Katarina Karneus is not a spectacular diva, "only" a good singer.  At the
Swedish mezzo's San Francisco debut tonight in Herbst Theater, she made a
delightfully low-key initial impression.

Opening with a set of Mozart ariettes, Karneus sang simply, quietly,
reminding the listener of the origins of lieder:  small, intimate rooms,
the singer part of the group gathered to make, to listen to music.
The sense of small scale, of intimacy was enhanced by the likeminded
accompaniment:  Brian Zeger is one of the most self-effacing, supportive
pianists in the business.

In the set of five Schumann songs that followed, Karneus revealed a
bigger voice than heard in Mozart, but she stayed with low-key, almost shy,
presentation - almost too much so.  It's not that the music requires the
large gesture, only that we became used to the opera-star approach even to
lieder, waiting for more volume, as notes and phrases are being punched up,
leading to thrilling climaxes.  You won't get that from Karneus.

Next: five songs from Joseph Marx - charming, heartfelt, romantic but
in a restrained manner.  Every time, rarely as it is, Marx pops up on
a program, it begs the question: why is this great composer of songs
virtually unknown outside his native Austria?

Faure songs went by, somewhat uneventfully, although Zeger's "swelling
water" piano in "Les berceaux" was truly memorable.  The mezzo's French
and German diction was just as fine and natural as her Swedish in the
concluding Sibelius songs.

Karneus has a way of growing on the listener.  Her sincerity and lack
of artifice form only the baseline of her artistry.  There is more there
there as the (surprisingly short) evening unfolds.  She doesn't really
have a sound of her own, I doubt I'd recognize her on the radio or on an
unidentified CD, but if you want to listen to the music - what a novel
idea!  - she is right up there, along with the big names making big
gestures.

Janos Gereben/SF
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