Tuesday, May 03, 2005
MICHAEL HUEBNER
News staff writer
Hector Berlioz hailed Pauline Viardot as one of the greatest artists in music history. But he was referring to the 19th century diva’s opera appearances, not her compositions.
Except for a few stray entries on recitals or albums, Viardot’s songs have mostly slipped into obscurity, so Isabel Bayrakdarian took it upon herself to devote an entire album to them. It was a risk, but a calculated one, as an Alys Stephens Center audience witnessed on Sunday.
Bayrakdarian and her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, gave 14 of these beautifully crafted songs their due in a program that featured the operatic soprano in recital mode. Looking stunning in floor-length peach and black gowns, the 30-year-old singer showed why her career has catapulted so quickly. She possesses taut control, a full, rounded tone with a kaleidoscope of hues, and power to spare in all registers.
She held listeners breathless, hanging on high notes in “Havanaise,” warbling on coloratura trills and scales in “Aime-Moi” and melting hearts in the lovely harmonies of “Sylvie.” The buoyant rhythms of “Chanson de la Pluie” recalled a Parisian cabaret, the singer’s suspended vocal lines surrendering to the angelic strains of “Ah! Coulez!”
Viardot also wrote songs set to Chopin piano pieces and songs with German texts to go along with the French, all masterfully performed by the duo. “Die Sterne” was an example of the composer’s lyrical serenity, “Des Nachts” a gently rocking lullaby. “Die Beschworung” started with stormy angst and built to a full-voiced, dramatic conclusion.
The only quibble was with Bayrakdarian’s diction. Her French syllables were often soft and unintellgible and her German lacked the requisite hard consonant sounds. The beauty of her voice served her well in these instances, diverting listeners well past those weaknesses.
She fared better with Italian in several Rossini songs, coyly extolling a promise not to leave her lover in “La Promessa,” exhibiting a dizzyingly acrobatic vocalise in “La Danza.” For an encore, she tapped out Spanish rhythms on castanets in “The Girls of Cadiz.”
Kradjian’s musical partnership was solid all evening, deferring to Bayrakdarian when needed, swelling to appropriate strength for solo occasions.
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