San Francisco Classical Voice

January 14, 1999

Ben Heppner

Is it possible in our 20th century musical culture that we've come to the point where it's radical to be retro? In an era where newness is in, where innovative re-interpretations and deconstructions abound and contemporary is cool, perhaps it's actually daring to be old fashioned. If so, tenor Ben Heppner was in the vanguard of radical in his recital on Thursday in UC Berkeley's Hertz Hall. The program was firmly grounded in the 19th century, both in repertoire and presentation, and it was utterly charming.

Heppner is world-renowned for his interpretations of heroic figures in the operas of Wagner, Britten, Beethoven, and Strauss. So it was with evident excitement that a capacity audience welcomed him for an evening of song. He did not disappoint.

Heppner's voice is really a lyric voice with considerable heft, still capable of sweetness, shifting colors, and lovely gradations of dynamic shadings (what the Germans might call a "jugendlicher Heldentenor"). Whatever the vocal label, he communicates with solid directness. The evening began with an initially hesitant but clear and earnest rendition of Beethoven's "Adelaide."

Franz Liszt's "Tre Sonetti di Petrarca" (Three Petrarch Sonnets) provided the evening's first high point. These "songs" are essentially operatic arias for voice and piano, a hybrid combination of dramatic declamation and soaring, ecstatic vocal lines. The songs are too often performed by singers lacking the vocal power to make sense of their unusual form and style. Heppner went for the full effect, obviously relishing the expansive material and confidently filling the hall with his hefty, healthy, and supple tenor voice.

Four songs by Richard Strauss followed. "Ruhe, meine Seele" (Peace, my soul), "Heimliche Aufforderung" (Secret invitation), "Morgen" (Tomorrow), and "Cäcilie" (Cecily). Heppner took wonderful chances with shadings from forte to piano, and only once or twice did his voice get away from him during soft passages in the upper register. As it had been in the Beethoven, his affinity for the German language was apparent here, and he delivered the text with lyric, expressive clarity. Most delightful was the breathtakingly hushed stillness of "Morgen," another high point of the recital.

After intermission Heppner offered the only unsatisfactory portion of the evening, a selection of six songs by Sergei Rachmaninov: "Oni otvechali" (They answered), "Muza" (Muza), "Kakoye schast'ye" (What happiness), "Yo opyat' odinok" (I'm alone again), "Ne Poy, krasvitsa, pri mne" (Do not sing, my beauty, to me), and "Davnol', moy drug" (How long, my friend). As he sang from a score placed on a music stand, his often lowered eyes, page turns, and resulting loss of connection to the audience deprived these songs of the directness he demonstrated during the rest of the evening. His Russian diction lacked color and conviction, and a sudden vocal weakness in the dramatic final phrases of the sixth song only heightened the anticlimactic effect. This was a pity; the Russian music had begun to bring out a greater intimacy in his vocalism.

The program ended with four pieces of musical fluff: Teresa del Riego's "Homing," Oley Speaks' "Sylvia," and Ernest Charles' "The house on the hill" and "Let my song fill your heart." This was the really daring part of the evening. How does a singer in the 1990s deliver trite, predictable tunes containing rhymes such as "happiness supreme" - "fills me like a dream" and "yearning"-"burning"? The songs are corny, and the only way to bring them across is to present them with naive conviction, which Heppner did in an endearingly straightforward and charmingly old-fashioned way.

At the piano, Craig Rutenberg was a superb partner. He nearly stole the spotlight from Heppner more than once, most notably in his lyrical and daringly spacious reading of the hushed accompaniment to "Morgen."

The enthusiastic audience applauded loudly (and as often as possible) throughout the evening, amost always waiting until the songs were over. They brought Heppner and Rutenberg back for three encores: "Un bel di di Maggio" (One lovely day in May) from Giordano's "Andrea Chenier," "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" (Yours is my heart alone) from Lehar's "Land des Lächelns," and a sweet rendition of "Danny Boy." From the beginning of the evening to the final encore, with the exception of a few moments in the Russian songs, Heppner's voice rang clear and true, and he sang with beauty and genuine artistry.

Much has been said of Heppner's vocal accomplishments on great stages around the world. It must also be said that behind the scenes he is respected by his fellow singers as a truly sincere and friendly colleague--one of the "nice guys." In an old-fashioned recital program such as this, character counts. Nice guys finish first. In fact, only the nice guys finish this music at all.

(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)

©1998 David Gordon, all rights reserved