THE DRAMA OF THE LIED

 

Lara Saldanha, Victoria Falcone, and Nina Riley (photo by Andrew Bisdale)

If you were fortunate enough to have attended Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble's concert last night at the A.R.T. Center you would have experienced what a lieder recital can and should be. In a program conceived by Maestro Chris Fecteau, each set of songs became a mini opera, since each set had a theme.

There was an overall unity to the program since all of the texts were written by Paul Heyse who translated them from Italian--hence the title of the concert Italienische Liederbuch. Most fans of lieder have heard Heyse's poetry as set  by Hugo Wolf under that very name. But many of us, ourself included, did not know the wealth of material set by other composers. 

We did, of course, know that other German texts have been given multiple settings by different composers but this assemblage had a dramatic intent, the realization of which was an original and effective undertaking. Although no director was listed in the program, we will hazard a guess that Mo. Fecteau undertook the task and it was a fine undertaking indeed.

The material was not organized by composer, but rather organized along the principle of theme, so each listener was swept into the mini dramas and offered an opportunity to access his or her own memories and imagination.

Hermann Goetz's brief period of composition predated that of the late 19th century Hugo Wolf whereas Joseph Marx's heyday was somewhat later. Nonetheless, there is enough similarity within German Romanticism to unite the works, which also included one by Brahms and also Arnold Mendelssohn (a relation of Felix). There was no jarring as there might have been if modern compositions had been included.

The first set of songs was entitled "Young Lovers" and found the bright-voiced soprano Nina Riley locking gazes with the richly voiced mezzo-soprano Victoria Falcone. Both singers amplified the vocalism with dramatic enactments of flirtation. Accompanying with panache at the piano was Lara Saldanha.

We have special admiration for singers who deliver their material "off the book" which makes for better audience contact and soprano Ellen Teufel accomplished that with ease, accompanied by Mo. Fecteau himself who is always a pleasure to hear.

Following was an exploration of a love triangle comprising soprano Heather Bobeck, mezzo-soprano, Olivia Ericsson, and tenor Stephen Steffens. The facial expressions and gestures of the two women were priceless. Furthermore, it was a pleasure to hear Mr. Steffens in gentler material than that written by Mozart for Emperor Tito, which we had heard the night before.

The relationship between Father and Daughter was well explored by soprano Elizaveta Kozlova and bass Jason Adamo who presented a very distant father who seemed never to look at his lovely daughter. David Stech accompanied and also provided an absolutely delightful interlude.  Felix Mendelssohn' Songs Without Words do not need words but his "Barcarolle" in the hands of Mr. Stech produced images of Venice in my mind's eye, a gentle swaying in my body, and strangely enough, in my mind's ear, the lonely musings of the gondolier paddling himself home at the end of the night! Words were not needed but they came unbidden.

Soprano Clara Lisle joined with tenor Andres Penalver for songs about love transcending death, accompanied by Ms. Saldanha. Just when we thought the program was over, we were fortunate enough to have two more songs by Ms. Teufel accompanied by Mo. Fecteau. We observed that Ms. Teufel is always "off the book" and in a position to make good contact with the audience. In the Wolf "Gesegnet sei" she was very still but seemed to loosen up with her gestures in Marx's "Ständchen". We had the thought that her artistry could go from an "A" to an "A-plus" if she could make her gestures more specific. This is a fine point we have been becoming more aware of recently. It takes a performance to a higher level.

Although we could happily have listened to more, we did feel satisfied by the program, which succeeded in accessing our own memories and associations. As in the other two events of Dell'Arte's 25th season, we were very happy with the organization of the space and the clarity of the supertitles. We found ourselves wishing there were more events!

© meche kroop

FLEUR DU MAL

Sadie Spivey

(Photo by Brian Long)

What an exceptionally interesting idea to present a program of Charles Baudelaire's poetry as set by a variety of musicians of the 19th and early 20th c.! Of course, when one reads the program of an art song recital, the writer of the text is credited, but we had never realized the extent of Baudelaire's influence on so many composers--and not just the famous ones like Fauré, Duparc, Debussy, and Chausson! 

Last evening's entertainment, conceived and directed by Judith Barnes, was far more than a recital of mélodie. It was a peek into the mind of a literary artist whose life was a catastrophe but whose literary output was grand and influential. Ms. Barnes' program notes told us many things about Baudelaire's life; her thoughts were illustrated during the performance as the artists onstage read (in English) from his letters and journals telling us about his dissolute life as a wastrel. He burned through the family fortune in a brief period of time, necessitating what amounted to a guardianship. He died in miserable poverty, never knowing what work of art would result when French musical geniuses found the beauty in his verses, so maligned in his lifetime.

