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 Francesco Barfoed and Megan Moore

Marvelous Mezzo Megan Moore! What a pleasure it gives us to watch the development of young singers as their fame grows along with their vocal artistry. Thanks to the search bar on our blog, we are able to look back at what we wrote in prior years and, truth be told, to congratulate ourself on appreciating their gifts at an early stage of an artist's career.

It seems as if the first time we wrote about Ms. Moore was in 2018 at The Marcella Sembrich Competition when she impressed us with a song by Moniuszko, introducing us to a composer we have come to love, in spite of not understanding Polish.

Just before the career interruptions brought on by the Covid isolation, we wrote this about her performance at a Juilliard concert...What affected us the most was "Was I not a blade of grass in the field", another strophic song with some stunning melismatic passages and a powerful climax. We have heard Ms. Moore in recital and competitions-- singing an appealing Cenerentola and a resolute Dorabella as well as the Komponist--always admiring her lyricism and dramatic skills. But last night she made us weep in her deeply committed rendering of a young woman's hopeless situation.

(Forgive us, Dear Reader, for quoting ourself but we think it's important to acknowlege a young singer's development and how they grow as they tackle different roles, different periods, and different languages.) 

Entering competitions is just one part of this process. Recognition by Young Concert Artists is another feather in Ms. Moore's cap. Singing with New York Festival of Song is yet another. This year will see her playing major roles in opera companies all over the world.

That's enough about Ms. Moore's prior and future successes; we would like to tell you about her most recent recital yesterday at The Morgan Library, appearing as a first prize winner of the George and Nora London Foundation 2022 Competition. Her brilliant collaborative pianist is the equally talented Francesco Barfoed who often accompanies her. His pianism impresses us as much as her vocalism. They form a perfect partnership.

The program opened with a wide leap into the 17th century lament of Barbara Strozzi,one of our favorite composers of the Baroque period. The anonymous poet sings of her (let us assume it is a woman) luxuriating in the anguish of a lost love affair in "L'Eraclito amoroso". Of course the Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus was a man, but Ms. Moore made the lament her own and mined the text for depth and complexity of emotional tone.

With a rapid shift of mood and period, the artist sailed into Rossini's exciting song cycle La Regata Veneziana. Since it was her choice to render the Baroque piece with full vocal color (as is our preference, as opposed to the dry sound one hears often at Baroque recitals) it became obvious that the decoration of the vocal line in the 19th century owes a debt to the 17th. Wherever it comes from, we adore fioritura. Even more important than the vocal artistry was the emotional intensity; it was so intense that we wanted to leap from our seat to cheer for her Momolo. The picture she painted of the gondola race became vivid before our eyes and this can only come from her own ability to visualize it and to bring us into her world.

We do not understand Russian so, minus projected titles (more about that later), we found our attention focusing more on Mr. Barfoed's colorful exposition of Prokofiev's Five Poems of Anna Akhmatova, op.27.  What moods the piano created!  Here were racing figures of excitement, there were solemn pleas for tenderness, and melancholy as well. One could hear the colors as well in Ms. Moore's voice, even when not understanding the words.

A pair of Rachmaninoff songs were more familiar to us and we noted some beautiful sounds in Ms. Moore's upper register, whereas the somber Prokofiev songs seemed to feature her sturdy lower register.

And now we come to what was, for us, the best part of the program. We never tire of Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. What we love is that the singer and pianist both get to show a wide range of emotions. The singer is filled with sorrow and tries to cheer up by mean of nature, then realizes a violent type of pain, and ultimately a return to grief and an awareness of the extent of the loss. Both artists produced an entire palette of colors.

The program ended with a commissioned work that requires explanation. We can never think of the late Nora London without a wave of positive feelings. She always struck us as a most gracious lady of the "old school", going out of her way to thank us for our writing about the vocal competition and recitals. She served as a model for us; we aim to be as mobile and gracious and generous as she was.

So, the discovery of her teenage diaries from a period when she was fleeing the Nazis, traveling from France to Portugal and then to New York, filled us with anticipation. Her family wavered over the decision; should they even read them, share them, or keep them private. Jake Heggie was commissioned to set them to music and Gene Scheer was assigned the task of adapting the diary entries.

Now we realize that Mr. Heggie is honored as a major 21st century composer and that Ms. Moore is very fond of his works. We wanted very much to love this tribute to our dear Nora London. Well, we cannot say that in all truth. What we can say is that Mr. Heggie wrote some stunning music for piano that we would be happy to hear again. However, we would have preferred to hear a narrator reading the actual words of the teenage Nora over the music. The vocal line just was not interesting and that is a problem we have with most contemporary music. There, we said it and we won't retract.  There were many in the audience who did appreciate the work and we are glad of it.

