JEFFERSON IN LOVE

Melissa Errico & Campbell Scott

Jessica Gould & Tony Boutté

Photos by Stephen de las Heras






How thrilling it was to occupy the same space occupied by our third president Thomas Jefferson--to hear the story of his lengthy epistolary romance with Maria Cosway, to hear music she wrote for him, to learn about the private life of this great man of The Enlightenment.  In a site-specific work taking place in a room at Fraunces Tavern in Lower Manhattan, Salon Sanctuary Concerts presented "More Between Heaven and Earth", an interdisciplinary performance conceived and curated by Jessica Gould, with script and direction by Erica Gould.  The authentic costumes and wigs were by Deborah Wright Houston.

The time straddled the turn of the 19th c.  and the events took place in Paris and London.  Jefferson and Cosway, a multiply gifted married woman, met in 1786 in Paris and carried on a correspondence for the next four decades, with a brief reunion and a lengthy break.  There was clearly a meeting of the minds, a sharing of souls, and perhaps some heartbreak involved. The script did not make clear whether the romance was consummated physically but that matters little.  Her marriage and his duties to the newly born United States of America were insurmountable obstacles.  There is no love like forbidden love!

Actress Judith Hawking narrated the story with a wink and a twinkle in her eye.  Beautiful Melissa Errico gave an excellent portrayal of Maria Cosway and was quite moving in her performance of songs that this amateur musician composed.  We have never seen them in books of baroque or classical songs but would wish to learn them; they are quite excellent in their directness and simplicity, especially "Ogni dolce aura".  The great man himself was brought to sympathetic life by actor Campbell Scott.

Vocal honors were shared by Jessica Gould herself who lent her powerful soprano to the aria "Cesse cruel amour"  (from Sacchini's opera Dardanus which Jefferson and Cosway had seen together) and tenor Tony Boutté  who sang "Jours heureux" from the same opera.  More excerpts were to follow with much appreciative applause from the audience who sat along the perimeter of the historical room.

Music was provided by members of The Sebastians; leader and harpsichordist Jeffrey Grossman accompanied the singers and also played a lovely solo by Jacques Duphly entitled La Medée; violinist Daniel Lee joined him for the Adagio from Archangelo Corelli's Sonata in G minor.

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415 FRIENDLY

Hyesang Park, Monica Huggett

We came to Alice Tully Hall last night to hear the lovely Hyesang Park sing Mozart's 1787 concert aria "Bella mia fiamma...Resta, o cara" K.528; the lovely soprano, resplendent in a gold sequined gown, used her fine voice and intense dramatic skills to illuminate Michele Scarcone's text in which the mortal Titano, who has fallen in love with the goddess Proserpina, must be sacrificed so that she can wed Pluto.  This has been arranged by Proserpina's mother Ceres;  just lookin' out for her daughter's future!  Ms. Park managed to invest each repetition of the phrase "Quest'affanno, questo passo è terribile per me" with a new variation of anguish.  This fine artist is a graduate student at the Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts and we will look forward to hearing her again soon.

But one aria does not a concert make so let us touch briefly on the rest of the program hoping our readers will forgive any and all ignorance of early music.  Juilliard 415 was founded four years ago and is Juilliard's principal period-instrument ensemble.  We enjoyed hearing them recently at the Radamisto but know less about these interesting instruments than we do about the voice.  We were particularly interested in the winds; it appears that the horns and trumpets have no keys.  We hope to learn how the sounds are made, wondering if they are more difficult to play. The orchestra sounds quite different from an orchestra of modern instruments and the balance among the sections is different.

The accepted pitch of the "A" is 415, hence the name of the ensemble.  Hearing Mozart's Overture to Le Nozze di Figaro was like hearing it for the first time.  Was this how Mozart heard it?  In Beethoven's 1800 Symphony No. l in C major, Op. 21 we heard echoes of Mozart and Hayden that we hadn't heard before.  Beethoven was feeling his way in the symphonic genre and trying out some new things--standing on the shoulders of giants made him VERY tall.  We especially enjoyed the second movement with its repetition of a particularly lovely melody that reminded us of a folk song as it bounced around from one section of the orchestra to another.

