AND STILL MORE RUSSIAN

Jinhee Park and Rebecca Farley

Last night's liederabend at Juilliard impressed us on two counts. Firstly, we got to increase our rather newly established appreciation of Russian song. Secondly, we got to hear some singing in English that was comprehensible, a feature that is rarely the case. For the Russian we have Natalia Katyukova to thank since she coached last night's students in the Vocal Arts Department. We were pleased that each singer and collaborative pianist introduced her/himself and told something about the works they were going to sing.

Baritone Dimitri Katotakis opened the program with a quartet of songs by the 20th c. composer Georgy Sviridov--two from the early stage of his composing career and two from the late stage. Fortunately, there are places in the world where serialism and 12-tone experimentation were ignored! If we did not grasp all the themes of the poetry outlined by Mr. Katotakis, we did observe that he thought about what he was singing and filled the songs with meaning. 

Much of the text involved bells--all kinds of bells from sleigh bells to those in the belfry--and collaborative pianist Adam Rothenberg made each one clarion clear. Our favorite song was the spirited "Winter's Road" in which Pushkin's text describes an eager lover on his way across a snowy landscape to join his sweetheart. The artists created an aural picture.

Mezzo-soprano Nicole Thomas, accompanied by pianist Dror Baitel, sang a pair of songs by Nikolai Medtner and a pair by Sergei Rachmaninov--all of them about flowers.  She described the drama of Medtner's approach as contrasted with Rachmaninov's more delicate approach to the fragility of flowers. 

Goethe's text for "Das Veilchen" had been so exquisitely set by Mozart over a century earlier and, in our opinion, could not be improved upon.  In Medtner's hands the charming tale became a bit heavy-handed for our taste. But we enjoyed Ms. Thomas' singing and Mr. Baitel's lavish piano accompaniment.

Russia has always had a thing for the French, so it was not too surprising that Aleksandrt Grechaninov, a student of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, set selections from Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal.  Once again we heard yet another setting of "L'invitation au voyage" but remain attached to the Henri Duparc setting, although there is nothing shabby about the lesser-known setting by Emmanuel Chabrier. Accompanied by Sora Jung, tenor Chance Jonas-O'Toole performed this and two others in a pleasantly sweet tenor. We think there is room for improvement in his French.

Baritone Dominik Belavy, whose second language is English, impressed us with the clarity of his diction in Charles Ives' "Tom Sails Away". We have heard him before and love the mellow sound of his voice; last night we found something new to appreciate. To tell a story one needs to make every word clear, and he did. 

Although his German is equally fine as was his delivery of Ives' setting of "Ich grolle nicht", this is another case where an earlier setting was infinitely superior.  Robert Schumann set Heinrich Heine's text in his cycle Dichterliebe with many compositional devices to highlight the irony. The placement of accents and chromaticism are just perfect.  The Ives did not achieve anything close.

Although we did not understand Mr. Belavy's choice to pair Ives' songs with those of the 20th c. composer Pavel Haas, we surely did enjoy them. Haas was a Jewish Czech composer who set Chinese poetry whilst confined in the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt, after which he was transferred to Auschwitz and gassed. In spite of the tragedy of his curtailed life, he left behind a fair amount of music.

Notably, Mr. Belavy translated the Czech (which had been translated from Wang Wei's original text by Bohumil Matthesius). If something was lost in this double translation, we know not but we do know that we appreciated Mr. Belavy's singing in Czech, especially after hearing Jamie Barton discussing the difficulties of this enterprise! Mr. Haas had a unique compositional style which pianist Rosa Li interpreted beautifully.

The program ended with soprano Rebecca Farley singing Samuel Barber's "Knoxville Summer of 1915". The text was extracted from a so-called "prose poem" by James Agee that later became the prologue to his book A Death in the Family. It was beautifully and expressively sung but has never resonated with us. We cannot think of many instances in which we have enjoyed prose set to music. It seemed to us that the text was tortured into place reminding us of a tailor trying to make a garment fit a body with lots of bulges.

Nonetheless, the piece is often heard in vocal recitals and many people love it for its nostalgia. We are looking forward to hearing Ms. Farley's solo recital on Feb 16th to see how she sounds in a variety of material.  Her collaborative pianist Jinhee Park had a chance to shine in the instrumental interlude and did a fine job creating the sounds of the streetcar--the iron whining, the bell ringing, and the spark crackling were all heard. Good job!

(c) meche kroop

THE WOLF AT JUILLIARD'S DOOR

Jake Alan Nelson, Dror Baitel, Michal Biel, Katelan Terrell, Sora Jung, Adam Rothenberg, Sophia Kaminski, Kara Sainz, and Liv Redpath

The beautiful program of Wolf songs at Thursday's Liederabend at Juilliard required no lengthy academic introduction. Some folks get a lot out of context, but we prefer to let the music speak for itself. Hugo Wolf's songs are somewhat less accessible than those composed by Schubert but become more interesting with every hearing

The songs on the program were all settings of poetry by Eduard Mörike.  The five singers who performed them were topnotch, as were the five collaborative pianists. We were very impressed by baritone Jake Alan Nelson who is a natural born storyteller. There is a lot of breadth and resonance in his instrument but it is the personality and connection with the audience that got our attention.

In the opening lied, "Fussreise",  he took us for a walk in the countryside with a lot of enthusiasm.  In the quiet "Um Mitternacht" he colored his voice completely differently. He invested "Zur Warnung" with a full measure of bibulous humor. But his performance of "Der Feuerreiter" held us spellbound with its macabre horror. His Collaborative Pianist Dror Baitel followed each mood and color to perfection.

Tenor Seiyoung Kim (who missed the photo op) has a sweet instrument; his voice fell softly on the ear. He exhibited a lot of warmth in "Jägerlied" and "Heimweh" but we liked him best in the charmingly frisky "Der Gärtner".  Sora Jung was his fine CP.

Soprano Sophia Kaminski employs excellent phrasing and we enjoyed her best in "Der Knabe und das Immlein". We attribute this to the fact that she translated the song herself. There was no mistaking the enhanced connection with that particular text. Her excellent CP was Michal Biel.

Soprano Liv Redpath made a fine showing with the excited "Er ist's" but was even finer in "Das verlassene Mägdlein", a mini drama that always breaks our heart. She caught all the humor and double entendre of "Erstes Liebeslied eines Mädchens". In "An eine Äolsharfe", collaborative pianist Adam Rothenberg magically recreated the sound of a lute on his piano.

Mezzo-soprano Kara Sainz has a distinctive sound that she can open up like a capacious golf umbrella. We loved "An die Geliebte" and in "Nimmersatte Liebe" she sang as if she herself had written the text.  Katelan Terrell was her excellent CP.

As usual, we walked out on air, overjoyed to have heard such fine music-making. The evening was coached by Cameron Stowe.

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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'!

(c) meche kroop