Not having read the diary ourself, we have no idea whether the musings of an unfortunately dislocated 15 year old. would be worth reading. If they revealed something about the grand lady that this child would become, they would have more value to us. Still, it is a tribute and we are grateful for any honor bestowed upon people we admire.

And now it is time for "the quibble" The auditorium at the Morgan Library really needs to be outfitted with titles.  We looked around the space and observed nearly every member of the audience reading the libretto instead of allowing the artist to connect with them. We think that is sad. If it is impossible to have projected titles, it is a better plan to have the artist give a brief synopsis of the song before it is sung. We are not limiting these alternatives to works in foreign languages. Even works in English become difficult to understand unless it is a low voice with impeccable enunciation.

© meche kroop

GEORGE LONDON RECITAL

Spencer Myer, Steven LaBrie, and Erin Wall

Sunday was the first recital of the season for the George London Foundation with the lovely Nora London present as usual. One of the greatest aspects of the George London Foundation is that if one returns year after year (preferably as a subscriber) one gets to observe the artistic growth of the competition winners when they are invited back to give a recital.

This season got off to a splendid start with baritone Steven LaBrie joining soprano Erin Wall for a program so satisfying that we don't know where to start.

So, let's start at the end because we do so love a good duet. As seen in the above photo, this talented duo delighted the audience with "Lippen schweigen" from Franz Lehar's Die lustige Witwe, also known as The Merry Widow. There was quite nice chemistry in evidence in this wonderful waltz. We were wishing the pair would soon perform the entire operetta.

Mr. LaBrie's voice has been expanding, deepening and darkening since we first heard him several years ago.  It was just right for "Prince Yeletsky's Aria" from Tchaikovsky's Pique Dame, otherwise known as Queen of Spades. This is an aria that we like better with every hearing and we cannot recall hearing it better sung. The messa di voce at the end was gorgeous.

Mexican songs are very high on our list of delights and Mr. LaBrie treated us to an entire set of them. Although we are equally fond of zarzuela, what we love about Mexican song is the sound of New World Spanish, as opposed to the sibilant sounds of Castilian Spanish. 

In "Dime que si" by Alfonso Esparza Oteo, Spencer Myer's piano provided the rhythmic thrust. Agustín Lara's "Humo en los ojos" was our personal favorite both for its sentiment and its melodic line. Maria Greever's much recorded "Júrame" had a lovely rhyme scheme for the singer and some potent rhythm in the piano.

Mr. LaBrie also sang a collection of songs by Claude Debussy La mer est plus belle--Ballades de François Villon. One could discern a foreshadowing of Ravel's Don Quichotte à Dulcinée. The first song was filled with passion and bitterness, the second with religious devotion, and the third with humor and wit. Mr. LaBrie captured the various moods successfully.

Erin Wall is a polished performer with plenty of presence onstage. She has a wonderful instrument with a bright bloom in the upper register that is exactly right for the songs of Richard Strauss. We could not say that we liked his Gesänge des Orients as well as some of his more frequently performed songs but they received a marvelous delivery from Ms. Wall. Actually, we could not discern what these songs had to do with Asia. There must be a story there!

Our preference was for the extravagant sentiment in "Schwung", an encomium to Bacchus; we also enjoyed the tender "Liebesgeschenke".

Ms. Wall also brought Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Drei Lieder to life. "Was Du mir bist" had a romantic flavor.  "Mit Dir zu schweigen" was made meaningful by her expressive dynamics.  But our favorite was "Welt ist stille eingeschlafen" which showed off the artist's expansive upper register and offered a delicate decrescendo at the conclusion.

"No Word from Tom" from Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress was marked by superlative diction.  Rarely do we understand every word sung in the upper register but here we did.  Poor Ann Trulove is steadfast (as her name implies) in her love for Tom Rakewell and here defies her father. It was intense!

It was an altogether satisfying program encompassing both the familiar and the unusual. 

(c) meche kroop

OPERA STARS IN RECITAL

Joseph Kaiser, Myra Huang, Susanna Phillips

We jump at any chance to hear major opera stars up close and personal in a recital format.  Sometimes they fall a bit short without the drama, the scenery and the costumes.  No such disappointment existed at the Morgan Library Sunday afternoon when Metropolitan Opera stars Susanna Phillips and Joseph Kaiser shared the recital stage with collaborative pianist Myra Huang and violinist Michelle Ross.  This was the last recital of the season presented by the George London Foundation for Singers.

