DAME FELICITY LOTT MASTER CLASS

Erin Alcorn and Dame Felicity Lott

The final master class of The Song Continues 2017, formerly known as Marilyn Horne's Birthday Week, was conducted at Carnegie Hall in the Education Wing, by the much honored soprano Dame Felicity Lott who wowed the audience with her very British sense of humor. Her style of teaching was completely different from the prior two master teachers. She was generous in her praise of the four young singers we heard (we shared her opinion) but very nit-picky about the text, teaching with the score in hand.  Her command of languages is as formidable as her command of musicianship.

Her first student was soprano Erin Alcorn, accompanied by Katelan Terrell.  Ms. Alcorn's first selection was Richard Strauss' Standchen, the one we know and love well.  A man tries to persuade his sweetheart to sneak out of the house to meet him in the garden for some passionate kissing. Ms. Alcorn used her brilliant voice brilliantly and performed with ardent expression. It was a persuasive performance.

Dame Felicity's suggestions were to keep the tempo up so that the energy would not flag. Both piano and voice need to be light.  There were a few words that Dame Lott wanted Ms. Alcorn to enjoy-- "zittert" is one we could really appreciate. The second "mach auf" needed to be more intense than the first. A change of color was needed for the final verse of von Schack's text; it must not lose intensity but should be still and legato.  And the "hoch gluhn" at the end must be very passionate with a glorious end on "Wonnenschauern der Nacht".  What a gorgeous phrase that is and Ms. Alcorn sang it gorgeously.

Although her instrument is clearly made for Strauss, she did a fine job with Debussy's "Vert" from Ariettes oubliees. There was some urging to get her French more forward in the mask and the need to change color from the offering of vegetation to the offering of the poet's heart.  Indeed! There were phrases to stretch and phrases to build up and relax.

Mezzo-soprano Marjorie Maltais also had the opportunity to perform two songs. She sang "Danse macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens with its difficult text by Henri Cazalis. The composer did an excellent job of applying music to the very wordy text and conveying the spooky mood. Mezzo Marjorie handled it beautifully, creating a mood of grotesquerie. 

Nathan Raskin handled the wild piano part quite well but was instructed to hold back the sound whilst Mezzo Marjorie was singing so that the text could be understood.  Both artists should expand the final "Oh! La belle nuit".

By the end of the song, Ms. Maltais was warmed up enough to tackle Richard Wagner's "Traume" from Wesendonck Lieder.   The coaching was to be ecstatic, not sad. Those thoughts would surely change the color! The singer must draw the audience into this world of dreams!  And, must do it with the voice, not gestures. Mr. Raskin was coached to play more ethereally and this made a world of distance as he complied.

Tenor Patrick Shelton sang "Let me enjoy the earth" by Gerald Finzi, with a text by Thomas Hardy. He was advised to avoid meaningless movement and to color his voice with wistfulness, not sorrow. In our opinion, Mr. Hardy's splendid poetry did not ask for music and we didn't find that Mr. Finzi'a music did much for the poetry. But Madeline Slettedahl played it well.

We enjoyed Mr. Shelton's singing more in Liszt's "Comment, disaient-ils". We do believe that Victor Hugo did not want to have his poetry set and yet, to our ears, Liszt's music added a great deal!  Dame Lott worked with Mr. Shelton on some finer points of French diction, particularly on softening the elided "t" in the oft-repeated phrase of the title. She worked also on rhythm and on changing the colors from "ramez" to "dormez" to "aimez"--all great improvements.

Soprano Anne Wright closed the class with a pair of songs that showed off her versatility as well as her impressive instrument. Henri Duparc's gem "L'invitation au voyage" is a setting of a gorgeously sensual text by Baudelaire. Significantly, we could understand nearly every word of Ms. Wright's French, even at the top of her register. The knowledge that she translated both songs herself reinforces our impression that she understood every word she was singing.

Nonetheless, Dame Felicity was there to iron out some small issues with French diction, and some suggestions about where to breathe. She wanted Ms. Wright to enjoy the text (we sure did!) and the changes of color in "luxe, calme et volupte". The singer must not demonstrate but must invite the audience in.  (Where have we heard that before??) Zalman Kelber's handling of the rippling piano completed the effect.

In Strauss' "Cacilie" from Vier Lieder, Ms. Wright conveyed all the intense passion and ecstasy of Heinrich Hart's text. What a splendid evening, discovering four fine singers and two very promising Straussians.

