Lynn Spurgat in Review
Lynn Spurgat, soprano
Jason Wirth, piano
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
May 2, 2018
Soprano Lynn Spurgat and pianist Jason Wirth joined together at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall for a recital dedicated to songs of love; love lost, love unfulfilled, and the passion and despair were all themes. With works from Beethoven, Wagner, Liszt, and Granados, it was to prove to be a compelling concept realized with excellence.
Lynn Spurgat (www. lynnspurgat.com) is a performer with not only the requisite credentials as a singer, but with a breadth as an artist and communicator. She wrote fine program notes, which helped the listener gain further insights into the presented works. Ms. Spurgat has a commanding stage presence, complete with a big personality and an intense focus as she “locks into” her roles. Jason Wirth (www.jasonwirth.com) is an impressive musician in his own right, and as Ms. Spurgat was to relate to the audience, her “rock from day one.”
When Ms. Spurgat took the stage, the large audience gave her one of the most enthusiastic welcomes that this reviewer can recall witnessing in some time. It was a wonderful thing to see such support for an artist, and I am sure that support lent wings to her performance.
Ms. Spurgat opened with Beethoven’s Ah! Perfido, Op. 65. Ah! Perfido is sung by a woman who has been deserted by her lover, torn between wanting the gods to punish her lover or wanting them to show him mercy for his sins – or sacrificing herself. Ms. Spurgat cycled through the song’s emotions in a frenzied manner, revealing the near madness of the protagonist. It is quite a challenge for the singer to portray these quicksilver mood swings in a believable fashion, and it could be so easy to descend into cartoonish melodrama, making a mockery of it all. Thankfully, Ms. Spurgat avoided these traps. The pleading, the angry outbursts and vengeful spite, the longing and remorse, and the final despairing resignation were all stylishly captured by Ms. Spurgat. The audience loved it.
Wesendonck Lieder, WWV 91, is the common name of a set of five songs for female voice and piano by Richard Wagner, Fünf Gedichte für eine Frauenstimme (Five Poems for a Female Voice). He set five poems by Mathilde Wesendonck while he was working on his opera Tristan und Isolde. The poems are, as Ms. Spurgat (charitably) states, are not on the level of Petrarch. All issues of poetic quality aside, this work, other than the Siegfried Idyll, is the most frequently performed non-operatic work of Wagner’s. Highlights were Der Engel (The Angel), in which Ms. Spurgat’s voice was ethereally light, with nice dynamic restraint while still projecting well into the hall, the lament of Im Treibhaus (In the Greenhouse), and Träume (Dreaming) which Ms. Spurgat transported the listener to another world. Her German diction was outstanding. The audience responded with raucous approval, including many shouts of Bravo! It was a fine end to a fine first half.
After intermission, Ms. Spurgat offered Liszt’s Tre sonetti di Petrarca (Three Petrarchan Sonnets). The story of Petrarch and Laura is so well-known that it is unnecessary to discuss here. This set was the highlight of the evening for this listener. Liszt not only offers brilliant settings of these magnificent texts for the singer, but some virtuosic writing for the pianist, in what is a partnership between the two, as opposed to the secondary role the pianist plays in the Wesendonck Lieder. Ms. Spurgat was superb in projecting these emotionally charged texts with sensitivity and passion. Her voice soared in the upper register without loss of quality or intonation. Mr. Wirth was more than equal to Liszt’s challenges and deserves high praise. The entire set was exceptional, but I’ vidi in terra angelici costume (I saw angelic virtue on earth) was a cut above.
Two works by Granados, selections from the Tonadillas en estilo antiguo, and La Maja y el Ruiseñor (The Maiden and the Nightingale) from his opera Goyescas (as adapted from his 1914 piano suite of the same name) ended the recital. The Tonadillas are song portraits of the working-class neighborhoods of 19th century Madrid. The words majo and maja refer to men and women of the poorer areas, such as Lavapiés. They are mostly light-hearted and whimsical, qualities which Ms. Spurgat played up to the hilt in a delightful way. When she shook her head and waved a finger in a “no-no” gesture in El majo discreto (The Discreet Man) the audience roared in laughter. We already knew that Ms. Spurgat has the technical goods, so it was enjoyable to see her having some unbridled fun. That said, she reminded us that while she can let her hair down, in the end she is still a force, and La Maja y el Ruiseñor was that reminder. It was a powerful close that had the audience leap to their feet in a standing ovation. After two encores, it was time for her to take her leave, with the audience still clamoring for more.
