Julie Boulianne, mezzo-soprano in Review

Julie Boulianne, mezzo-soprano in Review
Metropolitan Opera, New York, NY
March 2 and 3, 2011
Follow up to review of October 28, 2003

Julie-Boulianne; Photo Credit: Dennis Kwan

One of the rewards of being a music critic is having the opportunity to anticipate the success of a young performer. Seven and a half years ago, my review of Julie Boulianne’s New York debut recital began: “It took just one or two phrases to realize that mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne, Joy in Singing’s 2003 Award Winner, is a great talent – a beautiful voice, a strong technique, a compelling stage presence.” And in the last paragraph I stated: “Her performance of the aria from ‘Les Huguenots’ leads one to anticipate success on the opera stage.” Recently I had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Boulianne on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, singing small but attention-grabbing roles in performances of Glucks “Iphigénie en Tauride” (March 2nd) and Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette” (March 3rd.) And “success on the opera stage” it was!

In “Iphigénie en Tauride” Ms. Boulianne performed the role of the goddess Diana. As any deus ex machina should, she made her entrance rapidly dropping from the fly space above the stage while suspended by a wire. (I wonder how it must have felt beginning her Met debut on February 12th in such a manner.) In 2003 I heard her in the intimate confines of Merkin Concert Hall. But how would she fare on the vast stage of the Metropolitan Opera House? I am happy to report that her rich voice filled the hall (I was sitting in the balcony) and she commanded the stage just as the goddess she was portraying should.

When singing the pants role of Stephano in “Roméo et Juliette,” she had the stage to herself at the beginning of Act III. No longer as a goddess, but this time a young man, she sang her aria with impetuous abandon and was most convincing in the sword fight which followed.

These two fine performances give us a taste of what Ms. Boulianne is capable of. To again quote from my October 28, 2003 review: “This listener would relish the chance to hear her Cherubino.”

– Harry Saltzman for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Duo Sirocco in Review

Duo Sirocco in Review
Nathalie Houtman, recorders and xiao (chinese flute)
Raphaël Collignon, harpsichord
Pro Musicis 
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
February 16, 2011

 

Duo Sirocco

What a wonderful and informative evening!  More than just a concert of music for recorder and harpsichord, it was a virtuoso display by two masters of their instruments, combined with a most enlightening history lesson. Yet there was nothing pedantic about this evening’s presentation entitled “A Baroque Concert in the Chinese Emperor’s Palace.” From the opening “Air Chinois” to the closing sonata by Arcangelo Corelli, the concert flowed along so gracefully and pleasantly that it almost seemed to be choreographed.

Who knew that “the musician, missionary and priest Teodorico Pedrini (1671-1746) was sent to Beijing in 1701 by the Pope at the behest of the Emperor of China, who had expressed a wish to have a European artist in his service?” (The preceding was a quote from the fine program notes written by members of the Duo Sirocco and Dr. Richard E. Rodda.) Who knew that one of the first serious western studies of non-western music was written by the French Jesuit missionary Joseph-Marie Amiot (1781-1793) who arrived in Beijing in 1751?

The program, described in the notes as an attempt “to reproduce a concert that would have been given at the palace of Emperor Qian Long (1735-1794),” began with “Air Chinois,” Amiot’s transcription of a Chinese melody, plaintively performed on the Xiao (Chinese flute) by Nathalie Houtman. Ms. Houtman, who began playing from the rear of the hall, walked towards the stage down the right aisle. The non-western aspect of the unaccompanied melody was reinforced by an expressive upward-sighing-figure at the end of each phrase. Meanwhile, Mr. Collignon was quietly walking down the left aisle and then up onto the stage. With perfectly rehearsed timing, he sat down at the harpsichord and joined Ms. Houtman for the conclusion of the Amiot.

The “western-music” part of the concert began with the Sonata for Recorder and Harpsichord, Opus 3 No. 6 by the aforementioned Teodorico Pedrini. (We were to hear two more of these sonatas later in the program, all part of the composer’s Opus 3, his only surviving works.) Although these works are of minor musical merit, they were beautifully performed with an impeccable sense of ensemble and great ornamentation. As they were of great historical interest, I am very glad to have heard them in this context. More interesting musically was the next work, a sonata by the French composer and flute virtuoso Michel Blavet (1700-1768).

