By Lyn Bronson
On Friday, February 26, the Mozart Society of California, in association with the Marilyn Horne Foundation, presented a vocal recital at Sunset Center in Carmel featuring soprano Sari Gruber assisted by pianist Alan Smith. On the program were concert arias and songs by Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and Richard Strauss.
A quick glance at Ms. Gruber’s biographical material in the printed program revealed that most of her engagements seem to be in the field of opera, although there is a hint here and there of an isolated recital appearance. This is to be expected, for the prestige of singing a major role in a prominent opera company can be infinitely greater than that derived from an occasional lieder recital. Then, there is another aspect, which makes opera so attractive to singers as compared to recitals. The glorious experience of singing an operatic role with orchestral accompaniment is a shared ensemble experience. In many ways it is easier than standing and performing in front of an audience for the better part of an hour and a half with only a twenty-minute break. This, of course, explains why pianists prefer concerto engagements to recitals. In a concerto you only have to perform a maximum of 35 minutes (again a shared ensemble experience with breaks for orchestral tuttis) as compared to being alone on stage and carrying the entire show by yourself for 75 minutes – and in many instances the fees for a concerto performance are higher.
This issue has to be an important concern for all music lovers, for the solo recital (whether instrumental or vocal) seems to be a threatened species, and concert managements tell us that increasingly the solo recital is either gradually disappearing or tending to find its home on academic campuses. Thus, it is all the more significant that the Mozart Society of California challenges this trend in order to keep bringing us a continuing series of fine performers.
And Sari Gruber is a very fine performer indeed. She exudes freshness and charm on the stage before she even sings a note. That hers is essentially an operatic voice was evident from the start, for she exhibits a wide range of expression and dramatic skills. During the evening’s recital she sang in four languages, and in each she demonstrated a consistently precise diction. Although there was a slight edginess in her voice during the first two Mozart songs, as the recital progressed her voice gained in warmth and easy projection, and already in the second of the two Haydn songs, “A Pastoral Song” she was achieving a nice range of emotions and vocal color.
The group of Mozart Lieder that closed the first half of the program contained some gems. In the Komm, liebe Zither, komm she caught the mood of the South German Ländler so perfectly I thought for a moment she was about to break into a yodel and do one of those thigh slapping dances that the good ol’ boys in Bavaria love so much. Das Lied der Trennung was one of the high points of the evening for Ms Gruber managed to sustain a high level of tension and expressivity throughout right up to the tender and powerful ending. In the brief Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte in the satisfying key of C Minor, again Ms. Gruber achieved a lovely range of heartfelt emotions. In the Warnung we had an opportunity to hear some beautiful piano playing by Alan Smith and some delicious moments of wicked humor from Ms. Gruber.
Of the Schubert group that continued the recital after intermission, the most well known of the group was Gretchen am Spinnrade and in this song Ms. Gruber again demonstrated what fine dramatic skills she has and how well she can use them. But equally fine was her performance in Der Jüngling an der Quelle in which she achieved a poignant air of sadness. In this song Mr. Smith played a beautiful and meaningful accompaniment that suggested a bubbling spring, and it was all the more powerful because of the way he skillfully understated it. The Lied der Mignon with its wonderful text by Goethe that evoked powerful images, again brought out the best in Ms. Gruber and Mr. Smith.
The Strauss songs that ended the program took us into another world – that of the late nineteenth century post romantic expressionism, and it was a knockout. In these songs the piano artistry of Alan Smith emerged with a passion as he wove his way through the lush harmonies and complex keyboard figuration to achieve a wonderful clarity, no matter how thick the texture. In Hat gesagt – bleibt’s nicht dabei Ms. Gruber projected a marvelous saucy humor and in Meinem Kinde the heartfelt emotion of a loving mother. The concluding song on the program was Ständchen instead of Cäcille after which Ms. Gruber treated us to one encore, a jazzy Broadway version of Die Lorelei from a Gershwin musical. It just served to demonstrate one more aspect of her versatility.
Incidentally, announcing the Strauss substitution and the encore gave the audience a chance to hear Ms. Gruber’s speaking voice and to experience her charming and bubbling personality. We should make it a rule to always require the performer to say a few words so we can penetrate the invisible curtain that separates performer from the audience and get a glimpse of the performer’s persona.
The next event on the Mozart Society’s 1998-99 series will be the Vienna Piano Trio on March 25.
