AT HOME WITH NYFOS

Galeano Salas, Will Kelley, Liv Redpath, Abigail Levis, and Justin Austin with Steven Blier at the piano

"At Home", the latest entry in Steven Blier's New York Festival of Song, seen last night at Merkin Concert Hall, was a cleverly constructed program based on the concept of songs for each room of the home. This concept originated at Wolf Trap. We have no idea where Maestro Blier finds the unusual songs that he programs but each one was a gem and all were new to us.  

And do we need to mention how judiciously the singers are chosen?  Each one possesses a fine voice and a dramatic style that conveys the meaning of each song. The group spent a residency up at Caramoor for the past week or so, polishing their performances for the delectation of the audience. It was difficult to say whether they had more fun onstage or the audience.

There were songs for the parlor, the kitchen, the nursery, the dressing room, and the bedroom.  Can you guess where the encore took place? Segments were introduced by quotes from Oscar Wilde, John Ruskin, Gilbert Chesterton, Eddie Izzard, and James Baldwin. Effective dramatic direction was provided by Alison Moritz.

The Parlor offered a number of thrills, comprising pieces commissioned by wealthy 19th c. patrons for private concerts.  Readers will recall our affection for 19th c. music. The opening number, Ernest Chausson's "La nuit" gave soprano Liv Redpath and mezzo-soprano Abigail Levis the opportunity to join voices in delicious harmonies with overlapping voices. 

Massenet's "Sevillanas" permitted Ms. Redpath to launch some vocal fireworks with a Spanish flavor, accompanied by both Mr. Blier and the dashing collaborative pianist Will Kelley.

There was humor aplenty when Ms. Levis performed a tribute to the cigarette in the song of the same name by Herbert E. Haines from 1904. Tenor Galeano Salas teamed up with baritone Justin Austin for "Trust Her Not" by Michael William Balfe. They not only sang together but danced a little vaudeville turn. We wondered what Henry Wadsworth Longfellow might have thought of this delightful use of his text.

Moving on to The Kitchen, we enjoyed lots more humor. Ms. Levis came onto the stage waving a knife and wooden spoon to perform Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Food for Thought", the lyrics of which contained clever internal rhymes by Robert Wright and George Forrest. 

We loved the way Mr. Salas performed the lengthy "Painting My Kitchen", a late 20th c. work by John Bucchino.  Underpinning his humorous delivery was the driving four-handed piano of Maestro Blier and Mr. Kelley.

In The Nursery section, astute direction by Alison Moritz had Mr. Austin entertaining the other singers appearing as children with Xavier Montsalvatge's "El lagarto está llorando", the setting of a text by Federico Garcia Lorca.

We never knew that the marvelous melodist Reynaldo Hahn set any English texts but we loved "My Ship and I", a text by Robert Louis Stevenson; and we loved the way Ms. Levis performed it. 

Darius Milhaud's  "Tais-toi, babillarde", a song from the 1940 Quatre poèmes de Ronsard opened with an extended vocalise in which Ms. Redpath gave vent to all of her coloratura skills, sounding more like a nightingale than the swallow of the text. (To tell the truth, we don't really know what either bird sounds like!)  Mr. Kelley's piano gave us the subtext.

The Dressing Room had only one song which the company performed with narcissistic glee--Edwin Weber's 1923 "I Love Me".

There were some wonderful songs taking place in The Bedroom.  Mr. Austin delivered the romantic ballad "Im Zimmer" written at the very beginning of Alban Berg's creative life. His performance was intimate and accessible--but was followed by the Polish song by Grazyna Bacewicz from 1955, translated as "I have such a headache". Ms. Redpath gave it a very funny delivery as a woman responding to the romantic advances of the prior song.

Perhaps our favorite song of the evening was Pietro Mascagni's "Serenata", a simply gorgeous strophic song which Mr. Salas performed with lots of garlic, supported by Maestro Blier's lilting piano. We could imagine an entire opera surrounding this superb song.

If you haven't already figured it out, the encore took place in (drumroll please) The Bathroom with the entire cast wearing shower caps and carrying sponges and rubber duckies for the 1929 song "Singing in the Bathtub" (Magidson/Washington/Cleary).

It was the perfect end to another delightful NYFOS evening.