Although they were brilliantly performed, the works by Pedrini and Blavet paled next to the music of Jean-Philippe Rameau and Archangelo Corelli. For this listener, the musical high points of the concert were the three harpsichord works by Rameau. I marveled at the harmonic vocabulary of “La Dauphine” and was thrilled by the weird chord progression in “L’Enharmonique,” made even more expressive by Mr. Collignon’s subtle use of rubato. The repeated notes imitating the sound of chickens in “La Poule” were made even more interesting by the way Mr. Collignon varied the articulation. This was great technical skill in the service of great music.

It should be noted that none of the five works which appeared on the printed program as “Sonata for Recorder and Harpsichord” were originally written for these instruments. As stated in the program notes, the three Pedrine sonatas were written for violin and bassoon continuo (bass instrument and harpsichord improvising the stipulated chords), the Blavet for transverse flute and basso continuo, the Corelli for violin and basso continuo. In the baroque, the bass instrument which doubled the lowest note of the harpsichord was often omitted, and other treble instruments could perform the parts originally written for violin or flute. The virtuosic high point of the evening took place during Ms. Houtman’s performance of the Corelli violin sonata, the concert’s final work. What is idiomatic on a violin would seem to be almost impossible on the recorder. After I heard the fast arpeggio “string crossings” in the first movement, in my notes I wrote “Wow!” After the second movement I wrote “faster?”, and after the third I marveled “even faster!!”  What fleet fingers, what quick tonguing, what thrilling playing!

After a rousing round of applause, Mr. Collignon ambled onto the stage strumming a tiny Renaissance guitar. Mr. Houtman followed, and together they brought the concert to a delightful conclusion with a rollicking performance of an arrangement of the Tambourin from Rameau’s “Pièces de clavecin, 1731.”

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

The Mirror Visions Ensemble in Review

The Mirror Visions Ensemble in Review
Works by Russell Platt and Tom Cipullo
Bargemusic
January 29, 2011

Mirror Visions Ensemble

It is a good idea to arrive at concerts early, not only so that one can have time to read the program notes, but also in order to make the transition from the hectic life of the city, to place a “cordon sanitaire” around the event being attended. This is especially important when attending events at Lincoln Center or at the Carnegie Halls, as one needs to decompress after a ride on the NY Subway. My favorite pre-concert “cordon sanitaire” begins just after exiting the subway at the York Street Station of the F train. One then walks Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass through DUMBO. There are fleeting views of the Manhattan Bridge on the right and soon parts of the Brooklyn Bridge come into view. After a right turn down Old Fulton Street, one soon arrives at the East River. Ahead is the Manhattan skyline, to the right the span of the Brooklyn Bridge, and to the left, moored to the Brooklyn shore, is home of Bargemusic. Floating in the East River, this one of our city’s most unusual and pleasant chamber music venues.

Founded in 1992 The Mirror Visions Ensemble (Tobé Malawitsa, Artistic Director) has commissioned more than seventy vocal chamber music works. Given the magnificent performances we heard tonight from soprano Vira Slywotzky, tenor Scott Murphree, baritone Jesse Blumberg and pianist Alan Darling, contemporary composers are very fortunate to have such skilled and dedicated performers championing their music. Tonight’s concert featured two of The Mirror Visions Ensemble’s commissions.

The first half was devoted to Russell Platt’s “From Noon to Starry Night: A Walt Whitman Cantata.” This setting of ten Whitman poems was written in a spiky but not painfully dissonant harmonic style, often leavened by major triad final chords. It began with two trios which were sung with perfect intonation and rhythmic clarity. The first was fairly tonal, but spiced by added “wrong notes” in some of the chords, while the second was a waltz. Each of the following solo movements was performed with attention to the meaning of the words and with impeccable diction. I found the consonant opening of the fifth movement, “I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing,” quite beautiful.

After intermission we heard Tom Cipullo’s “A Visit with Emily,” settings of letters and poetry of Emily Dickenson and letters of T.W. Higginson. As did Mr. Platt, Mr. Cipullo spoke about his work before it was performed. I usually dislike these pre-performance-spoken- program-notes, but Mr. Cipullo’s were most informative, quite funny, and very well delivered. Most interesting was the statement that his settings were not meant to augment or to clarify the meaning of the poems, but to express his reaction to them. Mr. Cipullo’s music has none of the retro-consonant elements employed by Mr. Platt, and it never wavers from an astringent harmonic language. If there was a “retro” aspect to his music, it was his skillful use of use of earlier musical devices, an aspect of this work I enjoyed very much. Movements three (sung by Mr. Blumberg,) four (sung by Mr. Murphree,) and five (sung by Ms. Slywotzky) were based on poems which had to do with fame. Movement six combined the melodies of these three songs, a devise called a quodlibet.  It was brilliantly performed by the three soloists and pianist Alan Darling. In later movements we heard a catch, a chaconne, a passacaglia and another quodlibet.

