Korean baritone David Won of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Program was the latest featured singer in this series of song recitals; tonight's performance at Bruno Walter Auditorium played to a very enthusiastic audience culminating in a standing ovation and two encores.
A song recital can be like a wonderful meal: lovingly prepared and generously served, featuring a variety of 'cuisines' and everything from sweet to spicy. David proved to be a masterful chef.
He started out with Handel's "Where'er You Walk" from SEMELE, singing with very clear diction and showing the basic beauty and security of his instrument. His very subtle embellishments in the da capo were neatly rendered. A good, solid start. Then he immediately pulled out all the stops and delivered an astonishing bravura performance of the Revenge aria from ALEXANDER'S FEAST. This long and vividly dramatic piece sails up and down through the range with restless fiorature and blazing ferocious accents. The piece took on the scope of an operatic scena, David showing an especially dark & robust lower range. His spectacular performance held the audience enthralled.
The velvety depths of tone were then deployed in five Schubert songs; David's voice has a beautiful core from which he is able to move the voice easily and expressively throughout a wide range. His presentation of the songs was sincere and unfussy. And again, a revelation: the concluding ERLKONIG was as exciting a rendition of this complex, taxing piece as I have heard. The darkish quality of David's tone was ideal for the dark, stormy night into which we are plunged. With virtuosity bordering on dementia, David made us hear the three voices: the plaintive lyricism of the child, the deep attempts at reassurance from the desperate father, and the creepy, devious enticements of the Elf King. A startling, revelatory performance.
As often when I hear something this powerful and moving in a recital, there was a temptation to get up and leave and just take it away with me. I was glad I was alone because I sure didn't feel like talking to anyone; I just wanted to let the ERLKONIG experience linger.
Then came the spicy part: Poulenc's 'dirty' cycle CHANSONS GAILLARDES. David had taken off his tie, unbuttoned his jacket, and set out on his little voyage of drunkenness and dissolution. The 'effects' of the songs were delivered without any vocal stinting and David proved a convincing actor. Should a man sing these songs when his wife's in the audience?
Just as Tamara Mumford found the heart of her programme with Rachmaninoff a couple weeks ago, David found his with Tchaikovsky. For all the fireworks of the Handel, the intensity of the Schubert and the carousing fun of the Poulenc, it was here that the expressive beauty of David's sound was most fully to be savoured. In the famous "None but the lonely heart" and the passionate urgency of "Don Juan's Serenade" the voice was strikingly deployed - with a powerful ascent to the top as the second song reached its climax.
The Korean song "Snow" was given an almost bel canto treatment and drew a big response, especially from the many Korean folks in the audience. Then everyone stood up and started yelling, forcing David into two encores. The first, a rollicking Italian folksong called "Tiritomba" allowed the singer to show off his wide range and high spirits - a sort of cadenza between verses carried the voice to the upper reaches of his range with panache. As a contrast, the moving Korean hymn "The Lord Is My Great Shepherd" which David dedicated to his wife, again plumbed the depths only to rise at the end to a grandly sustained 'Amen'. At which point the audience surged forward with bouquets which the slender young singer accepted with modest charm.
A wonderful singer needs a wonderful pianist and Vlad Iftinca was simply incredible all evening. Ingrid Surgenor, the peerless accompanist at the Cardiff Competitions, has cited ERLKONIG as the most difficult task a pianist can face when playing for a vocal recital. Vlad's mastery matched David's at every turn as they took us on Schubert's perilous night journey. In the more lyrical aspects of the programme, Vlad displayed silky tone and a fascinating dynamic range.
This was as exciting as any vocal recital I've ever been to...and I've been to some great ones.
Comments