Johannes Matthias Sperger's Concerto for Double Bass in C minor was performed by Pippa Macmillan.  We had always thought of the bass as a section that anchored the orchestra with its low rumble but had never considered it as a solo instrument.  Herr Sperger was a distinguished bass player as well as a composer and clearly he wrote this concerto to showcase his instrument.  The program notes told us that open Viennese tuning was used, meaning that the instrument was tuned in C.  Much of the passagework took place on the upper strings and often quite close to the bridge.  What would have been called fleet fingering on a violin might be called fleet "arming" since the notes seemed to be rather far apart; Ms. Macmillan's agility was impressive.  The ensemble is conducted with great skill and energy by the highly esteemed Monica Huggett of the Juilliard Historical Performance faculty; she serves also as first violin.

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DONT MISS THIS DON

Carlos Monzon, Madison Marie McIntosh, Elias Notas, Alexandra LoBianco, Zhanna Alkhazova, William Browning, Kian Freitas, Benjamin Robinson

The Martha Cardona Theater was established four years ago by Daniel Cardona with a mission of producing opera for the people at affordable prices and providing opportunities for young singers.  We just now discovered them when we were invited to review their concert version of Mozart's Don Giovanni; in view of the excellence of this production we now consider ourselves a fan.  The eight singers were excellently chosen, as was the conductor Tyson Deaton and the accompanist Tristan Cano who capably dealt with the many different styles of music Mozart saw fit to  lavish upon this tale of a rogue who meets his end at the hands of the ghost of a man he killed in a duel--the Commendatore who was defending his daughter Donna Anna.  The libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte invests this tragic tale with a great deal of comedy, none of which was overlooked by the agile cast of singers.

Mozart's portentous opening chords are followed immediately by the humorous remarks of the Don's much-abused servant Leporello.  Baritone Carlos Monzon missed none of the wry humor and sang with an admirable depth and breadth of tone.  The Don then enters the scene, full of himself, with Donna Anna in hot pursuit; she is determined to learn the identity of her would-be attacker.  A glorious trio in perfect balance establishes the relationship of the characters.  Baritone William Browning made a fine Don both vocally and dramatically.  Soprano Alexandra LoBianco has a large and pleasing sound and created a sympathetic character; who could not feel for her grief at losing her father!  Her stalwart and loyal fiancé Don Ottavio (tenor Benjamin Robinson) is there to console her with his sweet voice.  The tenor has two fine arias--"Dalla sua pace" and the difficult "Il mio tesoro" in which he demonstrated fine breath control.  Donna Anna was remarkable in "Non mi dir".

Enter Donna Elvira, a role which requires a large sound; soprano Zhanna Alkhazova fulfilled the requirements of the role to perfection.  She has been seduced and abandoned by the Don and pursues him throughout the opera.  Her "Mi tradito" was superb as she did a fine job of limning the ambivalence Donna Elvira has toward her love object.  A high point of the opera is Leporello's delivery of the so-called Catalogue Aria in which he disabuses Donna E. of her romantic notions.  The Don has seduced thousands of women!  Interestingly, during the course of this opera he never succeeds; but oh, how he tries!

His next attempted conquest is that of the naive peasant girl Zerlina on the day of her marriage to Masetto.  Soprano Madison Marie McIntosh has the adorable appearance and bright young sound needed for this role and bass-baritone Kian Freitas was excellent as the ironic and suspicious Masetto.  Zerlina has two charming arias in which she succeeds in manipulating Masetto out of his moods--"Batti, batti" and "Vedrai carino".  The famous duet with the Don "La ci darem la mano" was well handled.  Bass Elias Notus had a commanding presence as Il Commendatore.