And after hearing fine performances of skillful settings of great poetry in a unique venue, I could reenter reality by retracing my steps under those two great bridges mentioned in paragraph one. Only in New York!

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

The University of Notre Dame Concert Band

The University of Notre Dame Concert Band
Kenneth Dye, conductor
Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium, New York, NY
May 11, 2010

To the great pleasure of the joyous audience attending this Carnegie Hall concert, the ninety-three members of The University of Notre Dame Concert Band made a mighty sound. And the word concert alone does not fully describe this event, as it assumed, at different times, aspects of a concert, a college reunion, a pep rally. Let it be said at the outset that The University of Notre Dame Concert Band is a virtuoso ensemble. The technical skill and ensemble cohesiveness of these young players is mind boggling. The thirteen flutes in unison play as one, as do the fourteen clarinets. The forty-one member brass choir sounds great at all dynamic levels, when playing both solemn chorale-like passages and wild jazzy riffs. It was an evening of sonic splendor.

We began with the world premier of Joseph Turinn’s “Fanfare and Prelude.” Director of Bands Kenneth Dye conducted this and three other works on the concert. Five assistant conductors, Larry Dwyer, Sam Sanchez, Matt Merten, Emmett O’Leary and Alison Thigpen shared the remaining nine works. “Fanfare and Prelude,” the following work, Clifton Williams’ “Dramatic Essay,” and “Fandango,” another work by Mr. Turrin, all seemed to have similar sonic structures. All had a fast brassy beginning, a softer lyric middle section with prominent woodwinds, a loud and fast ending. Both of Mr. Turinn’s works also had an uplifting brass choral-like passage towards the end, one which would not have been out of place in a movie score. They also shared a similar harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary. The dissonances were fairly painless, the lyric melodies pop-tune-like, the beginnings and endings jazzy.

“Dramatic Essay” featured fine playing by guest artist, trumpeter Philip Smith. But with all the excellent trumpeters in the band, I’m not sure why they had to go out and get a star. (Mr. Smith is principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic.) In “Fandango,” Mr. Smith was joined by the Notre Dame Concert Band’s principal trombone, Anthony Parish. Mr. Parish more than held his own. In fact, his was the most impressive solo playing of the evening – warm, expressive, beautifully phrased. I loved his judicious use of vibrato.

On the first half we heard both arrangements and easy listening works written in the twenty and twenty-first centuries. There was a sameness about much of this music. For me, the concert came to life three works into the second half, with the Notre Dame New Orleans Brass Band’s electrifying performance of conductor Matt Merton’s arrangements of What a Friend We Have in Jesus and I’ll Fly Away. The band entered from the rear of the hall and marched down the aisle. What visceral excitement, what authenticity! I did feel there was no reason for the members of the concert band to join in after the marchers reached the stage, for it only watered down the unique sound we had been hearing.

The concert band morphed into a very good and very large “big band” with stylistically impeccable performances of Larry Dwyer’s transcription of Harold Arlen’s “When the Sun Comes Out” and Kenneth Dyes tribute to Benny Goodman’s 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert, “Benny Goodman in Concert.”

The entire audience then rose to their feet for the Notre Dame Alma Mater. And how else could this concert end, but with a rip-roaring rendition of the great “Notre Dame Victory March”? It was conducted by TV personality and Notre Dame Alumnus Regis Philbin.

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Richard Strauss Duo Recital

Richard Strauss Duo Recital
Sharon Cheng, soprano and Michael Fennelly, piano
Jennifer Grimaldi, soprano and Max Midoit, piano
Bechstein Piano Centre, New York City
May 4, 2010

What a pleasure it was to hear two fine sopranos, accompanied by two sensitive pianists, skillfully performing the glorious songs of Richard Strauss in a well-lit intimate setting. This year, I have attended many vocal recitals in dimly-lit major concert halls where established artists sang numerous sets of obscure and forgettable songs by great composers. But tonight, we heard fourteen Strauss songs, and there wasn’t a weak one amongst them. And our pleasure hearing these songs was enhanced by the fact that there was enough light to comfortably read the written program, with its fine notes and the original German poems written along side their English translations.

