Monday, February 10, 2014

Vocal Recital (2/8/14)

This was a concert under the auspices of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert series, with Marina Harris, soprano, and Robert Mollicone, piano.

A textbook recital: Ch’io mi scordi di te … Non temer, amato bene, K. 505, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1790); Chanson Triste, Extase, L’invitation au voyage, La vie antérieure, Henri Duparc (1848–1933); Barcarolle, Do not tempt me needlessly, To her, Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857); Sechs einfache Lieder, Op. 9, Erich Korngold (1897–1957); Selections from Natural Selection, Jake Heggie (b. 1961); and Wie nahte mir der Schlummer … Leise, leise from Der Freischütz, Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826).

I find it hard to comment on song recitals since they are so full of so many small gems. Overall, Ms. Harris sang very well—I was especially impressed with the even sound of her voice throughout the entire range. The lower part of her range was strong though there was just a hint of pushing of sound in her upper range—truly just a hint. Her diction, in Italian, French, German, English, and Russian, was very good. OK, I made up that last part about Russian. And Mr. Mollicone was a worthy partner, pianistically and as a raconteur providing spoken program notes.

As always, I appreciate program notes, even if they are announced from the stage—or, in this case, the front of the church (with very good acoustics). The Mozart was described as a concert aria, originally to be part of Idomeneo, but always kept separate. A very interesting note about the Duparc songs is that he gave up composing after a period of time and burned all but 17 of his compositions! As a result, the four songs we heard were a major portion of his resultant song output.

It’s always fun to hear unfamiliar music, and the Glinka filled that bill perfectly. The Barcarolle was gently rocking, appropriately enough, while Do not tempt me sounded like a bit of a lament, to me; To her was nicely animated.

After intermission, we were treated to Korngold’s Six Simple Songs. Indeed, they were relatively simple—especially when we realize that Korngold, an Austrian, was the winner of the first Oscar presented for a film score. These were six gems, unfortunately interrupted by a cell phone ringing. Really? It’s bad enough dealing with clanking radiators and sirens outside on the streets of New York; can’t concertgoers figure out the cell phone thing?

I didn’t quite know what to make of Mr. Heggie’s two selections. The first, Animal Passion, was fun and interesting, almost reminding me of some Leonard Bernstein writing from Trouble in Tahiti. It was amusing and pretty much successful. Alas! Alack! lacked a certain something, for me.

The Freischütz aria showcased Ms. Harris’ opera instincts very well. At intermission, Marilyn Horne spoke briefly, and beautifully, commenting that she thought that
Ms. Harris could very well be a breakout performer in the next five to ten years, if not sooner. I trust Ms. Horne.

This was a very good recital as part of a very good series. There is at least one more, and I plan on being there.

ConcertMeister
p.s. Ms. Harris sang a well-deserved encore of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Climb Ev'ry Mountain.

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