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San Antonio Symphony, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Susan Graham
Harrowing descent into the abyss
incident light
May 13, 2017
What accounts for the special
affection that audiences hold for
mezzo-soprano Susan Graham? She’s
the girl next door who just happens to
be one hell of an opera singer. She
dished out generous servings of both
facets in a memorable appearance
with the San Antonio Symphony
under music director Sebastian
Lang-Lessing, May 12 in the Tobin
Center.
The main event was Ms. Graham’s
shattering portrayal of Cleopatra’s
suicide by asp in Hector Berlioz’s La
mort de Cléopâtre. The composer
was just in his mid-20s in 1829 when
he wrote this 20-minute “lyric scene”
as one of several attempts to win the
Prix de Rome, but he was already a fearless visionary and dramatic extremist – which is probably why his Cléopâtre didn’t make the Prix de Rome cut. The music was too faithful to the despairing, convulsive spirit of the subject, and considerably more heated in feeling than the formal text by P.A. Vieillard. The orchestra opens the piece in a frenzy that mirrors Cleopatra’s state of mind — she is twice widowed, dishonored, vanquished, a traitor to her gods – and the low strings’ beating heart near the end is a master stroke of orchestral theatre (splendidly realized in this performance). The solo part demands immense power and regal beauty, but to get the full measure of the piece the singer has to be willing at times to throw beauty to the wind. It’s such a problematic work that it was never performed during Berlioz’s lifetime and apparently didn’t have its US premiere until 1961.
Ms. Graham’s repertoire knows no international or period boundaries – she created the role of Sister Helen Prejean in American composer Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and some San Antonians may remember her extraordinary Poppea in Houston Grand Opera’s 2006 production of Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea – but she is especially strong in the French style, and specifically the somewhat declamatory style of Berlioz.
In this performance her voice manifested the power to ride easily above the large orchestra, but also a texture that enabled it to blend with the instrumental timbres, as Berlioz’s vocal writing often requires. Beautiful, glossy sound, superbly controlled and gleaming in the high register, predominated at the beginning of her performance. But as her character descended into the abyss, Ms. Graham traced the trajectory with her voice – increasingly hollow, even raspy, sometimes closer to speech than to singing. To say the experience was harrowing would be an understatement. This was theatre of the highest order.
She returned after intermission to sing lighter fare, gently amplified – spunky, ideally characterized comedic numbers from the 1934 operetta Toi, c'est Moi by the Cuban-French composer Moïses Simons and the 1923 musical comedy L’amour masqué by André Messager; a languid and luxurious account of Édith Piaf’s “La Vie en rose”; and gold-standard performances of two George Gershwin songs, “Fascinating Rhythm” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Her encore was “Vilja” from Lehar’s The Merry Widow. And props to percussionist David Reinecke for his super work on bongos in the Simons piece.
The orchestra and Mr. Lang-Lessing opened the concert with a ravishing performance of Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin. The first three movements were miraculously transparent, relaxed as a summer afternoon, near-perfect in ensemble precision. The energetic fourth had all that plus a piquant bite. The violins have never sounded lovelier at pianissimo, and all the wind solos were first class.
The orchestra opened the second half with the unbridled joy of Antal Dorati’s arrangement of themes by Jacques Offenbach, La Vie parisienne. Between Ms. Graham’s vocal sets the orchestra delivered a stylish, crystalline account of Gershwin’s An American in Paris, with especially fine solo work by principal trumpet John Carroll. A hint of Teutonic formality, mixed into the American moxie of Mr. Lang-Lessing’s leadership, served to underscore the brilliance of Gershwin’s compositional craft.
Mike Greenberg
Susan GrahamPhoto: Benjamin Ealovega
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