We reviewed Ms. Phillips solo recital at Carnegie Hall last February which completely blew us away  (see "From Snow to Glow") but had never heard Mr. Kaiser in recital.  This afternoon's  program was entirely in French.  We delighted in hearing some familiar favorites, especially Ms. Phillips' performance of Mozart's "Dans un bois solitaire et sombre" and Martini's "Plaisir d'amour".  But it was her performance of "Certain coucou" by André Grétry that completely charmed us.  Those who love Mahler will recognize the tale of the voice competition in which the nightingale is overlooked by the donkey judge in favor of the owl and the cuckoo.  We couldn't help opining about the current taste in music which makes us think that many audiences are composed of...donkeys! 

Tenor Joseph Kaiser was a pleasure to hear as well, particularly in Henri Duparc's "Phydilé" in which he showed exquisite dynamic control which was matched by the super-sensitive collaborative pianist Myra Huang who always seems to breathe along with the singer.  Mr. Kaiser also introduced us to a song that was new to us but will surely become one of our favorites--"Si vous croyez que je vais dire" from André Messager's Fortunio.  We are known to be suckers for melody and what a gorgeous melody did we hear.

Still, it was two opera singers we were enjoying and must say that our favorite part of the afternoon was towards the end when we heard two selections from Gounod's  Roméo et Juliette.  Ms. Phillips' thrillingly bright soprano made "Je veux vivre" totally scintillating.  What followed was a duet with Mr. Kaiser, the scene in which the enamored couple must part since Romeo has been exiled.  It was incredibly moving and no sets or costumes were needed for us to believe the tragedy of premature separation.

Included in the program was the Meditation from Massenet's Thaïs which gave us the opportunity to hear Ms. Huang accompanying violinist Michelle Ross.  It was outstanding--sweetly seductive and passionate.

© meche kroop

MS. GENAUX KNOWS IT AND SHOWS IT

Vivica Genaux

Too long missing from the New York vocal scene while establishing herself as a major presence in Europe, glamorous mezzo Vivica Genaux graced the stage of the Morgan Library Sunday in the first of the season's George London Foundation recitals.  Long a fan of Ms. Genaux, we were delighted by the unique quality of her voice, her connection with the songs she selected, her stage poise and her manner of involvement with the audience.  She knows how to do it flawlessly and shows her stuff without any diva attitude.

Ms. Genaux has a liquid sound and a rich vibrato.  The flexibility and precision she demonstrated with the fioritura was like a lesson to those of us who sing.  Accompanied by the esteemed Craig Rutenberg, she delighted us with three Spanish songs by Rossini that are not often heard but which allowed her to demonstrate her subtle command of dynamics.

Three more songs by Pauline Viardot continued in the Spanish mood but included one in French, "Berceuse cosaque" in which Ms. Genaux demonstrated equal facility with the French style and  Mr. Rutenberg's pianism hauntingly evinced a Russian flavor.  These songs were almost unbearably sad.  It seemed just about right that her final Spanish selection, the lively "Zapateado" by Geronimo Gimenez from La Tempranica was a rapid patter song about being bitten by a tarantula and thus forced to dance.

Daniel Okulitch

Joining Ms. Genaux for the recital was bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch whose voice lent itself very well to his selections in Russian.  Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov's "The Virgin in the City" was lovely although at times Mr. Rutenberg's piano overwhelmed his voice.  The lulling rhythms and tender ending were quite moving.    Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Cavatina of Aleko" was particularly well done and infused with Russian anguish which gave way to a tender messa di voce and back again to passion.

Mr. Okulitch seems to have a large investment in 20th c. songs in English, a taste which we do not share.  A W.B. Yeats poem "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" expresses a lovely sentiment; it rhymes but does not scan and none of the three composers who set it provided any kind of vocal line to please our ear.  Richard B. Evans' setting provided some lovely music for the piano; Thomas F. Dunhill's setting from an earlier period was more sentimental; Glen Roven's setting was filled with anxiety and dissonance.  Just not our taste.

Lowell Liebermann's "Good night" showed some fine legato singing but it was written with insufficient variety in the vocal line.  We are just not enchanted with our native tongue, especially with the semi-British pronunciation of the soft "a".  Ivor Gurney's "Sleep" permitted Mr. Okulitch to demonstrate his fine control of dynamics.

But it was in the closing number that we truly enjoyed Mr. O. when he and Ms. G. sang the well-known and well-loved duet from Mozart's Don Giovanni "La ci darem la mano".  The two singers were so relaxed and so connected with one another and having such a good time that the audience collectively grinned from ear to ear.  Mr. O. was properly lascivious and Ms. G. was adorably ambivalent.  The two voices in harmony provided all the delight to the ear for which one would wish.

The two artists chose a real winner for their encore--Irving Berlin's "I hear singing".  A little scene was invented in which Ms. G. enacted a psychiatric patient and Mr. O. portrayed her psychiatrist.  This is the type of music in which English is used to good advantage and left the audience humming on the way out.

(c) meche kroop