives set Heine's "Ich grolle nicht" while a student at Yale at the end of the 19th century. Lovers of lieder will of course recognize this lied as also belonging to Schumann's Dichterliebe and may recall the poet's rage and irony toward the woman who broke his heart. On the other hand, Ives (who probably never set another German text) portrayed the poet in a more wistful light, so well captured by our pianist and singer. We might add that Ms. Pope's soprano instrument has a bright clear tone and that her stage presence is inviting. In Liszt's "In Liebeslust" we liked the way she decorated the vocal line on the phrase "Ich liebe dich".  (We might hope for a little more consistency in the final "ch" but that is a small matter and easily rectified.)

A cycle of songs by Francis Poulenc entitled Calligrammes carried us in a different direction and revealed more delights in Ms. Pope's vocal technique and the delicate balance between her vocal line and the piano. "L'Espionne" revealed strength in the lower register. "Mutation" revealed the grim colors of despair over WWII. "Vers le sud" had our two artists giving warmth and gentleness to the love song, as we might have expected. "Il pleut" offered some racing figures in the piano. "La grâce exilée" involved a mood of resignation whereas "Aussi bien que les cigales" came across as a firm lecture. The concluding "Voyage" conveyed a suspenseful and wistful mood.

The remainder of the program gives us less to address. Our knowledge of piano music extends to what we have learned to play--Beethoven's "Fur Elise" and some easy pieces by Chopin. The dense texture of Rachmaninoff's Etudes-tableaux, from which Mr. Ibarra Ramos played "Appasionato", rather overwhelmed us as it sounded like an orchestra. We liked the rapid figures in the upper register and the peaceful ending after all that passion!

The final work on the program was Violin Sonata No. 1 by  Prokofiev in which our pianist's sensitivity toward the vocal line was directed now toward the excellent violinist Carlos Martinez. Our pianist gave an interesting brief talk about Prokofiev's energetic and unpretentious personality, explaining that this work was composed toward the end of his life when his health was compromised. The four movements alternated Andante with Allegro and it was a wild ride indeed between the two tempi.

Our knowledge of Prokofiev is confined to his programmatic score for the ballet Romeo and Juliet which is so filled with danceable rhythms and memorable melodies that we wind up humming for days afterward. This exposure to another side of the composer was surprising to say the least. It was a tour de force for Mr. Ibarra Ramos and also demonstrated some interesting techniques on the violin. What we heard as a glissando was really some legato bowing of a rapidly fingered scale passage.

An encore piece was played without a break. It was Prokofiev's arrangement of a Bach chorale and left us with a welcome feeling of peace after the tumultuous Sonata. Within our limited knowledge of most of the repertoire It seems to us that  Mr. Ibarra Ramos has a gift for listening to his musical partners and responding. That gift should carry him a long way in his career

© meche kroop

 

JOYCE DI DONATO--MASTER CLASS AT JUILLIARD

Theo Hoffman and Joyce DiDonato

Master classes give us a thrill like no other and the ones given by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato are always a special event. Her astuteness in diagnosing the singular thing that will take a student from a four-star performance to a five-star performance is remarkable. Furthermore, her warm and engaging manner promotes a special bonding with the student, a trust that allows them to take risks.

We confess that we would have been satisfied with the four-star performance. It being Juilliard Vocal Arts Department, we daresay that their pre-coaching performance is superior to most singers. However, it was only after we heard the difference made by her coaching that we realized how much better the student sounded. These are no ordinary students; they are working on their Master's degree and already singing all over the world and delighting audiences here and abroad. They collect awards and grants the way most people collect knick-knacks.

Baritone Theo Hoffman is a case in point. He sang an audition piece that we are sure is responsible for his getting a lot of work--"Dorma ancora o son desto" from Claudio Monteverdi's 1640 opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.  In this introspective recitativo-like aria from Act I, the hero (usually sung by a tenor) awakens on the beach. Mr. Hoffman sang it with such depth of feeling that we were deeply moved. He used his impressive instrument with agility and dynamic variety.

This was not enough for Ms. DiDonato! She worked with Mr. Hoffman on being IN the harmony of the "orchestra", singing INTO what was going on underneath the vocal line, in this case the marvelous piano work of William Kelley whom we much admire. This is an exquisitely fine point about which we knew very little.  We so greatly appreciated the opportunity to learn along with Mr. Hoffman about playing with the "temperament" of the note.  And we always thought a note was a note!  Oh, no!  That's where the color comes from.  Great lesson for Mr. Hoffman and for us.

We do love the counter-tenor fach and have enjoyed Jakub Józef Orliński's voice on a number of occasions. His instrument sounds like the voice of an angel, if one tries to imagine what that would sound like.  He sang "Agitato da fiere tempeste" from Händel's Oreste and impressed us, and Ms. DiDonato, with his musicality. She observed that he sang it like an instrumentalist.

But that was not enough. She was looking for some legato passages to work on and asked him to sing his other selection "Vedro con mio diletto" from Vivaldi's Giustino. She picked up some tension and resistance that she tackled by dancing him around the stage. She worked with him on releasing the breath and sighing it out without effort. He could work on this by slurring instead of singing each note.  Indeed it made a difference as he relaxed his effort and achieved a more spontaneous sound.

Soprano Christine Price tackled a difficult Mozart aria--"Ach, ich liebte" from Die Entführung aus dem Serail.  Most of the lesson revolved around using the mental image of opening up spaces in the mask, thereby keeping the voice out of the throat.

Mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey worked diligently on "Allez, laissez-moi seul" from Massenet's Cendrillon.  Most of the work was on moving the energy. It was helpful when Ms. DiDonato spun Ms. Hankey around the stage. Perhaps this strategy works so well because the singer is distracted from making efforts toward perfection. She was further instructed to keep strictly to the tempo, to keep moving forward and through the consonants to the end of the phrase.

In all four students we noticed subtle improvements that were very gratifying. The Collaborative Piano Department provided the wonderful Mr. Kelley who played for all the singers except for Mr. Orliński, whose piano partner was Michal Biel. They make a great team.

(c) meche kroop