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RECITAL REVIEW
January 11, 2006
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By James Keolker
Can there be anything more thrilling, more exalting, than the human voice, fully developed, fully trained, and offered with musical integrity and expertise? Well, that was the reaction of an enthusiastic, sold-out audience at the Napa Valley Opera house January 11 as Dmitri Hvorostovsky appeared with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Constantine Orbelian. Sponsored by Chamber Music in Napa Valley, it was an evening of memorable music-making.
Hvorostovsky, now 44 and in the second decade of his career, is internationally known for major opera roles by Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and Mozart, and in concert and on recordings of Rimsky and Rachmaninov, as well as Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti. Yet his baritone seems at its burnished best.
He opened his Napa program decisively with a full-voiced Chi sprezzando il Sommo Bene (Ye to whom God's grace extendeth) of Handel, followed by Vivaldi's Se il cor guerriero t'invita all'armi, with its alternating melisma and quick, forceful passages. It was commanding, bravura singing. He then added two more arias by Handel: the Te Deum (“Dignare, O Domine,” Vouchsafe, O Lord), sung with quiet dignity, followed by a full-length Ombra mai fu, (Never has the shade). Hvorostovsky started with a finely spun messa-di-voce for Frondi tenere e belle, (Branches tender and fair), lingering on “per voi risplenda il fato” (may fate shine resplendantly upon you), and then, in contrast, gave a powerful rendering of Tuoni, lampi e procelle (Thunder, lightening and storm).
A heart-felt Vergin, tutto amor (Virgin, with all my love) was given gentle melisma, and Si mantiene il mio amor (You maintain my love) was infused with rich, liquid tone, with haunting repeats of “pensiero” (I ponder). The first of these was composed by Francesco Durante, the second by Antonio Cesti.
But it was Hvorostovsky's virile, rapid-fire "Fin ch'han dal vino" (the “Champagne aria” from Mozart's Don Giovanni), that brought the audience to its feet. It was tossed off with great style and élan, giving a hint of this singer's potent stage interpretation. The Moscow Chamber Orchestra offered equally compelling renditions of Handel's “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” (from his oratorio Solomon) and an excellent, rapidly paced “Furioso” (from Boccherini's La Casa del Diavolo), the strings lively and incisive, the woodwinds especially warm and mellifluous. Valenki (named after the famous Russian lambskin boots) provided Slavic rhythms and wry dynamic shifts. This ensemble is directed by Constantine Orbelian — a name familiar to Bay Area audiences. The maestro is a native San Franciscan and a celebrated pianist who made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony at age 11. He subsequently became the first American to be named music director of a nationally recognized Russian ensemble and was recently rewarded with the title “Honored Artist of Russia” by President Putin. His conducting skills were evident throughout the evening. While the vocal program was dominantly Italian, Hvorostovsky's singing of three Russian songs brought additional Slavic pleasures. The orchestra was joined by a trio of musicians from St. Petersburg. Hvorostovsky employed his rich glottal tones for Utro tumannoye, utro sedoye (Misty morning, grey-haired morning) and then teasing Gypsy rhythms for Troyka mchitsa, toyka skachet (The troika speeds, the troika gallops), obviously enjoying its many tricky hesitations and elongations. And who but a Siberian native could croon such a verse as Odnozvuchno gremit kolokolchik (The lonely coach bell rings) and make it sound romantic while the violins swayed, the bayan wheezed, and the balalaikas strummed? The evening concluded with the baritone's unabashed reading of O sole mio! and a smouldering, sexy rendition of Ochi Chiornye (Black Eyes). Hvorostovsky and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra (sometimes also known as the Russian State Academic Orchestra) will appear in concert with a different program later this month at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.
(Dr. James Keolker is a frequent writer and lecturer on opera, as well as a professor of opera studies at the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning at the University of San Francisco.)
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Dmitri Hvorostovsky
