New Year's Day 2014 with Boston Baroque

Review in NATS Journal

NATS Journal January/February 2014

Andrew Garland—American

Portraits. Andrew Garland, baritone;

Donna Loewy, piano. (GPR Records

B00ARWDS8M; 52:10)

Jake Heggie: The Moon is a Mirror: “The

Strength of the Lonely,” “What the Miner

in the Desert Said,” “The Old Horse and

the City,” “What the Forester Said,” “What

the Snowman Said.” Stephen Paulus:

A Heartland Portrait: “Flying at Night,”

“At Midnight,” “An August Night,” “Porch

Swing in September,” “A Summer Night.”

Lori Laitman: Men With Small Heads:

“Men With Small Heads,” “Refrigerator

1957,” “A Small Tin Parrot Pin,” “Snake

Lake.” Tom Cipullo: America 1968:

“Monet’s Water Lilies,” “Hey Nonny No,”

“The Point,” “The Whipping,” “Those

Winter Sundays,” “Frederick Douglass.”

If one wants to encounter a first-rank

authentic baritone, look no further

than Andrew Garland. Here is a young

singer who has it all: a distinctively

beautiful voice, flawless technique,

exceptional musicality, and superb

communicative skills. He is also an

intelligent and articulate young man

with the chiseled good looks of a

bodybuilder and athlete. Quite simply,

there is no other up and coming clas-

sical singer who is a more impressive

complete package or more deserving

of a major career. The sound itself is an

ideal blend of rich warmth and ringing

brilliance, and Garland’s technical

solidity allows him to sing beautifully

even when negotiating through the

most difficult, turbulent melodic lines.

One will not hear the slightest hint of

ungainly singing. Nor does one detect

any expressive or musical hesitancy,

which likely stems from the extensive

coachings that he did with all four

of the composers represented on the

disk. Garland sings with the kind of

artistic ownership that can be elusive

in this fast paced age.

Such artistic ownership is literally

true with America 1968, composed

specifically for Garland and Loewy

by Tom Cipullo, one of the busiest,

most admired, and most decorated

art song composers before the public

today. This work is a stunning tour de

force for its composer and the artists

who bring it so thrillingly to life. There

is a wild swing of moods, colors, and

styles, but a consistent voice ties it

all together. Garland delivers these

texts with perfect clarity, and rises to

climactic high Fs and Gbs with thrilling

ease. The set culminates in an

immensely inspiring song, “Frederick

Douglass,” which Garland sings with

a sincerity that can be neither taught

nor faked. To experience such artistic

authenticity is a privilege.

Steven Paulus is one of our most

distinguished composers, with works

that have been performed not only

in concert halls around the world,

but even at the funerals of two of our

former presidents. He is perhaps most

renowned for his choral works, but

he has crafted a host of works for solo

voice that are nothing less than superb.

A Heartland Portrait is suffused

with a beautiful sense of heart and

warmth, and these sensitively shaped

phrases draw out gorgeous vocalism

from Garland and exceptionally attentive

playing from Loewy.

Jake Heggie is a composer of similar

renown, and The Moon is a Mirror is

yet another example of his superlative

gifts for setting out of the ordinary

texts in arresting fashion. The moon

figures in all of these songs one way or

another, but don’t assume for a moment

that this is going to be a journey

of dreamy loveliness. The poems are

widely varied, and Heggie delivers the

flavor of each with bracing originality.

Perhaps the most striking is the

second song, “What the Miner in the

Desert Said,” in which we experience

the hallucinations of someone dying

of thirst. It’s a small masterpiece, and

Garland’s singing of it is masterful.

Listen especially for the last moment,

when this unfortunate man meets his

demise. These songs are in some ways

the most unmistakably American in

their tone, and the baritone is to be

commended for delivering these texts

with comfortable ease that never strays

into caricature. Listen especially for

the the way in which he allows a feel

of blues to enter his vocalism without

compromising the flow of the line or

the beauty of his essential sound.

Completing the collection is Lori

Laitman’s entertaining Men with Small

Heads, which springs upon the listener

one delightful surprise after another.

The earnest conversational tone of

the first song and its sense of fun is

a breath of fresh air, as is the mock

melodrama and swirling contrasts of

“Refrigerator 1957.” The third song,

“A Small Tin Parrot Pin,” is one of

those songs that constantly shifts, albeit

it in subtle fashion, and to deliver

it with such precise ensemble and clarity

is incredibly impressive. Anyone

who fears snakes may be tempted to

avoid the fourth and final song, but

to do so would be to miss out on one

of the most intriguing songs on the

disk. Make sure you listen to the last

moment, to experience the snake’s

frightening strike. Laitman seems

incapable of composing anything but

captivating art songs, and her utterly

unique voice is a vivid presence here.

Garland’s diction is exemplary,

both for its flawless clarity as well as

its authenticity. Nevertheless, GRP

has included full texts, which allows

the listener to appreciate these widely

varied texts even more deeply. There

are also biographic notes about the

artists and the four composers, plus

brief background on each work. What

this release is mostly about, however,

is the staggering quality of this music

and these performances. One can only

hope that many more recordings of

this calibre will be made by these two

exceptional artists. - Gregory Berg

Behind the scenes of Cincinnati Opera's GALILEO GALILEI

Opera News reviews American Portraits

Andrew Garland: "American Portraits"

Song cycles by Cipullo, Heggie, Laitman, Paulus; Loewy, piano. No texts. GPR

This collection of four contemporary song cycles by American composers merits repeated listening, for the works themselves as well as for the highly accomplished performances by baritone Andrew Garland and pianist Donna Loewy. Garland, a highly communicative performer with an attractive, clear, ringing tone, has wowed New York Festival of Song audiences and appeared successfully in opera (largely Mozart, Rossini and American works) at NYCO, Fort Worth, Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere. Clearly, song literature is one of his strengths; he bids fair to continue the tradition of such connoisseurs' singers as Donald Gramm, Sanford Sylvan and William Stone in this still-expanding repertory.