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MARGO GARRETT MASTER CLASS AT CARNEGIE HALL

Margo Garrett, Madeline Skettedahl, and Dorothy Gal

Last night, the second of three master classes was held with esteemed collaborative pianist Margo Garrett providing invaluable instruction to singer and pianist alike. The master classes, if you didn't already know, are part of The Song Continues 2017 at Carnegie Hall, a series of events through which Marilyn Horne does everything humanly possible to advance the art of the song recital.  Young singers and collaborative pianists get an opportunity to perform for a standing room only crowd of lieder lovers and to receive advanced instruction that will take them to the next level.

Last night we heard tenor Ricardo "Ricky" Garcia tackle the very difficult Schubert setting of Goethe's text "Erlkonig". What makes the song difficult is that the singer must assume several voices--that of the narrator, that of the father, that of his child, and that of the evil Erl King. Much of the momentum of the father's mad ride is supplied by the piano-- in this case, by Nathan Raskin. Ms.Garrett pointed out that the Germans love stories, especially supernatural ones!

We sensed that Mr. Garcia wanted to convey the different voices but was not totally successful, except for his appropriately colored baritonal father.  After some coaching, he was able to make the narrator less passionate and more even. The child needed a lighter but frightened sound, while the Erl King needed a measure of seductiveness. The father needed to be more tender and legato.

An interesting method of practicing this was given--the singer can sing all the lines of one of the characters in succession in order to master the build up of intensity for that particular character.  After establishing the vocal arc of each particular character, then the entire piece can be put together. This makes perfect sense and is a point we will be thinking of every time we hear a song with more than one voice.

It was a lovely dramatic experience to hear soprano Caitleen Kahn perform a satirical and allegorical song by Dmitri Shostakovich entitled "Misunderstanding".  It was the story of a rake who mistakes a woman's recitation of erotic poetry for an invitation to intimacy. Ms. Kahn is a born storyteller and had a very clear understanding of the background of the song's composition and the text as well.

She was coached to use her voice and face as well as gestures to convey the sense. Pianist Zalman Kelber got some valuable tips about achieving a less obvious doubling of the vocal line. An equally valuable tip for the singer was to practice singing into the piano (with the lid raised high, of course) with the piano playing octaves above and below. These are the "pearls" that only a master of coaching would know!

Bass-baritone Ted Pickell performed "Wenn ich mit Menschen und mit Engelszungen redete" from Brahm's Vier ernste Gesange, accompanied by Katelan Terrell. Mr. Pickell has a marvelous instrument to work with but needed coaching in putting some feeling into the text. Ms. Garrett suggested that he focus on the loving feelings. We were not feelin' it! To us it just sounded like preaching, which, of course, it is--Paul preaching to the Corinthians.

Ms. Terrell needed to lighten up on the keys and Mr. Pickell needed more color, more contrast between verses, and more attention paid to the consonants, particularly the double ones.

The evening ended with soprano Dorothy Gal, whom we have heard and enjoyed in French and Italian songs. She sang Hugo Wolf's "Geh, Geliebter, geh jetzt!" in which a woman urges her beloved to leave before he is discovered.  Clearly she doesn't want him to leave! The song is notoriously difficult with its syncopated rhythms and off-kilter entrances for the singer. This gave Ms. Garrett an opportunity to bring up a most interesting concept.

This is the issue of whether the pianist leads the singer or vice versa. In this case, the pianist must be led by the singer's entrances. Collaborative pianist Madeline Sletterdahl was instructed to emphasize the left hand over the right one.

Ms. Gal was given advice to be clearer with the consonants. We had a piece of advice for her ourself. We would like her to complement her lovely voice with some meaningful gestures. She seemed not to know what to do with her arms and hands and the gestures that were made seemed not to connect with the text. That addition would make her performance perfect.

There will be one more master class tonight--Dame Felicity Lott. We will be there with thirsty ears!

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MARILYN HORNE MASTER CLASS AT CARNEGIE HALL

             Brittany Nickell

Wee Kiat Chia

Noragh Devlin

Alexandra Smither

 As part of The Song Continues 2017, Marilyn Horne led a standing room only master class at Carnegie Hall. Four young singers and four collaborative pianists got to show their stuff and pick up some very valuable tips from Ms. Horne, who is concerned that song recitals are an endangered species. When Ms. Horne was a young artist, she gave song recitals in all fifty states! She feels that it's important for young artists to know the song literature and how to perform it.  We couldn't agree more.

Two of the four singers were well known to us from Manhattan School of Music where we reviewed their performances on the opera stage. We were impressed with them then (and hope you will use the search bar to read those reviews from the past three years) and were delighted to hear them perform in recital mode.

Soprano Brittany Nickell has a generous sound and seems to have quite a future singing roles that call for a sizable voice. Last night we heard her sing two songs by Strauss, one very familiar one from Vier Letzte Lieder--"Im Abendrot". She was coached to make her consonants crisper and her vowels more accurate. Variations of color and dynamics were addressed. We loved the advice to "enjoy the melisma" on the word "milder".

