LOVERS, SWINDLERS, AND CLOWNS

Asher Denburg, Jeremy Griffin, Anna Viemeister, and Valentin Peytchinov

We love new experiences; we love being introduced to new singers; and we love getting more evidence for our strongly held beliefs. The belief in question has to do with American opera and its definition. The academic music world insists on presenting the public with works which we see out of curiosity, works which very few people ever wish to see again.

Meanwhile, there are writers of "Broadway Musical Theater" who entertain us in the same way as Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, and Puccini did in previous centuries. These works hold our interest and endure mainly because of one feature. They have melody. The melodies stay with us and we want to hear them again and again.

Of course, looking at 20th c. musical theater, there was a lot of trash, but there were also forgettable operas in the 19th c. So, dear reader, last night found us back at St. John's in the Village, the Rector of which is a true music lover. The occasion was a celebration of the centennial of Prohibition and celebrate we did with a compelling concert of music theater and cabaret, performed unamplified (YAY!) by a trio of splendid singers, accompanied on the piano by Asher Denburg, a pianist new to us but one we look forward to hearing again.

The singer who was new to us is Jeremy Griffin whose baritone voice readily encompasses the lower register. Whatever he sang was given the full force of his personality; he has plenty of presence and uses his entire body to get a song across. And he enunciates English clearly so that every word is understood.

Our favorite number of the evening was William Bolcom's "The Song of Black Max"--in our opinion the best song Bolcom ever wrote. We were introduced to this song by none other than cabaret artist Kim David Smith and we fell in love with it on the spot. We have heard it several times over the past few years with feelings of disappointment because the other singers failed to paint the picture. 

Mr. Griffin succeeded where others failed. He virtually created the character of Black Max but also created the characters of the "lady organ-grinder", not to mention "all the sons behind her", as well as the "little girls with little curls in little dollhouse jails".

He was very funny in "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" from Eric Idle's Spamalot, adding in some appropriate dance moves. 

He conveyed different facets of fatherhood from the silly to the serious. The father in "The Baby Song" from I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change by Roberts and DiPietro is dealing with the challenge of a new baby, whereas the father-to-be in the "Soliloquy" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel is dealing with his fantasies of fatherhood. The father in "I Confess" from Snow and Pitchford's Footloose is dealing with far more serious issues, as a preacher laments the son he lost.

In an entirely different mood was "Epiphany" from Sondheim's Sweeney Todd in which Mr. Griffin created a scarily believable angry and vengeful character. And how about that relaxed and confident singer of Paul Anka's "My Way" who's nearing the end of a fulfilling life! So many different characters and all so well realized!

Although Mr. Griffin did the heavy lifting for the evening, mezzo-soprano Anna Viemeister created the hilarious character of Prince Orlofsky from Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, singing in heavily accented English his famous aria "Chacun a son goût" in a pretty clever English translation. She also made a superlative emcee for the evening.

To cap things off, Bulgarian bass Valentin Peytchinov lent his venerable instrument and larger than life personality to create the character of French planter Emile de Becque lamenting the loss of his love in "This Nearly Was Mine" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.

What a treat to hear such wonderful music unamplified in an intimate environment and sung by such terrific talent! We celebrated Prohibition at a post-concert reception with bubbly toasts and a sing-a-long with Francisco Mirando at the piano.

© meche kroop

MASTERFUL JUSTIN AUSTIN

Christopher Cooley and Justin Austin at Manhattan School of Music

What a relief!  Two terrific recitals back to back, not simultaneous! Each brilliant event deserves its own review so let us begin with baritone Justin Austin who has truly earned his Master of Music degree.  We first heard Mr. Austin in Cavalli's La Doriclea some three years ago and have been a fan ever since.  We have heard him singing art songs with New York Festival of Song, and most recently heard him as Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's comedic masterpiece Don Pasquale, playing off the Norina of his beautiful wife Amanda. Imagine our pleasure as we saw that a scene from this opera would be reprised as the finale of Mr. Austin's graduation recital!

We just loved the interaction between Dr. Malatesta as he imitates the old Don and instructs Norina in how to portray his convent-educated sister Sofronia in order to prank Don Pasquale. Thomas Muraco was credited for help with this "Pronto io son" and we recall that Maestro Muraco coached and conducted the opera just 6 months ago. We might add that Mrs. Austin's soprano is just as dazzling in her fach as her husband is in his.  A true operatic power couple. 

There were plenty of goodies before the finale, of course. What we love about Mr. Austin is the expressiveness and depth of involvement that he lends to everything he sings. He has a sunny stage presence that the members of the audience appreciated as much as we did. The texture of the vibrato is as ear-pleasing as one might wish.

We loved his accuracy in German and understood every word of his Wolf and Schubert. He sang a sole selection from each of our two favorite song cycles. From Winterreise he invested "Die Krahe" with a tinge of horror and madness such that we seemed to experience the entire cycle as a hologram.  In "Halt!" from Die Schone Mullerin there was excitement to spare and the piano of Christopher Cooley kept those mill wheels turning.

Mr. Cooley also excelled in Ravel's cycle Don Quichotte a Dulcinee, establishing a rocking rhythm in support of Mr. Austin's finely nuanced interpretation. It came as no surprise that a program insert, which thanked all the people who had helped his artistic advancement, credited his teacher Catherine Malfitano for working with him on that cycle. We all know what a fine flair the divine Ms. M. has with the French repertory. The phrasing was Gallic and so was the pronunciation. We didn't miss a word!