(c) meche kroop

THE MASTERY OF WILL KELLEY

Will Kelley

It is incredibly rewarding to witness artistic growth and especially so when an artist you have been enjoying for some time is achieving a master's degree. We arrived at Juilliard last night rain-soaked and wind-blown but by the end of the recital our frown had turned upside down, a phenomenon that will be familiar to music lovers.

Mr. Kelley is an outstanding collaborative pianist, as we already knew.  But last night was an opportunity to hear him work with several different singers and a cellist heretofore unknown to us. He subtly adjusted his prodigious technique to suit each and every circumstance.

First on the program, he was joined by countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski and tenor Matthew Swensen for Benjamin Britten's Canticle II: "Abraham and Isaac" which we saw performed last year at Chelsea Opera. (Review archived). We are never fond of bible stories but this is one of the most immoral and despicable of all. In our opinion, true morality is doing what is right regardless of what one is told, whereas doing what you are told regardless of what is right is nothing more than obedience.

Personal distaste for the subject matter aside, the three artists performed magnificently with Mr. Swensen as the misguidedly obedient father and Mr. Orlinski portraying the heartbreakingly obedient and trusting child. Even with scores in hand they acted with body as well as voice; Mr. Kelley modulated his playing to fit every mood change. The harmonies of the final duet were strikingly accomplished.

The next work on the program was Francis Poulenc's Sonata for Cello and Piano. Mr. Kelley pointed out that both the Britten and the Poulenc were written contemporaneously in the post WWII period. This was an excellent opportunity to hear Mr. Kelley partner with another instrumentalist, a new experience for us. 

Julian Schwarz' playing was just as fine as Mr. Kelley's; the two seemed to have a superb partnership and both navigated the many moods evinced within the four movements. The first was light-hearted; the second was lyrically somber and marked by gorgeous glissandi and a peaceful conclusion; the third was downright frisky by way of staccati given a Gallic shrug; and the fourth exhibited tension, ponderousness, then a music hall type franticness. Whew!

The second half of the program brought us to more familiar territory. By this time we had decided that Mr. Kelley chose his partners well and mezzo-soprano Caitlin Redding was just the right singer for a quartet of early songs by Arnold Schoenberg and three selections from Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire set by Debussy.  

Among the Schoenberg songs we loved the evocative "Erwartung" and the sensual "Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm". It has taken many hearings for us to appreciate Schoenberg but the artistry of Ms. Redding and Mr. Kelley brought us farther along the path.

Among the Debussy selections, our favorite was "Le jet d'eau" in which Mr. Kelley's piano limned all the rippling and splashing of the fountain.  Indeed we decided that Debussy did for fountains what Beethoven did for moonlight.

The final part of the program comprised four selections from Sergei Rachmaninoff's Six Romances, Op. 38 for which soprano Christine Price was an excellent choice.

The more we listen the greater is our admiration for the art of Collaborative Piano. It is not enough to be an excellent pianist; there is so much involved in matching the other artist's tempi, coloring, and dynamics.  We'd say that Mr. Kelley has mastered the art!

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A SEASONAL WINTERREISE

William Kelley and Christopher Dylan Herbert

A perfectly polished performance of Schubert's masterpiece Winterreise was given yesterday by baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert and his collaborative pianist William Kelley at St. Paul's Chapel, as part of their Twelfth Night Festival. The capacity audience was held spellbound for over an hour as they lived through the sorrowful journey of a bereft young man, a journey through a cold and forbidding landscape which offers little comfort.

There isn't much we haven't already written about this Romantic period gem, a setting of a cycle of poems by Wilhelm Müller. What is significant for us is that each time we hear it, we hear something new, depending upon the specific artistry of the performers. Mr. Herbert is a very special artist, bringing to the work some rather intense scholarship and a deep understanding of the text.

He has a reserved stage presence, economic of gesture but generous with vocal shadings. His German is excellent with no consonant slurred over, yet without overly punctilious pronunciation. His musicianship and phrasing leave nothing to be desired.  His lyric baritone is warm and pleasing to the ear.