The diction was exemplary; at certain points the sur-titles went missing but not a word was lost.

There will be one more opportunity to experience this superb cast who will be performing the opera at Symphony Space on Thursday, December 12th.  Consider this event to be highly recommended.

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A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE

Leonarda Priore, Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg, Lynne Hayden-Findlay

Leonarda Priore, co-founder of Chelsea Opera, has honored the memory of her brother Nicholas, an attorney and a singer who died prematurely, with evenings of song and also by establishing a fund called New Possibilities.  Young musical prodigy Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg is the first recipient.  The two singers joined hands in both the physical realm and the spiritual realm in last night's concert.

Most affecting and most in tune with the memorial was Ms. Priore's performance of Ottorino Respighi's "Il Tramonto".  The text by Percy Bysshe Shelley involves a man dying too young and seemed heartbreakingly relevant.  Accompanying Ms. Priore was the Chelsea Opera String Quartet, comprising Marc Uys and Bruno Peña on violin, Jen Herman on viola and Troy Chang on cello.  It isn't often that one hears a work for string quartet and mezzo so this was a special treat.  The quartet was well-balanced throughout and also did a lovely job with Ennio Morriccone's love theme from Cinema Paradiso.

The remainder of the evening transpired in varying styles--a lovely folk song adapted by Carl Stommen that was moving in its simplicity; the "Pie Jesu" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem in which Mr. Wenzelberg's treble blended beautifully with Ms. Priore's mezzo; Mr. Wenzelberg's exuberant solo of "Rejoice Greatly" from Handel's Messiah, in which he dazzled the audience with his pinpoint fioritura; a jazz-inflected "Bending Towards the Light" from A Jazz Nativity by Bob Kindred with lyrics by Anne Phillips and Henry Timm; and several selections from the world of Broadway and cabaret.

Ms. Priore has a broad background and handled the diverse styles without compromising any of the material.  Jule Styne's "Winter Was Warm" suited her voice particularly well.  The two singers blended beautifully in the duet "See the Light" by Alan Menken.  There were some fine selections by Stephen Schwartz, David Friedman and Irving Berlin.  When we saw Wicked on Broadway it was so heavily amplified that we couldn't understand the lyrics.  Last night we were able to hear and understand and appreciate them.

The evening closed with a surprise guest; Lynn Hayden-Findlay, co-founder of Chelsea Opera, emerged from her "retirement" to sing Jerry Herman's "Bosom Buddies" from Mame.  It was absolutely delicious!  Bill Doherty did a magnificent job accompanying throughout the evening.

The Chelsea Opera has been encouraging and supporting Mr. Wenzelberg for about four years now and is currently, through the Nicholas S. Priore New Possibilities Fund, helping to launch Mr. W.'s opera The Sleeping Beauty.  We were there for the piano/vocal reading and will be there on January 17th for the young composer's orchestral reading.  And you should be there as well!

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CUBA LIBRE

Ricardo Herrera, Corinne Winters, Jeffrey Picon, Leonardo Granados, Steven Blier, Michael Barrett

Just like the popular drink, last night's NYFOS recital "Cubans in Paris, Cubans at Home" was suffused with sweetness and strong spirits, with a touch of tartness.  It was a tasty draft and an intoxicating one.

When Artistic Director Steven Blier puts a program together you can count on an entertaining evening that is also instructive.  If you only listened to the music you could leave happy, but if you paid attention to Mr. Blier's charming narration you would have learned more about the culture and history that produced the music than you ever dreamed of, and you would have learned it painlessly.  And if you read the program notes you will know more than most people.

We had only been aware of the 1959 revolution that overthrew the corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista and installed Fidel Castro; but before Batista, Cuba was in the hands of the repressive Gerardo Machado and many of Cuba's musicians, composers and performers alike, fled the violent Machadistas and a Cuba impoverished by the hemispheric economic collapse.  Paris welcomed them with open arms.

