Julia Johnstone, soprano

Artyom Pak, Piano

William R. and Irene D. Miller Recital Hall at the Manhattan School of Music, New York, NY

May 9, 2023

On May 9, 2023, soprano Julia Johnstone was presented in recital at the William R. and Irene D. Miller Recital Hall at the Manhattan School of Music in partial fulfillment of her Master of Music degree. Ms. Johnstone is a student of Ashley Putnam and coaches with Artyom Pak, who was her excellent accompanist. This review is based on a video recording of that recital.

The concert opened with a rousing rendition of Mozart’s concert aria Alma grande e noble core. I was immediately struck by the beauty of Ms. Johnstone’s voice, which is strong in all registers. The chest voice and the head voice blend perfectly, with no sign of the “break” which plagues so many female singers. Her high voice is produced with ease and her chest voice is strong and rich. Her coloratura is confident and sure. I would have liked to have heard more dynamic contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables of her Italian. Occasionally an isolated short note seemed to be imperfectly supported, which resulted in a slight insecurity of intonation. This latter issue seems to me to be something which she could easily correct, considering her fine technique.

The Mozart selection was followed by four songs by Liszt on texts by Schiller, Goethe, and Heine. I had to look up the names of the poets, as they were not listed on the program (more about this later). These songs were mostly slow to moderate in tempo. I would have liked more variety in the expression of the language. For instance, the opening words of Freudvoll und leidvoll, (happy and sad) sounded the same. A difference in tone color, vibrato, or dynamics would have been appropriate. While Ms. Johnstone obviously has studied German, more attention to vowel sounds – more distinction between the closed “u” of “du” and the open “ü” of “blühn” (in Mignon’s Lied) for instance, would have provided a more expressive rendition of the language. Die Loreley provided a vehicle for Ms. Johnstone’s fine dramatic sense which, no doubt, serves her well in the operatic repertoire.

After intermission we heard three songs by Francis Poulenc on poems by Louise de Vilmorin. On the first song, Le garçon de Liège, Ms. Johnstone seemed to be somewhat overbalanced by the piano. This was the only time in the concert when this happened. The final song, Aux officiers de la garde blanche, was particularly effective, as the sorrow of unrequited love became increasingly more poignant with each verse.

The recital ended with four songs by Benjamin Britten on poems by W.H. Auden. These songs, composed in 1937, when Britten was twenty-four years old, provided welcome exuberance after the brooding melancholy of the French set. As the words were in English, there was no printed text. This was problematic, as I will explain in the next paragraph.

The care which Ms. Johnstone took in her musical preparation was not reflected in the printed program. This is perhaps more the job of the staff of the Manhattan School than that of Ms. Johnstone. For the songs in Italian, German, and French only English texts were provided. This is a problem for several reasons. Having both texts side by side makes it possible to know where in the English text the singer is at any given moment. No matter how good a singer’s diction is, it is difficult to understand the texts of songs as they are being sung, whether or not the listener knows the language. Vowels are always modified on very high notes and there are often several notes one syllable, just to cite two challenges. The names of the poets, with the exception of Louise de Vilmorin, were not given. Another issue is the fact that Köchel and opus numbers were not given.

Singing at Ms. Johnstone’s high level is extremely difficult. Learning Italian, French and German, which all conservatory students in voice must do, is no easy task. Stage presence, acting, and movement are daunting. Making a printed program is easy. It makes me sad to be so critical of an event featuring such a fine singer. Ms. Johnstone has a big talent which she has worked diligently to cultivate. It seems that, in respect to the creation of the printed program she deserves to be better served by her school.

The encore was Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.

