MUSIC REVIEW
Von Stade is consummate artist of song
By Gregory Shepherd
Advertiser Classical Music Critic
Honolulu Symphonygoers are treated this weekend to the consummate artistry of Frederica von Stade, one of the premier mezzo-sopranos of the day.
Her exquisite musicality brought real elegance Friday night to Hector Berlioz's "Les nuits d'ete" ("Summer Nights") and Joseph Canteloub's "Chants d'Auvergne" ("Songs of the Auvergne").
Frederica von Stade's exquisite musicality can illuminate a summer night and lend a sun-burnished tone to a pastoral idyll. The mezzo-soprano also uses her dramatic skills to advance her interpretation of song.
It is especially fitting that half of the program is given over to the music of Berlioz, since this year is the bicentenary of his birth, and Von Stade's interpretation of his masterful song cycle is as fine a tribute as can be imagined.
United in the themes of love and loss, the group of six songs begins with "Villanelle," a young couple's sprightly walk through the woods in search of flowers and ... privacy. Von Stade captured the song's moods in both her light approach to the vocal line as well as in her understated physical characterization of the lyrics.
"La spectre de la rose," the true masterpiece of the cycle, follows next and von Stade spins an unbroken line of honey-colored light out of its sinuous melody. The pathos of the song's text is given a supernal sheen by the singer's utterly free yet controlled mastery of tone.
Mezzo-soprano, performing in the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra's Halekulani Classical MasterWorks series
And — wouldn't you know it? — right in the middle of one of her more intimate passages a cell phone goes off in the balcony. Where's a cruise missile when you need one?
Frederica von Stade
Her phrasing and tone on the other songs of the group brought out nuances heard from only the world's greatest singers, and of special note is her ability to shape crescendos and decrescendos without the slightest sense of effort. As is the case with all top artists, the music just happens.
Although not of the artistic caliber of "Les nuits d'ete," the selections from Joseph Canteloube's "Chants d'Auvergne" were a charming end to the second half of the program. The sublimely unhurried line of the first song, "Bailero," seems to float a finger's breadth above the Earth, with a shepherd and a shepherdess calling out to each other across the water. Von Stade acts out the two parts with real insight and gives the vocal line a suitably sun-burnished tone.
The witty "Lo fiolaire" that follows tells of a young girl who, asked for a kiss, gives two. Von Stade prefaced each of the songs on Friday with a little encapsulation of the text, and her renowned dramatic skills came through in the interpretations she gave each song.
"Uno jionto postouro" closed the written portion of the program with hypnotically gorgeous vocal and orchestral writing, and, true to form, von Stade turned it into a thing of beauty. She generously encored with "Madrigal sobre un tema popular" by the obscure Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge, and Offenbach's "Tipsy Waltz" from "La Perichole."
Berlioz's "Roman Carnival" began the program with high spirits, although Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite" opened the second half of the program with what can only be called torpor.
Gregory Shepherd has been The Advertiser's classical music critic since 1987.