Last night's program began with a popular song of 1853 by José White entitled "La Bella Cubana", the theme of which reminded us of "The Girl from Ipanema".  Tenor Jeffrey Picón and baritone Ricardo Herrera  sang this duet to soprano Corinne Winters, praising her beauty.  The gorgeous melody was definitely inspired by the bel canto period, which may explain its being our favorite song of the evening. This may be the only song that Mr. White wrote; he was a child prodigy and a violinist who studied at the Paris Conservatoire.

The rest of the evening's program focused on the first half of the 20th c.  Racial tensions ran high in Cuba and music was one way to bridge the gap between the Caucasians and the Afro-Cubanos who were descended from slaves.  Accompanied by the percussion of Leonardo Granados, Ms. Winters sang Eliso Grenet's "Lamento esclavo", a rather gentle protest song of a slave of the Lucumi tribe; Mr. Picón sang a lament of a Karabali man "Canto Karabali" by the well-known Ernesto Lecuona, accompanied by both Mr. Blier and Associate Artistic Director Michael Barrett.  Both performances were moving.

The two men sang a funny duet by Alejandro Garcia Caturla which dealt with the pain of a man trying to meet American girls and striking out because he'd never learned to speak English.

Zarzuela has always been a major delight to us and we fondly recall an evening spent with Opera Hispanica, listening to a panel of experts discussing its origins.  It's been a very long time since we had the pleasure of hearing and seeing a complete zarzuela; hearing excerpts of a few last night gave us great pleasure.  Cuban zarzuelas were a means of dealing with the social and racial tensions of the 30's.  We loved Mr. Herrera's heartfelt performance of "Mi vida es cantar" from La Virgen Morena and Ms. Winters and Mr. Picón's charming duet "Yo vivi soñando en un cuartico" from Lecuona's Rosa la China.

But our favorites were excerpts from Toi C'est Moi by Moisés Simons.  The gentlemen's duet had a lively music hall feel and Ms. Winters' "C'est ça la vie" was an arresting take on the Carmen story in which Carmen kills a cheating Escamillo.

Most surprising were the final songs on the program: "Guarina" written by Sindo Garay, an illiterate Cuban-Indian, to his daughter, and "Son de la Loma" by another untrained musician.  In every case, Cuban music is rhythmically vital, making it difficult to stay seated.

Like the drink, it all went down easily.  Happily, we are not left with a hangover but we are left with a desire for more.

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GREAT BRITTEN

Pierre Ferreyra-Mansilla, Nathan Haller, Angela Vallone, Brian Zeger, Jessine Johnson, Samantha Hankey, Eric Jurenas

A Juilliard Songfest last night at Alice Tully Hall offered an opportunity to get your fill of Benjamin Britten's songs, curated by Artistic Director Brian Zeger who also lent his prodigious talent as collaborative pianist.  The ten singers are in various stages of training at the Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts but we dare you to distinguish between the graduate students and the undergraduates; all have superb voices and stage presence to spare.

The opening piece on the program turned out to be our personal favorite, the 1952 Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, Op. 51.  We first heard this work a year ago at Chelsea Opera in a fully staged and costumed version with young Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg doing more than justice to the role of the young Isaac about to be sacrificed by his father.  Tonight in this role we heard counter-tenor Eric Jurenas with tenor Miles Mykkanen as Abraham in a semi-staged performance that worked beautifully, both vocally and dramatically.  The most arresting singing was the voice of God produced by the two men singing in the most amazing unison.

The other major work on the program comprised Songs and Proverbs of William Blake, written in 1965 for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
1965.  Last night this vocally demanding material was finely handled by two exemplary baritones--Theo Hoffman whose fine work is familiar to us and Kurt Kanazawa whom we had never heard before but look forward to hearing again.