Lviv National Orchestra of Ukraine

Theodore Kuchar, Principal Conductor; Stanislav Khristenko, Piano

Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

February 15, 2023

Last night I attended a most memorable concert. It was both heart-warming and heart-rending. I came home both invigorated and exhausted. Driven out of their homes by Putin’s brutal invasion, these excellent musicians have miraculously regrouped in the U.S. They are showing the world that Ukraine is as rich in music as it is in bravery and resilience. I missed the first piece, Yevhen Stankovych’s Chamber Symphony No 3 for Flute and Strings, and entered just in time for Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring the consummate pianist, Stanislav Khristenko. Mr. Khristenko flew over the keyboard with ease, tossing off virtuosic passages and soothing us with his warm sound. For an encore he amazed and enthralled us with Horowitz’s Variations on a Theme from Bizet’s Carmen, a highly entertaining and fiendishly difficult piece.

In the second half the orchestra, led by its principal conductor Theodore Kuchar, came to the fore in a thrilling performance of Dvořák’s New World Symphony. The first thing that struck me about this performance was the very long pause after the initial theme in the strings. What potent silence! Almost over the edge but not quite, making the subsequent reiteration of the theme in the woodwinds all the more gratifying. This was a foretaste of what was to come. This performance was not only technically excellent, it was also individualistic and imaginative.

At the symphony’s conclusion there was a long ovation. At this point it is usual for the conductor to give solo bows to principal players. At first, it felt a little disconcerting that this didn’t happen, but then I realized that this was truly democracy and equality in action. Any individual recognition might have detracted from the feeling of group unity. Nevertheless, I felt a little disappointed that I didn’t get to cheer as loud as I could through my K95 mask for the most eloquent and poignant playing of the English horn solo I have ever heard. It was especially touching because this theme, which was adapted into the spiritual-like song “Goin’ Home” (often mistakenly considered a folk song or traditional spiritual) by Dvořák’s pupil William Arms Fisher (who wrote the lyrics in 1922), must have surely resonated with the performers and, by extension, with the empathetic audience.

For an encore we were treated to the Ukrainian composer Anatoliy Kos-Anatolsky’s Chasing the Wind from his ballet,The Jay’s Wing.  This rollicking dance was performed with great verve and abandon. There ensued a long ovation in the sold-out hall during which a large banner, which was a combination of both the American the Ukrainian flags, was unfurled by brass players at the back of the orchestra. It brought a tear to the eye and a strange joy laced with pain.

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

October 11, 2022

Founded in 1965, the prestigious arts organization, Pro Musicis, is a Paris and New York based non-profit which stresses internationalism and diversity. Their mission, as stated in the printed program, is to “awaken the human spirit,” and their artists are chosen for both their “high level of performance and their passion for social outreach.

Tonight’s concert featured two singers and two pianists, all multi-national and multi-lingual. Mezzo-soprano Solange  Merdinian in (who won a 2019 Pro Musicis International Award) is an Armenian-Argentinian-American; soprano Laetitia Grimaldi (who won a Pro Musicis International Award in 2017) was born in France and grew up in Lisbon and London; pianist Ammeil Bushakevitz (who also won a Pro Musicis International Award in 2017)  was born in Jerusalem, raised in South Africa, and studied in Leipzig and Paris; and pianist Ciro Fodere is from Uruguay and now lives in the United States.  The performers’ multi-national backgrounds led to a most interesting and unusual selection of music.

This program of mostly unfamiliar music was bookended by two very familiar vocal duets- the Flower Duet from Lakmé, by Léo Delibes, and the Barcarolle from Les Contes d’Hoffmann, by Jacques Offenbach.  As the two women launched into the Flower Duet, I was immediately struck by how well the two voices blended and how perfectly in synch they were in terms of both dynamics and tempo.  Without looking at each other they executed the small ritards and diminuendos as if with one voice.  Their voices are well matched in terms of size and timbre, Ms. Merdinian’s strong mezzo balancing Ms. Grimaldi’s higher but equally rich soprano.  I thought they must have been singing together for years.  Not so!  I found out later that, although they were good friends, having once lived in New York at the same time, and having long nursed a desire to collaborate, this wish was unrealized until October 10, 2022, the very day before this concert!  Here is the story: Ms. Grimaldi now lives in Paris and Ms. Merdinian in Miami.  Plans were made to meet in New York City several days before this concert to rehearse.  However, Ms. Grimaldi’s air travel plans went awry, as happens so often these days, and it wasn’t until noon on October 10, one day before the concert that her plane touched down at Kennedy Airport.  They met at a studio in Manhattan and rehearsed that afternoon.  On the afternoon of the day of the concert, just a few hours before their performance, they had their dress rehearsal in the hall.  Forget about jet lag! Forget about resting the voice before a big performance!  The show must go on!

