GERMAN FORUM SCORES A BIG WIN

Mariella Haubs, Babette Hierholzer, Gerard Schneider, and Jardena Fluckiger

Evenings of classical music offer many delights but transcendent moments happen but occasionally and produce feelings of incomparable bliss. We experienced just such a moment last night at the German Forum concert at the intimate Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center.

The special moment occurred when tenor Gerard Schneider was singing Richard Strauss' "Allerseelen". The poet tells of the sole day of the year when one gets to reunite with loved ones who are no longer on this earth. Mr. Schneider sang it with a depth of feeling that leapt right from his heart to ours. It was the the kind of connection we dream about and what every singer longs to achieve. Our eyes brimmed with tears.

By contrast, he sang Strauss' "Zueignung" with a blend of tenderness and passion that was thrilling to hear. Here is a tenor well on his way to superstardom who knows exactly how to use his gorgeous instrument. He also sang selections from Schumann's Dichterliebe with great control of dynamics and color, soothing the sore ears we got from enduring a recent awful performance, one we declined to write about.

And if one wanted something lighter, he gave us "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz", the well known aria from Franz Lehar's Land des Lachelns; he sang it ardently and we were completely enraptured. "Ach, so fromm" from Friedrich von Flotow's Martha was sung with the tender tones of love.

Soprano Jardena Fluckiger has a lovely pure tone and entertained us with some of our favorite songs by Hugo Wolf, selected from his Italienisches Liederbuch. She has an expressive face that complements her voice, and when she employs bodily gesture it adds a fine dimension to her performance. We always love the racy "Ich hab in Penna einen Liebsten wohnen" and, after the punchline, Babette Hierholzer's piano contributed the most delightful postlude.

Ms. Fluckiger gave us some impressive coloratura singing in "Quel guardo" from Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale. The embellishments were well handled and there was a particularly fine trill.

Compared with the bel canto fireworks, the two songs by Claude Debussy from Quatre chansons de jeunesse seemed a bit pallid and wanted more color.

Rounding out this superb program was music for violin and piano, performed by Ms. Hierholzer and concertmistress of the Juilliard Orchestra Mariella Haubs, who deserves all the accolades she receives. She was playing a Peter Guarneri violin from 1721, loaned by The Juilliard School, and what a sound came from this instrument!

Ms. Haubs is beautiful and glamorous but if you close your eyes you would believe it was someone very very famous and of more advanced years. The star number was the first movement of Beethoven's Kreutzer sonata, the presto section of which is forceful and technically demanding of both pianist and violinist. The two artists rose to the occasion to such an extent that we wanted desperately to hear the rest of the sonata but, alas, it was not on the program.

Instead we heard "Winter" from Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, a seasonal selection in which we could hear the snowflakes falling. Also on the program was Mozart's Sonata in F Major with its rapid fire triplets.

The evening ended with two selections from Lehar's Die Lustige Witwe.  First, Mr. Schneider sang the role of Camille, Count de Rosillon, inviting Valencienne (Ms. Fluckiger) to a romantic rendezvous in a pavilion. Then we heard "Lippen schweigen", the Act 3 duet between Hanna and Count Danilo, accompanied by violin and piano.

The German Forum, helmed by President Henry Meyer-Oertel, provides performance opportunities for artists from German speaking countries and has a loyal and devoted following. Many of the members share a passion for German composers and, naturlich, the singers sing German the way it should be sung. Their events are always major treats! Those who read our opinions know how highly we esteem the versatile collaborative pianist Ms. Hierholzer. Watch out for the next event!

(c) meche kroop

STARS BEFORE DARK

The stars came out last night at Jackie Robinson Park long before the sky darkened.  And what stars they are!  The second of the Metropolitan Opera's two summer recitals put four of our favorite young artists onstage to the delight of the audience gathered around the bandshell.

Beautiful soprano Deanna Breiwick literally floated onstage in a magnificently becoming purple gown lending a great deal of glamour to the casual setting.  Her accurate coloratura and liquid trill were most evident in her charming selection from Donizetti's Don Pasquale, "Quel guardo il cavaliere"; the Verdi was its equal, "Sul fil d'un soffio etesio" from Falstaff.  Still, the "Glitter and be gay" from Bernstein's Candide won laurels as a crowd-pleaser.  It would be fair to say that the audience went wild.

Tenor Alexander Lewis sang "Avete torto" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi as if it had been written for him and graciously explained to the audience what the aria was about.  His "Dein ist mein ganzes herz" from Lehar's Das Land des Lächelns fulfilled the romantic promise of a summer night.

Baritone Edward Parks absolutely oozed charm when he opened the evening's festivities with Rossini's "Largo al factotum" from Il Barbiere di Siviglia.  We loved his "Figaro giu, figaro su".  On a more serious note he sang "Avant de quitter ces lieux" from Gounod's Faust with moving intensity.  And he closed the program with the Soliloquy from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel.  Nowhere could a better case be made for appreciating the American musical on the same plane as opera.

We just love duets and the evening offered several.  "All'idea di quel metallo" from "Barber" offered the men an opportunity to show their dramatic chops while "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's  Don Giovanni did the same for Ms. Breiwick and Mr. Parks.  "Una parola, o Adina" accomplished the same for Ms. B. and Mr. Lewis.  Notably, Ms. B. moved flexibly from Adina's reserve to Zerlina's ambivalence.  The two men's voices blended beautifully in "Lily's Eyes" from Norman and Simon's The Secret Garden.

At the piano, Vlad Iftinca changed styles with admirable flexibility.  He is always a pleasure to hear.  Let it be noted that Italian, French and German were given perfect diction by all three singers.  This will go down as one of the best recitals of the year.  We will surely see and hear much more of these four talented artists in years to come.  Shall we call it "stardom threshold"?

(c) meche kroop