COMFORT YE!

 Elizabeth Blancke-Biggs, Limmie Pulliam, Michael Recchiuti, Madison Marie McIntosh, Kamal Khan, Lauren Flanigan, John Musto, Amy Burton, and Philip Cokorinos

For a couple of decades or more, star soprano Lauren Flanigan has brought Comfort Ye to opera loving New Yorkers. We are happy to help support Ms. Flanigans's worthy initiative of helping the underserved members of our community with food, clothing, diapers, toys, and other essentials. The recipients of the donated  goods and money may change from year to year but one always knows the donations will go to a good place. In return, audience members get to hear some stunning arias sung by world class singers. One might call this annual event "Lauren and Friends". It is an event we look forward to every December and greatly missed during Covid.

The evening always begins with the selection "Comfort ye...Ev'ry valley" from Händel's Messiah. This year it was sung by the tenoriffic Won Whi Choi whose voice we have been enjoying for several years. It was thrilling to hear his voice open up for "La donna é mobile" from Verdi's Rigoletto. We love versatility and hearing an artist alter the color of his voice to suit the character. Mr. Choi is such a gentle fellow that his creation of the character of the licentious Duke was impressive.

Another favorite singer of ours, rising star mezzo-soprano Madison Marie McIntosh, swept us away with a most romantic performance of "O mio Fernando" from Donizetti's La Favorita. The fioritura was consistently on point and the cabaletta appropriately exciting. We liked the way she made use of the entire playing area and employed generous gestures to create the character of  Leonora.

Ms. Flanigan herself gave a powerhouse performance of "Do not utter a word, Anatol" from Barber's Vanessa. The richness of her voice is matched by the intensity of her characterization; we have never heard her give a performance that was less than riveting.

Chilling is the word that comes to mind when describing soprano Meigui Zhang's creation of the character of Lucia in the Donizetti opera Lucia de Lammermoor. In Act I, the soprano has to reveal the unbalanced nature of Lucia's character in order to account for the bloody act at the end of the opera. Donizetti has given the soprano plenty to work with and Ms. Zhang's facility with fioritura made the most of it. We loved the fact that the vocal line of every verse was differentially embellished. There was no problem understanding that Lucia was hallucinating even if you didn't understand Italian. We were made to see through her eyes!

Speaking of character creation, could one imagine a slimier Don Basilio than the one created by bass Philip Cokorinos? We cannot!  "La calunnia" is a standout character aria in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia and demands a singer who can act.  Mr. Cokorinos milked every single word of the clever lyrics with varying coloration accompanied by facial expression and gesture.

Another artist  that took our breath away was baritone Sidney Outlaw. His artistic toolbox is complete. It wasn't until he sang "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" a capella that we realized (or maybe imagined) that his singing career began with gospel singing. We heard subtle things that one cannot quite hear with accompaniment. Surely those subtleties affected his performance of "Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen" from Korngold's Die Tote Stadt. There was a delicately drawn out "n" at the end of "sehnen"  that emphasized the longing of the character. Then, there was that final spun out "züruck" that went right to the heart. These are the subtleties that elevate a great performance into a sensational one that lingers in the memory.

Also deeply touching was soprano Mikayla Sager's delivery of Desdemona's final prayer from Verdi's Otello. Ms. Sager has a sizable soprano but can color the words to show her character's desperation, also making use of dynamic variation. It was touching and gripping at the same time.

Verdi was so adept at limning female characters and soprano Elizabeth Blancke-Biggs, accompanied by Michael Recchiuti, created a chilling Lady McBeth in "La luce langue". She was so convincing in her nastiness, conniving,  and manipulativeness that we couldn't believe her pleasant demeanor when the performance ended. We actually felt afraid of her!  Now that's another fine example of using technique to create character!

"Doppo notte" from Händel's Ariodante offers plenty of opportunity for fioritura and we enjoyed the performance of Sarah Nelson Craft as the jubilant title character celebrates some good news. There was some cross-over as well; she sang "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" as an art song, with liquid tone, variety from one verse to the next, and delightful personality.

That wasn't the only cross-over on the program.  Accompanied by John Musto, soprano Amy Burton delighted the audience with Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and "Our Love is Here to Stay" by George Gershwin.

