The Song Recital

Jonathan Beyer, Baritone
Kristin Okerlund, Piano

Tchaikovsky (1840–1893): Don Juan’s Serenade, Does the Day Reign?, None but the Lonely Heart, As Over the Burning Embers; Copland (1900–1990): Selections from Old American Songs – The Dodger, Simple Gifts, The Little Horses, Zion’s Wall, At the River*; Alexander Zemlinsky (1871–1942): Entbietung, O Blätter, durre Blätter, from Gesange, Vor der Stadt, from Lieder, Meine Braut für ich heim; Ravel (1875–1937): Don Quichotte à Dulcineé (Chanson romanesque, Chanson épique, Chanson à boire); Paul Bowles (1910–1999): Lonesome Man, from Blue Mountain Ballads; Jean Berger (1909–2002): Lonely People; Richard Rodgers (1902–1979): Lonely Room, from Oklahoma!; George Gershwin (1898–1937): Someone to Watch Over Me, from Oh Kay!; Samuel Barber (1910–1981): I Hear an Army.

All of the Tchaikovsky songs were sung in Russian (supertitles provided—a first for me at a song recital). I can’t speak to the Russian diction, but in general Mr. Beyer’s diction was very good. One minor quibble, in English, was his lack of a “short” ‘i’ (‘ih’) vowel sound—usually it was more of an ‘ee’ sound. This can be effective, but I found that he overused it a bit. Once again, a minor quibble.

The next set was the Old American Songs, which are near and dear to my heart. I have both sets (two, five songs each) and I sang some of them in my college days. Oddly, in a sense, supertitles were also used for the English-language songs. Mr. Beyer is capable of a big sound (and we’re really aware when he’s concentrating on his big sound), but he also sings in his upper register with a very natural, sweet-sounding tone and we heard some of that in the Copland. (More on “I Bought Me a Cat” later.)

The Zemlinsky pieces were interesting and new to me—not a composer I know at all. Very nice art songs. After the intermission was the Ravel set. These were three songs with varied tempos, tones, and energies, very effectively sung.

The Lonesome/Lonely set brings me to a bit of a quandary. Mr. Beyer, as is his choice, chose to treat these as art songs and he did this consistently. That’s the good part. But taking a song like Lonely Room from Oklahoma! out of context is a bit jarring. Are we hearing it as he would perform it in the show, or as he would perform it in concert? Just food for thought. All in all, the recital was a great success, for both Mr. Beyer and Ms. Okerlund.

Now to “I Bought Me a Cat”. It’s one of the Old American Songs, sort of a cross between Old MacDonald and The Twelve Days of Christmas. The singer introduces animals and their sounds, and then strings them together, and together, and together. I used it as a tool for my elementary school student teaching assignment. But it’s hard to remember the animals and their sounds in order as they keep adding on, and on, and on. Mr. Beyer chose not to include it, as he said that his animal sounds didn’t match exactly when he performed both Copland sets in their entirety recently. OK, stuff happens.

At the end of the intermission, our Carnegie Hall Concert Series host introduced Marilyn Horne. Yes, the Marilyn Horne. This concert was the third song recital as part of the Marilyn Horne legacy at Carnegie Hall program. Ms. Horne commented on her first performances of “I Bought Me a Cat” with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. She said she wrote the animals in order on her palm to keep them straight. Her advice to Mr. Beyer? “Whenever you’re going to sing that song, review the damn animals before you go on stage!”

OK, I saw Jerry Stiller at the Judy Garland concert, and Marilyn Horne at the song recital—who’s next in my future? Only in New York, kids!

ConcertMeister
*I was honored to be invited as part of a pickup choral group to sing at Anne Baxter’s memorial service on the Upper East Side in the mid ’80s. Ms. Horne sang “At the River”, proving that a simple Copland song could be a masterpiece in the hands (and voice) of a truly genius performer.