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!

(c) meche kroop

GALLIC GLORY AT MSM

Bryn Holdsworth as Andromède

Yeon Jung Lee as Le Feu and Amy Yarham as L'Enfant

It was a night of sheer delight spent with Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater. Credit for this extraordinary success must be attributed to the clever direction of renowned James Robinson, who told the tales with originality that was still true to the origins of the two works; to the beautifully balanced sound of the conservatory's orchestra under the baton of Pierre Vallet; and, above all, to the superb singing and acting of the young artists, mainly graduate level students.

The wisely chosen program comprised two French works of note, the first of which, Jacques Ibert's 1924 Persée et Andromède, has never before been performed in the United States, and the second of which, Maurice Ravel's 1925 L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, we have enjoyed on several prior occasions.

Ibert's librettist "Nino" (a pen name for his brother-in-law Michel Veber) turned the tale of Perseus' rescue of Andromeda on its head. In the myth, she has been chained to a rock as a sacrifice (long story!) and dreams of being rescued from the monster Cathos by a great hero.  Perseus arrives on a winged horse (Pegasus), slays the monster, and carries her off to live happily ever after (sort of).

In Nino's libretto, Perseus is so arrogant when he kills Cathos that Andromeda realizes that she has loved the monster all along and declines to leave with Perseus. Pining over Cathos, her grief brings him back to life as a handsome prince.

But wait! Mr. Robinson's concept is that this all takes place in a French museum with a reproduction of Cesari's 1596 painting of the legend occupying pride of place, flanked by supposed studies for the work. The museum guard must ride herd on a group of uniformed schoolgirls who get too close to the velvet rope and a mother with her two obstreperous children.

A beautiful redhead enters and lies writhing on a bench as she dreams of, what else, a romantic encounter. Soprano Bryn Holdsworth, whom we have written about before, sang with terrific tone and acted with conviction. She even convinced us that she was a natural redhead, so well did she embody her character.  And that's acting! It was a stellar performance, marked by some fine French diction, coached by Bénédicte Jourdois.

The superbly coached schoolgirls acted as Greek chorus, commenting on and giggling over the sleeping Andromeda, just as schoolgirls would. What an inspired concept! Chorus Master Daniela Candillari must have worked very hard to achieve this success.

As the museum guard, bass Hidenori Inoue, was peevish but far from a monster. He serenaded Andromeda with full round tone and tried to ease her boredom with stories and symbolic chess games.

Tenor Taehwan Ku made a humorously arrogant Perseus, waving a silk scarf with an image of Medusa imprinted, in place of the Gorgon's head. The "monster" was not intimidated.

Allen Moyer's set was a fine recreation of a museum while Paul Palazzo's lighting contributed a great deal, adding glowing warmth to the arrival of Perseus. James Schuette's costumes were consistently mid-20th c. and Tom Watson's hair and makeup design was apt.

And oh, that music! Much of it was impressionistic and shimmered with painterly colors, sounding just right for the setting. That made the climactic moment of crescendo all that more affecting. We were curious about the placement of the harps off to one side, and the percussion off to the other. Whatever the reason, it sounded sensational.

Ravel's charming work L'Enfant et Les Sortilèges started life as a ballet with a book by Colette; but this baby had a decade long gestation, finally achieving the stage in Monte Carlo in 1925. It is a favorite of music conservatories since it employs a large cast. It tells the tale of a naughty boy who treats people, animals, and furniture with equal contempt.

When the aforementioned furniture comes to life and turns against him, and the animals speak to him of their suffering, he learns compassion. It is a wonderful lesson for children, but also for adults. Behavior has consequences!

As the eponymous child, Australian mezzo-soprano Amy Yarham sang with beautiful inflected phrasing and easily understood French; moreover she created a most believable little boy bored with his homework, throwing a tantrum of destruction to retaliate against his mother.

The entire cast was excellent and we hesitate to single out only a few but we were struck by the precise coloratura of soprano Yeon Jung Lee who created a lot of heat with her red-sequined gown as well as her singing.

The audience loved the pair of fighting cats--mezzo Rachel Stewart and Christopher Stockslager and the linguistic hijinks of Emma Mansell's Chinese Cup and Gregory Giovine's Teapot.

We have always enjoyed Noragh Devlin who enacted a matronly looking mother, in high mid-20th c. style.  And Michael Gracco's Grandfather Clock created a striking image.

 Again, the sets and costumes were terrific.

Ravel's music for this work is highly eclectic and benefits enormously from a most colorful orchestration. The MSM Orchestra captured every nuance.

