SURE BEATS COCKTAIL HOUR

Dominik Belavy, Nicolette Mavroleon, Samantha Hankey, Caitlin Redding, Nathan Haller

In terms of "attitude readjustment", nothing beats a Liederabend at Juilliiard. One's workaday stress ebbs away and one becomes flooded with positive emotions.  The music itself is always wonderful and fulfilling but the artists who perform it fill one with gratitude that a fine institution like Juilliard exists to hone their skills and bring them to the point of stage worthiness.

Yesterday's program was headlined by tenor Nathan Haller who has everything one could wish for in a tenor, with none of the common tenor problems.  He is an unfussy singer who manages to sustain his energy throughout the song and to involve the listener in the text.  The tone gleams like silver and there is no sign of strain.  He achieves variety through dynamics and phrasing. Every word could be understood.

He performed four songs from Schubert's Schwanengesang--well chosen for their variety of mood--expertly accompanied by the intuitive collaborative pianist Valeriya Polunina.  In the lighthearted "Liebesbotschaft" we could hear the babbling brook in her piano.  The portentous opening of "Kriegers Ahnung" was in marked contrast. Mr. Haller was even effective in the very lowest part of his register.  He dramatically conveyed the horror and eeriness of "Der Doppelgänger" and moved on to the joyfully lilting "Die Taubenpost".  It was a noteworthy performance.

A pair of Strauss songs were performed by baritone Dominik Belavy, accompanied by HoJae Lee.  Mr. Belavy was listed on the program as a baritone but there was a great deal of depth in his lower register.  Perhaps there is a bass-baritone in the making. He evinced a round tone with a pleasing vibrato and has an easy stage presence. We were astonished to learn that he is only 19 years old.

The romantic "Traum durch die Dämmerung", for example, lies rather low for a baritone but Mr. Belavy was undaunted. The sad "Ach Lieb, ich muss nun scheiden" was sung expressively.  Unlike most very young singers, Mr. B. knows how to use his body.

We were delighted by mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey's performance of Trois Chansons de Bilitis by Debussy.  Her elegant stature and poise contributed to the long elegant French lines and Gallic atmosphere.  Edward Kim's accompaniment was correspondingly light and delicate.  Our only suggestion would be to make the words of this beautiful text better understood.  French seems to be rather more challenging in that regard, not just for Ms. Hankey but for most American singers.

Brahms' folk-like setting are deceptively simple but honestly charming.  Mezzo-soprano Caitlin Redding performed five of them with her excellent piano partner Martha Mingle.  Ms. Redding did her own translations and her expressive singing showed a comfort with the text. The unhappy "Mädchenlied" is one of our favorites; we had hoped for better diction to accompany the quality of her singing but we missed a lot of the phrases.  For some reason, the final lied "In stiller Nacht" was better understood.

Soprano Nicolette Mavroleon was also overcome by the German diction.  Her voice soars into the upper register with great passion and sounds best in the melismatic passages when unimpeded by the words.  Other than that her performance of Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder was vocally exciting.  The low-lying "Frühling" was followed (naturlich) by "September".  The set closed with the lovely "Beim Schlafengehen".  Kristen Doering was a fine piano partner.

What a splendid hour we passed at Juilliard.  Sadly, one gets this opportunity but once a month.  Yesterday's program was coached by the marvelous Vlad Iftinca who seems to know just how to pair up singer with pianist.  We wish we could end every workday in such fine fashion.

© meche kroop

LIEDERABEND CLXX

Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Aaron Mor, and Kelsey Lauritano

Three singers from the Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts coached by Cameron Stowe showed their stuff yesterday and what fine stuff it was!  These lieder recitals at Juilliard offer an incredible opportunity to hear the stars of tomorrow.  The liederabend gives them the chance to try out material in front of an audience and to work with students from the Collaborative Piano Division.

Tenor Aaron Mor exhibited an interesting darkish colored tenor as he performed a trio of songs by Franz Schubert, a composer whose songwriting gifts have never been equalled.  The three he selected are not as well known as the more famous ones but they were no less lovely.  Collaborative pianist Kristen Doering opened the set with "Die Sterne" in which she successfully emphasized the pattern in the piano which rises through several successive keys.

The song is filled with beautiful imagery of the night sky and we enjoyed Mr. Mor's lovely phrasing. "Vor meiner Wiege" is a more disturbing song with text by the same poet (Karl Gottfried von Leitner) drawing an analogy between the cradle and the coffin.  Mr. Mor successfully captured the nuances.  But it was the poetry of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe which inspired Schubert to write such gorgeous music for "Auf dem See".

There were two excellent mezzo-sopranos on the program and we were so pleased to note that they sounded very different from one another.  We confess we get bored with voices that sound generic.

