San Francisco Classical Voice

Performers, like prophets, are sometimes without honor in their own land. Thus it's heartening that the many fine musicians in Northern California are often exceptions to this adage. Two perfect examples are Sara Ganz, soprano, and Donna Bruno, mezzo-soprano, who sang a charming and relaxed duo recital last Sunday at Old First Church in San Francisco. Both artists are busy and well-known singers throughout and beyond the Bay Area. Both began their San Francisco careers in association with the San Francisco Opera. Ganz is a graduate of the Merola Opera Program and was a member of Western Opera Theater and the San Francisco Opera Center. Bruno was an Adler Fellow of the Opera Center as well. Each has appeared in principal roles with the company and in Schwabacher Recitals. In addition to their local activities, both singers have international opera and concert careers in a myriad repertoire.

In recent years Ganz and Bruno have occasionally appeared in recital with the brilliant pianist Daniel Lockert. In 1997 they also were founding members of Lockert's "Consortmusik," an ensemble devoted to presenting vocal and instrumental chamber music in intimate settings. All three artists have a natural affinity for music-making "up close and personal," and on Sunday they shared some naive and innocent repertoire with a small but grateful audience.

The program was an extraordinary combination of Haydn, Mendelssohn, Rossini, Saint-Sa”ns, Fauré, Vaughan-Williams, Quilter, Thiman. Whew! The concert opened with two Haydn love duets, "Guard qui che lo vedrai" and "Saper vorrei se m'ami." The two singers used the warm sounds of the Italian language to warm their voices, and added some gestures and stage interplay which were just borderline cute. That's actually a sort of compliment. The two women know this repertoire so well, and work so comfortably together, that their stage presence seems genuine and playful. In a program like this one, that element is utterly necessary. I'll take cute over dull any day.

All three performers then marched offstage for a break, leaving us to wonder why. It was worth the wait, because in a few moments they marched back to deliver wonderful readings of four songs by Felix Mendelssohn. As it has done for so many other composers, the poetry of Heine, Eichendorff and Goethe inspired Mendelssohn to some of his most tender writing. This in turn inspired the two women to expressive, persuasive vocalism. Ganz led with charming directness in Auf Flügeln des Gesanges ("On Wings of Song") and Pagenlied ("The Page's Song"). Bruno followed with a dramatically poignant Romanze and made every word and color count in Die Liebende schreibt ("The Loving Woman Writes"). Two duets concluded the Mendelssohn group: Abendlied ("Evening Song") and Herbstlied ("Autumn Song"), the last with a particularly rich and energetic piano accompaniment, realized beautifully by Lockert.

The second half began with two rarities by Camille Saint-Sa”ns, the duets Ici les tendres oiseaux ("Here The Sweet Birds") and El desdichado ("The Unhappy Lover"). The birds murmured with a passion and sweetness one might expect in a late-Romantic French song, but it was the second duet which really caught the attention: Saint-Sa”ns labeled it a "Bolero" and the two singers sang it with sultry Iberian fervor.

As Saint-Sa”ns and Gabriel Fauré were contemporaries and members of the same circle in Paris, it was enlightening to hear their music back to back. The two sublimely crafted Fauré duets, Pleurs d'or ("Tears of gold") and Aux cieux, la lune monte ("In the sky the moon rises") were perfect repertoire for this trio of artists. The second duet, a "tarantella," was a marvelous choice of programming, serving as a foil and comparison to the Saint-Sa”ns "bolero." Ms. Ganz and Ms. Bruno sang with subtle nuance and expansive expression, rising fully to the suave ardor and elegance of Fauré's music.

I confess to a special love for sung English, and so for me it was a treat to hear the clarity, warmth, and tenderness of Bruno's delivery of the well-known text by Gabriel Rossetti, Silent Noon in Ralph Vaughan-Williams' setting. Roger Quilter's "O Mistress Mine" followed, tenderly and whimsically sung by Sara Ganz. According to the annotations in the printed program, Quilter through his music "gave pleasure to many people." I only wish I were one of them. I have never warmed to Quilter's simple melodic writing; I much prefer Quilter's contemporary, Peter Warlock, who created edgier, more complex settings of Elizabethan texts. Nonetheless, Ganz came as close as anyone has to convincing me of the worth of Quilter's music. The two singers joined voices once more for Spring Wind, by the rarely heard Eric Thiman, and Quilter's It was a lover and his lass. Puting my Quilterian judgement aside, I enjoyed the singers' unabaashed pleasure in this naive material.

The concert concluded with two surprising and delightful adaptations of Brahms' Hungarian dances by Pauline Viardot-Garcia, the great 19th-Century soprano. In Les Cavaliers ("The Cavaliers") and Les Bohemiennes ("The Bohemians") one heard the familiar Brahms tunes transformed into vocal showcases. Viardot-Garcia (1821-1910) was one of the operatic luminaries of her time, and it's fascinating to hear the music she created for the (perhaps her own) female voice. Les Cavaliers was a real scena with many dramatic possibilities and the two soloists put their copious vocal and theatrical imagination to work, to wonderful effect.

All three of this afternoon's artists are treasures in the musical life of the Bay Area. Thanks to the wonderful concert series at Old First Church for presenting them.

(David Gordon was a concert and opera singer for 30 years. He is a voice teacher and performance coach in Oakland, CA, and is Education Director and Vocal Coordinator of the Carmel Bach Festival. david@spiritsound.com)

©1999 David Gordon, all rights reserved