Every time Susan Graham returns to the place where opera career began
(in the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program), she dazzles... with a
non-operatic repertoire. This is not meant as a complaint, just an
observation. Ain't no use complainin' when the lady is as brilliant as
Graham was today in Berkeley's Hertz Hall. Quietly brilliant, that is.
Virtually motionless (but not rigid), Graham pours music forth in a
seamless flow.
She gave a brave and splendid recital: not a single "traditional" or even
particularly well-known work on the program, lots of new and newish music,
French and American. And yet, the truth is that the program didn't matter
as much as the execution -- I don't know who can make singing appear more
simple, easy, *natural* as Graham. Except for an occasional shifting of
colors within the same phrase, it was all thrilling.
Supported by Malcolm ("Mr. Sensitive of the Piano") Martineau, Graham
brought drama and comedy into the hall just standing straight and tall,
all the feelings expressed with and within the music. Swans floated on
mirror-smooth lakes, fountains played, smoke wafted in the air and
disappeared without a trace, bells tolled, and hearts broke with dignity
and style.
The French-language first half featured Debussy's "Trois melodies,"
Barber's "Melodies passageres," and six songs by the wonderful,
"rediscovered" Reynaldo Hahn. The juxtaposition of the disappearing
"Smoke" and the "ecstasy-swirl" of "Fetes galantes" was enough to make
anybody an instant Hahn fan. Songs by John Musto, Bernstein (from
"Songfest" -- a relative rarity), Lowell Lieberman, and Ned Rorem made
up the recital's second half.
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