Mr. Kelley is an expressive pianist of great sensitivity. Just as Müller's poetry describes many sorrowful natural and symbolic observations, and Schubert's vocal line evokes many colors of despair for the singer to limn, so Schubert's piano writing brings forth every element of nature--the subject's pounding heart, the frozen landscape, the blustery winds, the frost on the windows, the menacing crow, the post carriage, the hoofbeats, the dangling leaf. Mr. Kelley limned every one of them.

We wish we could share with you readers the well-thought-out essay on the piece written by Mr. Herbert. What we will share is our agreement with his point of view that youth is no barrier to tackle this major work. Nor would it be a barrier to being affected by it.  Who has not lost love? Who has not contemplated self-annihilation?  Is the young man indulging in histrionics?  Is he a product of 19th c. Romanticism?

The way Mr. Herbert sang his words and Mr. Kelley played Schubert's music, we decided he was quite unbalanced, perhaps suffering from Manic Depressive Illness. The rapid major-minor shifts indicate an unsettled nature, as do the unresolved chords.

And so, we listen, we feel touched in our hearts, we wish to comfort those who cannot find comfort, we think of creative solutions to life's blows. Schubert's music is indeed inspiring and magical!

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JOYCE DI DONATO--MASTER CLASS AT JUILLIARD

Theo Hoffman and Joyce DiDonato

Master classes give us a thrill like no other and the ones given by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato are always a special event. Her astuteness in diagnosing the singular thing that will take a student from a four-star performance to a five-star performance is remarkable. Furthermore, her warm and engaging manner promotes a special bonding with the student, a trust that allows them to take risks.

We confess that we would have been satisfied with the four-star performance. It being Juilliard Vocal Arts Department, we daresay that their pre-coaching performance is superior to most singers. However, it was only after we heard the difference made by her coaching that we realized how much better the student sounded. These are no ordinary students; they are working on their Master's degree and already singing all over the world and delighting audiences here and abroad. They collect awards and grants the way most people collect knick-knacks.

Baritone Theo Hoffman is a case in point. He sang an audition piece that we are sure is responsible for his getting a lot of work--"Dorma ancora o son desto" from Claudio Monteverdi's 1640 opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.  In this introspective recitativo-like aria from Act I, the hero (usually sung by a tenor) awakens on the beach. Mr. Hoffman sang it with such depth of feeling that we were deeply moved. He used his impressive instrument with agility and dynamic variety.

This was not enough for Ms. DiDonato! She worked with Mr. Hoffman on being IN the harmony of the "orchestra", singing INTO what was going on underneath the vocal line, in this case the marvelous piano work of William Kelley whom we much admire. This is an exquisitely fine point about which we knew very little.  We so greatly appreciated the opportunity to learn along with Mr. Hoffman about playing with the "temperament" of the note.  And we always thought a note was a note!  Oh, no!  That's where the color comes from.  Great lesson for Mr. Hoffman and for us.

We do love the counter-tenor fach and have enjoyed Jakub Józef Orliński's voice on a number of occasions. His instrument sounds like the voice of an angel, if one tries to imagine what that would sound like.  He sang "Agitato da fiere tempeste" from Händel's Oreste and impressed us, and Ms. DiDonato, with his musicality. She observed that he sang it like an instrumentalist.

But that was not enough. She was looking for some legato passages to work on and asked him to sing his other selection "Vedro con mio diletto" from Vivaldi's Giustino. She picked up some tension and resistance that she tackled by dancing him around the stage. She worked with him on releasing the breath and sighing it out without effort. He could work on this by slurring instead of singing each note.  Indeed it made a difference as he relaxed his effort and achieved a more spontaneous sound.

Soprano Christine Price tackled a difficult Mozart aria--"Ach, ich liebte" from Die Entführung aus dem Serail.  Most of the lesson revolved around using the mental image of opening up spaces in the mask, thereby keeping the voice out of the throat.

Mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey worked diligently on "Allez, laissez-moi seul" from Massenet's Cendrillon.  Most of the work was on moving the energy. It was helpful when Ms. DiDonato spun Ms. Hankey around the stage. Perhaps this strategy works so well because the singer is distracted from making efforts toward perfection. She was further instructed to keep strictly to the tempo, to keep moving forward and through the consonants to the end of the phrase.

