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RECITAL REVIEW Great Gifts, Easy Charm
June 4, 2002
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By Robert P. Commanday
David Daniels made his long anticipated regional recital debut Friday in UC Berkeley's Hertz Hall. It was a performance that confirmed his eminence as a countertenor, or more probably as male mezzo soprano (male alto would be the traditional term), that his voice is a phenomenon, his vocalism effortless and fluid. The singing is true, consistent, a most grateful sound on the ears, always, and the technique, if not always the diction, impeccable. Impressive as that was, enough to stir the enthusiasms that evening, what was not established was the completeness or depth of his artistry.
Where his selections were not light in weight, the performances often made them seem so. This had to do with the very fluency that was at once so engaging and something admired for its own sake, for effect. In the first group, of 17th and 18th century songs, the variant ornamentations he applied in Lotti's Pur dicesti, o bocca bella lubricated the repetitions generously. But it was not until after Caldara's familiar Selve amiche, the Lotti, and the more interesting Cesti, Intorno al'idol mio that some dramatic tension and weight was found, in Gluck's O del mio dolce ardor.
Daniels' keyboard partner, the estimable Martin Katz, seemed to share this feeling of letting it flow, of decorative performance. Surprisingly, the second group, of Ravel's Cinq mélodies populaires grecques, found the pianist overbalancing Daniels. After that, Katz was unerring, his pianism elegant. Of the Ravel set, their best was the second song, “Là-bas, vers l'église,” Daniels creating lovely phrasing arcs and concluded on a disappearing pianissimo. The next, “Quel gallant,” was arch satire, the fourth, “Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques,” the affectedly amorous final notion exquisitely turned.
Two from Handel's Semele were more consistently Daniels' territory. In “Your Tuneful Voice” he incorporated artful detail, smooth connection of phrases, an ornate flourish in meditative manner, and drew out the line in a continuous thread. “Despair No More Shall Wound Me,” with a long sighing appoggiatura on the word “love” standing out, was the dramatic and virtuosic closer for the first half. Five songs to poems from James Joyce's Chamber Music, written for Daniels by Theodore Morrison, sounded as if composed at the keyboard in a quick and facile manner. In style, they might have been composed any time after 1912, and earlier in the century than later. The vocal writing was flattering and lyrical, the accompaniments utterly pianistic animations of conventional harmonies. The more definite style of Poulenc's “Priez pour paix” was then a relief. Daniels concluding its thought, “Pray for peace, the true treasure of joy,” in serenity sensitively drawn. Charm as such, wore thin in André Messager's “La vielle maison grise,” though Daniels managed the sentimental, lyrical piece with taste and discretion. Henri Sauguet's “Berceuse créole” was a sensuous tango-like lullaby, sensuous in effect. “C'est ainsi que tu es” was Poulenc in an infrequently emotionally committed love song.
With his extraordinary skills, ear and instrument, Daniels is a most self-assured performer, one who takes pleasure in shaping the conceit in a song lyric, and playing for charm. The four Britten settings of folk texts, music in a folk-like idiom, to slightly dissonant harmonizations in the piano, had a lot of that. The second of three encores, Purcell's “Sweeter than Roses” provided one of the evening substantial pleasures, with real expressive commitment by Daniels. Alec Wilder's “Blackberry Winter,” in a largely popular music vein, was sentimentally sung, as called for. Daniels and Katz finally closed with Victor Healy-Hutchinson's novelty parody of the Handelian style, “Old Mother Hubbard,” about 40 years old and originally for chorus, not heard in years, amusing still. All very impressive, but not deeply so.
(Robert P. Commanday, senior editor of San Francisco Classical Voice, was the music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, 1965-93, and before that a conductor and lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley.) ©2002 Robert P. Commanday, all rights reserved |
