Good recitals ask a query that the artist makes an attempt to reply via their selection of repertoire. Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron mused on the subject of dwelling in her debut with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. “Is it a bodily place, a state of being, a cultural identification, a sense?” she requested in a program observe. Her various vocal selections over the two-hour live performance provided quite a lot of views on the difficult subject.
Given her backstory, it’s straightforward to grasp why this theme fascinates Barron. Born in Northern Eire to a British father and a Singaporean mom, she grew up primarily in Hong Kong. She was educated in New York and presently lives in London. Her profession encompasses opera, lieder, and experimental new music. Artistically and personally, Barron is a citizen of the world.
The songs that fashioned the core of the recital mirrored intersections of identification. Specific highlights included the works of two Chinese language-born composers, Huang Rao and Chen Yi, which showcased Barron’s innate capability to wed her plush vocal type to an approximation of conventional Jap musical kinds, alongside a exact articulation of Mandarin and Cantonese texts.
Conventional folks songs like “Northeast Lullaby” and the Fengyang Flower Drum Tune, which Barron took as an encore, served as a connection to her mom’s cultural roots.
Two authentic items stood out for his or her individuality and daring. Chen Yi’s Considering of My House at Night time, heard right here in its world premiere, was placing for its spellbinding stillness, with Barron transferring fluidly between conventional Chinese language and English for this setting of Li Bai’s “Quiet Night time Thought.” The graceful legato line was damaged sometimes by impressively declaimed phrases.
Barron additionally carried out Ananurhan, which she commissioned from Zubaida Azezi and Edo Frenkel after, in her phrases, “falling down a YouTube Uyghur rabbit gap.” Pianist Julius Drake utilized stops to the piano strings to create a extra muted percussive sound that approximated Uyghur drums, and Barron phrased a few of the textual content inside the lid of the piano, which created a haunted echoing impact – acceptable for a music in regards to the degradation and dying of lovers.
In each these choices, Barron confirmed herself unafraid to maneuver the expectations of classical music ahead, linguistically, thematically, and culturally. It’s precisely the form of inventive freedom and curatorial perception the artwork kind wants.
That doesn’t imply, nevertheless, that she skirted in different areas. Performances of Brahms’s Heimweh lieder and Da unten im Story have been notable for seamless legato and lustrous tone. She introduced a scintillating stress to Schlafen, Schlafen from Berg’s Vier Gesänge, which matched Drake’s subtly agitated accompaniment. Charles Ives’s My Native Land was rendered with unvarnished simplicity.
If Cole Porter’s “Night time and Day” lacked the requisite sultriness and feeling for double entendre within the masterful lyrics, Barron excelled in her vivacious supply of a number of French language bagatelles by Charles Trenet.
The percussive, onomatopoetic Boum! Was a specific spotlight, and it was the form of creative efficiency that made one want they heard these songs extra usually. Picks by Toru Takemitsu, nevertheless, seemed that they’re finest left unremembered.
Mussorgsky’s Nursery was the afternoon’s sole misfire. The fabric itself is considerably hoary – an issue Barron compounded by mugging shamelessly with busy palms and infantile facial expressions. Often, she coloured vocal strains with cutesy mannerisms, and he or she approached each music with the identical high-pitched vitality. A better sense of repose may need been acceptable for the extra contemplative choices like “At Mattress-time.”
Nonetheless, Barron’s considerate and creative artistry makes her one to look at. The idea of dwelling could also be porous, however I’d be completely satisfied to observe her wherever she travels