After a soothingly lovely performance of the Flower Duet, Ms. Merdinian left the stage, and Ms. Grimaldi and Mr. Bushakevitz performed three songs by Rachmaninoff: Spring Waters, How Peaceful It Is Here, and What Happiness.  Ms. Grimaldi’s exciting voice projects well throughout her registers.  In the songs of Rachmaninoff the piano writing is often virtuosic. The composer is considered to have been one of the greatest pianists of all time.  A smaller voice might have been overpowered, but Ms. Grimaldi held her own as the brilliant Mr. Bushakevitz flew through the difficult passages with panache.  There was one problem, however.  As is customary, the texts of the songs were printed in the program.  This is of the greatest importance because, without this aid, the listener doesn’t know what the song is saying; the title gives only a general idea.  But it was too dark to comfortably read in the audience area of Weill Recital Hall! This happens frequently in song recitals, and it implies a lack of appreciation for the poetry.  Singers spend a great deal of time thinking about and analyzing texts and then working to reflect their subtleties with voice and gesture.  I would recommend that the performers, who put in all this work, make a point of letting the house know that the lights should be bright enough for the texts to be read with ease.  For, although Ms. Grimaldi sang with commitment and passion, there were, no doubt, subtleties in her delivery which I, who speak no Russian, could not perceive. 

For the next set, Ms. Merdinian, accompanied by the always excellent Mr. Fodere, sang four Armenian songs: The Rose, by Romanos Melikyan, (1883-1935), The Sad Little Girl, and My Sweet Harp, by Khachatur Avedisian, (1926-1996) and Song of Merriment, by Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978).  These folk-like songs, alternately sad and joyous, are obviously dear to Ms. Merdinian’s heart, and her compelling and plangent voice was a perfect vehicle for them.

The balance of the first half of the program was given over to music by women.  Ms. Grimaldi and Mr. Bushakevitz returned to the stage and gave a fine performance of Clara Schumann’s Lorelei.  Then Ms. Grimaldi lent her lustrous soprano to Songe (Dream) by the little-known French Composer, Mélanie Bonis, commonly known as Mel Bonis. To end the set, stormy seas were evoked in After the Squall, by the English composer Ethel Smyth (1858-1944).

The concert’s first half concluded with both singers, accompanied by Mr. Bushakevitz, performing Titania’s Lullaby from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by the Argentinian composer Lucia Caruso (b.1980).  This duet was composed for a concert in Stratford-upon-Avon honoring the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.  It is an attractive tonal piece with a few well-placed dissonances.  The fine diction of the two women was gratifying as they exhorted spotted snakes, newts, spiders, beetles and worms to “come not near our fairy queen.” 

Ms. Merdinian and Mr. Fodere began the second half with short songs by six composers: the Spaniard, Fernando Obradors (1897-1945), the Argentinians Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000), Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), Carlos López Buchardo (1881-1948), Pablo Ziegler (b.1944) and finally, another Spaniard, Jerónimo Giménez (1854-1923).  A typically Spanish mood prevailed with frequent imitations of guitars in the piano part and sultry vocalizing and seductive gestures by the singer.  The last song of the set, La Tarantula, by Giménez, brought down the house as Ms. Merdinian ended it on a high note with her hands above her head.  Her childhood in Argentina was not wasted!

