LOOKING AT LOVE

Haodong Wu, Mary Rose Go, Rachel Selan, and Jing Yang

Most art songs seem to be about love. The poet writes something meaningful to him/herself; the composer can add another layer by virtue of the type of music she/he composes; the singer adds yet another layer according to the way he/she feels about the song; and finally, the listener brings her/his own experience which cannot help but affect the listening experience.

Last night we heard a "thinking woman's" recital at the National Opera Center, presented by Cantanti Project (the 3-year-old company that presented the highly original Orlando in February--review archived). Although most of the small opera companies about which we write have as their goals presenting opera in new ways for new audiences and providing performance opportunities for singers, each one seems to find its own niche.

Cantanti Project, according to its Artistic Director and Co-Founder Joyce Yin, aims to present recitals which pair two singers, each with her own repertoire, intertwining the two to explore one subject in depth and in a larger context. Singers submit their recital proposals individually. Last night's subject was love; songs about love were viewed through the lens of feminism, in its broadest sense.

The thoughtfulness of each singer was evident, not only in their choice of repertoire and their performance, but also in their eloquent essays which addressed their feelings about love. Coloratura soprano Mary Rose Go organized her program around The Practice of Love. In her essay she addressed the concept of women being conditioned to make love central to their lives. Since men are not socialized in the same manner, it is women who seem to make the sacrifices in marriage, an unequal partnership.

The world of romantic fantasy, obsession, and unhealthy attachment seemed to Ms. Go to ripple through Richard Strauss' Sechs Lieder, Op. 68. The answer to this unhealthy anxiety seems to be self-knowledge, reality and faith. These thoughts stayed in our mind as we listened to the six songs and we heard them in a new way.

Of course, there is nothing that delights us as much as "Amor" and Ms. Go's lively coloratura and expressiveness brought that blind rascal child right into the room! Haodong Wu's piano joined forces with Ms. Go to create a marvelous portrait.

The offering that she chose to close the program was the optimistic "Morgen", a great choice. But that was followed with Amy Beach's "Ah! Love but a day" which expresses the fear of love's fickle nature. We wish they had been performed the other way around.

Mezzo-soprano Rachel Selan chose as her topic Lost Love. As many times as we have heard Claude Debussy's Les Chansons de Bilitis, we never tire of it and always hear something new. It took a few hearings for us to realize that the three songs in the cycle describe three phases of love, all happening to the same woman. The innocence of "La Flute de Pan" and the sensuality of "La Chevelure" delight us; the last song "Le Tombeau des Naiades" always makes us sad about the decay of romance. Ms. Selan made clear the indifference of the man and the disappointment of the woman.

Jing Yang was her splendid collaborative pianist who had just the right touch for Debussy.

Ms. Selan also performed one of our favorite cycles, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; we cannot recall a woman performing this in recital although there are probably some recordings by women. The poet despairs over a lost love and tries to find consolation in nature. The melodies are aching and the harmonies disturbing.  We loved it.

We did not love Libby Larsen's Love after 1950. That period seems more remote than the 19th c.! Somehow we cannot relate to depilatory cream, razors, and bristly hair curlers as subjects for art song. It was funny to have a sort of rock and roll piano accompaniment to the song "Big Sister Says" but it sounded like anything but an art song. Ms. Larsen's particular experience did not generalize into something to which we could relate.

How interesting that neither singer thought of Schumann's Frauenliebe und leben.

That being said, it was good to have two women composers on the program!

(c) meche kroop

ANOTHER HAT FOR MR. REMMERS

William Remmers and Rachel Selan

We could scarcely believe our eyes and ears witnessing Founder/Artistic Director/Conductor/Emcee/Raconteur William Remmers wearing yet another hat. This time we were witnessing his hilarious comic timing as Thomas Brown, the Duke of Islington in disguise, in Sir Arthur Sullivan's 1875 curtain raiser The Zoo.  This charming one-act had disappeared from the operatic scene for nearly a century and lucky for us that it was rediscovered in the 1960's and there for us onstage at Hunter College last night as the second part of Utopia Opera's bill of two one-act operas.

The name is strange since Utopia stands for near perfection and this scrappy and very personal opera company offers everything but perfection.  Their performances are put together on a shoestring, with whatever serves as scenery and costumes contributed by the cast.  But what it doesn't offer in perfection it makes up for in sheer uninhibited fun in a "Let's put on a show" mode.  Who knew opera could be so much fun!  This is a poorly kept secret as masses of people crowded the 4th floor hallway waiting to be admitted to William Remmer's funhouse.

Sullivan wrote this work without W.S. Gilbert but librettist B.C. Stephenson, using the alias of Bolton Rowe, was no slouch.  The lines are brief and punchy and the theme is one of skewering Great Britain's peculiar worship of the aristocracy.

Thomas Brown's love interest runs the refreshment stall at the London Zoo.  Her reputation is somewhat suspect, as we learn in her very funny aria. Rachel Selan was an effective performer, singing of her various experiences with various lovers while hoisted in the air on a chair.  To win her affection, Mr. Brown devours all her refreshments until he passes out.  He finally wins her hand by offering to make her the Duchess of Islington.

There is a second romantic pair, of course.  Soprano Katherine Peck has a lovely voice and gave a fine portrayal of Laetitia Grinder, a lovesick maiden whose recalcitrant father (played by Alan Smulen) refuses to let her marry the apothecary who courts her, (a fine Erik Bagger).  Of course he keeps threatening suicide.  Our nobleman in disguise saves the day with a generous check.

Now who, you may ask, was conducting the fine orchestra whilst Mr. Remmers took to the boards?  None other than Jeremy Weissmann.  And what an orchestra we had, squeezed as usual onto the right third of the stage and spilling over into the aisles. Under Mr. Weissmann's alert conducting, all the humor of Sullivan's score was captured. Francisco Miranda did some amazing things on the keyboard.

The first part of the evening, conducted by Mr. Remmers, was given over to Ravel's delightful L'enfant et les sortiléges, a work dating back to 1925, a setting of a story by Colette.  In this short work a very naughty child, convincingly portrayed by Elsa Quéron, is treated to reprimand and revenge by all the things he has abused--animate and inanimate.  Although it has its humor there is also a beautiful dénouement as the boy learns his lesson and becomes humanized.

The funniest bit was the song and dance of the Teapot and the Teacup, performed respectively by Erik Bagger and Brittany Fowler singing a strange amalgam of French, Japanese and Mandarin. Likewise funny was the feline "romance" between Joshua Miller and Shawn Farrar.  More touching than funny was the Princess from a fairy tale (the lovely Winnie Nieh) who was in trouble because the boy had torn up the pages of the book that showed her Prince rescuing her with a sword. Jason Brook's flute solo made a fine accompaniment to her aria.

But it was not until the garden scene when the boy is confronted with the tree he wounded with his knife that the shift begins. Ultimately he binds the wound of the Squirrel (Sarah Marvel Bleasdale, who also played Maman), learns compassion and is forgiven.  We found this scene touching.

At the Monte Carlo opera, the dancing was choreographed by Balanchine, but we were not deprived of dancing furniture and, even better, dancing frogs, birds and bats. It was impressive the way a simple scarf could become wings and rubber bands could create ears from hair. We have rarely enjoyed ourselves so well at an opera and had an ear-to-ear smile all the way home.  We are still smiling!

Utopia's next production will be Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, expanded to four performances on June 5, 6, 12, and 13.  We are having trouble imagining how that can be done on a tiny stage on a tiny budget but we are getting accustomed to the idea that William Remmer can accomplish anything with his superfluity of imagination and creativity.  Stay tuned!

(c) meche kroop