In all four students we noticed subtle improvements that were very gratifying. The Collaborative Piano Department provided the wonderful Mr. Kelley who played for all the singers except for Mr. Orliński, whose piano partner was Michal Biel. They make a great team.

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TWO TERRIFIC TENORS...AND MORE

Grace Canfield, Allison Porter, Cristobal Arias, Katelan Terrell, Cristina Stanescu, Caitlin Redding, Matthew Swensen, William Kelley, Sora Jung ,Ho Jae Lee, Nathan Raskin

It was another thrilling early evening liederabend at Juilliard and the hall was packed. Five superb singers joined with five collaborative pianists for a pleasant respite from the Xmas shopping chaos outside.  The performances were all excellent; we would expect no less.

It's possible to admire all the artists and yet to single out a couple that for one reason or another affect us more deeply.  We suspect it has something to do with the mood we are in or the choice of material. We sometimes hear an artist on another occasion and have very different feelings.  So...here goes.

We were absolutely enchanted by two tenors, which, in itself is remarkable because we get very turned off if a tenor pushes his high notes.  (We actually feel the tension in our own throat and it hurts!) What a surprise to learn that Cristobal Arias is just a sophomore in the Vocal Arts Department. He performed Beethoven's song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, and he performed it magnificently.

This cycle is Beethoven at his most melodic and the melodies have been running through our head all night. Unlike Schubert's cycles, this one does not tell a story. Rather, all the songs revolve around the central theme of longing for a distant beloved. They are best sung simply without spurious dramatic effects and this is exactly how they were performed. 

Mr. Arias has a gentle sweet tone and made liberal use of dynamic variety from the very start. In "Leichte Segler in den Höhen" he sang with marcato emphasis and in "Diese Wolken in den Höhen" he sang with a lovely lilting quality. He ended the cycle with intensity and passion. We were, as they say, "feelin' it".

The cycle was performed without breaks and his piano partner Katelan Terrell was delightful in the interludes which knit the songs together. We loved the way she captured the nature sounds and it was clear that she was enjoying herself.

The second tenor was quite different but equally impressive. Accompanied by Ho Jae Lee, he sang a trio of songs by Francis Poulenc whom we are coming to appreciate more and more. His instrument is a rich one with an interesting velvety texture and a pleasing resonance; his technique is flawless. His involvement in the material was intense and sustained right through the silences. He drew us into the text from the very beginning and by the time he got to the setting of Appolinaire's "Bleuet" we were close to tears.  That's communing with the audience!

We also heard three fine women whom we enjoyed a great deal. The glamorously gowned soprano Grace Canfield, ably accompanied by Nathan Raskin, has a bright sound that opens at the top like a parasol. She sang two selections from Liszt's Tre sonetti del Petrarca--"Pace non trovo" and "I' vidi in terra", and she sang them with intensity and urgency.

Soprano Allison Porter, accompanied by Sora Jung, introduced us to some early 20th c. French songs by Louis Beydts. The texts of the cycle Chansons pour les oiseaux were mostly nonsensical and Ms. Porter succeeded in bringing out the humor with her bubbly personality.

And finally, mezzo Caitlin Redding performed a trio of selections from Claude Debussy's settings of Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire. They are a far cry from the no nonsense realistic depiction of longing in the Beethoven cycle; au contraire, they are filled with metaphor and imagery.  Similarly the music is radically different from Beethoven's direct illumination of a feeling but rather indirect and impressionistic. William Kelley performed well as piano partner.

The singers were coached by Cristina Stanescu who deserves to be pleased as punch.

Now wasn't that a better way to spend an hour than shopping??  You betcha'!

(c) meche kroop

 

GERALD FINLEY MASTER CLASS

William Kelley, Joe Eletto and Gerald Finley

Every master class is different but they all share something in common. A famous singer with the ability to impart his/her knowledge works with a few different students, usually for about a half-hour each, and tries to give each one something useful.  Some students readily pick up on these gifts and others seem unable to grasp them, possibly because of the stressful circumstance of learning in front of an audience.

Yesterday's master class at Juilliard was exceptional in that baritone Gerald Finley possesses not only a great knowledge of his art but also the ability to find a point of entry to reach each student. The other reason it was exceptional is that the students of Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts are preternaturally receptive and relaxed in front of an audience.