There were two artists on the program who were new to us. The very charming mezzo-soprano Sihpokazi Molteno gave a lovely performance of Charlotte's "Va!...laissez couler mes larmes" from Massenet's Werther. This is a rich and potent voice that she colored with grief. The big surprise, however, was an aria from a Zulu opera called Princess Magogo by M. Khumalo. We didn't know that Africa had an operatic tradition so this was a real eye-opener. The language is, of course, quite foreign to our ears and makes use of an unusual sound that Ms. Molteno told me is called a. "q" and which we have been trying to recreate for the past 24 hours without success! Nonetheless, it was lovely.

The other artist new to us is tenor Limmie Pulliam who had just gone on as Radames at the Metropolitan Opera. This artist has a set of pipes and the unmistakeable sound of a great Verdi tenor. We are not going to make comparisons or tell you whose voice came to mind but once heard, it will be remembered. It is a rich and sweet instrument with a very round sound and admirable phrasing. We'd like to see him without the loathed music stand that stood in the way of communicating with the audience but one could admire the voice with eyes closed.

Ms. Flanigan closed the evening with Ned Rorem's "See How They Love Me" and Ricky Ian Gordon's tango inflected  "I Understand You Coyotes", the text of which was delivered as only Ms. Flanigan can do.

Before ending we would like to give a shot to the admirable accompanist who brought everything together, matching each singer color for color. With the exception of Ms. Blanke-Biggs and Ms. Burton he gave splendid support to all the singers.  And he did something else. He called attention to the fact that so many of Verdi's operas deal with life's injustices and addresses the victims of oppression. We love when someone gives us something to chew on! We have always loved Verdi's music but never gave a thought to the stories he chose to tell. Thank you Kamal Khan!

© meche kroop

ALL MAHLER!

Getting to Brooklyn seems easier when we are highly motivated. That one of our favorite performing groups planned an evening of lieder by one of our favorite composers, featuring four of our favorite lieder singers--that was motivation enough!  The Brooklyn Art Song Society could not be happier in their new home than we are. The explosive growth of their audience is testament to the worth of their programming.

Brent Funderburk and Sidney Outlaw

We will never forget the first time we heard Gustav Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.  We were thunderstruck! We have heard it several times since then, always enjoyed it immensely, but never felt the same rapture as we did that night.  But last night, the performance of the work by baritone Sidney Outlaw renewed that feeling of discovery. We are quite sure that the preparation involved was extensive; yet the performance was one of immediacy and seeming spontaneity.

Mr. Outlaw's German is more than crisp. Every word is intelligible, both to the ear and to the heart. That his instrument is a gorgeous one is selbstverstandlich. But the way he uses it is astonishing! He made good use of rubato and dynamic variety, as well as of his wide palette of vocal colors. There was just enough gesture and facial expression to get the mood across to those who speak no German. The gloom and doom of "Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht" gave way to the attempt at cheer in "Ging heut Morgen uber's Feld". The anguish of "Ich hab' ein Gluhend Messer" was fortified by collaborative pianist Brent Funderburk's rippling piano and the dirge-like "Die zwei blauen Augen" was accompanied by a rumbling trill from this superb pianist, whose postlude trailed off with the same artistry as Mr. Outlaw's delicate pianissimo.  What a performance!

Michael Brofman and Hyona Kim

The second piece on the program was Mahler's Kindertotenlieder. If the first piece involved a wide selection of colors, this piece involves many shades of grey. Ruckert's poetry about losing a child would seem to echo Mahler's own losses, since it is told from a father's perspective. It is strange that we can't recall having heard it sung by a female voice before last night, but mezzo-soprano Hyona Kim's dusky instrument seemed just right and the piano of Michael Brofman (Founder and Artistic Director of B.A.S.S.) supported her grief stricken outpouring throughout. 

What we heard amounted to the stages of grief one might endure--although maybe not the same stages as Elizabeth Kubler-Ross delineated.  This parent experiences denial and also an attempt to repair the loss by visualizing his beloved daughter entering the room. There is some irony and some hopefulness of future reuniting. We liked the limping piano which spoke to us of crippling feelings. We felt the obsessive ruminations in the repetition of "In diesem Wetter"--an attempt at what psychologist would call "undoing".

Miori Sugiyama and Christopher Herbert

The final work on the program comprised ten selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn--a completely different kettle of fish. These folksy tales seem to be of two ilks--there are tragic songs on the theme of the high cost of war, mostly given to the serious and scholarly Christopher Dylan Herbert--and amusing tales that delight while tickling the funnybone. Most of these were sung by soprano Kristina Bachrach. Both artists were accompanies by the always excellent Miori Sugiyama.