Amanda Lynn Bottoms, accompanied by Joel Harder's sensitive playing, commanded the stage with the captivating texture of her dusky instrument.  The vibrato struck us as just right and she used gesture successfully to illuminate Arnold Schoenberg's difficult songs, particularly the mysterious "Erwartung" with text by Richard Dehmel, who also contributed the poetry for the equally elusive "Jesus Bettelt" and "Erhebung".

Somewhat more accessible were the songs of Hugo Wolf from his Spanisches Liederbuch sung by the expressive Kelsey Lauritano, accompanied by the similarly expressive Edward Kim.  In "Klinge, klinge, mein Pandero" his fingers literally flew over the keys.

Ms. Lauritano connected well with the material and we particularly enjoyed "Sie blasen zum Abmarsch" in which a woman despairs over her lover's departure for battle.  "Dereinst, dereinst, Gedanke mein" and "Bedeckt mich mit Blumen" are sad songs about death so we were glad the program ended with the charming "Wer tat deinem Füsslein weh?".

Notable in Ms. Lauritano's performance was her superb German diction.  It is nearly universal among young singers to be afraid of the final "ch"; Ms. Lauritano's pronunciation was absolutely perfect.

All told, it was a fine recital.  If you have not yet experienced one of these monthly events, we urge you to attend.  Tickets are free and available online.

© meche kroop

STARS OF TOMORROW

Raymond Wong and William Goforth

Yesterday we attended Juilliard's 168th Liederabend.  Have we attended all 168 of them?  No, but we wish we had because they are monthly treats we heartily anticipate.  If you attend one of them, you will likely become a regular, such is the high quality of the performances.  To make the deal even sweeter, there is absolutely no charge whatsoever!  Even when we have an event to review at 7:30 (as we did Thursday night), we find it worth the effort to dash up to 65th St. for a delightful hour discovering the stars of tomorrow.  Then you can say "I heard him/her when he/she was a student" and be complimented for your perspicacity.

Yesterday's recital was the first of the year and we heard four voice students of great promise, all of whom we would love to hear again.  The four collaborative pianists were of equally impressive skill.  First on the program was William Goforth,  whose sweet tenor we recall fondly from last year.  Accompanied by Raymond Wong, the pair performed Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte, an outpouring of German Romanticism but still carrying over much from the Classical Period.  These songs of romantic longing are performed without a break, relying on chord progressions to weave them together.  Mr. Goforth sang them in fine German with  admirable word coloring, possibly due to having translated the text himself.  

Mr. Goforth seemed to "taste" each word and we understand because we too love the taste of German in our mouth.  He increased the dramatic impact with dynamic variety.  As the cycle progressed his involvement grew and we felt drawn into the world of nature.  Mr. Wong contributed a great deal by emphasizing the changes to minor and back to major.  His light fingers created the sounds of nature--twittering birds and babbling brooks.  The three descending notes from "Wo die Berge so blau" have haunted us all night.

Soprano Onadek Winan has a nice ring to her voice, quite suitable for Richard Strauss.  She performed three songs from his Mädchenblumen and captured nicely the various moods of the flowers, representative of women-- the modest cornflower in "Kornblumen", the fiery poppy of "Mohnblumen" and the soulful ivy of "Epheu".  Mr. Strauss must have had a fine time limning the characterizations of all the various types of women he came across.  We confess to enjoying the fiery poppy the most.  Edward Kim was Ms. Winan's piano partner and fell right in with the three moods.

Marguerite Jones has a nice-sized mezzo and a facility for story telling which she used to play the role of Anzoleta encouraging her lover Momolo in a gondola race.  Rossini's La regatta veneziana requires a lot of intense excitement on the part of both pianist and singer.  Ms. Jones' personality carried the day; she sang in the Venetian dialect, as is customarily done.  Again, performing her own translations probably contributed to her success.  She produced three distinct moods in the three songs of the cycle.  We loved the rocking barcarole rhythm in HoJae Lee's piano.

Baritone Kurt Kanazawa, also remembered from last year, performed a cycle of songs by Guy Ropartz (a contemporary of Strauss) entitled Quatre poems d'apres L'Intermezzo d'Henri Heine.  (We guess that's what they call Heinrich in France!)  The Prelude and Postlude gave pianist  Kristen Doering a chance to shine and the four songs between were of unrelieved romantic despair; it was up to Mr. Kanazawa to provide some variety which he did by varying the dynamics and exploring the depth of feeling in the text.  The final song had the rhythm of a funeral march.  We know little of the composer and were not particularly impressed with the cycle.

We hoped to return to a more cheerful aspect with Kara Sainz and William Kelley performing Manuel de Falla's lively cycle Siete Canciones populares Espanolas but it was time to leave for Carnegie Hall to hear Luca Pisaroni.  So, we apologize to Ms. Sainz; we heard her last year and are sure she did a fine job.

© meche kroop