(c) meche kroop

DANGEROUS LIAISONS

Brittany Nickell, Abigail Shapiro, Timothy Murray, and Anna Dugan (photo by Carol Rosegg)

What an ambitious task was taken on by the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater; we are happy to report that Conrad Susa's opera Dangerous Liaisons was given a terrific production by their young singers and their artistic team. It was sheer theatrical magic to convert an epistolary novel, written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos in 1782--and to make it visually and dramatically interesting.

We have not read it but we well recall the 1988 movie which we have seen more than once. The scandalous tale of dissolute pre-Revolution France also inspired several stage adaptations, the most notable being that by Christopher Hampton, several films, and a ballet which we wish we had seen.

In 1992, the San Francisco Opera gave the commission to Conrad Susa and the opera was presented with Thomas Hampson as Valmont, Renee Fleming as Madame de Tourvel, and Frederica von Stade as Madame de Merteuil. It has been rarely produced since then but was seen in New York about seven years ago, when DiCapo Opera gave it a production that critics found static and boring. This production was anything but static and boring.

The story is a cynical one, the tale of a malicious pair of aristocrats who get their jollies from seducing and manipulating others. We are told nothing of the background of Vicomte de Valmont to explain his need to deflower virgins and seduce married women.  As far as his "friend with benefits",  Madame de Merteuil, our only clue is that she feels shortchanged in her role as a woman.  She protests that men get what they want while women take what they can get.

Soprano Anna Dugan is splendid in this role, as is her counterpart baritone Timothy Murray. They managed to hide their sinister motives behind a veneer of courtly behavior, plotting under the watchful gaze of their fellow aristocrats. The opera opens at the grand estate of Madame de Rosemonde outside Paris. Mezzo Noragh Devlin sang and acted this role to perfection. She loves her nephew Valmont but suspects he is there more to do mischief than to see her.

Valmont is preoccupied by the seduction of a pious married woman Madame de Tourvel, convincingly played by soprano Abigail Shapiro. However, he is persuaded to do Merteuil's bidding by the promise of sexual favors.

Merteuil wants revenge against a lover who discarded her by getting Valmont to deflower the man's intended bride, the 15-year-old Cécile de Volanges, fresh out of a convent, and marvelously portrayed by soprano Janet Todd.

Meanwhile, Cécile has fallen in love with her harp instructor, the Chevalier de Danceny, convincingly played by Kiwi tenor Oliver Sewell. Her mother Madame de Volanges (the fine soprano Brittany Nickell) must break up this romance because Danceny is a commoner and the intended husband is a well to do aristocrat. She is worried about the wrong fox in this hen house!

Merteuil pretends to be Cécile's friend and confidant but betrays her and takes Danceny as her lover. Valmont rapes Cécile under the guise of instructing her in the art of love, and simulates friendship for Danceny.

Madame de Tourvel struggles against her urges but, religious woman that she is, sees the possibility of redeeming Valmont and he plays along until she weakens. He then cruelly dumps her under the tutelage of Merteuil who writes his lines for him. "It is not my fault", he keeps repeating, sounding every bit like our antique MacIntosh Blueberry when it crashed.

We have given enough spoilers but you can imagine how unfortunate the ending will be for all concerned.

Dona D. Vaughn's direction could not have been any better. It is too bad that DiCapo's production was perceived as static. This production was anything but. Erhard Rom's set comprised decorated vertical panels that slid from side to side, creating a lavish drawing room, various bedrooms, a woodland walk, and a convent. Several scenes took place side by side.  For example, Merteuil might be writing a letter at her desk on one side with Valmont reading it aloud in his own room on the other side.

Costume designer Tracy Dorman outdid herself as one can see in the above photo. Each design revealed something about the character and the color palette matched the season of the year in which the act took place. The overall effect, complimented by Dave Bova's wig and makeup design, achieved verisimilitude.

Since this is an opera, we must discuss the music. Frankly, Susa's music did nothing for us; but one must take our opinion with the following grain of salt. We rarely enjoy late 20th c. music. Susa's music is mostly tonal but there was no beauty in it; there was power and discordancy but it all sounded the same.

The libretto by Philip Littell (who never wrote an opera libretto before) comprised dialogue in rhymed couplets (good) but came across as doggerel (bad). The recitativi supporting the dialogue were jagged and unmusical. There were plenty coloratura vocalises but they seemed to be randomly inserted without characterological justification.

Perhaps the English language does not inspire beautiful phrases of music.  As a matter of fact, we conferred with our opera-loving companion during intermission regarding who might have created a better opera from this story. It should have been in French, inasmuch as the story is so quintessentially Gallic.  Gounod?  Massenet?

The problem with the vocal line was that the tessitura was uncomfortably high.  The singers handled it beautifully but it is not the most attractive range to listen to for two hours. It might appeal to those who enjoyed Thomas Ades' Tempest, which we did not.

