May 8, 2006
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The singers were doing some last-minute rehearsing in the Hammer auditorium, so we were asked to stand and wait outside. Some hmmphing and annoyed looks, but we obeyed. Didn’t matter – it was a beautiful evening, and we got to watch interesting groups of Corcoran students as they squeezed by us and down into the sunken parking lot, where a big Cinco de Mayo party was being set up. They weren’t sure what we were doing there, this chorus of ancients hovering outside their school; if we’d told them we were waiting to hear German lieder from a distant century, they would have smiled politely, already thinking about something else. A girl – thin, shy, streaks of red in her hair – glanced at me as she hurried by; she was wearing a t-shirt that read “Rock & Roll Will Set You Free.”
The Hammer is a tiny auditorium, and was no more than three-quarters full. A young woman from the Corcoran read us the rules: no cell phones, of course, no cameras, and please no applause after individual songs. Of course; it all makes sense. And yet, as the concert unfolded, there were moments when a singer had been so good that we instinctively reached for our hands, so to speak – then remembered the rule, and refrained.
Two hours later: Tense and unsatisfied, we streamed gratefully out into the night; it smelled like spring, and the cool moist air lapped against our faces. The party that the students had been setting up was now in full swing; some bluesy rock ‘n roll was echoing up out of the lot, and a dozen of us walked across the lawn to have a look. Down below more than a hundred people were partying; some took swings at a pinata; others watched as two guys in fat suits mock-sumo-wrestled on a red mat. Leaning against the low iron gate, our hands clutching the pointed barbs, we listened for a while as the low throb and animal life of the music rose up and swept over us, until we realized it was late and time to go.
Here’s my review for the Post:
Hugo WolfThe Washington Post 5/8/06: Despite all rumors to the contrary, the art of lieder is not extinct in America – groups like Washington’s own Festa della Voce are its valiant and tireless defenders. And, as the ensemble showed on Friday night at the Corcoran’s Hammer Auditorium, there are whole worlds of art song out there waiting to be explored.
That said, the evening was not quite a success. Given the modest size of the Hammer – and the small but attentive audience – the Festa might have delivered an intimate, human-scaled performance, strong on nuance and warmth. Instead, they sang to the rafters – and in this acoustically-bright space, produced a barrage rather than a seduction. The singers’ voices often went harsh in the top end, details were smeared, and subtlety just threw its hands up in frustration.
When it was good, though, it was very, very good. Mezzo Jessi Baden has a voice you could eat with a knife and fork, and wielded it masterfully in Kurt Weill’s “Four Walt Whitman Songs.” Six songs from Schubert’s “Die schone Mullerin” fared less well; tenor Peter Joshua Burroughs has a pleasing voice but his interpretation felt lifelike, rather than actually alive. And, while Mary McReynolds is a fine soprano, she just wasn’t on top of her game in Richard Strauss’ ridiculously difficult “Brentano Lieder.”
The high point of the evening may have been the songs from Hugo Wolf’s “Spanisches Liederbuch,” which baritone James Rogers sang with exceptional insight and a fine lyrical touch. His singing feels completely natural -- its power coming not from volume, but from the deep and thoughtful reflection of an engaging mind.