Above: the composer Hugo Wolf
Sunday April 28, 2013 - The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presented a programme of works spanning three centuries; the Jupiter String Quartet and the celebrated baritone Thomas Hampson collaborated in a new work by Mark Adamo (NY Premiere), and the Quartet played Wolf, Schubert and Webern before rounding out the evening with Wolf songs sung by Mr. Hampson.
The Jupiter String Quartet opened the programme with Franz Schubert's quartet in E-flat major, written when the composer was 16 years old. The players immediately displayed the warm, Autumn-gold sound that they would sustain throughout the concert. The melodies of this youthful work of the composer were wafted into the hall with generous lyricism; in the adagio especially, violinist Nelson Lee's persuasive turns of phrase had a bel canto polish.
Anton Webern's Langsamer Satz ('Slow Movement') was composed in 1905 but never publicly performed in the composer's lifetime. Dating from the period before he embraced his twelve-tone destiny, this brief quartet was written when Webern was 22 and exploring a relationship with his cousin Wilhelmine, who he eventually married. The music is in full-blown Romantic style; its heart-on-sleeve emotional quality tinged with a trace of melancholy was lovingly captured by the Jupiter players.
Thomas Hampson, photo by Dario Acosta
I've been following Thomas Hampson's career since I first heard him at the annual Winners Concert of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions in 1981. He seems to be the only singer from among that year's winners to have developed and sustained a major international career. Among his many roles at The Met since then, several have ranked high among my memorable operatic experiences, most especially his Count Almaviva, Billy Budd (a spectacular performance all round, in 1992), Onegin, Posa, Werther, Wolfram in TANNHAUSER, and Amfortas in PARSIFAL. In recent seasons, he has explored the heavier Verdi roles; I was very impressed with his Iago just a couple of months ago.
Today in Mark Adamo's ARISTOTLE, Hampson's voice seemed remarkably fresh and showed nary a trace of the passage of time. It was completely and marvelously satisfying vocalism from a singer who has passed the thirty-year mark of his career. Blessed from the start of his singing career with an immediately identifiable timbre, the baritone today sang with warmth, a broad dynamic palette, impressive sustaining of phrase and keen verbal clarity (no need for us to refer to the printed texts). This was singing of the first magnitude.
Mark Adamo's ARISTOTLE can already be ranked as a 21st century vocal masterpiece. Set to a poem by Billy Collins, the work is about the passage of time and the stages of life. It resonates on a personal level, especially for those of us moving into the later decades of our span. Mark Adamo's writing and the playing of the Jupiter Quartet provided Mr. Hampson with a marvelous vehicle in which the singer's artistry is fully presented.
The poet's text is imaginative, funny, poignant; opening candidly with "This is the beginning...almost anything can happen..." each of the works three 'movements' describes the experiences - from epic to mundane - that colour our lives as time passes. "This is your first night with her, your first night without her" is a touching wrinkle in the first section.
"This is the middle...nothing is simple anymore..." sets forth this memorable line: "Disappointment unshoulders his knapsack here and pitches his ragged tent." And finally at the last: "And this is the end, the car running out of road, the river losing its name in an ocean..." Singer and players joined to create a memorable musical experience, the baritone's incredible sustaining of the work's final lines truly magical. The composer, seemingly overwhelmed by emotion, was called up to the stage and joined the musicians in receiving a sustained applause.
The second half of the evening was given over to works of Hugo Wolf, commencing with his brief and melodic Italian Serenade, played by the Quartet. Thomas Hampson then offered a set of the composer's songs. With the exception of Anakreon's Grab - which was the concluding work on today's printed programme - I have never really been drawn to Wolf's lieder, despite many attempts over time to make a connection. The first two songs today were rather jolly, and then the singer and musicians moved into deeper and darker territory, which proved very pleasing indeed. And yet it was still the calm beauty of Anacreon's Grave that moved me the most. As an encore, Wolf's
Schubert: Quartet in E-flat major for Strings, D. 87, Op. 125, No. 1 (1813)
Webern: Langsamer Satz for String Quartet
Adamo: Aristotle for Baritone and String Quartet (2012, CMS Co-Commission, New York Premiere)
Wolf: Italian Serenade for String Quartet (1887)
Wolf: Selected Lieder for Baritone and String Quartet
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