M. Thompson C. Menke Feb. 25

ELEGANT VOCAL MASTERY AT ROSES SIGNATURE RECITAL

February was a month for sopranos in recital. Earlier superstar Renée Fleming and the highly touted young newcomer Magdalena Kúzma delighted audiences in very lovely and different art song programs in Weill Hall. Then Feb. 25 at Santa Rosa’s Church of the Roses, Sonoma County’s venerable choral conductor, teacher and soprano Carol Menke showed that one does not need to be on the international circuit to mount an artistically and vocally stunning recital. This was a concert of the highest musical caliber.

Ms. Menke’s long faculty career at Santa Rosa Junior College and her reputation with the Cantiamo Sonoma Chorus preceded her going into this recital, with pinpoint musicianship, charisma and conducting talent assuring us of vividly informed and meticulously prepared singing.

The Roses was well-filled, and I sat in the back for the first half but moved to the front for the second half. Acoustics are odd in that space due to the vaulted ceiling and lack of baffling. However, the soprano was always well-heard and the balance with the closed church piano was fine, the issues being more to do with clarity, not volume.

Ms. Menke has a sizable and perfectly tuned lyric soprano voice but on this program she sang gently and intimately with pristine control and dampened volume, keeping it light and floating throughout. Her high notes are quite beautiful, and I would have loved to have heard her sing out more in some places, but pacing is always necessary in a long race, which a solo recital is, and her choices were continually musically supported. Yet, there were a few climactic moments that, while admirably sustaining an unrelenting high tessitura throughout the evening, if she had put her foot on the gas and given a bit more spinto push, those moments would have been transformed from beautiful into thrilling.

This was a large and rich concert of 23 songs, the first half consisting of three Clara Schumann works, three by Brahms (from Op. 57), and Berg’s great early 20th century cycle Sieben frühe Lieder (Seven Early Songs) in which he dabbled with injecting overt atonality into what is a clear outgrowth of Richard Strauss’s song writing style. The second half was a delightful sampling of four charming French mélodies by Chausson, Hahn, Fauré, and Duparc, and six colorful Spanish songs by Rodrigo, Tedesco, Obradors, Guastavino, and Turina. This last cancion was a terrific closer and revealed what Ms. Menke holds in reserve.

Ms. Menke’s partner in this recital was another gem of Sonoma County’s musical community, the magnificent Marilyn Thompson, Trio Navarro pianist and longtime Sonoma State faculty member. She created all the different moods, filling the church with richly fluid late romantic sweep and elegance. The Berg and Spanish songs in particular are quite devilishly orchestral in nature, thickly scored, with strong countermelodies ever present, and she played them as if having four hands. She and Ms. Menke share a close musical rapport.

Familiarity with the material is key to the artistic success of a recital, much more so for singers who are not only performing music, but also poetry in several languages. As Ms. Menke explained from the stage, she has that familiarity. Her internalization of word and music over the years is central to making the audience not just able to hear, but also to understand musically and poetically, and share in what is being sung. It is the magic that happens in a great song recital.

Besides voice, perfect musicianship and superb language ability, Ms. Menke also has presence. She is able to simply stand there, focus, and make the musical story happen, as transparently and soulfully as any great jazz singer. Adding to this greatness was the fact that she sang the entire program memorized, excepting the fiendish Berg songs, which she programmed for the first time in public. And then she barely glanced at the score for that complicated and demanding cycle.

What a profound difference it makes having the singer’s attention focused 100% on interpreting and performing. Would that all singers could do the same!