Last night at Gallery 345 Rachel Fenlon gave a preview performance of her new one woman show Fenlon & Fenlon:Liebesbotschaft. It’s a program of fifteen more or less well known Schubert lieder put together to create some kind of thematic arc around love and loss and redemption. There’s scarcely a Bächlein to be seen. The USP, of course, is that Rachel accompanies herself on the piano.
It’s curiously difficult to figure out just how this approach makes the experience different for the audience, especially when, as in this case, one is not familiar with the singer in normal mode. It’s also quite hard to sort out what one thinks ought to be happening from what objectively is. For example, I initially thought that Rachel sounded balanced much further back relative to the piano than usual. Then I shut my eyes and the impression completely disappeared. It’s odd. Certain songs certainly seem to gain from the approach. Gretchen am Spinnrade perhaps most of all, with the piano more than ever seeming to be the spinning wheel. Another effect was it made me reconsider my impression that the piano parts in Schubert are pretty simple (in a sense they are compared to, say, Strauss) but played this way one realises that they are far from trivial.
It’s that quiet time of year but this week there’s a bit of an unexpected bonus. Canadian soprano Rachel Fenlon, usually based in Berlin, is giving a somewhat unusual recital at Gallery 345 at 8pm on Friday. It’s a recital of Schubert songs in which she accompanies herself at the piano. Rachel is an accomplished pianist and could have chosen a solo career on that instrument rather than singing. Since there isn’t a Schubert cycle written specifically for female voice she’s curated one for herself and called it Liebesbotschaft. I don’t know if the manner of performance would have been common in Schubert’s day but surely not unheard of. Anyway, it should be fun. It’s also a preview of sorts as Rachel plans to tour this program in Europe.
The Royal Conservatory announced the concert line up for the 2016/17 season last night. As usual it’s a very eclectic mix with over 100 concerts in a rather staggering variety of genres. The one loose them is the Canada Sesquicentennial with 70% or so of the line up having some CanCon. Here are the highlights for the classical vocal music fan.
This review first appeared in the print edition of 
I had a curious operatic experience recently. I was listening to a CD recording of a new American opera; Cold Mountain to be precise, and it’s sung in rather distinct southern American tones. In fact, so much so that a different accent is given to the black character (I only recall one). I’m really not sure how I feel about this. Generally, I think, there’s a “standard” operatic version of each of the major opera languages and it’s usually only departed from for comic effect. Ochs’ rustic accent in Der Rosenkavalier being a case in point. I think I’d be surprised, maybe even shocked, to hear Peter Grimes sung in a Suffolk burr or Die Meistersinger in deepest Bavarian. Even Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick is sung in standard operatic English with a nary a New England “a” in earshot, at least in the SFO production. So why would anyone choose to break this convention for Cold Mountain? I’m really quite curious to canvass opinion on this. Do please share your thoughts in comments.
This review first appeared in the print edition of 
This review first appeared in the print edition of 
operaramblings 