Vira Slywotzky, soprano, Scott Murphree, tenor, and Jesse Blumberg, baritone, presented a program called "Journeys," ably assisted by Grant Wenaus, piano. The program listing itself was nice in that it gave the composer, title, and poet/lyricist—everyone was on equal footing. Clocking in at sixteen songs, not every one will get a complete mention and treatment. Each vocalist got a chance to perform as soloist, and there were nice combinations of duos and trios put together, some mixtures of their own devising, which made for an interesting afternoon. I preferred Messrs. Murphree's and Blumberg's voices to that of Ms. Slywotzky—purely my preference.
L'invitation au voyage (Henri Duparc/Charles Baudelaire) set us off on the right course. It was simple and lovely, with tinkly accompaniment, sung by Mr. Murphree. His voice was somewhat dark hued for a tenor, but it was put to good use, as well as his foreign language and English diction. The same can pretty much be said for all three, in terms of diction. Mr. Blumberg followed with Auf einer Wanderung (Hugo Wolf/Eduard Mörike). You just have to love a language where 'lustbeklommen' = 'joy'. Ms. Slywotzky followed with The Mermaid's Song (Joseph Haydn/Anne Hunter), sung in English. I'll say it again and again, it's difficult setting lyrics for the soprano voice—the composer wants that gleaming sound which is, often, not conducive to clearly set lyrics. That was the case here.
L'Île Inconnue deftly took a Hector Berlioz setting of a Théophile Gautier text and divided it between all three vocalists. It was a wonderful way to tell the story. Great Barrier Reef, by Gilda Lyons with a text by her, based on recent studies that she adapted, came across pretty much like that—fragmented phrases, mouth pops, a modern madrigal that was not terribly effective in terms of pleasantness—but it was performed well. It was commissioned by the ensemble.
Tale of the Oyster (Cole Porter, from Fifty Million Frenchmen) gave Mr. Murphree a chance to show his comedy chops. Not over the top, but using Porter as a theme. The tag line from each verse sort of says it all: Poor little oyster; Lucky little oyster; Thrilled little oyster; Proud little oyster; Scared little oyster; Up comes the oyster; Wise little oyster.
Letters to Isabella was another commission, and this one hit the mark much better. Composed by Scott Wheeler, it set the texts of three letters to Isabella Stewart Gardner (she of Boston museum fame, a place I need to go see) from Henry James, Paul Bourget (a French poet and novelist), and Kakuzo Okakura. Mr. Okakura's letter was actually written to his cat, Kotchan, who he had to leave behind with Isabella upon his return to Japan, though the letter was really to both Kotchan and Isabella.
Of the next set, He's Gone Away (Traditional, arr. K. Davis/Unknown) spoke to me because I have a beautiful setting of it sung by the Dale Warland Singers. It was a favorite of mine and Michael's. Mr. Blumberg did a fine job.
A trio of Hotel songs (Francis Poulenc/Guillaume Apollinaire, Samuel Barber/James Joyce, Tom Cipullo/Edna St. Vincent Millay) was effective, although the last one was pretty much a long way to go for such a little payoff. It was also a commissioned work; however, I have to give the ensemble props for supporting contemporary composers and for going out on a limb from time to time.
Chanson (Stephen Schwartz), from The Baker's Wife, was pleasant, if slightly not quite effective enough as performed by Ms. Slywotzky. There were a couple of other commissioned works that were dropped from the program, and the ensemble finished with a setting of The Owl and the Pussycat, which was somewhat amusing (except for the rather juvenile repetition of "pussy," "pussy," "pussy").
ConcertMeister
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