DAME FELICITY LOTT MASTER CLASS

Erin Alcorn and Dame Felicity Lott

The final master class of The Song Continues 2017, formerly known as Marilyn Horne's Birthday Week, was conducted at Carnegie Hall in the Education Wing, by the much honored soprano Dame Felicity Lott who wowed the audience with her very British sense of humor. Her style of teaching was completely different from the prior two master teachers. She was generous in her praise of the four young singers we heard (we shared her opinion) but very nit-picky about the text, teaching with the score in hand.  Her command of languages is as formidable as her command of musicianship.

Her first student was soprano Erin Alcorn, accompanied by Katelan Terrell.  Ms. Alcorn's first selection was Richard Strauss' Standchen, the one we know and love well.  A man tries to persuade his sweetheart to sneak out of the house to meet him in the garden for some passionate kissing. Ms. Alcorn used her brilliant voice brilliantly and performed with ardent expression. It was a persuasive performance.

Dame Felicity's suggestions were to keep the tempo up so that the energy would not flag. Both piano and voice need to be light.  There were a few words that Dame Lott wanted Ms. Alcorn to enjoy-- "zittert" is one we could really appreciate. The second "mach auf" needed to be more intense than the first. A change of color was needed for the final verse of von Schack's text; it must not lose intensity but should be still and legato.  And the "hoch gluhn" at the end must be very passionate with a glorious end on "Wonnenschauern der Nacht".  What a gorgeous phrase that is and Ms. Alcorn sang it gorgeously.

Although her instrument is clearly made for Strauss, she did a fine job with Debussy's "Vert" from Ariettes oubliees. There was some urging to get her French more forward in the mask and the need to change color from the offering of vegetation to the offering of the poet's heart.  Indeed! There were phrases to stretch and phrases to build up and relax.

Mezzo-soprano Marjorie Maltais also had the opportunity to perform two songs. She sang "Danse macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens with its difficult text by Henri Cazalis. The composer did an excellent job of applying music to the very wordy text and conveying the spooky mood. Mezzo Marjorie handled it beautifully, creating a mood of grotesquerie. 

Nathan Raskin handled the wild piano part quite well but was instructed to hold back the sound whilst Mezzo Marjorie was singing so that the text could be understood.  Both artists should expand the final "Oh! La belle nuit".

By the end of the song, Ms. Maltais was warmed up enough to tackle Richard Wagner's "Traume" from Wesendonck Lieder.   The coaching was to be ecstatic, not sad. Those thoughts would surely change the color! The singer must draw the audience into this world of dreams!  And, must do it with the voice, not gestures. Mr. Raskin was coached to play more ethereally and this made a world of distance as he complied.

Tenor Patrick Shelton sang "Let me enjoy the earth" by Gerald Finzi, with a text by Thomas Hardy. He was advised to avoid meaningless movement and to color his voice with wistfulness, not sorrow. In our opinion, Mr. Hardy's splendid poetry did not ask for music and we didn't find that Mr. Finzi'a music did much for the poetry. But Madeline Slettedahl played it well.

We enjoyed Mr. Shelton's singing more in Liszt's "Comment, disaient-ils". We do believe that Victor Hugo did not want to have his poetry set and yet, to our ears, Liszt's music added a great deal!  Dame Lott worked with Mr. Shelton on some finer points of French diction, particularly on softening the elided "t" in the oft-repeated phrase of the title. She worked also on rhythm and on changing the colors from "ramez" to "dormez" to "aimez"--all great improvements.

Soprano Anne Wright closed the class with a pair of songs that showed off her versatility as well as her impressive instrument. Henri Duparc's gem "L'invitation au voyage" is a setting of a gorgeously sensual text by Baudelaire. Significantly, we could understand nearly every word of Ms. Wright's French, even at the top of her register. The knowledge that she translated both songs herself reinforces our impression that she understood every word she was singing.

Nonetheless, Dame Felicity was there to iron out some small issues with French diction, and some suggestions about where to breathe. She wanted Ms. Wright to enjoy the text (we sure did!) and the changes of color in "luxe, calme et volupte". The singer must not demonstrate but must invite the audience in.  (Where have we heard that before??) Zalman Kelber's handling of the rippling piano completed the effect.

In Strauss' "Cacilie" from Vier Lieder, Ms. Wright conveyed all the intense passion and ecstasy of Heinrich Hart's text. What a splendid evening, discovering four fine singers and two very promising Straussians.

(c) meche kroop

MARGO GARRETT MASTER CLASS AT CARNEGIE HALL

Margo Garrett, Madeline Skettedahl, and Dorothy Gal

Last night, the second of three master classes was held with esteemed collaborative pianist Margo Garrett providing invaluable instruction to singer and pianist alike. The master classes, if you didn't already know, are part of The Song Continues 2017 at Carnegie Hall, a series of events through which Marilyn Horne does everything humanly possible to advance the art of the song recital.  Young singers and collaborative pianists get an opportunity to perform for a standing room only crowd of lieder lovers and to receive advanced instruction that will take them to the next level.

Last night we heard tenor Ricardo "Ricky" Garcia tackle the very difficult Schubert setting of Goethe's text "Erlkonig". What makes the song difficult is that the singer must assume several voices--that of the narrator, that of the father, that of his child, and that of the evil Erl King. Much of the momentum of the father's mad ride is supplied by the piano-- in this case, by Nathan Raskin. Ms.Garrett pointed out that the Germans love stories, especially supernatural ones!

We sensed that Mr. Garcia wanted to convey the different voices but was not totally successful, except for his appropriately colored baritonal father.  After some coaching, he was able to make the narrator less passionate and more even. The child needed a lighter but frightened sound, while the Erl King needed a measure of seductiveness. The father needed to be more tender and legato.