Miori Sugiyama and Kristina Bachrach

Mr. Herbert excelled in the ironic "Revelge" and the tragic "Tamboursg'sell" in which Ms. Sugiyama produced some fine drum rolls on the piano. We enjoyed the manner in which he elucidated the various voices in "Der Schildwache Nachtlied".  In "Wo die schonen Trompeten blasen" we heard a lovely sweetness in his upper register and his delicate pianissimo seemed to hang in the air.

But we mostly enjoyed the irony of "Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt"--the story about some attentive critters of the sea who listen to St. Anthony's serum but remain unchanged. Hmmmm! We were not alone in enjoying the charm of "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht", perhaps because we rarely have seen Mr. Herbert's lighter side.

Soprano Kristina Bachrach is also gifted with voicing different characters which she did so well in  the tragic "Das irdische Leben" in which she portrayed the starving child and the postponing mother. The waltzy "Rheinlegendchen" always charms us and Ms. Bachrach performed it just right. "Verlorne Muh" reminded us of all the women we know who try too hard. The hilarious tale of a singing competition between a cuckoo and a nightingale "Lob des hohen Verstands", as judged by (of course) an ass, always tickles us and Ms. Bachrach excelled in her portrayal. 

We always have a quibble and here it is. Mr. Herbert and Ms. Bachrach used the loathsome music stand. As fine as their interpretations and acting were, the occasional glancing and page-turning served to interrupt their connection with the audience.  We got the impression that the score was more a "security blanket" than an absolutely necessity. This was not modern music, nor were these songs rarities. If one can learn a song 95%, why not make the extra effort to go the full 100% and give the audience a full measure of your talent?  Something to think about.

(c) meche kroop

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

Sidney Outlaw, Aude Cardona, and Christopher Dylan Herbert (photo by Tony Gale)

We traveled over an hour to the farthest reaches of Brooklyn (Red Hook to be precise) to witness the launch of Floating Opera New York as they presented Debussy's only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande; the opera premiered in 1902 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and has been revived from time to time, but never on a boat, to the best of our knowledge. 

Floating Opera staged the work on a 101-year-old wooden barge, the last remaining one of its kind. The audience was seated on all four sides of the playing area which was demarcated by strings of colored lights. The set by Jian Jung comprised lots of coiled ropes and a dinghy which served as fountain, spring, and nuptial bed.

We heard the original piano score which debuted before the turn of the 20th c. chez Stéphane Mallarmé at a gathering of Symbolist artists, poets and musicians. It would later be orchestrated. George Hemcher beautifully played the diaphanous impressionistic score while Eric Kramer conducted.

The voices were uniformly excellent. As the mysterious heroine Mélisande we heard the French mezzo-soprano Aude Cardona who managed to sing the elusive unhappy woman with a fine rich tone. The compelling baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert shone as the prince Pélleas who is involved in this delicately rendered love triangle with his older half-brother Prince Golaud, so superbly sung by baritone Sidney Outlaw. The role demanded many vocal colors as he went from tenderness to jealous rage; Mr. Outlaw delivered.

As  Genviève, mother to both men, Jazmin DeRice made a substantial impression in her one important scene. As the blind grandfather Arkel, Paul Goodwin-Groen used his booming base effectively and aroused our sympathy. Another base, Brett Vogel portrayed the Doctor and the young soprano Caroline Rose Loeb portrayed Golaud's young son Yniold. Note that most of the important roles involved low voices!

The story is a strange one. Debussy himself adapted the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, an attempt to depart from realism and naturalism. The story is kind of a fairy tale taking place in vaguely Medieval times. The widower Golaud finds Mélisande weeping at a well.  Her crown has fallen into the water but she doesn't want it retrieved.  He comforts her, takes her back to his castle and weds her.

She is not happy. Pelléas, the younger half-brother, shares a rather innocent friendship with her that blossoms into love, which is only confessed when he is leaving. Nothing is really spoken but the sensual nature of the two artists' physical movement tells us a great deal. In one thrilling scene in which Pelléas sings of embracing her very long hair, he enacts that by horizontally "climbing" the stretched out rope. They are playful like children. In another scene they actually climb opposing walls of the barge.

Golaud is suspicious and tries to get his young son to spy on the pair. He has no evidence but flies into a jealous rage when he sees them exchange a farewell kiss. He slays his brother. Mélisande will soon die.

