St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church music director Dave Len Scott started off the second installment of the church’s spring “Shout for Joy” concert series with a twist, namely a blast on the shofar, and a quotation from Psalm 98 — “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord” — before introducing soprano Christine Graham, baritone Andrew Stuckey and pianist Robert Mills for an afternoon of art songs in an assortment of tongues.
Graham and Stuckey alternated on half a dozen selections from “24 Italian Songs and Arias for 21st-Century Singers,” an adaptation of a classic anthology of introductory vocal works by Graham’s former voice teacher, the mezzo-soprano Judith Cloud. Graham had the chance to lead off with “Le violette,” which sounded exactly like its title, sending waves of colorful aural perfume through the sanctuary in its exuberance, and she seemed delighted to be able to spread it around. In “Star’ vicino,” Stuckey played with the contrast between his breathy baritone and the peaceful piano in the back ground, hinting sonically if not textually at an optimistic future. “Caro mio ben” and “O cessate di piagarmi” served mainly as showcases for the performers’ respective talents, but they turned the following two pieces, “Danza danza, fanciulla gentile” and “Non posso disperar” into a light operatic snack through their adept characterizations. During the first, which quoted extensively from the “Habanera” of Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” Graham flirted shamelessly with an amused and quizzical Stuckey, who had to wipe his brow with his necktie at one point, as if she were not quite rejecting his advances, as the soprano so often does in what the late great Anna Russell referred to as “these operations.” Stuckey then got his own back in the following number, putting his case to her with a bold ardor suited to the lyric, “The mere hope of enjoying you is for me a sweet suffering, an adorable pain.”
Henri Duparc’s “Quatre Melodies” turned out to be a solo show for Stuckey, and he and Mills launched the first of the four melodies, “Le manoir de Rose monde,” with powerful opening chords and a voice like Wotan howling above the storm. Musically, however, Duparc came off as very Shubertian, and one suspects that all did not end well at the lady’s manor, going by the ambiguous finish. “Testament” was another study in contrasts, in which the singer kept comparing himself to a dead leaf while the piano made fun of him with merry, bubbly rhythms that at their most extreme were merely cheerfully ominous. “Soupir” phased gradually from a lament into a somewhat approachable plea; “La vague et la cloche” shook up the audience with rafter-rattling vocals evocative of masses of cloud colliding above the Breton coast, ably conveyed through Stuckey’s authoritative and imposing presence and impressive control.
Two songs by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Abendempfindung” and “Das Veilchen,” gave Graham the chance to demonstrate what a marvelous Mozart voice she has, capable of all the softness and expressiveness needed to do justice to the little flourishes and sudden leaps with which the composer adorned his texts. “Das Veilchen” — another violet — came off as particularly gay and playful in spite of the ambivalence of the words thanks to Graham’s vivid acting and quick recovery of her serene shepherdess’s mood after the violet’s untimely demise. Oh, to be in Vienna in the spring …
After intermission, but before the spice cake — St. Andrew’s has been doing a lovely reception after the shows for concert guests this season — Stuckey presented the composer John Duke’s set tings of three poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson. “Richard Cory” featured a mild-mannered accompaniment and jocular character development by Stuckey; the setting of the first stanza failed to correspond well to the text, but the deadpan drop of the last line was quite effective. “Luke Havergal” gave Stuckey a chance to roll the name “Havergal” beautifully, and he rendered the steadily-darker verses with passion and vigor. “Miniver Cheevy,” unfortunately, proved to be an absolutely awful setting of what was originally a very funny and ironic rhyme. Instead of an Arthur Sullivan or Noel Coward patter song, Duke decided to write a dirge. Stuckey did his best to try to bring out the humor of the text that the composer tried to kill and was by far the best thing about the song.
The discomfort of Duke’s mismatched music was relieved by Graham’s interpretation of Joaquin Turina’s “Triptico” trio. “Wild One” came across as an excerpt from a vintage film as she blended a series of allurements into a building pulse of melody. “Ballad” was an excuse for ecstatic vocalizing, full of sweeping high notes. Graham sang as if she were reaching up to harmonize with the birds swooping above the field of wildflowers referred to in the lyrics. One sensed a floral theme appropriate to the time of year. As for “Madrigal,” it was chiefly subdued before gradually opening out in a gentle fashion.
The trio finished up with a duet from the zarzuela “El Caserio” by Jesus Guridi. “It’s a little seedy, but I’ll keep it as G-rated as possible,” Mills said, explaining that the duet captures the moment when the heroine has just asked her uncle to marry her in order to keep the farm in the family and his consequent gratitude. Stuckey gave just the right impression of being sincere and shell-shocked, and he and Graham carried off their “immense joy” with a somber touch, contrary to how these things usually go, but ended in a traditionally-upbeat unison.
The third installment in the “Shout for Joy” concert series will take place on Sunday, April 6, at 3 p.m., and will feature Joshua Moore on the guitar.
