SWEET & EASY
   By Robert Commanday

   David Daniels made his long anticipated regional recital debut
   Friday in UC Berkeley's Hertz Hall.  It was a performance that
   confirmed his eminence as a countertenor, or more probably as male
   mezzo soprano (male alto would be the traditional term), that his
   voice is a phenomenon, his vocalism effortless and fluid.  The singing
   is true, consistent, a most grateful sound on the ears, always, and
   the technique, if not always the diction, impeccable.  Impressive as
   that was, enough to stir the enthusiasms that evening, what was not
   established was the completeness or depth of his artistry.  Where
   his selections were not light in weight, the performances often made
   them seem so.  This had to do with the very fluency that was at once
   so engaging and something admired for its own sake, for effect.
   In the first group, of 17th and 18th century songs, the variant
   ornamentations he applied in Lotti's "Pur dicesti, o bocca bella"
   lubricated the repetitions generously.  But it was not until after
   Caldara's familiar "Selve amiche," the Lotti, and the more interesting
   Cesti, "Intorno al'idol mio" that some dramatic tension and weight
   was found, in Gluck's "O del mio dolce ardor."  ...

   http://www.sfcv.org/

Janos Gereben/SF
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