WQXR Midday Masterpieces (12/7/16)

This is a joint venture between WQXR, NYC’s classical music radio station, and the Juilliard School of Music, which may or may not be their official name. Still, it’s a great combination. Wednesday’s version presented four vocalists in an all-Schubert program. The following info is taken from WQXR’s website, since they don’t provide programs or info at the concerts.

Viola, D. 786 – Angela Vallone, soprano; Chris Reynolds, piano
Die liebe Farbe; Die Böse Farbe (from Die schöne Müllerin) D. 795;
Erlkönig, D. 328 – Matthew Swensen, tenor; Jinhee Park, piano
Ganymed, D. 544; Abendstern, D. 806; Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren,
D. 360; Auf der Bruck, D. 853 – Miles Mykkanen, tenor; HoJae Lee, piano
An Sylvia, D. 891; Fischerweise, D. 881; Prometheus, D. 674 – Alex Rosen, bass; Chris Reynolds, piano

In keeping with ’Meister’s plan of not offering reviews—merely commentary on free and low-cost programs—let me state that all four vocalists presented themselves very well, as did the three partners/accompanists (because really, with lieder, the accompanists are truly partners). That said, Viola was nicely sung, with good (if maybe too direct) diction. The piece was fairly lengthy but had enough interest to fully engage us in the audience.

With the first of the two Die schöne Müllerin selections, the tenor captured the dark mood, but he really came into his own in the second. With Erlkönig, he might have worked a bit too hard differentiating each character, vocally, but it was still an effective performance of this somewhat chilling piece.

Ganymed seemed slightly mannered to me, as did Abendstern and Dioskuren. This could possibly be because these students (and we must remember that these are students, not seasoned professionals) are still developing their voices as well as their personal performing styles—indeed, their professional, performing personalities. Auf der Bruck was referred to as the ‘other’ horse riding song (in a reference to Erlkönig) and was well performed.

Surprisingly, An Sylvia and Fischerweise were the most difficult to pull off, in that they were classic, simple lied—strophic, relying on the artist to imbue the texts with enough interest to keep our interest involved. This was incorporated pretty well. Prometheus, on the other hand, was a dramatic setting, with a very effective performance. I think that the bass voice added a feeling of heft, maybe unfairly in comparison to the upper register voices that we had heard earlier.

Are these performers and voices that we will hear more of/from later? Hard to tell. Speaking from experience, there are lots of talented performers who have to work hard at finding their particular niche in show business. Or not. But these are seven very talented performers, and I wish them the best of luck (and I hope I hear more from them in the future!).

ConcertMeister