Most master teachers have a main theme to convey and Mr. Finley's had to do with the many aspects of intimacy. In contrast with the expansive "reaching out" of opera, lieder singing is an "inviting in" kind of performance. The singer must express who he/she is as an artist, emphasizing simplicity and vulnerability. It's a "heart-to-heart" kind of thing, an expression we ourselves have used to describe a number of Juilliard-trained singers. The singer must be the music and be the emotion so that the members of the audience can feel those feelings.  We are totally in agreement!

The first student was bass Daniel Miroslaw, working with collaborative pianist Valeriya Polunina. We were delighted that he chose to sing a song in his native Polish entitled "Whence the First Stars" by M. Karlowicz. Ms. Polunina was coached to begin with a note expressing the distance from the stars; one could hear the distance as this set the stage for Mr. Miroslaw. She also was coached to slow the tempo just a bit.

Mr. Miroslaw has a wonderfully rich instrument and he was coached to take his inspiration from the text and reminded to focus on the tone and the line, especially when singing his own language. Rests in the music become a cue to express emotion. He needed to ease up on the effort and this made an impressive difference. By the end of the half-hour we could feel the remoteness of the heavens!

The second singer was countertenor Eric Jurenas with Juliana Han at the piano. They began with Henry Purcell's "Sweeter than Roses". Mr. Finley instructed Mr. Jurenas to sing his English as if it were Italian, shifting the English "O" to an Italian "AW". It is always advisable to go by how it feels in the body rather than how it sounds. Since and open vowel resonates better less air is needed. Furthermore, it was advised to take more breaths and to make them meaningful. Ms. Han did so well with the Baroque style and the pair worked very well together.

Baritone Joe Eletto performed next with the always wonderful William Kelley producing marvelous colors on the piano. They performed "Schöne Fremde" from Robert Schumann's Liededrkreis, Op.39. Mr. Finley made an interesting point about knowing what came before a particular selection within the cycle.  He emphasized the necessity, when singing German lieder, to be totally aware of the text and to sing the words "immaculately". Every syllable requires vitality and energy.

In this song, the poet is expressing the strangeness of being in a foreign place; the place is indeed beautiful but overwhelming in its strangeness. After this bit of coaching we could indeed feel these unique feelings and were reminded of some of our stranger travels. Mr. Kelley sustained this mood right into the postlude.

The final student was soprano Christine Price who possesses an instrument just made for Strauss. She sang the moving "Mein Herz ist stumm, mein Herz ist kalt" from Sechs Lieder aus Lotosblätter, Op. 19, accompanied by William Kelley. The same advice about opening the vowels served here as well. How many times have we heard voice teachers saying to avoid widening the mouth on "AH". Attention was paid to the final consonants and their strict enunciation.

It was a master class in which each artist grew in intimacy and communication--a worthwhile class for both artists and audience.

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LIEDERABEND A LA RUSSE

Mary-Elizabeth  O'Neill, Jessine Johnson, James Edgar Knight, Fan Jia, and Sophia Kaminski

A recital this special does credit not only to the artists but to the coach; so let us acknowledge Gina Levinson right at the beginning. It has taken us longer to appreciate Russian song than songs in the languages that we speak and understand. It never struck us as a particularly beautiful language, but from the hearts, voices and hands of these young Juilliard artists it was suffused with beauty.

The dramatic skills were notable all around and each singer used gesture and body language to get the text across, without ever losing vocal artistry.  Each collaborative pianist conveyed the intention of the composer to paint vivid pictures that dazzled the mind's eye.

A particular knockout was mezzo-soprano Mary-Elizabeth O'Neill who conveyed us to a 19th c. nursery with a little girl and her doll, a nanny, a hobby horse, a naughty cat, and an even naughtier little boy. We wonder if Modest Mussorgsky, who wrote his own text, was writing from his own experience.

But there was no doubt that Ms. O'Neill was very much in touch with the text herself and we were not surprised to learn that she did her own translations. Readers must know by now that we are not a fan of "park and bark" and love it when a singer uses her entire body to get a song across. The image of Ms. O'Neill galloping around the stage on her imaginary hobby horse is one that we will not soon forget.

