Soprano Renée Fleming

A GRAND DIVA'S SHIMMERING AND PROVOCATIVE RECITAL IN WEILL HALL

Celebrated American opera star Renée Fleming returned in recital at Weill Hall Jan. 11 with pianist Gerald Martin Moore. Their program featured 19th, 20th, and 21st century works under the thematic umbrella of the inspiration nature bestows upon all facets of human artistic endeavors, and the current existential and physical peril facing the planet and life thereon. They are touring this recital to raise awareness and promote activism on behalf of planet earth, whilst performing some mostly wonderful music. Weill Hall was nearly sold out, and the enthusiastic audience of fans showered them both with prolonged, appreciative ovations. It was also marvelous to see more than just a sprinkling of younger people in attendance.

Ms. Fleming is enjoying the sunset years of a long and storied career as “America’s Sweetheart” opera star of the new millennium, following the likes of late twentieth century celebrity sopranos Beverly Sills, Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and the U.K.’s beloved Kiri Te Kanawa. These women were not only opera stars, but also international recording stars and musical celebrities. They were artists who could fill a house in solo concert or recital appearances. And Ms. Fleming has done the same for over three decades, with admirable consistency and unflagging inspiration throughout an impeccably curated and scheduled career. The Weill audience loved her and with very good reason, in that besides possessing that particularly beautiful voice, technique, professionalism and presence, she is also immediately accessible. She made a stunning visual impact with seriously gorgeous, spectacular gowns, all the while making a joke about being “Barbie’s mother”. And they were worthy of the fantasy—shimmering, flowing gold lamé for the first half and sleek blazing metallic copper for the second, with simple accessories. From the stage she spoke, warmly, intelligently, with humor and incisive awareness.

Finally she sang, with a voice that is comfortingly accessible with its beautiful timbre and sincere warmth. The years have been kind and she mostly sounds as rich and sweet as she always has. She comes across as teacherly, someone who wishes to share her vision and musical experience with an ever-expanding audience, scooping up newcomers/doubters/haters alike and tossing them in with the devoted fans.
She is dedicated to promoting the work of living composers, especially women. She is a bonafide “influencer” when it comes to classical music and well deserves the recently bestowed prestigious Kennedy Award.

The raison d’etre for this concert was clear from the title: Voice of Nature - the Anthropocene. “Anthropocene” meaning the era of humanity in earth’s history, with the added implication of the destruction and multiple crises human activity has brought upon the health and wellbeing of the planet. There is a plethora of further information regarding this project obtainable online.

The first half of the recital consisted of just seven songs, while the second half was a little longer, featuring a nature video produced by the National Geographic Society. Although recitalists, and particularly singers, have been intrigued for years with the idea of a video background to illuminate the music and poetry of the pieces being performed, I found it to be problematic, in that the result, no matter how beautiful and well-done, ends up being somewhat self-defeating. For if one focuses on the artist then the film goes unseen. If one watches the film then it’s impossible to follow the visual component of the performance: body language, facial expression and physical nuance. So although the effort is to be applauded, particularly given the subject matter, I wasn’t convinced that it actually works.

Ms. Fleming’s voice and temperament have always been best suited to the lyric repertoire and sympathetic heroines, with a few carefully chosen coloratura roles in the mix. For this recital, she focused on expression and text rather than vocal gymnastics, staying in the lyric, mid-range lane and avoiding opera, offering instead a charming handful of French and German recital standards: Fauré’s “Au bord de l’eau“ and “Les berceaux”, Liszt’s “S’il est un charmant gazon” and “Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh’”, Grieg’s “Lauf der Welt” and “Zur Rosenzeit”, Handel’s “Care selve”, Rachmaninoff’s passionate “Spring Waters”, and Canteloube’s dreamy “Baìlèro” from Songs of the Auvergne. These wonderful standards were complemented by some thought-provoking and musically interesting new pieces (some more interesting/provoking than others) by the living composers Caroline Shaw, Hazel Dickens, Maria Schneider, Nico Muhly, and Kevin Puts. These new songs formed the textual framework for the evening. Rounding the program out were tunes by beloved American Songbook composer Jerome Kern (the exquisite “All the Things You Are”), the powerful Björk song “All is Full of Love” and the preeminent film scorer Howard Shore’s “Twilight and Shadow” from The Lord of the Rings, reflecting Ms. Fleming’s affinity for other popular genres.

This collage of repertoire reflected the theme of the program faithfully, some pieces more so than others. The dramatic opening song (Caroline Shaw’s “Aurora Borealis”) was challenging in both word and music, and perhaps would have been a better suited to open the second half. The closer (“Evening” by Kevin Puts), although not bleak, was serious in tone, and did not have the effect of “closer”. It is well to reflect on the power of music and word to affect minds and hearts and spur action. I would have loved to have heard something exciting and truly uplifting that bounced me out of my seat to end the evening.

This was the first stop on a tour of this program, and it played rather like a dress rehearsal, with Ms. Fleming relying heavily on the score in several songs, which robbed the audience of her full attention and communication with us. I’m sure subsequent performances will increase familiarity and solve that problem because vocally it was characteristically beautiful. She began a little cold but warmed up quickly as the evening progressed. Only a few phrases sounded a bit thin, lacking the famous floating richness in the upper register. Handel’s “Care Selve”, which featured a perfect “real” trill (not just a wider vibrato), otherwise suffered from excessive crooning which gave it a labored quality. Other than that, her singing soared and bloomed throughout.

Unusual for operatic sopranos is Ms. Fleming’s command and frequent use of her lower range chest register. She is very comfortable down there, having sung jazz on the side since her youth. Her microphone technique is well practiced, and the unamplified piano sound was perfectly balanced.

Gerald Martin Moore is a sterling vocal pedagogue and elegant pianist. From Handel to Rachmaninoff to Kern to Björk, he brought his accumulated musical gifts and vocal wisdom to the piano in a textbook performance for those aspiring to the field. His playing embodied and illuminated in brilliant fashion the vital sustaining energy the piano is for a singer, whether forceful or subtle, triple forte or pianissimo. He and Ms. Fleming are clearly at home with each other.

Since the second portion of the recital was given to the contemporary songs with video, with their darker content ending the performance, it was a welcome surprise that the famous Burt Bacharach song “What the World Needs Now…” (“…is Love Sweet Love!”) had the last word as encore. Ms. Fleming invited the audience to join in and they joyfully did!