Canadian Opera Company Vocal Series: Karine Boucher, sop. Charles Sy, ten. Jennifer Szeto & Hyejin Kwon, pianists at Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre May 17, 2016.
With the thirteenth and final performance of Carmen last Sunday, the COC season officially came to an end. But for the diehards, the end came two days later in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre where soprano Karine Boucher and tenor Charles Sy gave the last noon hour recital of the Vocal Series. This recital marked the farewell of Jennifer Szeto in the Ensemble. She has distinguished herself these past two years as a brilliant collaborative pianist — her presence will be missed. But I am pleased to report that soprano Boucher will return for a third year as a member of the Ensemble. And of course, both tenor Charles Sy and pianist Hyejin Kwon will return for their respective second year.
The tenor kicked off with Les illuminations. Although Britten composed this song cycle in 1939 for the soprano voice, we are more familiar with it being sung by a lyric tenor. Britten’s partner, Peter Pears, had a high lyric tenor and he sang it as early as 1941 and recorded it a dozen years later on the Decca label. That recording, together with the more familiar Serenade for Tenor Horn and Strings is still available commercially. I understand originally this noon hour concert was to be sung by tenor Andrew Haji. He became unavailable when offered a contract to sing Rodolfo in La boheme for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, which incidentally opens the next week. Charles Sy deputized nicely in his place, with a change of work if not the composer.
Set to the text by Arthur Rimbaud, Les illuminations has rather cryptic and intense text deals with the darker side of life, underscoring its tragedies and disappointments. I recall reading that the poet was under the influence of hashish when he wrote these verses! The songs have a very high tessitura, a real challenge for the soloist. Sy gave a fine performance, with just the right balance of fresh, lovely, warm tone and expressivity on the one hand, and plenty of power and ring for the more dramatic moments. This tenor has shown impressive artistic growth since his U of T Opera school days, and it bodes well for the future. Accompanying him was Hyejin Kwon, who had to play a very long piano introduction in the first song, which she handled very nicely. For the rest of the cycle, she was very sensitive to the needs of the soloist — a job well done.
In the second half of the recital, Quebec soprano Karine Boucher sang Ravel’s Shéhérazade. This very famous cycle has plenty of commercial recordings, but my favourite is still the first one I heard as an undergraduate student, by Régine Crespin and Ernest Ansermet, which remains for me the gold standard. The text, by poet Tristan Klingsor, is based on the legend of 1001 Arabian Nights. It’s properly evocative of the “mysterious Orient,” or should I say the European imagination of what the Orient is supposed to be like! Apparently Rimbaud never set foot in Asia. For this song cycle, I admit I prefer the lush sound (for those wonderful harmonies in “Asie”) that only 80 musicians in the pit going full tilt can provide. But I give Jennifer Szeto full credit for playing with such full-bodied sonorities in moments that call for a big sound that I almost didn’t miss the orchestra. Her playing of the perfumed “La flute enchantée” was particularly lovely. Equally, a pleasure was Boucher’s lyric soprano in this cycle, which fits her voice with its warm and soft yet vibrant timbre well. The sound has darkened substantially since I first heard her three years ago when she sang in the COC Ensemble/OdeM Atelier lyrique recital. As a French speaker, she managed the text beautifully. I look forward to her return next season. This duo recital was a very nice end to a marvellous season of vocal recitals.
#LUDWIGVAN
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