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RECITAL REVIEW
Adler Fellows Sing Italian Songs
June 13, 2001
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By Anna Carol Dudley
Wednesday's concert at the Herbst Theatre — Verdi and the Art of Italian Song — featured a couple of Merola's finest pinch hitters. Soprano Twyla Robinson took over some of the repertoire scheduled to be sung by Todd Geer (indisposed due to illness), and baritone Kyu Won Han stepped in with additional songs. Both rose superbly to the occasion.
This was the second recital given by San Francisco Opera Adler fellows as part of the Verdi Celebration, comprising more recently composed songs than the first. The connections among the various composers represented were admirably traced in accompanist John Parr's program notes and verbal comments from the stage.
Among the most beguiling songs were those by Francesco Paolo Tosti, famous more as a voice teacher than as a composer. He certainly knew how to write for the voice, and his songs found an impressive interpreter in Han. Here is a singer who cares about words, both their sound and their meaning, who knows when to linger over a special moment, who can tell a story, all the time spinning out a wonderful legato combined with exquisite dynamic shading.
Bruno Maderna, like many a French composer, was drawn to the poetry of Paul Verlaine. Robinson sang the voluptuous "Green" as if she had no idea what it was about, then came to life with a brilliant rendition of "Sérénade" — completely captivating, sinuous and witty by turns, free in coloratura, and warm and generous of sound. Maderna went on too long with the repetitious "Sagesse" ("Wisdom"). He should have had the sagesse not to set such a torrent of words to music. Robinson coped with it valiantly, making what dramatic sense she could out of the pileup of phrases. Baritone Philip Horst sang Gian Francesco Malipiero's songs to poems by Poliziano with panache, nicely exploiting the wordplay of "L'eco" and the joke of "Ballata." In Tosti's "L'ultimo bacio," it would have been good to hear him make more of the title phrase ("the last kiss"). I don't often find myself wishing that an opera singer would make an art song more operatic rather than less, but I would not discourage Horst in this regard. He could, for example, make more of Verdi's "Nell' orror di notte oscura" ("In the horror of the dark night"). I hear him finding the scary parts but not quite raising the hackles. For example, the word "maledetta" ("cursed") is emphasized, but not sufficiently venomous in its vowel and consonant sounds. I find Verdi's "In Solitaria Stanza" ("In a solitary room") rather run-of-the-mill. Maybe an orchestra would help. His "Perduto ho la pace," on the other hand, is a fine song, with an imaginative piano accompaniment, well dispatched by Parr. The text is a translation of Gretchen's song by Goethe: "My peace is gone." Robinson sang it with appropriate restlessness, and made a memorable lingering moment of the final line ("Oh, to kiss him, and die"). I arrived late and missed Robinson's opening group of Verdi songs, but I enjoyed the treat of her Puccini — the simple, affecting "E l'uccellino" and the witty "Sole e amore," inscribed, literally, to Paganini. Han ended the program with a rousing performance of Gastaldon's "Musica proibita." All three singers came out with their versatile accompanist for several well-deserved bows. (Anna Carol Dudley is a singer, teacher, member of the faculties of the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University [lecturer emerita], and director of the San Francisco Early Music Society's Baroque Music Workshop.) ©2001 Anna Carol Dudley, all rights reserved |