To get to the performing space of the Bechstein Centre, one enters through the piano showroom. Walking among these storied instruments is a wonderful way of transitioning between the hurly-burly of midtown Manhattan and the anticipated vocal recital to follow. A left turn takes one to the performance space. Against the right wall are many upright pianos, in the front a raised stage with a large Bechstein Grand. It was sad that there were so few people in the audience to hear this fine recital.

The recital began with a performance by soprano Sharon Cheng, who sang four of the five Brentano Lieder, Opus 68. Ms. Cheng, whose vivid red dress appropriately reflected the vocal fireworks she produced, possesses an exciting and securely produced voice which grows more and more thrilling as she moves into the stratospheric parts of a soprano’s range.The high point of the set was her performance of the last song, Amor. Ms. Cheng nailed this show stopper’s very, very high notes with ease.


Sharon Cheng, soprano
Jennifer Grimaldi, soprano
Michael Fennelly, pianist

We then heard Jennifer Grimaldi, whose more somber black dress reflected her beautifully phrased and emotionally intense performance of three of Strauss’s most famous songs, Allerseelen, Morgen, and Cäcilie. Many singers seem to be afraid of singing the “hit tunes,” perhaps feeling that they will have “nothing new to say.” But performances such as Ms. Grimaldi’s, deeply felt and expressed through beautiful sounds, thrill us even though we have heard these songs so many times before. Michael Fennelly and Max Midoit were the sensitive and supportive accompanists. That they were sometimes a bit too loud was a function of the very lively performance space and the powerful Bechstein Grand upon which they were playing.

After intermission, Ms. Cheng performed the Brentano Lied she omitted on the first half. She concluded her set with wonderful performances of Ständchen and Kling, showing that she too was not afraid to sing the “hit tunes.” Many young singers often don’t program the “hit tunes” because they are afraid that their performances will be compared to those of established stars living or dead. But both Cheng and Grimaldi were up to the task. I urge all singers to forget about how someone else has performed a song. The great ones stand up to repeated performances. It’s the mediocre ones that one should be wary of. The recital ended with a most moving performance of the Vier letzte Lieder, sung by Jennifer Grimaldi.

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Choral Chameleon

Choral Chameleon
Vince Peterson, Artistic Director
Sanctuary of the Fourth Universalist Society, New York, NY
April 18, 2010

Choral Chameleon is a nineteen-voice chamber chorus whose mission “is to engage listeners in a diverse and innovative musical experience through its integrative concert programming and education outreach.” Their early-evening concert was titled “Hymns for the Amusement of Children” and featured four works composed during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These works were integrated in that their texts all have a connection to childhood. The chorus produces a pleasant sound, especially beautiful in soft homophonic passages. But unlike the reptile for which they are named, throughout the concert the sound of Choral Chameleon never changed color. They do sing with fine intonation and are very comfortable performing complex rhythmic passages. Most importantly, artistic director Vince Peterson has the chorus shape the musical lines so that they all have forward thrust and an expressive musical profile.

The concert began with “Three Choral Settings from Alice in Wonderland” by Irving Fine (1914-1962). These works set the tone of the first half – often jazzy, easy to listen to. By the way, Mr. Peterson made his first entrance carrying a baton in one hand and a plastic water bottle in the other, something this viewer found to be quite undignified.

“Five Childhood Lyrics” by John Rutter (b.1945) followed. I especially enjoyed the first song, “Monday’s Child.” It was good to hear the chorus singing some slow, expressive, a cappella music. The first half ended with the work from which the concert took its title, “Hymns for the Amusement of Children” by Conrad Susa (b.1935.) In the next to the last song, “Undressing in the Evening,” we heard the best of the first half’s three soloists drawn from the chorus, baritone Andrew Cook-Feltz.

The second half featured the world premiere of the oratorio “Such Beautiful Things” by Jeffrey Parola (b.1979.) The skillful libretto by Tony Asaro was drawn from the Brothers Grimm’s “The Traveling Musicians.” This is a well constructed major work, almost an hour long. Of the four soloists, soprano Christina Borgioli made the strongest impression. She possesses a thrilling voice – well produced and beautiful in all parts of her range.