Significantly, at least to us, was the fact that his English was also exemplary. We heard two very different soliloquies; the first was Billy's from Rogers and Hammersteins's Carousel, for which he credited his coach Erick Sedgwick, and the second was Coalhouse's from Stephen Flaherty and Terrence McNally's Ragtime. Mr. Austin captured all the hopefulness and pride of the first, and all the sorrow and despair of the second.

We also loved his performance of Aaron Copland's "The Little Horses" which was sung with tenderness and a lovely intermittent pianissimo. Mr. Cooley's piano was delicate and helped to sustain the hypnotic mood. For this piece, Stephanie Blythe's assistance was credited.

Margaret Bonds' setting of Langston Hughes "Minstrel Man" was deeply affecting, as was Mark Hayes' arrangement of the hymn "Amazing Grace" for which Mr. Austin was joined by baritone Kenneth Overton. The two men achieved a fine balance in their harmonies.

We are not sure why we didn't relate to Ricky Ian Gordon's "When Sue Wears Red", another setting of a Langston Hughes text. The piano seemed to drown out the words and we didn't care for the music. But the rest of the audience seemed to love it so perhaps it was just at odds with our taste.

The concert ended with a love fest! Mr. Austin is gracious to a fault and thanked and embraced his teacher Ms. Malfitano and spoke most movingly about all the people who helped him along the way in his 6 years at Manhattan School of Music. He also thanked his parents profusely and his wife's parents as well. His parents came up to the stage and his father, a tenor, announced that the two would join forces for duo recitals in Switzerland. Now that's something we'd love to hear!

He dedicated his encore to his family--"I Want Jesus to Walk with Me", sung a capella. We walked out feeling all warm and fuzzy.

(c) meche kroop

NOTHIN' CHANCY 'BOUT BRANCY

Peter Dugan, Wallis Giunta, John Brancy

In John Brancy's voyage through Juilliard we have heard him sing the old, the new, the borrowed and the blue; we have even heard him sing Icelandic poetry.  We have never been anything less than thrilled with the authenticity of his performance, not to mention the mature burnished timbre of his baritone voice.

At his graduation recital last night, we were filled with joy for his success but felt twinges of sadness that this six-year voyage is coming to an end.  Mr. Brancy sings from the heart and throws his entire being into every word, every note and every gesture.  He is a consummate storyteller.

The opening story was Britten's tall tale about The Crocodile; Mr. Brancy's delightful sense of humor got the audience giggling.  In an entirely different mood, Kurt Weill's "A dirge for two veterans", a setting of a poem by Walt Whitman about a father and son fallen in battle, gave the artist an opportunity to evoke feelings of grief amplified by a sustained high note.  It also gave collaborative pianist Peter Dugan the opportunity to create drum sounds on the piano, an impressive feat.

We delighted in Mr. Brancy's performance of Ravel's Don Quichotte a Dulcinée which permitted him to create the many faces of Don Quichotte; the idealistic in "Chanson romanesque", the prayerful in "Chanson épique" and the bibulous  in "Chanson à boire".  No matter how many times we have heard these songs they always delight us.  Mr. Dugan created a wonderful contrast in the first song--between Mr. Brancy's long legato vocal lines and the syncopated Spanish rhythms in the piano.  In the second song, Mr. B. gave us an exquisite messa di voce in the final "Amen".

His German was impeccable in Wolf's Morike lieder; no translations were necessary.  We particularly enjoyed "Nimmersatte liebe".

A special added attraction of the evening was the presence of Mr. Brancy's sweetheart, mezzo Wallis Giunta, who joined him for some wonderful duets.  The pair were in perfect harmony in Ralph Vaughn Williams setting of Shakespeare's text "It was a lover and his lass".  But Schumann's "Ich bin dein baum" was the one that touched us most deeply; it is about the mutual dependency of the gardener (Mr. B.) and the fruit-bearing tree (Ms. G.)  Ms. G's pleasing vibrato somehow made us think of a peach tree.  But....the best was yet to come.  Henri Duparc set a text by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier entitled "La Fuite" in which a woman tries to persuade her lover to run away with her in spite of his objections.  She's the romantic and he's the realist.  The acting was so on point that it seemed like a scene in an opera waiting to be written.

Mr. B's dark timbre is very well suited to Russian and we loved what he did with Rachmaninov's "In the silence of the mysterious night"; there was a delicate decrescendo at the end.  Our disappointment at not hearing the Czech language in Cunning Little Vixen was lifted by hearing Dvořák's "My heart is often in pain"; certain motives reminded us of his "Song to the Moon"--absolutely ravishing with its unique sonorities.

After two beautiful Bellini songs with their long vocal phrases and typical arpeggiation in the piano, off came the jacket, out came the stool and Mr. B. enchanted us with his stirring performance of "The Soliloquy" from Carousel.  As if that were not enough, as encore Mr. B. called Ms. G. back onstage for Daniel Hunt's "All the Way".  Never has a pop song sounded so good to our ears!  And it gave Mr. Dugan an opportunity to improvise some great jazzy riffs on the piano.

Mr. Brancy faces future fame and we will feel rather smug telling his fans "I remember him when..."

© meche kroop