The remainder of the program consisted of a grouping of sorrowful folk songs and a grouping of joyful ones.  We particularly liked tenor William Goforth's connection with the text in "At the mid hour of night" and Mr. Kanazawa's humorous complaint "Lord! I married me a wife". Tenor Nathan Haller gave a moving performance of "The Children".  Tenor Michael St. Peter demonstrated a lovely vocal quality in the strophic "O Waly, Waly", standing out against the chordal accompaniment.

In the set of joyful songs, we particularly enjoyed Mr. Haller's performance of "Bonny at Morn".  Mr. Jurenas' performance of "The Miller of Dee" was set against piano work by Mr. Zeger that left no doubt that mill wheels were turning.  Mr. St. Peter's strophic "Plough Boy" was pure delight.

Several songs were accompanied by the guitar of Pierre Ferreyra-Mansilla who seemed to have a very personal relationship with his instrument.  Our favorite was the jaunty "Sailor Boy" sung by Mr. Haller.  The program was not entirely male; sopranos Jessine Johnson and Angela Vallone and mezzo Samantha Hankey made valuable contributions to both groups of folk songs.  Ms. Vallone sang "The Big Chariot" and "How sweet the answer". The closing number of the evening was a duet "Underneath the Abject Willow" performed by Ms. Johnson and Ms. Hankey.  Their voices blended splendidly and y'all know how much we love duets!

If you didn't get your fill of Britten last night, don't despair.  It's his centennial and you will have many more opportunities.

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BRAHMS' SONG CYCLE

Dominic Armstrong, Michael Brofman, Ty Jones, John Brancy, Peter Dugan

Yesterday's recital by the Brooklyn Art Song Society offered a number of delights--the opportunity to hear a rarely performed song cycle composed by Brahms in the 1860's, two gifted lieder interpreters and two equally impressive piano partners, plus the dramatic narration of plummy-voiced actor Ty Jones.  The song cycle Die Schöne Magelone is a setting of texts by Johann Ludwig Tieck--a group of intentionally archaic poems telling a somewhat extended tale of a medieval knight, Count Peter of Provence, his courtship of Princess Magelone of Naples, and the trials and tribulations of their separation and eventual reuniting. There are interesting symbolic elements, including three golden rings given Peter by his mother that he bestows upon Magelone only to have them wind up in the belly of a fish back at Peter's chateau. Shades of Des Knaben Wunderhorn!

There are 15 lovely songs in all; the narration was translated into English and recited by Mr. Jones while the songs themselves served to express the feelings of longing, love, sorrow and joy.  George London Foundation winners tenor Dominic Armstrong and baritone John Brancy performed the songs with beautiful tone and phrasing as well as total commitment to the material.  We noticed just one tiny flaw in Mr. Armstrong's performance which a non-speaker of German would not have observed.  "Ich" appears in so many German words and was often rendered as "ick"; this should be remedied. Otherwise, both singers had a fine command of the language.

Mr. Brancy was accompanied by Peter Dugan whose expressive pianism worked very well with Mr. Brancy's heartfelt delivery.  When Sir Peter gallops away from home, Brahms has provided a galloping rhythm in the piano.  In "Sind es Schmerzen, sind es Freuden" the two artists matched each other in sweetness.  In "Ruhe, Sussliebchen im Schatten" the lilt of this tender lullaby with its descending line reminded us of a barcarolle.  For "Wie schnell verschwindet" Mr. Brancy surprised us by singing the voice of the princess with its stratospheric tessitura in falsetto.

Mr. Armstrong's piano partner was Michael Brofman himself, Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Art Song Society.  They distinguished themselves in the strophic "Liebe kam aus fernen Landen" and in the two sanguine penultimate songs "Geliebter, wo zaudert" and "Wie froh und frisch mein Sinn sich hebt".

If you were unfortunate enough to have missed this stellar afternoon, there are a number of recordings and we recommend those by Peter Schrier and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.  There will be several more recitals this season by the ambitious Brooklyn Art Song Society and if you are a lover of lieder, you are sure to be satisfied.

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