The colors of her voice were manipulated to distinguish between the nanny and the child and later the child and his mother. All this was accomplished without losing tone or phrasing. Kathryn Felt at the piano joined in the fun and left us smiling until our cheeks hurt.

Gorgeously melodic songs by Tchaikovsky, of the same generation as Mussorgsky, appeared twice on the program. What a surprise to learn that the lovely soprano Sophia Kaminski is still an undergraduate. She clearly demonstrated how Tchaikovsky's melodies followed the rhythm of the language and her clear bright voice floated on the surface of the melody with a fine and pleasing vibrato.

In the strophic song "Was I not like the grass in the field?" she brought out the plaintive lament of a young girl married off to an old man she did not love.  It was heartbreaking. In the rhythmic"A Gypsy Song" she had the opportunity to show a more light-hearted side as a young woman who has no problem bidding adieu to her most recent lover. Her collaborative pianist William Kelley was particularly fine in this song.

Baritone Fan Jia, accompanied by Hea Youn Chung, was equally impressive in another set of Tchaikovsky songs. He began the set with the beautiful "No, only he who has known".  Although the text is attributed to one Lev Mey, we are sure they were Goethe's words from Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, which were also set by Schubert and Beethoven.

Mr. Jia sang it beautifully with plenty of the requisite pathos and longing. There is a tender texture to his instrument that makes it most powerful when his sings pianissimo. He was accompanied by Hea Youn Chung and the pair made quite an impression with these lovely songs. Our second favorite was "Believe it not, my friend" with text by Tolstoy. We do believe that our affection for 19th c. composers has much to do with their choice of text to set.

James Edgar Knight performed some fine songs by Rachmaninoff who composed a generation after the aforementioned composers. His songs are wildly passionate and Mr. Knight used his tenor in a manner that emphasized this passion. Our favorite was the popular "Do not sing, my beauty, to me", the haunting melody referencing Russian suffering. Ava Nazar is always a fine and sensitive accompanist, here bringing out the pathos.

It was a bit of a relief to hear the more wistful "A Dream" in which Mr. Knight brought it down a notch. The hopeful and seasonable "Spring Waters" ended the set.  Mr. Knight seems to taste the words he sings, which we love.  We would love his performances even more if he relaxed his high notes a bit. His voice is very powerful!

The program closed with a set of songs by Shostakovich from Satires. The impressive soprano Jessine Johnson explained that Shostakovich composed them during the postwar economic depression of the 20th c. The playfulness on the surface is actually ironic.

The music is more modern than the earlier music we prefer but Ms. Johnson sang the songs with clarity, style and involvement, which brought us into the music.  We particularly liked the irony of a "better future" in "Descendants".  Her accompanist HoJae Lee was particularly fine in that song.

Every visit to Juilliard presents fresh delights for the ear and this recital yesterday was a real winner. Hearing this superb music sung and played by these gifted young artists has brought us to a newer and more profound appreciation of Russian song. Our companion at the recital, completely new to vocal recitals, has become a fan of the art song. And that's saying something!

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JUILLIARD VOCAL ARTS HONORS RECITAL

William Kelley, Juliana Han, Eric Jurenas, and Theo Hoffman

We confess to greediness where pleasure is concerned. Last night's Vocal Arts Honors Recital at Juilliard could easily have gone on for another hour.  It left us wanting more--not in any way unsatisfied, just wanting more goodies from the four gifted artists who graced the stage at Alice Tully Hall.

The two singers were nominated by their voice teachers for a competitive audition and then selected by distinguished judges.  Each chose his own program and that lent a degree of excitement to the evening--learning a bit about how they experience their own particular talent.  The two pianists were chosen from the Collaborative Piano Department.

The first half of the evening was performed by counter-tenor Eric Jurenas accompanied by the lovely Juliana Han. If you read our review of Anthony Roth Costanzo last week, you may recall how fond we are of this special fach.  If you are a regular reader, you may recall that we do not prefer singing in English. We are now back-pedalling since Mr. Jurenas' superb English diction and Henry Purcell's lavish melodies ensured that this was our favorite part of his offerings.