The symbolism of water is everywhere--spring, fountain, cave, tears.  How fitting to perform the work on the water!

There was only one aspect of the production that we found very UN-fitting. It was decided to present the work in English, a decision which we deplore. It is a very French work; Debussy matched the rhythm of the French language to his music. It was a poor fit to the English language which never flows like French.

Furthermore, the women's diction left much to be desired and, had we not been familiar with the story, we would have been pretty much in the dark as to what was happening. Even with our familiarity, many fine points of the story were missed. A better solution might have been to have sung the work in French with audience members being given a summary to read.

Direction by Isabel Milenski was exciting and the space put to excellent use. Christina Lorraine Bullard designed the costumes with Ms. Cardona's costume being designed by Jana Jarosz.  Effective lighting design was by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew.

It was a memorable launch of a new opera ship.  Future productions will be staged in other venues.  Hence the title--Floating Opera New York.

(c) meche kroop

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHEM

Spencer Myer, Leah Wool, Michael Slattery, Caitlin Lynch, Sidney Outlaw

"A Banner Bicentennial" marked the 200th birthday of our national anthem which has been sung and celebrated, revered and bowdlerized, during its entire existence.  Its birth, according to Paul Sperry, was a drinking song in 18th c. England.   Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics 200 years ago to celebrate America's victory in the "Second War of Independence" from Great Britain.  It took a century to be proclaimed as our national anthem and was established as such by a Congressional bill in 1931.  Prior to that time the melody was co-opted by abolitionists and the temperance movement.

But last night at the gloriously historic Federal Hall, this anthem received some mighty royal treatment as five artists gifted the audience with an evening of American song, produced by 5BMF (Five Boroughs Music Festival) and The Casement Fund Song Series.

As if the entertainment were not sufficient, Paul Sperry contributed interesting tidbits of information.  Until the end of the 19th c. there was no separation between popular song and "classical" song.  We could just visualize clusters of happy folk, friends and family gathered around the piano.

Today, popular music is heard on computers and boom boxes and other electronic devices and we sit in concert halls to hear live "art song" recitals with the very best songs originating from Germany, where all the great poets came from--and a set or two of contemporary American "art songs" that we rarely desire to hear again. Sadly, no one sings anymore!

So, it was a great pleasure to hear an evening of American songs culled from all genres with no distinctions made. Of course, the evening began and ended with "The Star Spangled Banner".  (Well, there were two fine folk songs that REALLY began the program but please allow us a bit of literary license.)

Mezzo-soprano Leah Wool sang the 1814 version, complete with an additional stanza that we'd never heard before.  The challenging high notes were so easefully reached that for a moment we thought Ms. Wool was a soprano but, as it turns out, she is a wonderful full-voiced mezzo with a stunning upper register.

The program closed with the quartet of fine singers in thrilling harmony singing an arrangement by Ross W. Duffin.  Versatile pianist Spencer Myer, so excellent in his partnering of the singers, had a chance to shine as a soloist when he played Charles Grobe's "The Stars and Stripes Forever: Brilliant Variations on the Star-Spangled Banner, Op. 490".  This was a mid-19th c. salon piece and required some fleet and fancy fingering.  We had a giggle when strains of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" made their appearance.

Our taste favored the folk songs and spirituals on the program.  Baritone Sidney Outlaw knocked our socks off with an a capella performance of "City Called Heaven". There was such conviction involved that we couldn't help but share the depth of his feelings.  That his baritone is so mellow and caressing just added to the aural pleasure.

Caitlin Lynch's bright and shining soprano did justice to Bernstein's "Simple Song" from his Mass.  In a lighter vein, she charmed us with Cole Porter's "Please Don't Make Me Be Good" from Fifty Million Frenchmen.

Tenor Michael Slattery dazzled us with Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom", accompanying himself on an Indian instrument related to the harmonium.  His fine vibrato and tender tone were perfect for Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer" (made famous in our own time by Marilyn Horne) and in Bernstein's "Maria" from West Side Story.  His high notes seem to float in the air above his head.

Ms. Wool, so perfect throughout her entire range, was just as fine in Cole Porter's "So in Love" from Kiss Me Kate as she was in the more academic material.  Allowing each of the four singers to sing songs that they loved was likely responsible for the intensity of involvement that we experienced.  That is the essence of a fine song recital--it's all about communication.  The more involved the singer is, the more feeling is communicated to the audience; we leave such a recital feeling fulfilled.

