MASTER(FUL) VOICES

Soprano Mikaela Bennett, Maestro Ted Sperling, and Baritone Justin Austin

The MasterVoices Chorus and the Orchestra of Saint Luke's

(Photo by Erin Baiano)

It was an unusual evening and one that was very well received by a huge crowd of fans filling up Alice Tully Hall.  Recent renovations put a pipe organ on display with Orchestra of St. Luke's organist Matthew Lewis having the time of his life.  Other members of OSL included a sole violin among a generous string section, and winds comprising a pair of bassoons, a pair of horns, a pair of percussionists and (our favorite) an angelic harp.

Our overall impression of Fauré's Requiem in D Minor is that it is a kinder gentler work than other requiems we have heard. The "wrath of God" and dire warnings are absent and it seems more a lullaby sending the departed off to a restful repose. It was indeed performed at Fauré's death and we hope he is enjoying a richly deserved peaceful sleep!

The composer began work on the piece in 1888 and revised it several times until 1900. We lack the knowledge to identify which version we heard but it was a satisfying one with the massive voices of MasterVoices singing the seven movements, ending with Fauré's unique "In Paradisum" sending the departed one off to paradise. The orchestration gave lots of attention to the horns which blared in as stentorian fashion as trumpets. However, we were most taken with the harp, played by the appropriately named Grace Paradise!

Strangely, Fauré gave the vocal soloists little to do and, since we are great fans of soprano Mikaela Bennett and baritone Justin Austin, we felt a bit disappointed to see them sitting there for a half hour with only small parts.

The second piece on the program made up for that, giving the two artists some interesting and challenging texts which were unfortunately amplified to the point of muddying the clever words. Far be it from us to sit and read from the program during a performance; we wished that titles had been projected. Upon returning home we read the libretto and realized what we had missed.

Maestro Ted Sperling came up with the incredibly clever idea for Seven: a Cycle of Sins,  putting the seven deadly sins up for grabs, so to speak, allowing a herd of contemporary composers to "choose their own sin". Each one contributed something in his own voice. Most notable (if only because we were very recently introduced to his music) was the "Envy" of Jason Robert Brown. Voices overlapped in a manner reminiscent of Stephen Sondheim. Mr. Brown's comments pointedly referred to his failure to achieve entrance into Juilliard and he did so in the wittiest fashion.

On the other hand Ted Hearne's gloss on "Greed" employed a boring political text relating to the Occupy Movement. This reminded us of the contemporary operas we dismiss as polemic.

Michael Abels illustrated "Lust" with a brief recreation of lovemaking sounds culminating in orgasm. This was so direct that it may well have achieved the status of audience favorite. "Love to Love You Baby", recorded by Donna Summer and released in 1975, accomplished great popularity but was banned by several radio stations. Apparently "classical music" performed in a concert hall can get away with things that popular recordings cannot.

The superb composer Gregory Spears took the easy way out and illustrated the sin of "Vanity" with a lengthy quote from Ecclesiastes. Heather Christian's take on "Wrath" used similarly wordy text.

Composer/lyricist team of William C. Banfield and Michael R. Jackson got philosophical about politics in "Sloth", perhaps a too heavy a burden with its wordy unsingable argument. The team of Will Aronson and Dolan Morgan undertook to illustrate "Gluttony" by an argument between "Everything in the World" and "People", another wordy discussion.

There is an eighth deadly sin folks, and no one ever speaks about it. That is the sin of "Acedia"--apathy and despondency--whih seems to be afflicting our culture today. Who wants to write a song about it?

You may have gathered by now, Dear Reader, that we vote for "Lust". It was short, sweet, and direct. Lyrics that are wordy and deep, in our opinion, belong on the printed page. 

That being said, Sperling's idea was an interesting one; giving composers carte blanche led to some curious offerings. When someone brings up The Seven Deadly Sins, we will no longer be thinking of the Kurt Weill opera/ballet but we will be thinking of Sterling's commission. Will it be performed again? Will it become part of the vocal canon? What do you think Dear Reader?

© meche kroop

 

WINTERGREEN FOR PRESIDENT

Bryce Pinkham and Mikaela Bennett in MasterVoices' Let 'Em Eat Cake
(photo credit- Erin Baiano)

Guest Review by Ellen Godfrey:

MasterVoices, under the artistic direction of Tony Award winner Ted Sperling, returned to Carnegie Hall on Friday night for its 78th concert performance. MasterVoices, formerly known as the Collegiate Chorale, was founded in 1941 by the legendary choral conductor Robert Shaw; its repertoire includes choral masterpieces, operas in concert, operettas, and musical theatre. 

