CAME FOR THE BRAHMS, STAYED FOR THE MENDELSSOHN

 Chaeyoung Park, Aristo Shan, Erin Wagner, Megan Moore, Daniel McGrew and Randall Scarlata

Regular readers will recall our respect for Young Concert Artists. For six decades they have been discovering young artists in the field of classical music, developing their respective artistry, and launching their respective careers. The means by which they achieve this consist of a three year program encompassing mentorship, community engagement, debut recitals, and worldwide performance opportunities. Indeed some of our very favorite young singers have been brought to our attention through YCA.

Monday night's 2025 Season Finale  offered the opportunity to hear young artists in both vocal and instrumental fields, the latter of which we rarely have time to attend since vocal recitals and operas keep us very busy. We will address the vocal portion of the program first but please, Dear Reader, stay until the end since we made a rare discovery in the instrumental field.

The vocal portion of the evening comprised selections from Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes Op. 52, a work we have enjoyed and reviewed many times. Brahms' vocal output is perhaps less profound  than that  of Schubert, but his gifts are not at all lesser in impact. We love the folksy melodies and the simple emotions conveyed therein.  We particularly love the way he wrote for various combinations of voices.

And therein lies our disappointment in this particular performances. We attribute the problem to the acoustics of the hall. Although individually the tone and expressiveness of the voices were fine, the balance between the voices was uneven. Sounding the best were the voices of the two mezzo-sopranos, Erin Wagner and Megan Moore who blended beautifully. But when tenor Daniel McGrew and baritone Randall Scarlata joined in, the balance shifted so far to their "side" that Brahms' exquisite balance was lost. Pianist for the performance were Chaeyoung Park and Aristo Shan, both of whom were heard during the evening in works by respectively Prokofiev and the contemporary Zhou Tian.

Fortunately, the favorable impact of the evening was restored by a glorious performance of Mendelssohn's String Octet in E-flat major, Op.20.  The four movement architecture was familiar and very much of the period, offering a lively Allegro followed by a pleasingly tuneful Andante. However, it was the Scherzo that bedazzled our ears. Building the excitement to fever pitch was the use of a motif repeated in higher and higher keys. We are far from expert in instrumental music but anything that reminds us of vocal fioritura pleases us enormously.

Considering the artistry of eight string players in three "fachs"--violin, viola, and cello--they exhibited great variety of color with interweaving melodies and strong rhythmic pulse. We will end by heaping praise on the lead violinist Lun Li whose violin seemed to be a dancing partner. There was an intimacy between artist and instrument that we have never seen or heard before--a partnership that kept us on the edge of our seat. They not only danced together but Mr. Li made the violin sing.

In hearing the human voice, the artist and the instrument are physically one and the same  In this case Man and Violin acted as one in a spiritually transcendent manner. We simply could not get over the impact. We single out this performance as being ground breaking although the other seven string players were excellent.

We do not read program notes until after the performance, wanting to approach the performance as a neophyte. However, we were not surprised to learn of Mr. Li's many honors but reading that he was playing a 1735 Stradivarius on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation put us in a state of awe. We had never heard a Stradivarius before and we can only say that the treasured violin was in the right hands. We kind of wish it belonged to him in fact as well as in spirit.

© meche kroop

LE TOUR DE FRANCE

Daniel McGrew, Theo Hoffman, Steve Blier, Bénédicte Jourdois, Nicoletta Berry, and Erin Wagner

We approach an evening with Steven Blier with high expectations and an open mind. We know we will hear a satisfying mixture of the familiar and the strange, the old and the new, the accessible and the puzzling, the serious and the frivolous. We know we will hear excellent young voices and charming narration by Mr. Blier himself. We know that the audience will exceed in numbers that of most vocal events and that individually there will be rapt attention.  This is why we strive to hear every well-curated performance by New York Festival of Song.