Ms. Horne's comment about "Schon sind, doch kalt die Himmelssterne" was that it was one of Strauss' "B songs" and that every set should include both well known songs and lesser known ones.  That's a point to which we have never given much thought, but it does make perfect sense.  Ms. Nickell should have a lot of Strauss in her future.  Her collaborative pianist was Nathan Raskin.

Mezzo-soprano Noragh Devlin has been reviewed by Voce di Meche four times previously and we have always appreciated her richly textured instrument and convincing dramatic gifts. She brought all this to bear on her performance of Mahler's "Um Mitternacht", with  CP Katelan Terrell gamely trying to create the orchestration on the piano. Ms. Devlin is a true mezzo and her coaching involved the advice to start pianissimo and to "belt" at the end. She was advised to take more breaths and even to take a breath between "Mitter" and "nacht" at the end, in order to give full measure to the climax.

Soprano Alexandra Smither elected to perform Schumann's setting of Goethe's "Kennst du das Land", which has been set by all the important composers of lieder in the 19th c.  Ms. Horne's coaching brought out all of the pathos, especially in the places where she was advised to take her time.  Ms. Smither was accompanied by Madeline Slettedahl.

We love the counter-tenor fach but we confess to being rather confounded by the choice of material made by Wee Kiat Chia. Xavier Montsalvatge's "Cancion de cuna" from Canciones Negras involves a mother lulling her baby to sleep. We have no problem with gender bending but it seems to work better as a source of humor. Mr. Chia was coached to feel the rocking rhythm in his body.

His other choice was Robert Schumann's "Ich grolle nicht" from Dichterliebe. He was coached to keep the sound forward, to watch out for double consonants, and to keep the momentum--advice that was also given to the other singers on the program. His CP was Zalman Kelber. We speculated that Mr. Chia wanted to do something different and we always applaud risk taking. But for our ears, we would prefer to hear him in some Handel!

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FIRST LIEDERABEND OF THE SEASON AT JUILLIARD

Alex Rosen, Julia Wolcott, Onadek Winan, Maria Brea, and Thomas West

Everything about yesterday's liederabend at Juilliard delighted us--the entire program was in German and, since it was coached by Brian Zeger, the German diction was excellent and not a word was slighted. The choice of composers included our favorites and the young artists performed them well, each with his/her own style.

We haven't spoken to Mr. Zeger about this but we suspect that he encourages each singer to honor his/her own performance style and each one seemed comfortable with his/her own choice. There is no right or wrong in lieder performance.  Some artists are highly expressive and make ample use of gesture to get across the meaning of the text. Others are more reserved and rely on vocal colors and the barest minimum of dramatic expression.  We can appreciate the entire spectrum.

Soprano Maria Brea opened the program and we enjoyed her highly expressive style in a half dozen songs by Richard Strauss. Not only did she employ ample gesture but used her facial expression to fine effect.  Even her eyes danced along with the music. Her bright tone was just right for Strauss. 

She opened the set with the sprightly "Wozu noch, Mädchen" and invested the final repetition of the opening verse with sufficient variation. She captured the sensuality of "Breit' über mein Haupt". The blind hope of "Hoffen und wieder verzagen" was made clear; the closing "Mein Herz ist stumm, mein Herz ist kalt" had appropriately chilly colors. Collaborative pianist Nathan Raskin provided excellent dynamic support.

Baritone Thomas West performed a quintet of songs by Brahms--songs with which we are unfamiliar--from Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 32.  Most of the Brahms songs that we love are of a folksy nature; these songs are quite serious and deal with more complex and troubling emotions.

Mr. West is an artist of the more reserved type, employing an economy of gesture and relying predominantly on vocal colors to convey the mood. That he translated the songs himself lent a word-by-word authenticity to his performance.  In "Wie rafft ich mich auf", Brahms repeats certain phrases and Mr. West handled this beautifully. His piano partner Jinhee Park evinced ample strength.

We particularly enjoyed the final song "Wie bist du, meine Königen", a more romantic affair to be sure, and a lied which permitted Mr. West to use a lighter tender tone, especially in the final verse. Every time he repeated "Wonnevoll!" we felt an inner smile.

Bass Alex Rosen performed a pair of serious songs by Schubert, lieder with opposing spiritual values. In "Prometheus" Goethe's text speaks of anger toward Zeus; the cynicism is so thick you could cut it with a knife.  In "Grenzen der Menschheit", the same poet speaks with spiritual reverence.

Mr. Rosen captured both attitudes and did it with low notes to spare. Collaborative pianist Chérie Roe made a powerful statement throughout.

