Midday Masterpieces (2/7/18)

Juilliard Vocal Arts Program
Gregory Feldman, baritone, Nicole Thomas, soprano, Dominik Belavy, baritone, Meghan Kasanders, soprano, Cameron Richardson-Eames, piano, Chris Reynolds, piano

This was an ambitious program of serenades saluting love, just in time for Valentine’s Day. As always at these live broadcast concerts, there was no printed program, so I’m cannibalizing information from WQXR’s website. I enjoyed all of the vocalists and both of the pianists. Stage management, though, was a bit awkward. Our host, whose name I don’t remember and was also not listed on the website, announced who would be performing. Each duo arrived on stage and immediately began a set of art songs. So, we didn’t know what we were hearing right off the bat.

Mr. Feldman, accompanied by Mr. Richardson-Eames, sang Love-sight, Silent Noon, Love’s Minstrels, and Heart’s Haven from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ House of Life. The first song was gentle and melodic, moving into a dramatic section, and returning to gentle. The second seemed reminiscent of a folk tune and laid out a love of nature and a love of you. The third was practically a duet of solos. The piano had a lengthy opening, then the voice sang unaccompanied. This repeated a few times, with both finally coming together every once in awhile. At this point, Mr. Feldman introduced himself and Mr. Richardson-Eames, told us what we had just heard, and then he let us know what we would be hearing next. To me, this was the awkward part that I mentioned above. The fourth song was fuller in general. His singing was fine, and his command of singing in English (not always the easiest thing to do) was really good.

As the first duo left, there was no type of announcement as to what we would hear next. And this basic format was repeated by the next three vocalists, though the break to introduce themselves did not always occur at the same point during their sets. And the pause between duos was long enough to extend the program past its customary one-hour length; as a result, some audience members left without hearing the final set.

Ms. Thomas, accompanied by Mr. Reynolds, sang Meine liebe ist grun – Johannes Brahms, Ein Traum – Edvard Grieg, Liebst du um Schönheit – Gustav Mahler, Die Nacht – Richard Strauss, and Das Veilchen – Nikolai Medtner. She also sang well, and explained that she had assembled her set based on the premise that love requires the signs of nature. She then gave us an amusing explanation of her final song—a violet was in the woods, hoping to be plucked and pinned to the breast of the shepherdess, coming along and singing. Alas, it was not to be, as she was unaware of him and she crushed him underfoot. Love doesn’t always work out the way we think it will, right?

Mr. Belavy’s set was in French, accompanied by Mr. Reynolds, and included
Le promenoir des deux amants – Claude Debussy, Offrande – Reynaldo Hahn, and Le Paon, from Histoires naturelles – Maurice Ravel. My digging yielded that Le promenoir is a cycle of three songs. My notes indicate that he only sang two of them, so I can’t give you titles. Grr. I went back to the video posted on WQXR's website and learned that he sang all three and did not sing the Hahn.
I. Aupres de cette grotte somber, II. Crois mon conseil, chere Climene,
III. Je tremble en voyant ton visage. Do you see why I'd prefer a printed program?

The first was introspective, while the second one was fuller, with a little more presence. The third was mostly calm and sedate. In explaining Le Paon, we learned that it is sung from the perspective of a peacock on his wedding day. Unfortunately, he gets stood up. Ha! Nothing for him to worry about. He’s sure he’ll get married tomorrow. This was much more lively and humorous, compared to the sedate chansons that preceded it.

Ms. Kasanders, accompanied by Mr. Richardson-Eames, presented Allerseelen and Morgen! – R. Strauss, Still wie die Nacht – Carl Bohm, and Widmung – Robert Schumann. My notes for the first song simply say 'nostalgic'. That makes sense since the setting is of a poem translated as All Souls Day. My notes for the second are 'slow and tender (Strauss?)'. And I was right. It’s probably one of his more well known songs, but I didn’t recognize it. The Bohm was strophic, as many art songs are and depicted the strength of love, as explained afterwards from the stage. The Schumann was the one song on the entire program that I knew—in fact, I learned and sang it way back in my college days as a music major. Her singing was also strong and pleasant.

I enjoyed the concert and the performers and, somewhat, the little bits of research that I did after the fact. I’ve already made my reservation for March 7. In a bit of a twist, there is now a Midday Masterpieces concert every Wednesday at WQXR. The first Wednesday of the month is live with an audience, and also streamed live on Facebook, while the others are only streamed on Facebook. The times they are a-changin’.

ConcertMeister