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Distinguished Concerts International New York – Love, Lust, and Light: A Valentine’s Day Concert

Distinguished Concerts International New York – Love, Lust, and Light: A Valentine’s Day Concert
Love, Lust, and Light: A Valentine’s Day Concert
Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium, New York, NY
February 14, 2010

After hearing this concert, I am happy to report that high quality choral singing in the United States is flourishing. In my review of DCINY’s January 18th concert at Avery Fisher Hall, I lauded them for bringing fine amateur choruses to New York. The sentiments expressed in that review are equally applicable to this afternoon’s concert.

This Valentine’s Day concert began with Morten Lauridsen’s gentle “Lux Aeterna” (“Eternal Light”) – definitely a non-Valentine’s Day piece, but connected to “Love and Lust” by alliteration. Nancy Menk, a prominent Indiana choral conductor, led five choirs and the Distinguished Concerts Orchestra International, a group of fine New York free-lance musicians who perform at DCINY choral concerts. The singers were drawn from three high school choirs, leavened by more mature voices from two of Ms. Menk’s own performing organizations. What a glorious sound! But there were some problems with diction – vowels were fine, but most consonants were indistinct. And many choral entrances were tentative. As to Ms. Menk’s conducting technique: it was hard to discern a clear pattern to the beat, and there was little connection between what was going on in the music and the beat’s size and intensity. Most gestures were just too large. Good amateur choral singers don’t need the music to be constantly “drawn out from them.”

After intermission, the “Love and Lust” theme was expressed in a work beloved of many choruses and audiences, Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” We heard six choirs, a much larger orchestra and three soloists, all under the masterful direction of Vance George (DCINY Conductor Laureate). We also saw a quite different conducting technique – clear, economic, elegant. While setting fine tempi and skillfully shaping the overall performance, he just let the performers make the music they had so carefully rehearsed. No need to “draw it out from them.”

Dillon McCartney sang the stratospheric tenor part of the “Roasted Swan” with ease. Soprano Penelope Shumate, in a sexy red gown which conjured up the word “lust”, possessed a beautiful, flexible, dramatic voice. My favorite soloist was baritone Stephen Swanson, whose expressive sound was especially thrilling in the upper registers.

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Musica de Camara String Ensemble

Musica de Camara String Ensemble
Christian Colberg, conductor
The Cathedral of St. Patrick’s
February 11, 2010

The soloists who participated in this concert “Celebrating 30 Years of Excellence in Classical Music” were fine ambassadors of Musica de Camara’s mission to present “Puerto Rican and Hispanic classical musicians in concert.” And the Musica de Camara String Ensemble, made up of Hispanic and non-Hispanic players, presented a beautiful picture of the diversity of this great city of ours.

After a special introductory proclamation from the City Council of New York, presented by its Speaker of the House, Christine Quinn, we heard a reduced group of the ensemble perform J.S. Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043. My worries about how this piece would fare in the over-reverberant acoustics of the cathedral were unfounded. The polyphonic textures were clear, and the expert soloists, Jose Miguel Cueto and Evelyn Estava, were well balanced. They handled the work’s technical demands with ease and performed the slow movement with lilting grace. I did miss the use of a harpsichord continuo to fill in the chords during the solo passages accompanied by just cello and bass. And we needed more celli and basses during the tutti sections.

The rest of the players then joined their colleagues for a luscious performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasy on a Theme of Thomas Tallis”. Here, the ensemble’s beautiful, rich sound was further enhanced by the cathedral’s live acoustics. This is a perfect piece for this space, but a very important spatial aspect of the work was disregarded. It is scored for a string quartet and two different sized string orchestras. If, as in tonight’s performance, these orchestras aren’t physically separated from each other, the composer’s antiphonal effects are weakened or lost. Although we heard a fine performance, skillfully paced and shaped by conductor Christian Colberg, it was one which didn’t express a crucial part of the composer’s intent.

A performance of Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings in E major, Opus 22 exhibited the same fine intonation and tight ensemble we heard all evening. But here the echoey acoustics got in the way and created muddy textures. The concert ended with a spirited performance of Jose Ignacio Quinton’s Puerto Rican dance, “El Coqui.”