Neither was Ms. Grimaldi’s Lisbon upbringing, as was evidenced in the next set.  She was accompanied, as before by Mr. Bushakevitz in Brazil’s Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Melodia Sentimental, from Florets do Amasonas, Villa-Lobos’s foray into movie music.  Two works by Obradores followed and then, in a delightful twist, we heard the French composer Delibes’s take on Spanish music in Les Filles de Cadix.

 The well-loved Barcarolle from Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann gently completed the program.  The happy audience, with loud applause and cries of bravo, leapt to its feet and was then rewarded with Vidila, a duet by Carlos López Buchardo. 

Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

June 24, 2022

Richard Lin.  Remember the name.  For he has everything required to take the world by storm.

It was one of those magical evenings music lovers live for.  A new artist, supremely talented, fully formed, takes the stage.  For a couple of hours the healing elixir of beautiful sound comforts and invigorates, and all is well with the world.  When it is over, those who were lucky enough to have borne witness feel compelled to talk about it.  How fortunate I am to have this platform!

Richard Lin is the Gold Medalist of the 10^th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, which took place in September of 2018.  This Carnegie Hall debut was part of the prize, along with $75,000 and a recording contract.  Mr. Lin’s accompanist was Thomas Hoppe, who was described in the program as “one of the finest piano partners and chamber musicians of his generation.”  I agree: he is a masterful pianist and a sensitive musical partner.  He is a Professor of Piano Chamber Music at the Folkwang University in Essen, Germany.

Before a note of music was played, Mr. Lin charmed the audience as, with a look of joy in his eyes, he perused the hall from his position center stage.  He gazed first at the balcony, moved down to the dress circle, the second and first tiers and the parquet.  Soft laughter showed the audience’s understanding of Mr. Lin’s appreciation for this revered space.  We were all happy to be there together.

The program began with the Chaconne inG minor of Tomaso Antonio Vitali (1663- 1745).  This piece has a rather unusual lineage.  Its original manuscript was found in Dresden in 1800. It consisted of a violin part and continuo line.  In 1867, Ferdinand David, a violinist and composer, wrote a piano accompaniment and embellished the violin part.  In 1911, David’s version was rearranged by Léopold Charlier, who added virtuoso passages to the violin part.  This is the version which we heard.  The piece began with the pianist’s left hand playing the chaconne’s familiar pattern of descending fourths. The noble melody soon entered, played with simplicity and grace by the violin.  As the piece progressed, we were mesmerized by Mr. Lin’s tonal beauty, rapid finger-work and compelling phrasing.  When listening to the ease with which Mr. Lin flew through the fast passages, one felt that he had thoroughly displayed his technique.  This was wrong: there was much more!

There followed the Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 18 by Richard Strauss. This sonata was started in 1887 and finished in  1888, as Strauss began to expand his harmonic vocabulary to incorporate that of Richard Wagner.  It contains more than a whiff of the exuberant tone poem Don Juan, Op. 20 of 1888.  This piece allowed Mr. Lin’s many and varied tone colors to shine and his technical mastery to be exhibited even more fully than before.  Especially memorable were the second movement’s very long lyric lines where bow changes were completely imperceptible.  After intermission, the Sonata for Violin and Pianoby John Corigliano (b. 1938) was performed.  This piece consists of four short movements, each with a unique mood.  Originally titled Duo, the violin and piano work more in dialog than as soloist and accompanist.  Mr. Lin and Mr. Hoppe obviously enjoyed playing with, and off each other. In turn tender and virtuosic, this primarily tonal piece is both accessible and entertaining. 

The last piece on the program was Igor Frolov’s Concert Fantasy on Themes from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.  Music indeed seemed to be a “universal language,” as we heard a Taiwanese-American violinist and a German pianist performing an arrangement by a Russian composer of music written by an American Jew based on the rhythms and tonalities of African-American jazz and spirituals!  Frolov made no effort to transform the familiar songs harmonically or rhythmically, as one would do in a theme and variations.  Rather the tunes were strung together with minimal connective material.  It was a delightful romp, with moments of both intimate tenderness and great bravura.