Some genie must have read our Friday night review of the Brooklyn Art Song Society in which we expressed the wish for more songs by Joseph Marx to appear on recital programs.  How delighted we were that soprano Julia Wolcott performed four of them! Although he came along a generation after Strauss, his music is entirely accessible and melodic. Ms. Wolcott's performance was lovely and her instrument brilliant in tone.

We had heard two of the songs "Nocturne" and "Selige Nacht" Friday night and had enjoyed them entirely. How delightful to hear them again. Piano partner Dror Baitel enjoyed the dazzling runs of the former and Ms. Wolcott clearly enjoyed the sensuality of the latter, which has become one of our favorites. It is interesting that Otto Erich Hartleben wrote the text for both of them.

Soprano Onadek Winan closed the program with four selections from Strauss' Brentano-Lieder, Op. 68. which she translated herself; this lent an immediacy to her performance. Our ears feasted on her beautiful tone and our eyes on a lovely stage presence.

In "An die Nacht" piano partner Ho Jae Lee's passion matched hers.  But our favorite is always "Amor" in which she gave a charming reading and some stunning vocal fireworks.  Mr. Lee's piano was particularly fine in "Als mir dein Lied erklang".  This summed up the recital for us--"Your song rang out to me"!  Indeed, these five singers managed, in 80 minutes, to erase an entire day's cares.  Long live music.  Long live song!

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TWO TERRIFIC TENORS...AND MORE

Grace Canfield, Allison Porter, Cristobal Arias, Katelan Terrell, Cristina Stanescu, Caitlin Redding, Matthew Swensen, William Kelley, Sora Jung ,Ho Jae Lee, Nathan Raskin

It was another thrilling early evening liederabend at Juilliard and the hall was packed. Five superb singers joined with five collaborative pianists for a pleasant respite from the Xmas shopping chaos outside.  The performances were all excellent; we would expect no less.

It's possible to admire all the artists and yet to single out a couple that for one reason or another affect us more deeply.  We suspect it has something to do with the mood we are in or the choice of material. We sometimes hear an artist on another occasion and have very different feelings.  So...here goes.

We were absolutely enchanted by two tenors, which, in itself is remarkable because we get very turned off if a tenor pushes his high notes.  (We actually feel the tension in our own throat and it hurts!) What a surprise to learn that Cristobal Arias is just a sophomore in the Vocal Arts Department. He performed Beethoven's song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, and he performed it magnificently.

This cycle is Beethoven at his most melodic and the melodies have been running through our head all night. Unlike Schubert's cycles, this one does not tell a story. Rather, all the songs revolve around the central theme of longing for a distant beloved. They are best sung simply without spurious dramatic effects and this is exactly how they were performed. 

Mr. Arias has a gentle sweet tone and made liberal use of dynamic variety from the very start. In "Leichte Segler in den Höhen" he sang with marcato emphasis and in "Diese Wolken in den Höhen" he sang with a lovely lilting quality. He ended the cycle with intensity and passion. We were, as they say, "feelin' it".

The cycle was performed without breaks and his piano partner Katelan Terrell was delightful in the interludes which knit the songs together. We loved the way she captured the nature sounds and it was clear that she was enjoying herself.

The second tenor was quite different but equally impressive. Accompanied by Ho Jae Lee, he sang a trio of songs by Francis Poulenc whom we are coming to appreciate more and more. His instrument is a rich one with an interesting velvety texture and a pleasing resonance; his technique is flawless. His involvement in the material was intense and sustained right through the silences. He drew us into the text from the very beginning and by the time he got to the setting of Appolinaire's "Bleuet" we were close to tears.  That's communing with the audience!

We also heard three fine women whom we enjoyed a great deal. The glamorously gowned soprano Grace Canfield, ably accompanied by Nathan Raskin, has a bright sound that opens at the top like a parasol. She sang two selections from Liszt's Tre sonetti del Petrarca--"Pace non trovo" and "I' vidi in terra", and she sang them with intensity and urgency.

Soprano Allison Porter, accompanied by Sora Jung, introduced us to some early 20th c. French songs by Louis Beydts. The texts of the cycle Chansons pour les oiseaux were mostly nonsensical and Ms. Porter succeeded in bringing out the humor with her bubbly personality.

And finally, mezzo Caitlin Redding performed a trio of selections from Claude Debussy's settings of Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire. They are a far cry from the no nonsense realistic depiction of longing in the Beethoven cycle; au contraire, they are filled with metaphor and imagery.  Similarly the music is radically different from Beethoven's direct illumination of a feeling but rather indirect and impressionistic. William Kelley performed well as piano partner.

The singers were coached by Cristina Stanescu who deserves to be pleased as punch.

Now wasn't that a better way to spend an hour than shopping??  You betcha'!

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