In a flowing chiffon stole more flaming red than the bright carrot/orange
of her long hair, Laura Claycomb swept to center stage of Davies Hall
tonight, and sang Mozart in a peculiar fashion.

"Exsulatate, jubilate" is a bravura piece, challenging the most agile
of voices, but Claycomb tossed it off, without effort, fluent, brilliant
high notes floating freely, easily, almost casually.

The recitative of "Fulget amica dies" was conversational, crystalline.
She sang "Tu virginum corona" with restrained, classical lyricism.  The
fireworks of the "Alleluja" were simple and unaffected.

Replacing Christine Schaefer (whose husband died suddenly) in the last
minute, Claycomb saved the San Francisco Symphony subscription series,
which - besides the Mozart and Ernst Toch's "Bunte" Suite - programmed
Mahler's Fourth Symphony, recorded at these performances for the orchestra's
Mahler series.

It might have been recording considerations or Michael Tilson Thomas'
interpretation that carried Claycomb's understated singing to excess
after intermission - at least to me.  Mahler enthusiasts, especially
those hearing the performance on a well-edited CD, may have a different
opinion and greet the symphony-concluding "Life in Heaven" exactly for
the sound of the soprano being one of the instruments that to me sounded
like a balance problem.

Claycomb sang "Das himmelische Leben" beautifully, but - unlike her
Mozart from the same seat in Davies - I had to strain to hear her, so
completely did her voice blend with the orchestra.

Restraint, classicism, a cool sound - all that made the Mozart motet
so exceptional - don't work so well for Mahler, at least for those who
associate him unfailingly with passion.  Granted that in case of this
charming, angst-free picture of heaven's vegetable garden, an exception
could be made, but there is still a reasonable demand for a vocal line
up front, supported by the orchestra, not covered by the instruments.

With all the asparagus, string beans, apples, pears and "good grapes"
in the "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" text, there could have been more playfulness
and humor from Claycomb, whose standard-setting Zerbinetta has proved
her to be a master of such.  In the event, if all that fun was in the
voice, the San Francisco strings covered it up.

Speaking of the orchestra musicians, their work in the Fourth will make
the upcoming CD almost certainly a triumph.  They have four more concerts,
four more recording sessions - and they already have the first movement
in the can, or, they should.  Here, MTT made the music dance both elegantly
and seductively, every note in place and yet singing freely, a luminous
first movement.  Four more sessions for the three movements that were
not on the same summit of music-making: it will happen.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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