Friday night’s production, Let 'Em Eat Cake, is little known today. It was created in 1933, with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book by George S. Kaufman and Morris Ryskind.  The concert script was adapted by Laurence Mason. Ted Sperling conducted both the magnificent 150 MasteVoices singers and the Orchestra of St Luke’s; he also directed the production. The show satirizes the American political system, the Supreme Court, fascists, radicals, the League of Nations, fashion, and even baseball. Does all of this sound familiar?  No wonder Mr. Sperling chose this musical to be presented, as we are going into the 2020 election process. 

Let 'Em Eat Cake is a sequel to the Gershwins’ big hit musical of 1931, Of Thee I Sing, the first musical to have received a Pulitzer Prize; it ran for 441 performances on Broadway.  Of Thee I Sing lampooned the American system of government and its corruption. John P. Wintergreen is running for President of the United States and runs on the “Love” platform. He wins by a landslide and he and Mary are to be married. There is a resolution about impeachment of the president but all ends happily.

The Gershwin team decided two years later to follow the success of Of Thee I Sing with a sequel-- Let 'Em Eat Cake. It had a run of only 89 performances, perhaps because it was not as bright and comforting as its predecessor.  The country was facing a depression and there was rising fascism in Italy and Germany. Despite all the humor, the Country seemed to want something different.  

The musical team brought many of the same characters from Of Thee I Sing into this sequel, and even some of the music. Wintergreen and his Vice President Throttlebottom lose the election and Tweedledee becomes the next president. Wintergreen and his fellow politicians decide to overthrow the government by a march on Washington and he becomes a dictator. They get the Supreme Court involved in a baseball game between the United States and the League of Nations.  Throttlebottom is the umpire but there is a controversy and Throttlebottom is being sent to the guillotine along with several others. In the end, they are forgiven (they couldn’t get the guillotine to work) and Wintergreen decides not to run for president again.

The musical began with an exciting overture. There was a snare drum player in the center of the orchestra, a rather unusual location for percussion; piccolo, trumpets and other instruments joined in. The violins played counterpoint to the cellos on the other side of the conductor. Jazz music could be heard played by the trumpet.

The score includes snippets of familiar music such as the songs “Too Darn Hot,” "Hail Hail The Gang's All Here", "Of Thee I Sing", ”Yankee Doodle Dandy”, and other short pieces that sound familiar.  Maestro Sperling drew a wonderful sound from the orchestra and the chorus was magnificent.

The Gershwins used the same musical team from Of Thee I Sing. Most of the characters and many of the musical motifs appear in Let 'Em Eat Cake. The musical score is all Gershwin.  There are many songs in the show; some have a political side, some send up Gilbert and Sullivan, and others are just plain funny.  A line in the title song is “Let the proletariat eat cake..good times are coming.” 

"Mine", the well-known duet made popular by recordings of Judy Garland and Bing Crosby, was sung in this production by Bryce Pinkham as John P. Wintergreen, and Mikaela Bennett as his wife Mary, both of whom have beautiful well trained voices. The melody of "Mine" is especially lovely and the two artists harmonized beautifully.

Bryce Pinkham picked up on all the comedy of his character and exhibited a smooth manner.  Mikaela Bennett, a recent Juilliard graduate, has a silver-toned soprano voice and moved easily from musical comedy up into the operatic stratosphere. She played her character as very much in charge.

Actor, singer, and director David Pittu played the role of Kruger, an agitator. His pleasing voice was accompanied by a strong stage presence.  He played a rather sleazy character who became head of the army and agreed to a baseball game with the Supreme Court to get back his money.

Kevin Chamberlin played the role of the bungling Vice President Alexander Throttlebottom, whom no one in the White House ever seemed to recognize. He has a great presence on stage and every time he entered he drew laughs. He has diverse theatre credits to his name, including many musicals as well as film and tv.

Christopher Fitzgerald, nominated for several Tony and Drama desk awards, served as both the Narrator and Tweedledee, the new American president. However, later in the first act, Tweedledee is thrown out by Wintergreen.  

