Frederica Von Stade at The National Concert Hall

national | arts and media | opinion/analysis Friday November 13, 2009 16:38 by Sean Crudden - impero sean.crudden at iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth 0879739945

Celebrity Concert

As an event in The Irish Times Celebrity Concert Series 2009/2010, Frederica Von Stade gave a recital of songs last night (121109) in The National Concert Hall. She was accompanied on piano by her friend Laurana Mitchelmore. The concert started at 20.00 and finished at 22.00. The audience was appreciative but a little more reverence and hush would have improved matters both for the performers and for those trying to get to grips with the performance.

"He’s like a big child!" my mother remarked many year ago about my father. Her epithet sprang to mind today as a summary of last night’s recital by Frederica Von Stade in The National Concert Hall. Indeed my father was big and he was no child at the time I am writing about. Frederica is big in terms of technique, voice and stage presence. But she projected a simple, guileless, direct almost childlike personality to a full attendance. However it would be foolish to put this down to a lack of sophistication for, as we all know, there is an art which conceals art. On the other hand it may be just the American way? She certainly managed to convey childhood and youth and she did a lot to elevate the banal, the everyday, the domestic. The program was peppered with a lot of clever songs in the English language which were wittily shaped. In general terms Frederica went to great pains to make sure all her material was readily accessible to the audience using spoken introductions and explanations before each song. It seemed to me that her performance last night did not produce 100% instant gratification but the value and worth of the performance seemed to grow and increase in my mind as I reflected on it this morning.

Program

N. Rorem (b 1923)

I am Rose

Louis Gugliemi (1916 - 1991)

La Vie en Rose

Jack Heggie (b 1961)

Paper Wings

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)

Tout Gai!

Virgil Thomson (1896 - 1989)

Prayer to St. Catherine

Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990)

Why do they shut me out of Heaven?

Lee Hoiby (b 1926)

The Serpent

Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963)

Voyages a Paris

Hotel

Ned Rorem (b 1923)

Early in the Morning

Marc Berthomieu (1906 - 1991)

Square Georges-Cain

Bois de Boulogne

Herbert Hughes (1882 - 1937)

The Leprechaun

The Bard of Armagh

Molly Malone

INTERMISSION

Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)

Lob des hohen Verstands from Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912)

Va, laisse couler mes iarmes

Ambroise Thomas (1811 - 1896)

Me Voici dans son boudoir

Carol Hall (b 1936)

Jenny Rebecca

Jake Heggie (b 1961)

A Route to the Sky

Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)

Nicolette

William Bolcom (b 1938)

Amor

Ambroise Thomas (1811 - 1896)

Connais - tu le pays?

Stephen Sondheim (b 1930)

Send in the Clowns

Jack Heggie (b 1961)

Primary Colours

Encore

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)

Rosslein Roth