Accompaniment was provided by Mr. Blier alternating with Bénédicte Jourdois who also shared the narration. One bit we found particularly interesting was the story of singer-songwriter Barbara who performed her song "Göttingen"  in the eponymous German city. She had been a Jewish refugee hiding in France during WWII and sang to mark the passing of two decades during which time Germany and France had recovered from their previous enmity. The song was performed by the much celebrated mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner and tenor Daniel McGrew in perfect harmony which reflected the harmony between two nations. Both singers are much admired regulars at NYFOS concerts.

The format of the concert was a tour of France introduced by the most appropriate  "Nous avons fait un beau voyage" from Reynaldo Hahn's cheery operetta Ciboulette. By a strange and lovely coincidence, joining baritone Theo Hoffman was the adorable soprano Nicolette Berry whom we first heard six years ago at Manhattan School of Music, singing the title role of the opera in a scenes class taught by Catherine Malfitano!

Onto the sturdy shoulders of Ms. Wagner fell the task of representing the West of France with some Poulenc settings of text by Max Jacob. Ms. Wagner's artistry made dramatic sense of poetry we found rather obscure. The finely wrought vibrato and centeredness of Mr. McGrew made his performance of  the mournful "C" particularly affecting. We were to hear more of Poulenc later on in the program. 

We were delighted to move to the North of France because we got to hear a charming duet by Michel Legrand entitled "Chanson des jumelles" in which Ms. Berry and Ms. Wagner portrayed twin sisters, doubling each other's gestures. The lyrics were sung in French and in English and seemed altogether delightful except for one brief phrase that probably lost something in translation and sounded a bit disturbing. We will have to consult an expert on that issue!

Poulenc's complex pianistic ripples, played by Ms. Jourdois, made a fine support for Mr. Hoffman's immersion in the desolation of "Fagnes de Wallonie", also by Poulenc. Apollinaire's text came across most vividly.

The Eastern part of France (bordering Germany, of course) included the aforementioned "Göttingen" and a tragic song from Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn entitled "Zu Strassburg auf Der Schanz". The story was convincingly told by Mr. Hoffman; a soldier taken prisoner hears the sound of an Alphorn, feels homesick, and tries to escape, only to be captured and turned over to a firing squad. (Now part of France, this area employs a strange dialect comprising some French and some German, which we could just about understand when we visited some years ago.) Mahler's score is written in 4/4 march time and one could hear drum rolls which were well executed by Ms. Jourdois. 

It was time to move on to the South of France! Here was yet another strange dialect. Joseph Canteloube arranged some traditional folk poems and called the work Chants d'Auvergne. Ms. Berry performed two of them and we wanted to hear more. Apparently we prefer real stories about real people to abstract poetry! In "Lo fiolaire" a young girl who spins wool bribes a young shepherd to tend the sheep in exchange for a kiss or two. In "Brezairola" a woman tries to lull a baby to sleep. The dialect contained some strange sounds and we were thoroughly charmed by the performance.

Our tour wound up in Paris and our favorite songs were those with humor. It was good to know that Poulenc could write something cheerful (pre-war apparently) and Ms. Wagner brought lightness to Apollinaire's text about visiting the City of Light-- "Voyage à Paris". 

Mr. McGrew let loose with a humorous performance of Serge Gainsbourg's "Le poinçonneur des Lilas", the lament of a very bored ticket taker at the railroad. Ending with a similar theme of the tedium of the workingman, Joseph Kosma's setting of a Jacques Prévert poem tells the tale of a taxi driver who dreams of all his many stops--"La cauchemar du chauffeur de taxi". Our multi-talented cast of four had a great time with this concluding number, ending the program on a high note. We are still smiling!

