Home  Entertainment Reviews Review: Susanne Mentzer (July 21)
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Review: Susanne Mentzer (July 21) |
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Written by D.S. Crafts
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last updated Saturday, July 21, 2007, at 12:09:54
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There have been four supremely influential grand-dames of music over the past several centuries. Clara Schumann, wife of Robert, Alma Mahler, wife of Gustav, Cosima Wagner, wife of Wagner and daughter of Liszt, and Nadia Boulenger, the great teacher of composition. Apart from their husbands, they were at the center of the musical world of their day. Three of the four were represented in a concert of art-song by Susanne Mentzer and widely-respected accompanist Craig Rutenberg, given Friday night as part of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Santa Fe Opera.
We are privileged to have in Santa Fe this summer renowned mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer who sings the role of Despina in the Santa Fe Opera's Cosi fan tutte. With many recordings to her credit, Mentzer will also be remembered for her portrayal of Dorabella in that same opera--a "Live from the Met" telecast which also included Cecilia Bartoli and Jerry Hadley (whose suicide last week has left the opera world in shock). Mentzer has a voice that is easily recognizable. A viscerally powerful sound capable of ranging from great tenderness to arresting emotional outpourings, all tempered with the artistic understanding of a veteran performer completely at one with her material. Indeed, much of the recital is to be found on a recording, alas now out of print, entitled The Eternal Feminine. Mentzer projects a warm and friendly personality on stage, remarking casually midst the set of light-hearted Satie songs, "This is fun!" to which this Santa Fe audience readily agreed. The program opened with three lovely late songs by Clara Schumann which resemble, not surprisingly, her husband Robert's harmonic style. Who better to imitate? I became familiar with Alma Mahler's music when a group of her songs were orchestrated for the Berkeley Symphony. Personally, I prefer them to Gustav's. Less depressing. The lilt of Ich wandle unter Blumen (I wander among the flowers) was balanced by the earnest narration of Die stille Stadt (The Quiet Town). Three Ruckert-songs by Gustav Mahler closed the first half. Ich atmet' (I Breathed a Gentle Scent) finds the composer in an unusually cheerful mood. In the intensity of Um Mitternacht (At midnight) Menzter demonstrated the entire range of her expressive capability. The second half was all in French. While Nadia Boulenger was the renowned teacher of composition, it was her tragically short-lived sister Lili who was the actual composer. The song-cycle Clairieres dans le ciel (Clearings in the sky) is Lili's best known work, from which Mentzer gave two sumptuous excerpts. A set of songs by the prankster-surrealist Erik Satie changed the mood entirely. All four were in the style of Parisian salon music, but in the voice of Menzter, not to mention the hands of Rutenberg, a delightful source of entertainment. La Diva de l'Empire, an ironic observation on "working the crowd," was following by the ironic satire L'omnibus automobile (using a newspaper as a prop) about a bus that in order to prevent accidents carries no passengers.
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About Reviewers D.S. Crafts (Website) Composer Daniel Steven Crafts came to New Mexico from San Francisco where he had hosted a classical music radio program on KPFA. His first commission from opera star Jerry Hadley, "The Song & the Slogan" based on texts by Carl Sandburg, was made into a TV program for the PBS network and aired nationally in 2004 and won an Emmy for Best Music. His latest opera La Llorona is a collaboration with novelist Rudolfo Anaya based on his play "The Season of La Llorona." Mr. Crafts is currently working on another commission from Jerry Hadley for a piece about the American Southwest which includes texts by Rudolfo Anaya and V.B. Price. Two CDs of his music, Contemporaries (short, satirical keyboard works) and ARIAS (excerpts from his various operas) have been released on the BACAT label in San Francisco.
David Steinberg David Steinberg has covered state government, the courts, city and county government in Santa Fe for the Albuquerque Journal. He's been an arts writer for the past 20 years, and serves as the book editor, for the Journal. Over the years, he's also acted in plays, sung in choruses and played trumpet.
Jennifer Noyer Jennifer Noyer has been writing dance reviews for the Albuquerque Journal for 17 years, as well as contributing articles for Dance Magazine and other art journals. She trained in dance with Hanya Holm in New York City and Colorado Springs, and studied several dance techniques at the graduate level at the University of Michigan. After teaching dance at Wayne State University she entered and completed a Masters Degree in Humanities there. In New Mexico Ms. Noyer has taught, directed, and choreographed contemporary dance for several years. Her writing on dance includes a monograph accompanying the video of choreographer Bill Evens’ ballet “The Legacy.” An overview of Evans’s world wide career, it was written and published during his tenure at the University of New Mexico. Ms. Noyer’s studies in the humanities, and her studio dance work influence her approach to dance as an integrative art form in the United States.
Barry Gaines Barry Gaines has taught Shakespeare in the University of New Mexico English Department for over twenty-five years and has received two outstanding teaching awards. He has written theater reviews for the Journal since 2000. He has attended theater all over the world including Shakespeare productions in Russia, South Africa, Denmark, and Poland. He has also served as literary advisor for two professional theater companies and written performance reviews for Shakespeare Quarterly. Gaines has taken two years of acting with Paul Ford and appeared in small parts in three plays at the Albuquerque Little Theater. He believes that he is probably a better reviewer than actor.
Joanne Sheehy Hoover Joanne Sheehy Hoover, music critic emeritus of the Albuquerque Journal, has written for NPR, PBS, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Symphony, among others. She has also been a music lecturer for the Smithsonian Associates and a music critic and arts writer for The Washington Post. She was director of the Levine School of Music, one of the country’s largest community music schools, in Washington, D. C. 1980-1993. She and her husband moved to Corrales, New Mexico in July 1993. Also a poet, her fifth collection, “Einstein in New Mexico,” was published in 2002.
Marissa Greenberg Marissa Greenberg is a member of the faculty of the University of New Mexico English Department, where she teaches Shakespeare and early English literature. A prior guest reviewer for the Albuquerque Journal, Greenberg will be reviewing theater while Barry Gaines is out of town. She also composed and edited the program notes for last year’s Albuquerque Shakespeare Festival and has written performance reviews for Shakespeare Bulletin. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania, Greenberg has been performing and studying drama for most of her life. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to review for the Journal.
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