San Francisco Classical Voice

May 18, 1999

It was once said of the music of Benjamin Britten that "the word and the note are one thing, not two." This is a noble ideal, not just for composers but also for singers. Solo recitals continue to appear here and there on the concert landscape: some are entertaining, some just love feasts for fans of one great singer or another. And then along comes Rodney Gilfry, who, in his solo recital at Herbst Hall on Tuesday, May 18, showed us what that "word and note" quotation is really about.

Gilfry is a tall, good-looking fellow with a superb, lovely, expressive voice. He has a winning stage presence, direct and guileless. I confess that I knew all that already. What astounded me was his gift for using the language as part of the musical vocabulary. It is this element, usually missing in all but the greatest recitals, that made his program such a success.

The first half of the concert was all French. Gilfry began with a group of French baroque arias. The first, an extended scena from Rameau's Les Indes galantes, began in an understated way, vocally and musically. As the group unfolded I began to sense its shape; the rather relaxed opening minutes seemed more like a welcome warmup, for singer and listener.

As he progressed through arias by Pierre de la Garde, Rameau again, and Jean-Baptiste Lully, the music called for more and more of Gilfry's characterizations and interpretive gifts. It was a perfect progression for all concerned. The charming "Tambourin" by Rameau, which can be a merely amusing tongue-twister, was made supple, tender, and expressive in Gilfry's loving rendition. I confess that I winced when I noticed Caron's aria from Lully's Alceste in the printed program. I have always found the aria cloying and cute. Gilfry sang the piece with such artistic imagination and delightful characterization that I experienced this chestnut in an entirely different way.

Staying in the French realm, Gilfry then negotiated the gentle curves of a group of mellow songs by Gabriel Fauré: "Rencontre" (Meeting), "Le secret" (The Secret), "Chanson d'amour" (Song of Love), "Green", and concluding with the languid "Au bord de l'eau" (On the bank of the river). Like many of Fauré's songs, beneath the seemingly placid surface of this final song runs a current of gentle but urgent passion. Gilfry seems to embody these elements himself, and in the Fauré he sustained both levels throughout.

The first half of the concert concluded with Gilfry's spirited and detailed reading of the three "Don Quichotte" songs of Maurice Ravel.

After intermission things bogged down a bit. Gilfry began with three songs by John Duke. After the passion and richness of the French songs, Duke's music seemed dry and dreary to my ears. Paul Bowles's settings of Tennessee Williams poetry may have been less dreary, but the music was still not up to the level of the earlier composers, even though Gilfry gave it his best shot. Gilfry has the ability to bring his presentation of songs totally into the present moment. There is an immediacy, a sense that what he is doing is happening right now, not planned, contrived, or self-consciously delivered. His conviction and commitment are so straightforward and heartfelt, I could believe in these songs even though I didn't actually care for them.

Last on the printed program were four songs by Ricky Ian Gordon. They, too, seemed lightweight. A dark setting of Yeats's "Lake Isle of Innisfree" came closest to making an impression in this listener's heart, due largely to Gilfry's artistic insights.

As encores Gilfry offered Debussy's setting of the Verlaine poem "Green," heard earlier in the Fauré setting, and a robust and wonderful delivery of Charles Ives's marvelous "Charlie Rutledge." If only the rest of the American portion of the concert had matched this song in intensity and genuineness.

Gilfry's gifts go far beyond a pretty voice and face. Again and again he went just to the limit of drama, physical and musical. A gesture here, a look there, and then long moments of no movement at all, giving us opportunity to focus on the note and the word. No matter what the repertoire, Gilfry's devotion to the material is total, bringing a naive but solid presence to the stage and the music. No pretension, no mannerisms, no extraneous distractions. This is what one hopes for in a vocal recital. No sense of the "singer" "doing" "something."

I had no awareness of rehearsed artistic choices or gesture practiced self-consciously in the mirror backstage. Artist and music and language merged into one event -- present, here and now. In this atmosphere real communion happens, transcending, yes, even some less-than-substantial musical material. Gilfry is gifted and intelligent, a major talent. He's young, and I will continue to watch his career with fascination.

(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