Concert á la Carte (1/11/14)

The Mirror Visions Ensemble, Music Inspired by Food. Vira Slywotzky, soprano; Scott Murphree, tenor; Jesse Blumberg, baritone; Richard Pearson Thomas, composer and pianist; with guest artisits Harumi Rhodes, violin; and Alberto Parrini, cello.

Come to the Supermarket in Old Peking, Cole Porter; The Heavenly Banquet from Hermit Songs, Samuel Barber; Man Eating from Briefly it Enters, William Bolcom; Carrot Jingle, Christopher Berg; Bread from The Baker’s Wife, Stephen Schwartz; Tango du Dessert*, Christopher Culpo; La Bonne Cuisine, Leonard Bernstein; Les gourmandises* from Portrait en miniature de Madame de Sévigné, Christopher Berg; Daliah’s Soup, Martin Hennessy; Tuna Supreme* from Fish ’n Chicks, Richard Pearson Thomas; Clean Plates Don’t Lie*, Richard Pearson Thomas. (*Mirror Visions Ensemble commission.) Do we see a theme here? With so much on the plate, I’ll try to hit the highlights.

The overall quality of the singing and playing was great. As to the singers, all three had very good diction, though Ms. Slywotzky was at a slight disadvantage—composers really want to send a soprano into the stratosphere, and that (plus the setting of some texts) made it a little more difficult to understand some of her words.

The Porter, seemingly a stand-alone song, was very witty, sung by the trio of vocalists. (Mr. Thomas was at the piano throughout, a thoroughly wonderful accompanist/partner.) The Barber, sung by the soprano, got us into the spirit with references to beer. Barber’s setting, as mentioned above, was a little difficult to understand. The Bolcom, for baritone, was interesting and nicely performed. I liked Carrot Jingle a lot, sung by the tenor, especially the matinee/gratiné rhyme.

Schwartz’ Bread, for trio once again, provided my favorite rhyme of the day—“What is as luscious as a brioche is?” Tango du Dessert, also a trio, took us more into the realm of menu as lyrics. They ranged from Abricots (apricots) to Pamplemousse rose (pink grapefruit). This also took us into our French section. The Bernstein was in four movements (soprano, tenor, baritone, and trio) and was interesting, though the soprano suffered again from the setting of the texts. (An aside—a cell phone rang in the audience during this work; need I say more?) Back into English, Hennessy’s Daliah’s Soup has text by a New York City schoolchild, and was a bluesy novelty piece. Tuna Supreme was an actual recipe set to music, though I listened closely and the text said (twice) to bake at 300° while the printed lyrics had 350°. Hey, I notice these things.

Mr. Thomas’ Clean Plates Don’t Lie was certainly the entrée here, at 13 movements. As a cantata, this was very smoothly composed. The violin and cello were added, creating a true chamber music feel. Texts were taken from writings about a restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, as well as menu ingredients and writings of its chef, Dan Barber. (I hope I got all of that correct!) I was a little apprehensive, but the cantata was well served.

There was an Invocation (Know Thy Farmer) that segued beautifully into a Greenhouse chorus. All of the movements flowed beautifully. While the entire work was a complete success, as far as I’m concerned, Passacaglia and Chorale: Pasture and Madrigal: Sustainable were my favorites. Even the movements that were essentially menu ingredients were very witty and very interesting. When we got to the Fugue and Finale: Clean Plates Don’t Lie, I kept waiting for a big ending. I was not disappointed—for emphasis, it finished with Clean … plates … do … not … lie. It was esoteric, but I was fully satiated.

ConcertMeister