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Distinguished Concerts International New York – Concert For Peace

Distinguished Concerts International New York
Concert for Peace
Celebrating the Spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
January 18, 2010

This Martin Luther King, Jr. Day concert was presented by Distinguished Concerts International of New York (DCINY) and featured choirs from the United States and Canada, six vocal soloists, a large orchestra, all under the expert direction of DCINY’s artistic director and principal conductor, Jonathan Griffith. In bringing church, college and community musical organizations to New York to perform in major concert halls, DCINY is doing a valuable service. The performers participate in a musical experience which they could never have had at home, and their parents, relatives and friends, who appeared to make up a large part of this afternoon’s enthusiast audience, have a good reason to become tourists in New York City. Also benefiting are New York concert halls, who gain another source of rentals. And let’s not forget the tax dollars which these new tourists bring to the City of New York. It’s a win-win-win-win situation.

And if this “Concert for Peace” was a good example of the quality of a DCINY performance, New York concertgoers are also winners. From beginning to end the music making was of a very high quality, and both of the major works by the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins were performed with skill and fervor. Pride of place goes to the choristers, members of fourteen different choirs (four for Mr. Jenkins’ “Requiem.” and ten (!) for his “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.”) They made a glorious sound, and sang with precision and fine intonation. The vocal soloists had a lesser role, but fulfilled it admirably. Maestro Griffith exhibited total control over this huge ensemble and presented well paced performances of these two long works.

Would that the music was worthy of the many performers’ talent and hard work. But, for this listener, both pieces were banal, derivative, and musically uninteresting. And what is there to say about the films which, as the program stated, “accompanied” each piece? Here are the images which went with the opening movement of “Requiem” – sunset, birds, bell tower, a cross, sunset, water, wind, sunset, tower, cross, sunset, birds…We weren’t hearing movie-music, nor were we seeing music-images. The connection between music and film was stronger during “The Armed Man,” but the images were still trite and obvious. However, at the close of this “Mass for Peace,” the audience appeared to be deeply moved. My musical reservations not withstanding, DCINY should consider this concert a resounding success.

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Proteus Ensemble and Hai-Ting Chinn, mezzo-soprano

Proteus Ensemble and Hai-Ting Chinn, mezzo-soprano
Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY
October 25, 2009

This was my first visit to Le Poisson Rouge, a multimedia art cabaret which has become the hip and trendy place to hear classical music in New York. The audience sat at tables and could eat and drink before, during and after the performance. Fortunately one heard very little table noise, and the wait-staff was quite discrete. I might add that the mac and cheese was delicious.

Soon after the piped-in-classical-background-music stopped, the five members of the Proteus Ensemble entered and flutist Jennifer Grim played “Syrinx,” Debussy’s work for solo flute. This segued into a performance of pianist James Johnston’s fine arrangement of Debussy’s “Prélude à l’apres-midi d’un faune.” Both pieces were beautifully done, and while pride of place goes to the flutist in both of these works, I was very impressed by the perfect intonation and beautiful balance one heard in the octave doublings played by Ms. Grim, clarinetist Gilad Harel, violinist Yuko Naito, and cellist Alberto Parrini. But, as we were not given programs, no one in the audience was informed as to what was being played or by whom.

Next, appearing hip and trendy in high boots and a mini-dress, mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn performed Poulenc’s song cycle “La courte paille.” These seven songs, settings of nonsense verses for children, were initially written for the soprano Denise Duval to sing to her son. For me, a little French whimsy goes a long way. But the audience delighted in Ms. Chinn expertly poised performance, for which James Johnston provided the sensitive accompaniment. Computer keystrokes by Ms. Chinn activated text translations which were projected on a screen behind the players.

Alban Berg’s “Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano” followed. Here one experienced some of this evening most memorable playing. The almost inaudible pianissimo phrases spun out by Mr. Harel were ravishingly beautiful, perfectly shaped and controlled.

Then came the evening’s major work, Arnold Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire.” The Proteus Ensemble’s makeup exactly matches the instrumentation of this 1912 expressionistic work. They performed the complex score masterfully, playing with such ease and assurance that it belied the fact that this was atonal Schoenberg, not Mozart. The same could be said for Ms. Chinn’s performance of the Sprechstimme (speech-voice) narration. There are many ways to perform “Pierrot’s” Sprechstimme, some more sung, some more spoken. Ms. Chinn “more sung” rendition was quite convincing.

Immediately after the performers left the stage, the piped-in-classical-background-music began again.

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by Harry Saltzman  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY