William Corbett-Jones and (r) Sanet Allen 3/2/24

SPLENDID SCHUBERT SONGS IN SANET ALLEN RECITAL

Classical music house concerts often slowly unfold, as some in the audience notice in the back of the room the champagne bottles and smell the lasagna. Musical attention wavers, but this didn’t happen March 2 in a lovely San Rafael home recital.

An audience of 35 heard soprano Sanet Allen in four Mozart songs, followed by seven from Schubert. The doyen of Northern California pianists, San Francisco based William Corbett-Jones, was Ms. Allen’s attentive and elegant musical partner, playing the home’s Bösendorfer instrument.

Highlights of the afternoon were five works of Schubert that featured Ms. Allen’s lovely tessitura, sporadic power, pianissimo phrasing and stellar command of German diction and emotional inflection – Heidenröslein, Ganymed, Ständchen (D. 889), Nacht und Träume and Du Bist Die Ruh. The splendid singing generated an encore, Susanna’s aria Giunse Alfin Il Momento from Mozart’s opera Marriage of Figaro.

Mark Allen was the afternoon’s host and narrated the texts of each song.