The audience wasted no time in leaping to its feet with tumultuous applause and shouts of bravo.  This somewhat jaded critic was among them.  We were rewarded with two contrasting encores: an arrangement of the gentle Debussy song Beau Soir and Kreisler’s wild Tambourin Chinois. Before he left the stage, the lithe and graceful Mr. Lin bent down and kissed the floor of the beloved Stern Auditorium,-Carnegie Hall’s main stage.

Joanna Hyunji Kim, Soprano and E-Na Song, Piano

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

June 16, 2022

The young Korean /American soprano Joanna Hyunji Kim presented an impressive recital at Weill Recital Hall on June 16, 2022. Dr. Kim studied at Ewha Woman’s University in South Korea and the Eastman School of Music. She called her recital “Returning Home,” in response to her belief that, in her words, “there is always an ultimate home for us all to find true peace.” This recital was postponed two years because of the pandemic.

Lovely and graceful in ivory satin, Dr. Kim radiated inner as well as outer beauty. Her voice is rich and powerful, her interpretation sensitive and intense, and her musicianship impeccable.

The evening began with Schubert’s charming song, Seligkeit. The piano dynamic at the beginning of the second verse of this strophic song was particularly effective. Although the texts of all the songs were translated, this title, which means “Happiness” was not- a small oversight. Further along in the program this happened again with Vilse, by Sibelius.

Next we heard a heartfelt rendition of Schumann’s of Heiss mich nicht reden, from Goethe’s Mignon. It was a pleasure to hear Schumann’s setting of this famous poem, which is more dramatic than Schubert’s more frequently performed version of the same text. Another Mignon song, Kennst du das Land, this time in Hugo Wolf’s setting, concluded the set. The bravura piano part gave the excellent pianist, E-Na Song, an opportunity to shine

We moved from Lieder to Chanson for a set of Baudelaire poems set by Debussy. There was another glitch in the program, which I feel obliged to point out. The set was titled Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, although actually only four songs were performed. Dr. Kim’s sensitive musicianship and convincing acting were displayed in these atmospheric compositions.

The first half concluded with four Sibelius songs, sung in Swedish. Their tunefulness was a pleasant contrast to the ethereal harmonic vocabulary of the French set.

 After the intermission came a group of three songs by Tom Cipullo (b. 1956) on poems by Lisel Mueller (1924-2020) from a set of six songs titled Of a Certain Age. In these poems, a woman of mature years looks back on a life richly lived. The texts range from the bittersweet and nostalgic to the humorous and tragic. The well-wrought music is compelling, at times moving, and at other times witty. The middle song, Fugitive, was one of the high points of the evening, employing the extremes of a soprano’s vocal and dynamic range (including whispering) and operatic dramatic intensity. Unlike many singers of foreign birth, Dr. Kim’s English diction was flawless and could be understood even without the aid of the text provided in the program.

After this impressive English set Dr. Kim left the stage and returned with violinist Soo Yeon Kim and cellist Heewon Lee. The four women performed an enjoyable set of contemporary songs listed in the program as Korean Art Song, which were sung in the original language. The program tells us that Dr. Kim’s doctoral lecture-recital was on Korean diction and art song. This lecture-recital was presented in 2020 at the Harvard Graduate Music Forum Conference. The first two songs were by Wonji Lee (b. 1979) and the third by Kyu-Yung Chin (b. 1948). Destined, by Lee, which began the set was particularly gripping. The ninety minute recital ended with Un- Young La’s setting of the The Lord is My Shepherd (Psalm 23). So effective was this composition that even without any knowledge of Korean, this listener knew where she was in the familiar text. Ms. Kim’s adoring audience gave her and her colleagues a well-deserved standing ovation.