© meche kroop

ALL TOGETHER NOW

 Daniel McGrew, Erin Wagner, Chelsea Guo, Megan Moore, Joseph Parrish, and Francesco Barfoed

What a fortuitous collaboration it was at Merkin Hall last night when New York Festival of Song joined forces with Young Concert Artists for an evening of ensemble singing. Five fantastic singers gifted a most delighted audience songs from five hundred years of music history. It would have been a great thrill to spend an evening with any one of those gifted artists, but five at once? It was like winning a trifecta, or to coin a phrase, a "pentecta". Both NYFOS and YCA share the same mission which just so happens to coincide with ours--fostering gifted young singers. It is no coincidence that there is overlap between NYFOS performers and YCA winners.

Regular readers know how fond we are of duets but we rarely get to write about ensembles with the exception of a few reviews of Brahms' Liebeslieder, which would have been right at home on last night's program; however our dear Steven Blier loves to introduce his NYFOS audience to works they likely have not heard before.

Although we loved the accompanying piano of Mr. Blier and Francesco Barfoed, we must say that there is something even more special when voices are heard a cappella. Take for example the opening number which just happens to be the oldest and also our favorite of the night. The song by Clément Janequin, a famous French composer of the 16th c., entitled "Les cris de Paris," was thrilling in its harmonies and surprisingly contemporary in its text. One could imagine it describing a marketplace in any populous town.

From Mozart we heard two of his Sei Notturni, one of which might have been a sketch for his soon-to-be-penned Cosi fan Tutte.  Schubert has written more than one serenade but the "Ständchen" we heard was a group effort which, we imagine, occurred when a man gathered his friends together to bolster his self-confidence as he went to woo his beloved.

We never thought of Beethoven as a composer of songs but he did set 12 Irish Songs--folk songs by nature. We were completely distracted by the density of the piano accompaniment, so well played by Francesco Barfoed that our ears were teased by a recurrent phrase that must have inspired Mendelssohn. Discussing it afterward with a couple singer friends, no one was able to identify it but it did make us think of the music for Midsummer Night's Dream and a fairyland scene. Or could it have been a Schubert lied about a supernatural creature? Dear Reader, if you heard it too and could possibly set our mind to rest, please write your thoughts in the comment section below. Otherwise, your reviewer will lose a lot of sleep!

Brahms' lovely "Die Meere" was written in 3/4 time signature and, like any barcarolle, had us swaying in our seats. The French also had their voices heard, namely Camille Saint-Saëns' "Pastorale" and Gabriel Fauré's "Pleurs d'or", the text of which was so lovely that we want to read Albert Samain's text aloud.

We never knew that Shostakovich set Jewish Folk Poetry, and in Yiddish no less. His mid 20th c. compositions have never tickled our ear  but we appreciated his evocative setting of "Winter" which actually gave us a chill.

Not all music of the last hundred years is distasteful to us. We actually enjoyed Libby Larsen's very funny "Jack's Valentine" in which each singer's lines overlapped another's with the repetition of "I love you. A whole lot. Very very much. A whole bunch. Forever." No piano accompaniment was needed. One could enjoy the vocal lines weaving together in a humorous tapestry.

A special treat was the New York premiere of Matt Boehler's setting of Robert Louis Stevenson' "Let Beauty Awake". We knew of Mr. Boehler as a singer and we have always said that vocal music should be written by singers and this proved our point. Mr. McGrew and Mr. Parrish did it justice.

Was there anyone in the audience who remembers The Beach Boys? Leave it to Mr. Blier to arrange Owen Wilson's "In My Room", a popular song from the 1960's, for the five voices. We looked it up online and, well, it was as different as day is from night. We loved the harmonies although the text sounded like teenage angst.

But wait! The closing number was even more radical. We admit that we had never heard of The Bobs, an 80's pop band, let alone the song "Trash" written by Gunnar Madsen and Richard Greene. We couldn't wait to get home to look for it online. Well, Mr. Blier always says "No song is safe from us" and in this case, his arrangement made a proverbial silk purse out of a sow's ear. The five singers grabbed microphones and had the audience in stitches, singing about a slovenly man whose presumably female companion couldn't deal with his trash.

