The "Songs of a Wayfarer" Michelle DeYoung sang tonight in Davies Hall was
Mahler at its Kalifornian best.  With a notable Westerner, Michael Tilson
Thomas, conducting the Schoenberg-arranged chamber-orchestra version, the
young California mezzo illuminated the joy and celebration of life in the
work.  It's something you don't often hear, what with all the angst and
gloom in the way.  In truth, "Wayfarer" is as much a love letter to life as
the first draft of a "Dear John" message; one doesn't make sense without
the other.

A true mezzo, but with brilliant highlights, DeYoung enjoys singing
more audibly and visibly than any of her contemporaries, following in
the footsteps of Flicka and Dawn Upshaw.  Her dazzling smile is genuine
("is this not a beautiful world?"), her Cleo-Laine hair of Marge Simpson
proportions moves with the music ("how pleasing is the world to me!") --
and at one point, not even singing, she opened her arms wide, embracing the
"kling, kling, schoenes Ding" of it all; the image stays with the listener
along with the music.

Lest you dread a "don't worry, be happy" interpretation of Mahler, be
assured that the longing, foreboding, and sorrow of the traditional
"Wayfarer" were all there too, but finding and emphasizing the "upbeat"
in the text and music gave a new dimension to the work.

MTT has championed DeYoung for a long time -- she was a soloist in his
inaugural concert in San Francisco five years ago -- and now the "young
artist" has grown up, ready to take her place among the principal mezzos
in the worlds of opera, lieder and oratorio.  She is not entirely there
yet, there is work to be done -- the first Rueckert song, for example, was
all wrong as she appeared to run out of breath -- but she has the voice,
the artistry, and a palpable energy that makes music come alive.  So far,
she sang mostly minor roles in opera, but look out, world!  Here comes a
Delilah to blow away Samson even he has (temporarily) more hair than she.

Another, more traditional and pejorative California presence was in the
audience behavor tonight: applause after each song in the cycles by
Duparc, Brahms, Schubert, and even in the Rueckert.  MTT answered my
prayers when he asked the audience before "Wayfarer" to cease and desist.

The accompanist for the first half of the concert was Peter Grunberg,
a perfect match for DeYoung.  MTT played the piano accompaniment for
the Rueckert songs, wonderfully well; and he conducted the tiny chamber
orchestra consisting of the Symphony's principal players.  MTT, SFS and
DeYoung will team up again at the end of May in the Beethoven Ninth.

In other California music news, Mother's Day 2000 marks the completion of
Jake Heggie's "Dead Man Walking," as the joint pride of LA and SF finished
the orchestration of his first opera today -- almost five months in advance
of the world premiere in the War Memorial.  The young composer confirmed
that his work is done, but would not comment on the possibility of the
Houston Opera producing "Dead Man Walking" soon.  One hears, however, that
there may well be additional productions of this newborn opera elsewhere
in the U.S.  and in Europe.  Chances are that Heggie too is singing the
California song today: "Wie mir doch die Welt gefaellt!  Heia!"

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