Mr. Jurenas has a finely focused instrument that is brilliant in the upper register and manages to bring an amazing roundness of tone in the lower register.  Although no one knows what the castrati sounded like, we were imagining that was the sound. We are glad, however, that Mr. Jurenas was never called upon to make the necessary sacrifice.  Hard work is sacrifice enough!

The Purcell songs were the perfect choice for his instrument and he brought the text to life with dramatic expressiveness, dynamic variety and thoughtful word coloring.  "Music for a While" from Oedipus has rarely fallen on our ears with such delight.  In "Sweeter than Roses" from Pausanias, we loved the melismatic singing on the word "victorious"; what Mr. Jurenas did with the word "freeze" made us shiver!

He showed some fine French style in Ravel's Épigrammes de Clément Marot which gave Ms. Han an opportunity to shine.  He evinced equal skill with German in a selection of songs by Alexander Zemlinsky and Gustav Mahler. We have always enjoyed "Lob des hohen Verstandes" from Des Knaben Wunderhorn--a metaphor for ignorant audience members (the donkey) who can't tell good music (the nightingale) from bad (the cuckoo).  Of course that doesn't apply to New York audiences! Mr. Jurenas sang it with great style and humor.

Another text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn--"Das irdische Leben" was given all the tragic interpretation Mahler wrote into it, a real heartbreaker. No one can do tragedy like Mahler!

The second half of the program belonged to baritone Theo Hoffman and collaborative pianist William Kelley. Mr. Hoffman has impressed us since his very beginnings at Juilliard and he just keeps getting better. His many awards and multiple castings indicate that we are not alone in being impressed.

He sang three Tchaikovsky songs that were wildly romantic. We do not speak Russian but they sounded very authentic to our ears.  More importantly,  the words came across as if they tasted delicious in his mouth. His dynamic range is huge; he began at barely a whisper and opened up to an astonishing crescendo of passion.

The concluding song of the set, "Whether day dawns", gave Mr. Kelley a chance to tear into the passionate postlude.  The set of songs were so powerful and so dramatically sung that the next set of songs by Carlos Guastavino allowed the temperature in the hall to cool slightly while still upholding artistic intensity.

Guastavino composed in the early 20th c. when poetry still scanned and rhymed.  The vocal lines are lovely and Mr. Hoffman's Spanish was perfect, according to our native Spanish speaking companion. In "Ya me voy a retirar" the pain of the poet's loss is converted into beauty.

Our favorite of the set was "La rosa y el sauce", a plaintive song that ended in a dazzling vocalise.

Mr. Hoffman's program ended with the New York premiere of Three Tennyson Songs by Jonathan Dove, a contemporary composer who manages to write melodically. Perhaps choosing a "good" poet like Alfred Lord Tennyson brings out the best in a composer. Mr. Kelley had a great time with the prelude to "O Swallow, Swallow" and played some interesting octaves in "Dark House" while Mr. Hoffman employed vivid word coloring.

We longed for some encores but there were none.  We comfort ourselves knowing that there will be many more opportunities to hear these artists in the future. They have been winning prizes hand over fist and are already much in demand.

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THE WEARIN' O' THE GREEN

Front Row:  Peter Manning, Rachel O'Byrne, Dearbhla Maire Collins, Miles Mykkanen
Second Row: Avery Amereau, Rebecca Rodgers, Iain Burnside and Conor Hanratty
Third Row: Andrew Gavin, Sam Lilja, William Kelley and Angela Vallone

A stirring program outside of the usual is always welcome and last night's program at Juilliard--"Ten Thousand Miles Away"-- offered an opportunity for a trans-Atlantic collaboration between The Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Juilliard School, and The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art in Trinity College Dublin.  Students from the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at Juilliard and students from Ireland participated in the program which was conceived by Iain Burnside and directed by himself and Conor Hanratty.

Last week the program was presented at LNADA in Dublin and this week presented here.  We found it absolutely enchanting, as we did the visitors from overseas.  The program was meaningful in several ways.  For one thing, the music that was chosen came from all genres and all were treated respectfully.  This can be considered a furtherance of our awareness from last night's NYFOS recital.  The program produced the same awareness of Ireland's musical heritage as last night's program produced for Italy's.