We have avoided listing who sang what (with one exception) because this was truly an ensemble effort by soprano Chelsea Guo, mezzo-soprano Megan Moore, mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner, tenor Daniel McGrew, and bass-baritone Joseph Parrish. We have reviewed all of them except for Ms. Guo who is still an undergraduate and plays piano as brilliantly as she sings. In the final number, the group used microphones and she appeared to have just the right style and flair.  What a fine group of singers!  All seem well on their way to stardom and we feel privileged to have heard them as they launch.

© meche kroop

MANNING THE CANON

Efraín Solis, Matt Boehler, Daniel McGrew, and Scott Murphree

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of The Stonewall Riots, the wildly entertaining concert Manning the Canon: Songs of Gay Life was revived ten years after its debut at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center. Just as we feel a little bit Irish on St. Paddy's Day, and a little bit Italian on Columbus Day, we feel a little bit "queer" this month.

It surely wasn't necessary to be a member of the tribe to appreciate the program. In the eloquent words of Steven Blier, taken from his copious and fascinating program notes, it is "a rainbow-colored celebration of wit, beauty, emotion, and forthright honesty". The concert is a co-production of Mr. Blier, Artistic Director of New York Festival of Song, and Jesse Blumberg, Artistic Director of Five Boroughs Music Festival--both champions in the world of song.

And what songs we heard! Sets of well-curated songs about gay life were interspersed with songs by gay composers. The songs were universal in appeal; we all have a wide palette of feelings about love and sex, longing and disappointment, closeness and distance. 

Our favorites ranged the gamut, from hilarious cabaret songs to serious 19th c. compositions. Let us describe a few. As readers may have predicted, for our ears Schubert always comes out on top. The four members of the cast joined in exquisite harmony for Schubert's "Der Gondelfahrer", a setting of text by Johann Mayrhofer with whom the composer shared a bed for a couple of years. The lyrics scan and rhyme just the way we like and the melody took its cue from the text. 

Walking on the wilder side, we loved the cabaret song "An Admission" by Joseph Thalken with funny and tender lyrics by Mark Campbell whose libretto for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs enchanted us so at Santa Fe Opera. The subject was the disappointment felt when one's prospective bedmate undresses and appears in all his naked inglorious glory. We are quite sure that everyone could relate to that one! Tenor Scott Murphree got all the feelings across, including the resolution at the end.

Drag offers so many opportunities for humor and John Wallowitch's cabaret song "Bruce" gave bass Matt Boehler an opportunity to use his loose-limbed frame, mobile face, and deeply resonant voice to portray a man criticizing Bruce's over-the-top style of dressing. The rhymes were beyond clever and Mr. Boehler did a swell job of getting the song across.

On the serious end of the spectrum, baritone Efraín Solis imbued Manuel de Falla's "Polo" with the requisite pain and just enough Latin sabor. Mr.Blier's insistent piano added to the drama.

There are songs that were written about a man and a woman that can be readily co-opted and placed firmly in the gay corner. Perhaps at the top of the list is Cy Coleman's "Tennis Duet" from City of Angels, for which David Zippel wrote the incredibly clever lyrics, filled with double entendres. Tenors David McGrew and Mr. Murphree made a marvelously flirtatious couple, sparring wittily with tennis rackets and provocative dialogue.

The program ended with Cole Porter's "You're the Top" in which the repetitive phrase "Baby, I'm the bottom you're the top" took on new meaning and was all the funnier for being played mostly straight by the ensemble. Porter's rhymes are hilarious and it was worthwhile to search out the lyrics to catch a few words and references we missed. 

The encore was sensational--"My Guy", written by Smokey Robinson (of The Miracles). In true Motown fashion, there was plenty of extravagant synchronized gesture and terrific harmonies.

We are sure that every person in that room had their own favorites. Those were ours. We were there when the show had its debut at the same LGBT Community Center ten years ago and were happy to enjoy its warmth and wit once again. Indeed it remains a source of PRIDE for its creators and its cast.

(c) meche kroop