Interestingly, the English diction was far better than expected, credit going to a lot of hard work on the part of the singers and Diction Coach Kathryn LaBouff who made sure every vicious word counted. Happily, there were surtitles in case one missed something.

Valmont and Merteuil each had a sort of aria, or rather a monologue, in which they explained something about themselves.  But the best parts musically were the trios and duets in which the various voices balanced beautifully.

George Manahan led the orchestra through a reduction of Susa's score created by composer-arranger Randol Bass. We can only imagine how this dense and difficult music must have sounded before it was reduced.

The final scene made use of a wonderful chorus, under the direction of Miriam Charney. Brittany Bellacosa portrayed Emilie, Michael Gracco played Monsieur Bertrand, and servants were played by Amy Yarham, Christian Thurston, and Ashley Alden. Father Anselm was Robert Orbach.

This same superb cast will perform the Sunday matinée and a different cast will perform Friday evening.  Having heard some of the Friday night cast at the opera preview, let us reassure you that their vocal and dramatic skills are just as fine.

(c) meche kroop

BELLINI AT MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Maestro Thomas Muraco with cast of I Capuleti e i Montecchi: Shi Li, Carlton Moe, Noragh Devlin, Kasia Borowiec and Scott Russell

If Bellini stands for a delicious brunch drink in your lexicon, you probably won't relate to Maestro Thomas Muraco's admirable production of Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Manhattan School of Music.  But if you adore bel canto as much as we do you will get yourself to tonight's performance at 7:30 in the Ades Performance Space.

Bellini's lengthy vocal lines were conducted by Maestro Muraco without a baton, his expressive hands making balletic movements through space.  The reduction of the score was apparently a group creation and was so effective that the orchestra was never missed.  Ronny Michael Greenberg and Jie Yi performed on two pianos with Yeon Hwa Chung making significant contributions on the harp.  Elizabeth Harraman's French horn and Michael Dee's clarinet had some marvelously melodic lines of their own.

The libretto by Felice Romani harked back to earlier Italian versions of the story of star-crossed lovers than the Shakespeare play.  Wisely, extraneous characters were eliminated to focus on five main characters and their interaction.  The story became immediate, personal and affecting.  It was all meat and no fat.

Interestingly, and typical of Italian opera of the period, the enmity between Romeo and Juliet's family has been securely placed in the realm of a political power struggle--the struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. There is nothing evil about Tebaldo; he just loves Giulietta and wants to marry her.  Romeo is not a hot-headed teenager; he is a successful warrior who killed Capellio's son on the battlefield and is now suing for peace.  Lorenzo is not a monk but a physician in the Capulet household and sympathetic to the young lovers.  No nurse.  No servants.  No best friends.  No Paris.  No mother. No Prince.

The role of Romeo was superlatively sung by mezzo Noragh Devlin, much praised in earlier reviews (available through the search bar).  She fully lived up to her reputation and created an ardent and sympathetic character.  She negotiated the fioritura as well as the long legato lines; she was equally splendid in her duets with Giulietta.

Soprano Kasia Borowiec was equally impressive as Giulietta.  She has a bright soprano with just the right amount of vibrato and her embellishments were accurate.  She too created a winsome character that we could care about.  She was especially moving as she weighed her familial duty against her love for Romeo who wanted to elope with her.

Tebaldo, as described above, was also a sympathetic character, especially as sung by the fine tenor Carlton Moe who had some outstanding arias in Act I and an interesting duet with Romeo in Act II when he expresses remorse about contributing to Giulietta's death.

The role of Lorenzo was well sung by bass-baritone Scott Russell who probably has low notes to spare; bass Shi Li delivered the goods in the role of Giulietta's father Capellio.

An all-male chorus was onstage throughout to narrate the action and was joined by a female chorus at the end, lamenting the heroine's demise during the funeral cortege; this mournful scene was accompanied by stunning harp arpeggios.

That there was no panic accompanying the occasional disappearance of the titles is a fine tribute to Stephano Baldasseroni, the Italian diction coach.  Even the chorus was totally comprehensible, a characteristic that we have only heard when listening to the Donald Palumbo-coached Metropolitan Opera chorus.  Since Maestro Muraco was responsible for the chorus preparation, he gets extra props.

Although this is a concert presentation, the drama comes from the music and there is no shortage of drama.  Listen for a fortuitous horn solo in Act I and a stunning back-and-forth duet between Giulietta and the clarinet as she expresses her ambivalence.  Listen for the faltering heartbeat in Act II when Giulietta drinks the poison.  Another duet between Romeo and the clarinet delights the ear in the tomb scene.

Until yesterday, our favorite version of R&J has been the Kenneth MacMillan ballet set to Prokofiev's music.  Now that Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca are no longer dancing those roles, our new favorite version is this one.  Go and enjoy!

© meche kroop