For another thing, it made us aware that, unless we are 100% Native American, we have all had ancestors that left the security of their homelands, bid farewell to loved ones, and set out for a new country to which they were obliged to adjust.  The main difference today is that most immigrants are able to return home to see those they left behind.  At the turn of the 20th C. the voyage by ship was a long arduous one and farewells were painfully permanent.  Of course there are many plays about the immigrant experience, especially Irish plays.  Still, there is something particularly poignant and universal about music.

In this case, printed programs were withheld until after the performance ended; this was a wise decision, permitting the audience to be totally present and not busy figuring out the program.  The directors made sure that the artists moved onstage in meaningful clusters and in a manner that heightened the drama. There was even some spritely folk dancing.

There were art songs by Samuel Barber, Ben Moore, and Frank Bridge and folk songs woven together with readings from Irish writers about the immigrant experience. Actors Sam Lilja and Rachel O'Byrne handled the readings beautifully. There was love and sex and religion.  There were texts from James Joyce, of course.

Juilliard soprano Angela Vallone and Dublin soprano Rebecca Rodgers were equally lovely and Juilliard mezzo-soprano Avery Amereau showed impressive depth of color. Juilliard tenor Miles Mykkanen used his versatile tenor in a new way and shared tenorial duties with the fine Dubliner Andrew Gavin.  Both excelled in conveying the feeling tone of the songs.  The sole baritone Peter Manning more than held up his share of the music-making.

Collaborative pianists also came from both sides of the Atlantic with Dearbhla Máire Collins sharing duties with William Kelley. There was always a special lilt to the music. The program was seamless without the usual pauses for applause resulting in an intense experience of the trials and tribulations of leaving, arriving and trying to assimilate.  This program achieved what the St. Patrick's Day Parade, with all its politics of pride had failed to do for us--to give us that special Irish flavor and a deep appreciation for a special people.

We cannot help but think that there might be musical solutions to the ubiquitous misunderstandings extant among the world's cultures today.  If only!

(c) meche kroop

LIEDERABEND AT JUILLIARD

Hea Youn Chung and Angela Vallone

At Juilliard's latest liederabend, with Natalia Katyukova's coaching, all 10 Juilliard artists performed exquisitely, which is not to say that we enjoyed all of them equally. It was the final set of  songs by Joseph Marx, performed by the lovely soprano Angela Vallone in collaboration with pianist Hea Youn Chung, which captured our heart. Of all the composers on the program, Marx is the one most suited to our 19th c. ears and Ms. Vallone sang the songs most expressively.

Not only do we favor the Romantic period but we prefer songs about love and nature to those about war, depression, religion and conflict. Love is something to sing about!  And Marx carried over the mood of the 19th c. right into the 20th.  We particularly enjoyed "Nocturne" with its A-B-A form and lovely writing for piano.

Benjamin Britten set Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, also about love. These belong firmly to the 20th c. and are not nearly as melodic. They were passionately sung by the wonderful tenor Miles Mykkanen with William Kelley at the piano.  Mr. Mykkanen has been extending himself in new directions, which we applaud.  That being said, we most enjoy his particular artistry in songs of humor and irony.

Soprano Razskazoff joined forces with Valeriya Polunina to perform three selections from Olivier Messiaen's Poèmes pour Mi, written for his violinist wife in 1938.  Ms. Razskazoff has a marvelously poised stage presence and a sizable voice just begging for the opera stage. Of the three selections, only "Le collier" expressed a sentiment to which we could relate.  But Ms. R's voice was thrilling, especially in the extended melismatic passages.

Bass-baritone Tyler Zimmerman utilized his voice and body in a most expressive fashion in two songs by Alexander Zemlinsky--both expressing anti-war sentiments with irony and bitterness. Mr. Zimmerman did his own translations of both. He also sang a trio of songs by Shostakovich--of later origin and lesser melodic interest. Kathryn Felt was his fine collaborative pianist.

Tenor Alexander McKissick performed six Poulenc songs with Ava Nazar as pianist. Poulenc chose to set texts by Apollinaire who survived World War I.  The poetry is surreal and said to reflect the visual arts--i.e. Cubism.  Our personal favorite was "Mutation". Notably, Mr. McKissick did his own translations.

It was greatly appreciated that each singer introduced the set of songs to be sung and told a little about their origins.

© meche kroop