The cycles — by composers born in the dozen years 1949–61 — are in recognizable, tonal idioms, influenced by Barber, Bernstein, Britten and Poulenc but each with its own composer's stamp. They include: Jake Heggie's Moon is a Mirror, to poems by Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931), given its premiere by Bryn Terfel in 2001; Stephen Paulus's Heartland Portrait, dedicated to and first performed by Thomas Hampson (2005), with texts by Ted Kooser (b. 1939); Lori Laitman's 2000 Men with Small Heads, originated by David Daniels and here transposed, with verse by Thomas Lux (b. 1946); and America 1968, a 2008 group by Tom Cipullo, words by Robert Hayden (1913–80), commissioned by Garland and Loewy. Garland's diction is exceptionally clear and well-inflected, but for such a project, the lack of texts represents a serious oversight, unfair to listeners (especially non-native speakers) and to the poets, composers and performers alike.

Heggie's engaging cycle pushes no stylistic envelopes but captures with remarkable fidelity the plain-spoken Lindsay poems, five life-revealing responses by man and beast to the moon. Garland's utterance is very keen here, though a few of the words ("burning," "ants") sound too contemporary in inflection for the implicit early-twentieth-century context. He skillfully handles the melismatic lines demanded by "The Old Horse and the City." "What the Forester Said" shows a seamless legato that suddenly betrays a small crack, surely warranting a retake. Paulus's songs call for expert impressionist pianism. Kooser's long-phrased verses, quite moving, sometimes elude natural-sounding musical scansion, but "At Midnight" packs a wallop, and the lyrical "Porch Swing in September" is pleasing. Baritone and pianist both capture the right tone for Laitman's musically allusive, thoughtfully calibrated yet crowd-pleasing treatment of Lux's drolly observed quotidian pictures. The Cipullo cycle offers the highest drama (Hayden's takes on America's decade of social change can be almost graphically violent) and the most challenging vocal line, with many leaps to register extremes, unlike Heggie and Laitman's more center-based tessitura. Other baritones may struggle to equal Garland's bravura performance here. The cycle concludes with a heartfelt evocation of Frederick Douglass's legacy; its final parlando utterance seems miscalculated on a recording; perhaps it works heard live? Loewy, a sensitive pianist with a clear tone capable of impressive dynamic gradation, is full partner in the whole enterprise. 

DAVID SHENGOLD

O Boundless, Boundless Evening

A song for Summer Solstice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1TKpBTuXr8

The 2013 Pan Mass Challenge

There's a Lot Riding on This

Dear friends,

I am committed to raising $5,000 for cancer research by riding in the 2013 Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC). I am training now to ride the first weekend in August when I will join 5,500 cyclists in the 34th PMC, an annual bike-a-thon that raises money for research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston.

I hope I can count on your support

The PMC raises more money for charity than any other single event in the country, $375 million since 1980 and $37 million last year alone! This success is the result of a lot of people riding for, and caring about, a cure. And because every penny matters, 100 percent of your donation goes to DFCI.

I've made a personal commitment to ride and raise $5,000. So I hope you can help me achieve this significant goal.

Please donate to my PMC ride at one of the following links:

Click here to make $25 donation

Click here to make a $50 donation

Click here to make a $100 donation

Click here to make a $250 donation

Click here to make a $500 donation

Click here to make a $1,000 donation

Click here to make a donation of any other amount

The PMC supports DAF Direct to designate PMC riders for a charitable gift

Click here to support me with a gift from your Fidelity Donor Advised Fund

Every donation brings us closer by the mile.

Thank you,
Andrew Garland

Your donation is tax deductible and 100% will go to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. If you prefer to write a check, please make it out to the PMC, The Jimmy Fund or Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and mail it to me directly at:

Andrew Garland
24 Clifton Drive
Kingston, MA 02364
US

If your employer has a matching gift program, ask your Human Resources department for a form, and follow the process for matches.

To learn more about the Pan-Mass Challenge, please visit www.pmc.org.

Spring 2013 Newsletter

Spring 2013 Calendar

CALENDAR

Massachusetts

     Boston Lyric Opera: The Magic Flute (Papageno) October 4,6,9,11,13

     Boston: Coro Allegro: Schubert Mass in G, world premiere by Greg Bullen, June 2

     Kingston: Andrew Garland and Friends charity benefit May 19, First Parish Church

     Newton: Boston Saengerfest Men's Chorus  June 1

     Plymouth: Pilgrim Festival Chorus: Carmina Burana May 3, 4 Church of the Pligrimage

New York

     Avery Fisher Hall:  Distinguished Concerts International New York Orchestra: Duruflé Requiem, Mark Hayes Requiem, world premiere  May 27

Ohio
     Cincinnati Opera: Galileo Galilei - Philip Glass July 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 2013

     Dayton Opera: Le Nozze di Figaro - April 5,7, 2013

Tennessee
     Knoxville Opera: La Cenerentola (Cinerella) April 26, 28

Coming this Fall and beyond...

   Tuesday Music Club San Antonio, TX, November 12, 2013  Recital with Donna Loewy, piano

    Boston Baroque: New Year's Eve and First Day Concerts: December 31 (2013), January 1 (2014) Sanders Theater

    Boston Baroque: A Valentine's Weekend of French Baroque: February 14, 16, 2014

   Hawaii Opera Theater: Carmina Burana and I Pagliacci: March 28,30, April 1, 2014

   Recital with Warren Jones at the Cleveland Art Song Festival May 22, 2014