An interesting method of practicing this was given--the singer can sing all the lines of one of the characters in succession in order to master the build up of intensity for that particular character.  After establishing the vocal arc of each particular character, then the entire piece can be put together. This makes perfect sense and is a point we will be thinking of every time we hear a song with more than one voice.

It was a lovely dramatic experience to hear soprano Caitleen Kahn perform a satirical and allegorical song by Dmitri Shostakovich entitled "Misunderstanding".  It was the story of a rake who mistakes a woman's recitation of erotic poetry for an invitation to intimacy. Ms. Kahn is a born storyteller and had a very clear understanding of the background of the song's composition and the text as well.

She was coached to use her voice and face as well as gestures to convey the sense. Pianist Zalman Kelber got some valuable tips about achieving a less obvious doubling of the vocal line. An equally valuable tip for the singer was to practice singing into the piano (with the lid raised high, of course) with the piano playing octaves above and below. These are the "pearls" that only a master of coaching would know!

Bass-baritone Ted Pickell performed "Wenn ich mit Menschen und mit Engelszungen redete" from Brahm's Vier ernste Gesange, accompanied by Katelan Terrell. Mr. Pickell has a marvelous instrument to work with but needed coaching in putting some feeling into the text. Ms. Garrett suggested that he focus on the loving feelings. We were not feelin' it! To us it just sounded like preaching, which, of course, it is--Paul preaching to the Corinthians.

Ms. Terrell needed to lighten up on the keys and Mr. Pickell needed more color, more contrast between verses, and more attention paid to the consonants, particularly the double ones.

The evening ended with soprano Dorothy Gal, whom we have heard and enjoyed in French and Italian songs. She sang Hugo Wolf's "Geh, Geliebter, geh jetzt!" in which a woman urges her beloved to leave before he is discovered.  Clearly she doesn't want him to leave! The song is notoriously difficult with its syncopated rhythms and off-kilter entrances for the singer. This gave Ms. Garrett an opportunity to bring up a most interesting concept.

This is the issue of whether the pianist leads the singer or vice versa. In this case, the pianist must be led by the singer's entrances. Collaborative pianist Madeline Sletterdahl was instructed to emphasize the left hand over the right one.

Ms. Gal was given advice to be clearer with the consonants. We had a piece of advice for her ourself. We would like her to complement her lovely voice with some meaningful gestures. She seemed not to know what to do with her arms and hands and the gestures that were made seemed not to connect with the text. That addition would make her performance perfect.

There will be one more master class tonight--Dame Felicity Lott. We will be there with thirsty ears!

(c) meche kroop

MARILYN HORNE MASTER CLASS AT CARNEGIE HALL

             Brittany Nickell

Wee Kiat Chia

Noragh Devlin

Alexandra Smither

 As part of The Song Continues 2017, Marilyn Horne led a standing room only master class at Carnegie Hall. Four young singers and four collaborative pianists got to show their stuff and pick up some very valuable tips from Ms. Horne, who is concerned that song recitals are an endangered species. When Ms. Horne was a young artist, she gave song recitals in all fifty states! She feels that it's important for young artists to know the song literature and how to perform it.  We couldn't agree more.

Two of the four singers were well known to us from Manhattan School of Music where we reviewed their performances on the opera stage. We were impressed with them then (and hope you will use the search bar to read those reviews from the past three years) and were delighted to hear them perform in recital mode.

Soprano Brittany Nickell has a generous sound and seems to have quite a future singing roles that call for a sizable voice. Last night we heard her sing two songs by Strauss, one very familiar one from Vier Letzte Lieder--"Im Abendrot". She was coached to make her consonants crisper and her vowels more accurate. Variations of color and dynamics were addressed. We loved the advice to "enjoy the melisma" on the word "milder".

Ms. Horne's comment about "Schon sind, doch kalt die Himmelssterne" was that it was one of Strauss' "B songs" and that every set should include both well known songs and lesser known ones.  That's a point to which we have never given much thought, but it does make perfect sense.  Ms. Nickell should have a lot of Strauss in her future.  Her collaborative pianist was Nathan Raskin.

Mezzo-soprano Noragh Devlin has been reviewed by Voce di Meche four times previously and we have always appreciated her richly textured instrument and convincing dramatic gifts. She brought all this to bear on her performance of Mahler's "Um Mitternacht", with  CP Katelan Terrell gamely trying to create the orchestration on the piano. Ms. Devlin is a true mezzo and her coaching involved the advice to start pianissimo and to "belt" at the end. She was advised to take more breaths and even to take a breath between "Mitter" and "nacht" at the end, in order to give full measure to the climax.

Soprano Alexandra Smither elected to perform Schumann's setting of Goethe's "Kennst du das Land", which has been set by all the important composers of lieder in the 19th c.  Ms. Horne's coaching brought out all of the pathos, especially in the places where she was advised to take her time.  Ms. Smither was accompanied by Madeline Slettedahl.

We love the counter-tenor fach but we confess to being rather confounded by the choice of material made by Wee Kiat Chia. Xavier Montsalvatge's "Cancion de cuna" from Canciones Negras involves a mother lulling her baby to sleep. We have no problem with gender bending but it seems to work better as a source of humor. Mr. Chia was coached to feel the rocking rhythm in his body.

His other choice was Robert Schumann's "Ich grolle nicht" from Dichterliebe. He was coached to keep the sound forward, to watch out for double consonants, and to keep the momentum--advice that was also given to the other singers on the program. His CP was Zalman Kelber. We speculated that Mr. Chia wanted to do something different and we always applaud risk taking. But for our ears, we would prefer to hear him in some Handel!

(c) meche kroop