KOME TO THE KABARETT

Sari Gruber, Naomi Louisa O'Connell, and Justin Michael Austin

We have missed the many pleasures of Steven Blier's New York Festival of Song but now that masking requirements have been lifted, it is just like the good old days B.C. (before Covid)...or almost. Loyal audience members have returned to Kaufman Recital Hall and Maestro Blier is back at the piano with his carefully curated program of songs, astutely chosen singers, and witty commentary.

Last night's concert was devoted exclusively to German cabaret of the 1930's, known as the Weimar Era, and the three singers lit into the material with gusto and wit. When we opened the program, our heart sank when we saw the English text. To our ears, the sound of German matches so perfectly with the music that we were sure we wouldn't like the English translations. However, once the program began, we started to feel appreciation for the skill of Jeremy Lawrence, the translator. The verses rhymed!  They scanned!

We very much enjoyed it none the less when some verses were sung in German, or spoken in one language and sung in the other. We still maintain that there is more of a bite to the German language but the trade off is that more members of the audience could understand the meaning. There was bitterness and irony and political criticism. There were amusing sexual innuendoes. There was plenty of gender bending.

Soprano Sari Gruber was joined by Irish mezzo-soprano Naomi Louisa O'Connell and baritone Justin Michael Austin, all of them known from the world of opera and art song, and all with the dramatic ability to convey the emotions of the song, be they anger, irony, or wistfulness. Solos alternated with duets and trios, in which the harmonies delighted the ear and the back and forth dialogue engendered knowing smiles.

The ensemble was particularly strong in the opening number, Mischa Spoliansky's "It's all a swindle" with lyrics by Marcellus Schiffer (English translation by Jeremy Lawrence); it could have been written this year. Schiffer also wrote the lyrics to "Sex Appeal" which was given a very entertaining performance by Ms. OConnell. Ms. Gruber charmingly delivered Mischa Spoliansky's "Maskulinum-Femininum" with Schiffer's gender bending lyrics . 

Speaking of gender bending, Mr. Austin sang "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss", Friedrich Holländer's famous song, sung by Marlena Dietrich in the film The Blue Angel--a song we recognized as "Falling in Love Again". Mr. Austin sang it straight which made it all the more powerful. Very different was his delivery of Hanns Eisler's "Rosen auf den Weg gestreut" in which. Kurt Tucholsky's ironic text was performed with intense passion.

What struck us was the similarity to our own epoch. Ninety years ago, Europe was gripped by difficult economic circumstances, fascism was encroaching, and sexual freedoms were being explored. Songs by Friedrich Hollaender, Mischa Spoliansky, Olaf Bienert, and Kurt Tucholsky could have been written today.  Most affecting were the anti-war pieces. We were deeply stirred as we considered the dire condition of the world at this very moment in time and how important it is for us to avoid another cataclysmic outcome.

Watch for more to come from NYFOS--of course the theme for the February 15th concert will be.,.."Amor"!

© meche kroop

JUILLIARD HONORS BERNSTEIN AT CARNEGIE HALL

Onstage at Carnegie Hall:  Ryan McKinny, Aubrey Allicock, Paul Appleby, Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Naomi Louisa O'Connell, and Meghan Kasanders

It's aways gratifying to see a woman on the podium and last night's celebration of the Bernstein centennial put the renowned Marin Alsop up there to conduct an interesting program, which will be followed by a symposium today in Paul Hall at Juilliard from 3:00 to 6:00 PM. Maestro Alsop (a Juilliard alumna) is not only a fine conductor, judging by the sound of the always excellent Juilliard Orchestra, but a guiding light to the singers, as expressed by the singers themselves. Her presence on the podium was the right choice since she was one of Bernstein's best known pupils.

The part of the program we wish to focus on is Bernstein's Songfest, a compilation of a dozen songs, each from a different poet. Our enjoyment of the songs lay more in the performances than in the songs themselves. Our appreciation for "modern" poetry and the kind of music it inspires is somewhat deficient but our appreciation for a good delivery is unmatched. It seems to us that the training at Juilliard helps a singer to make sense of even the nonsensical. For this, we credit Steven Blier who has coached these singers (all students or alumni of Juilliard) for his New York Festival of Song. Last year at NYFOS we hear this Bernstein cycle reduced for piano by John Musto.

Unlike his tuneful and rhythmic music for Candide and West Side Story, many of the texts Bernstein set appear uninteresting on the page and don't seem to want to be set to music.  There were a few exceptions.

The 17th c. American poet Ann Bradstreet wrote an encomium to her spouse "To My Dear and Loving Husband", the rhyme scheme and rhythm of which inspired Bernstein to write our favorite selection of the dozen. Sung by soprano Meghan Kasanders and mezzo-sopranos Naomi Louisa O'Connell and Amanda Lynn Bottoms, the many layers of love and adoration filled our heart with joy, and maybe even a touch of envy for such all-encompassing adoration. This is a song we want to hear again and again.

Another song we enjoyed was the Edna St. Vincent Millay sonnet "What Lips My Lips Have Kissed".  Although Ms. Millay belongs clearly to the 20th c. the sonnet rhymes and scans and was a worthy candidate for setting. To hear it performed by Ms. Bottoms was an emotional experience, reminding one of the pain of loss. The metaphor of a lonely winter tree from which all the birds have flown was powerful.

Gertrude Stein's "Storyette H. M." although written in Stein's customary repetitive manner, made sense through the dramatic performance by Ms. Kasanders as the one who was left and bass Ryann McKinny as the one who was leaving. What an effective couple they made!