As encore we were treated to the quartet of singers harmonizing in Barber's "Sure on This Shining Night" with beautiful lyrics by James Agee.  In spite of the rain that began just as we left Federal Hall, we knew that we had experienced "a shining night".

(c) meche kroop

THIS OUTLAW IS "IN"

Warren Jones

Sidney Outlaw

Baritone Sidney Outlaw and his piano partner Warren Jones gave a most fulfilling recital as part of the Marilyn Horne event "The Song Continues".  Possessed of a superfine baritone instrument, Mr. Outlaw also impresses with his grounded stillness and economy of gesture, something Ms. DiDonato was teaching in yesterday's master class, as reported here at Voce di Meche.  He is in total control of his instrument as exemplified by his dynamics.  There were moments when his pianissimo elicited some breath-holding on our part.  Speaking of breath, Mr. Jones is remarkable by virtue of his profound connection to the singer; he was literally breathing right along with Mr. Outlaw.

The first set, Fünf Lieder, Op. 15, comprises songs on which Richard Strauss cut his compositional teeth.  They afforded Mr. Outlaw an opportunity to show off his fine German and his  deep connection with both poetry and music, whether gentle or impassioned.  And just listen to Mr. Jones go to town in "Aus den Liedern der Trauer"!

The second set comprised six songs by Ralph Vaughn Williams, composed in the first couple years of the 20th c. as House of Life, settings of sonnets by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  We admired Mr. Outlaw's unaffected English diction which made the songs more than usually accessible.  Mr. Jones' piano might have been taken for a harp in "Love's Minstrels" and was exquisitely delicate in "Love-Sight".

The final set gave us three delightful songs by George Gershwin.  Mr. Outlaw's jacket was abandoned and he allowed the jazzy nature of the works to get under his skin and down into his toes as he relaxed and moved around the stage.  His performance of "Just Another Rhumba" was one of those unforgettable moments.

What a satisfying recital this was!  In the immortal words of Ira Gershwin, "Who could ask for anything more?".  But the audience did ask and Mr. Outlaw complied with some stirring gospel music sung largely a capella--"Fix Me Jesus".  This brought the audience to their collective feet. 

(c) meche kroop

OUR FIRST TIME

It was our first time hearing Poulenc's "La Dame de Monte Carlo", a 1961 setting of a work by Jean Cocteau.  To hear it sung at all would have been a treat, but to hear this scena as performed by Adrienne Danrich was a revelation.  Ms. Danrich dressed for the part of a down-on-her-luck potential suicide who is keeping herself going by gambling at Monte Carlo; she threw herself completely into the part with her grandly expansive soprano and conveyed every nuance in the piece.  A triumph!She did equal justice to four Rachmaninoff songs, our favorite of which was "Child, You are Fair as a Flower".  Her a cappella encore "Lord, I just can't keep from crying" was incredibly moving.

Baritone Sidney Outlaw sang four songs by Brahms that gave a lie to the oft-repeated claim that Brahms' songs don't measure up to those by Schubert and Schumann.  One can especially appreciate the way the vocal line and the piano reflect one another.  There is nothing lightweight about "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer", another heartbreaker.  Switching to French, Mr. Outlaw sang the tender "Phidylé" and followed it with the intensity of "Le manoir de Rosemonde".  The songs of Henri DuParc are all little gems!  Mr. Outlaw's a cappella encore  "Fix Me Jesus" allowed him to really let loose and pour his feelings into song; this brought down the house.  A duet of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" was finely harmonized.

Mr. Bagwell's accompaniment is always exceptional.  Not only is he a genius at putting together a program and finding the right singers but his playing is always totally supportive of the singer.  The piano part of this afternoon's recital involved breezes, waves, warm fragrances and a galloping horse--all of which came through perfectly.  But it is in contemporary music that one listens more intently to the piano part (because the vocal lines are rarely lyrical) and Mr. Bagwell's playing did ample justice to the contemporary works on the program.  Drew Hemenger's setting of Langston Hughes' "Genius Child" seemed the most interesting of the set.

As the final concert of The Lotte Lehmann Foundation Recitals drew to a close, we found ourselves anticipating more to come for the next season.  In the meanwhile, we hereby notify you to save next December 1st for a recital in commemoration of World Aids Day in the Great Hall of Cooper Union.

(c) meche kroop