Although the readings were in English, the mélodies were performed in French by the following singers; Jason Adamo, Valerie Filloux, Sadie Spivey, Jeremy Sivitz, Olivia Ericsson, Alexandra Cirile, Helen Haas, and the final number "L'invitation au voyage" by Henri Duparc sung by Perri Sussman, perhaps the one most often performed in recital--but here, given new meaning.

The viewer was given the opportunity to connect with a strange and disturbing world, a louche world of dissipation and desire. Onstage elements, designed by Maestro Fecteau included a recamier, some chairs, a table with a decanter of vin rouge, un escritoire. Singers were costumed (by Angela Huff) in varied states of déshabillage, partly unlaced corsets, culottes, loosened coiffures, white stockings or pieds nus. Singers lounged about indifferently. Once two women rose and danced together. The chansons were interspersed with readings from Baudelaire's letters to his mother or from his journals. Ms. Barnes' direction was absolutely stellar.

Similarly, the musical accompaniment was perfection. The piano parts were performed by a tag team of Lara Saldanha and Maestro Chris Fecteau himself. There was a highly original opening to the evening when Mo. Fecteau played a captivating melody ( by Pierre de Breville. First movement of the Prélude, méditation et prière for organ without pedals (1912) on an antique harmonium. We were so enchanted that after the performance ended we insisted that he give us a demonstration of this instrument. (Dear Reader, we had made the same request of a glass harmonica player and a theorboist. We suffer from unbridled curiosity.)

The evening ended with the aforementioned Ms. Sussman singing the final Duparc chanson from a corner of the room, at the top of the raked staging, dressed in a long white garment, similar to the ones worn by Ms. Saldana and Mo. Fecteau. It was an eerie coup de theâtre which set the three of them apart from the others, leaving one free to speculate on the significance.

There will be one more performance of this unusual entertainment on Saturday evening and more information on the Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble season can be found on their website...dellarteopera.org. If you have not yet caught any of the season, you are hereby urged to do so.

Since we cannot close without something nitpicky, the projected titles were blurry and nearly impossible to read. For our part, however, we preferred to listen to the music and mentally participate in the drama.

© meche kroop

 

GUILTY PLEASURES

 Curtain Call for Guilty Pleasures

Friday night, Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble gave us two one-act pieces that made us think. Last night, they gave us an evening of pure entertainment. Is pure entertainment a guilty pleasure? LOL! We refuse to feel guilty about pleasure. We had a wonderful time, as did our companion. 

We think it's a great idea for opera singers to try their hand at cabaret; the need for gesture and facial expression should serve them well on the opera and concert stage. And from the audience standpoint, it was a real treat to hear the natural voice singing  the kind of music we usually avoid due to an intolerance of amplification.

Every artist was excellent and appreciated by a most enthusiastic audience. Some made a greater impact than others and only one interfered with audience engagement by the use of the loathed music stand. Let us mention a few of our favorite performances.

Mezzo-soprano Allison Deady, so effective as Annie in the previous night' production of Tickets, Please! showed a real flair for Offenbach in "Last night" from Christopher Columbus, an operetta with which we are not familiar and was equally impressive ending the show with the rousing "One Touch of Venus" from the eponymous Kurt Weill show.

From the same show, mezzo-soprano Rachelle Pike performed a sexy rendition of "Speak Low". Earlier in the evening, she delighted us with "Toothbrush Time" by William Bolcom, sharing an interesting anecdote with the audience.

Also from that show, Olivia Ericsson gave an expressive reading of "I'm a Stranger Here Myself", needing only to move around the stage more to take her performance to the next level.

Kaitlyn Tierney scored points for "Good 'n' Evil" from Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll and Hyde. Helen Haas did a great job using gestures and voice to build up to a climax in some French songs that were completely new to us. 

Elizaveta Kozlova, so effective as Anna I  in the prior night's performance of Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins, showed a completely different side of her artistry, having fun with "Whatever Lola Wants" from Adler and Ross' Damn Yankees. Valerie Filloux's charming performance of a pair of Schoenberg songs from his Brettl-Lieder reminded us that the composer wasn't always atonal. The songs were most accessible.

We enjoyed Thomas Walter's rendition of the "Alabama Song" from Kurt Weill's Mahagonny because he made every verse different. And Maestro Chris Fecteau tossed off an impressively novel arrangement of "Mack the Knife", making the old trite song fresh to our ears.

It was a fun evening and the audience left smiling. What more could one ask for on a Saturday night!

© meche kroop