Ms. Kasanders had a strong solo in "A Julia de Burgos" which was sung in Spanish and invested with Latin rhythms as well.

The versatile tenor Paul Appleby has a way of interpreting contemporary American songs that sets him apart. We have no idea what Gregory Corso's "Zizi's Lament" meant by "laughing sickness", but no matter; the delivery was filled with humor and Bernstein employed a sinuously exotic melody to suggest  the Middle East. Bernstein's orchestration provided plenty of "laughing figures".

Mr. McKinny performed Walt Whitman's "To What You Said" against a background of plaintive strings. Ms. O'Connell performed Conrad Aiken's lament "Music I Heard with You" accompanied by a gorgeous harp solo. Their splendid voices fell beautifully on the ear.

We couldn't call the duet of baritone Aubrey Allicock and Ms. Bottoms "color blind" but that's a good thing in our opinion.  Mr. Allicock performed Langston Hughes "I, Too, Sing America" interweaved with Ms. Bottoms performance of June Jordan's "Okay 'Negroes'" was affecting. What was going through our head was the progress toward true equality that the poets could not imagine. Of course there is more work to be done in this area but progress is encouraging.

Mr. Allicock's solo "The Pennycandystore Beyond the El" tried to make something musical of the Lawrence Ferlinghetti text and succeeded beyond our expectations.

The ensemble of six sounded especially fine together, even in the odd Frank O'Hara text "To the Poem". Even odder was "if you can't eat you got to" with some wonderful sounds emanating from the tuba. Closing the set was Edgar Allan Poe's lengthy paean to the spirit "Israfel" who produces heavenly music, much like Orpheus.

We think of these six singers as incarnations of Orpheus!

(c) meche kroop

NEW, NEWER AND NEWEST MUSIC

Michael Barrett, Naomi Louisa O'Connell, Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Jesse Blumberg, Chelsea Shephard, Amy Owens, and Steven Blier

Our admiration of and affection for a group of young singers swayed us toward reviewing last night's New York Festival of Song. It was indeed a challenge for our 19th c. ears to relate to a program of late 20th and 21st c. music. We love opera, we love stories, we love lieder that tell us a story. So much contemporary vocal music is abstract and offers settings of texts that we would not enjoy reading for their own merits. The music inspired by these texts does not seem to add much.

Steven Blier's program played to a packed house and comprised works of three generations of American composers. The earliest one was Paul Bowles, the next was William Bolcom, and the newest was Gabriel Kahane.

It was a triumph of singing and acting on the part of the artists that overcame our feelings of being lost in abstraction. Our happiest moments came when the material offered a relatable dramatic situation. 

Paul Bowles' Picnic Cantata is a daffy almost surrealist tale about four women planning and executing a picnic. The four women singers appeared dressed in mid 20th c. summer dresses. Their voices harmonized beautifully.

When mezzo-soprano Naomi Louisa O'Connell sang the aria "The Sunday paper is full of news", she related the sad story of a married woman in love with a married man, writing to an advice columnist. She filled the story with pathos and sympathy so the accompaniment by Mr. Blier and Mr. Barrett began to make sense.

In that cycle, we also enjoyed "In sun and shade", in which the lyrical piano line seemed to express the image of a warm day spent  in nature with the kites flying. Some interesting sounds were provided by percussionist Barry Centanni.

Our favorite part of the evening was William Bolcom's Suite from Dinner at Eight which was receiving its world premiere. The opera itself, with libretto by Mark Campbell, will receive its premiere next month at Minnesota Opera; we expect it will be a great success. It is based on a play from 1932 written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. 

Accompanied by both pianos, soprano Chelsea Shephard used her ample vocal artistry and dramatic skills to portray Millicent Jordan who is planning a dinner party in the opening aria "Lobster in aspic", endowing the role with imperiousness, anxiety, and the best kind of humor--the unselfconscious type.

Mezzo-soprano Amanda Lynn Bottoms was stunning and convincing as the retired actress Carlotta, reminiscing with Millicent's husband Oliver in "Our town".

Versatile baritone Jesse Blumberg was convincing as Oliver Jordan in the troubled aria "You think you're safe", as he faces the failure of his business in The Great Depression.

Soprano Amy Owens, remembered as a charming Zerbinetta at the Santa Fe Opera (summer 2014), gave a moving performance of "My love will see us through"--sung by the Jordan's daughter Paula to her troubled alcoholic lover.

Ms. O'Connell invested Lucy, married to a cheating doctor, with all the ambivalence of a woman who stays with her man despite the pain he causes her. The work ended with the entire ensemble raising their voices in hopeful harmony in "The party goes on" (even without the guests of honor and the lobster aspic).

A world premiere was on the program as well--Gabriel Kahane's Six Packets of Oatmeal, commissioned by NYFOS. The text was a "poem" by Galway Kinnell which was not at all poetic, just the ramblings of an isolated man who fantasizes about imaginary companions joining him for breakfast. Although Mr. Blumberg sang it beautifully, we kept thinking about Schubert's Winterreise as a far more artistic depiction of isolation and mental illness. 

There were some mighty strange sounds emanating from the piano and something we did enjoy was Mr. Barrett's demonstration of how plucking the strings under the lid of the piano could produce some strange overtones. But the text was too idiosyncratic for our taste.

A shorter piece by Mr. Kahane from 2006 was of more interest to us. "Half a box of condoms" from his Craigslistlieder was sung by Chelsea Shephard and offered ample chuckles.

(c) meche kroop