VIEWPOINTS – Fall season teasers at Lincoln Center: Extraordinary soprano LISE DAVIDSEN at the Met and the NY PHILHARMONIC accompanies “West Side Story”

This past week, two of Lincoln Center’s major music constituents – the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic (City Ballet’s season commences next week) – teased audiences of what’s to come this fall season with. Here are my thoughts on these appetite-whetting occasions.

LISE DAVIDSEN IN RECITAL WITH JAMES BAILLIEU
The Metropolitan Opera

In her one-night-only recital, extraordinary Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen accomplished the unlikely feat of turning the cavernous Metropolitan Opera House into her own personal salon (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Accompanied confidently by James Baillieu solely on piano, the evening was a brilliantly eclectic showcase for Davidsen’s huge yet intelligently-wielded voice, a gleaming beacon which floated with effortless power across the huge auditorium wrapped around intimate and emotionally varied songs and lieder by composers like Grieg, Sibelius, Schubert, and Strauss. Sprinkled throughout, as well, were a number of arias from operas by Verdi (“Ave Maria” from Otello), Wagner (“Dich, teure Halle” from Tannhäuser), Tchaikovsky (“Uzh polnoch blizitsya … Akh! istomilas ya gorem” from The Queen of Spades, the opera in which Davidsen made her smashing Met debut in 2019), and Puccini (her breathtaking encore of “Vissi d’arte” from Tosca), which together highlighted the drama, grandeur, and beauty of the soprano’s singing, and her comfort level across musical styles (she concluded jovially with Lerner and Loewe’s “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady). Despite her status as one of opera’s indisputable “it” divas, the approachable, hugely likable star exuded unaffected warmth and class throughout her well sold recital.

WEST SIDE STORY IN CONCERT
New York Philharmonic at the David Geffen Hall

Then just kitty corner of the famed opera house at the David Geffen Hall, the New York Philharmonic gave audiences a taste of their excellence by providing live accompaniment to Steven Spielberg’s vibrant update (thanks largely to Tony Kushner’s beautifully reconsidered screenplay) of West Side Story (RECOMMENDED). Given the creative team’s strong ties to Lincoln Center (Leonard Bernstein to the Philharmonic, Jerome Robbins to City Ballet) and the film’s nuanced homage to its Lincoln Square setting, the the work seems the perfect choice to anticipate the busy fall months of performances in store for the performing arts campus. Screened in its entirety, this “concert” version of the West Side Story film is a triumph of logistics and carefully calibrated merging of film and live music-making (kudos to David Newman’s painstaking conducting). Indeed, for the most part, the sonic balance between both mediums was superb, particularly the more musically robust numbers (“Dance at the Gym” and “America” registered thrillingly throughout the hall). Slightly less successful were the quieter, less bombastic moments (“Tonight”, “One Hand, One Heart”), during which the string section was occasionally drowned by the film’s recorded vocals. You have one more opportunity to catch this crowd-pleasing hybrid this weekend; the final performance is tomorrow.

Categories: Music, Opera, Other Music

Leave a Reply