San Francisco Classical Voice

RECITAL REVIEW

Much Is Given, More Is Wanted . . . and Less

February 13, 2005

By Janos Gereben

She flaunts it, Dana Beth Miller does. Going through six languages in a 70-minute recital, she exhibited a huge voice . . . hugely. The young soprano, with many attributes of her native Texas, appeared tonight in the Temple Emanu-El concert hall in a controversially identified program.

As James Schwabacher himself pointed out, with considerable force, this was the Schwabacher DEBUT Recital Series for most of its 23-year-run. For various reasons, "debut" has been dropped from the name, although that word signifies Schwabacher's intention when, as was the case Sunday, it is a solo recital. (The singers on joint recitals under his sponsorship are no longer debutants.) Although Susan Graham, Anna Netrebko, Deborah Voigt, Brian Asawa, and Thomas Hampson gave public performances early in their careers, they appeared in the prestigious recital for the first time locally.

Miller too has a considerable track record — having sung with the San Francisco, New York City and Dallas opera companies, winning competitions from coast to coast — but the fact that this concert was a kind of introduction is important. Only from that viewpoint was it "Impress, 10; Connect, 5; Flaws, many." Perhaps later in her career, the verdict would be more negative, but in the context of the event, the impact was considerable, even if at times it was "too much of a good thing."

A fine voice, too little controlled

Hers is a powerful, full-bodied, well-placed voice, dark enough to make some listeners wonder if she'll end up a mezzo, and the projection is positively Wagnerian. That, however, is not what the venue calls for. Just as a trio of current Adler Fellows did two weeks ago, Miller over-sang, overmodulated, over-reached time and again. Nonharmonic overtones were bouncing about on both occasions, the over-singing in the Temple at times resulting in what sounded like pitch problems.

Is it the fault of hall's acoustics then? If you remember Pocket Opera performances at this venue, Donald Pippin balancing the sound flawlessly, the matter of responsibility returns to the performer. Youth, inexperience, and trying too hard are the main reasons for the shouting of Verdi's "Stornello," the diction coming and going in an over-produced Strauss "Cäcilie," the all-wrong Rachmaninoff "Spring waters."

On the other hand, Miller — with considerable help from accompanist Monica Vanderveen — sang in a more restrained, and far more effective, manner when it came to Strauss' "Morgen," the opening "und" coming from nowhere, the way it should. The soprano was also in better form in three songs by the rarely-performed Emile Paladilhe (whose five operas may yet see the light of day again), best in "O cher enfantelet," but unfortunately "turning on the juice" in the final "Psyché." Joaquin Turina's "Poems in Form of Songs" received a great lead-in from Vanderveen's piano solo, "Dedicatoria," followed by Miller's ups and downs among the songs. The singer's complicity (with the program organizers) in not preventing applause between songs brought serious consequences in the Turina cycle, breaking up its essential continuity.

Miller concluded the recital with a "Broadway section" of Kern, Weill, and Hart, singing with "operatic" formality where one longed for more direct musical communication.