The singer is tall but the program was way too short. We acknowledge that it's a good idea to leave your audience wanting more but Carson Cook's recital was just a bit longer than an hour and we would have happily enjoyed another hour. When we think of what makes a recital a hit, we would have to put audience engagement at the top of the list, right next to vocal quality. Mr. Cook's audience was attentive and met his engagement with their own.
One would do well to wonder what creates audience engagement in a vocal recital. Evidence is that audience members are not looking at their cell phones or nodding off. They may even lose interest in the provided translations because the singer conveys the meaning of the song by means of facial expression and gesture and also vocal coloration. From the standpoint of an audience member, one may feel that the singer is telling us a story in a highly personal way. Mr. Cook has a relaxed demeanor and addressed the audience directly with a minimum but adequate amount of information about each song.
The all-too-short program managed to achieve considerable variety and showcased the artist's facility with languages as well as fine vocal technique with a fach that we can only describe as baritenor. We will stay tuned to see how things shake out in the future. When singers change teachers there are often shifts, both profound and subtle. We have heard Mr. Cook several times in the past but this recital marked a major leap forward.
The first half of the program gave us a taste of Mr. Cook's facility in Italian aria and canzone, French chanson, and German lieder. Diction was equally fine in all three languages and we never had to look at the translations to understand the text. "Bel piacere" from Händel's Agrippina revealed some fine fioritura. Even in English we understood every word of the very sad "Oh loss of sight" from the same composer's oratorio Sansom. A spirited canzone by Durante "Danza Danza Fanciulla" lightened the mood.
Reynaldo Hahn's gentle "A Cloris" was marked by some lovely legato phrasing, whilst Gabriel Faure's "Mandoline" involved some painterly storytelling, bringing a visual aspect to the singing.
Three very different lieder demonstrated other aspects of Mr. Cook's artistry. From our favorite Schubert song cycle Die schone Mullerin, we heard "Am Feierabend" in which we could actually see the young miller seated near the hearth in the evening with his boss and the tempting boss' daughter. This would be a great cycle for Mr. Cook to learn since he has the wherewithal to create the character of the hero. Kenneth Brown's skillful pianism created the rhythmic mill wheel reflecting the labor of the preceding day.
Gustav Mahler's "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" involved a totally different change of color. The composer is telling a story of withdrawal from the world and Mr. Cook succeeded in creating a stillness by means of a delicate delivery and a fine vibrato. Brahms' "Vergebliches Stänchen" involves a dialogue between an importuning young man and his resistant sweetheart. We think a little bit of work on a duality of body placement and alteration of color from one character to the other would take this performance to a higher level.
The second half of the program was a song cycle in the making, one with text by Rachel Joy Scott who died in the Columbine massacre. It was with great surprise that we actually enjoyed a work in English. What was particularly interesting was that each entry was set by a different composer. The text comprised Ms. Scott's diary entries and was definitely not prosy or pedantic. Her optimism must have inspired each composer to write a lovely melodic vocal line.
We enjoyed. the four songs we heard composed by Brandon Zhou, Chris Cooley, Dina Pruzhansky, and Chris Cooley who took over from Mr. Brown and played his dense complex score himself. We were very happy to learn that there are composers writing singable music!
Two hits from Rodgers and Hammerstein ended the program and confirmed our belief that Broadway songs, sung without amplification by a good singer, are really 20th century American art songs. Who doesn't love Sound of Music and The King and I! Mr. Cook gets an "A" but the audience flunked! Invited to whistle along in "I Whistle a Happy Tune" not one person came across, thus defying the message of another song which Mr. Cook should have offered first--"Anyone Can Whistle"!
A cheerful encore of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" left the audience in a joyful mood.
© meche kroop
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