The artists portraying cabinet members have all performed in Broadway musicals, and television and/or films-- Francis X. Gilhooley, Secretary of the Navy, played by Fred Applegate; Louis Lippman, Secretary of Agriculture, played by Lewis J. Sadlen; General Adam Snookfield played by Bill Buell; and Matthew Arnold Fulton as a newspaper magnate. All of their characterizations were different and humorous.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was played by Stephen Eisdorfer, Lieutenant by Edsel Romero, and Nursemaid by Madelyn Miyashita. Other groups of characters were the Supreme Court Justices, Diplomats, Interpreters, and fashion show models. All were totally wrapped up in their characters.

Congratulations to the great 150 members of the MasterVoices and to Ted Sperling and all the people who work with MasterVoices.  Their sound in Stern Auditorium was warm, wonderful, and astounding to listen to. They all seemed to be caught up in the wonderful Gershwin songs and gave their all. 

The audience had a good time and gave the group a long ovation.  I’m looking forward to the next Master Singers program. 

© meche kroop

NIGHT SONGS AND LOVE WALTZES

Nicole Cabell, Kate Aldrich, Greg Anderson, Elizabeth Joy Roe, Maestro Ted Sperling, Nicholas Phan and Nimon Ford

It is obvious that Maestro Ted Sperling adores what he does and so does his audience. It seems as if he loved putting together the program "Night Songs and Love Waltzes", judging by the enthusiasm with which he introduced each part of the program to the audience at Alice Tully Hall. We would also hazard a guess that the members of Master Voices adore him, such was the rapport he had with them.

What impressed us the most about this esteemed choral group is the clarity of their diction. Text is so important in art song and musical theater! We want to understand every word, and we did when the chorus was singing. We wish we could say the same about the soloists but we cannot. 

Except for a few instances, words were carelessly enunciated and, if you didn't know the songs, you missed a lot of the meaning. This was particularly distressing in the medley of songs from Sondheim's 1972 masterpiece A Little Night Music, in which we wanted to understand every delightful turn of phrase. Apparently, American-born singers do not really work at this clarity.  More's the pity!

The voices were excellent however. Nicole Cabell has a scintillating soprano; Kate Aldrich's mezzo instrument is colorful and well employed; Nicholas Phan's tenor is meltingly tender and especially lovely in Brahms' "Nicht wandle, mein Licht" from Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer and in Schumann's "Mondnacht", although we were dismayed by his carelessness with the final consonants. Nimon Ford has a substantial baritone which he used well in Brahms' "Unbewegte laue Luft" which had an abrupt change from gentle to passionate.

Our favorite song among the Liebeslieder Walzer was "Am Donaustrande" when the singing abruptly changed color and dynamics in tandem with the text.

Maestro Sperling, in his introduction, pointed out how folks in the 19th c. would spend an evening gathered around the piano making music together; this sounds to us like a lot more fun than sitting some place with friends with each one on his/her cell phone!  

There seemed to be something artificial about the four singers lined up behind those music stands; someday we would love to see this work performed in a less formal setting. Singers trying to act whilst turning pages and glancing down at the score is just not ideal for drawing the audience in.

The "Ständchen" we heard was not the Schubert serenade we always hear. The text by Franz Grillparzer was sung by Ms. Aldrich and echoed by the chorus--a truly lovely effect.

We loved Schumann's Jagdlieder, sung by the men's chorus and accompanied by four French horns played by Zohar Schondorf, Steven Sherts, Kyle Hoyt and Shelagh Abate. The most unusual was "Frühe" in which the vocal lines overlapped.

Sondheim composed A Little Night Music in 3/4 time and Maestro Sperling arranged  a suite of the songs for our delight. Since the words were frequently incomprehensible, we found ourself focusing on the sound of the cello. (Peter Schon and Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf were also wonderful in Mendelssohn's "Verleih uns Frieden").

Clara Schumann's "Gondoliera" was composed as a birthday gift for Robert and served the purpose of making us want to hear more lieder from this somewhat overlooked composer.

Composer Ricky Ian Gordon was in the audience, visibly enjoying the performance of his cycle Life is Love, settings of text by Langston Hughes. Although this is not our kind of music, we did very much enjoy "New Moon" in which the four singers and horns shared overlapping lines with the chorus. We are not sure one could call this a fugue but it was very interesting and complex.

Pianists for the evening were Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe who make a compelling duo, sometimes playing on two pianos and sometimes sharing one piano bench. They performed their own wild arrangement of Brahms' Virtuoso Hungarian Dance #5 in F#minor and Astor Piazollo's "Libertango", which involved reaching "under the hood" of the piano and plucking strings.

It was a generous program and everyone walked out smiling. We are left with great admiration for the members of this chorus who must have been extremely well rehearsed.

(c) meche kroop