BWW Reviews: That Voice, Voluminous and Voluptuous, Marks Mezzo Jamie Barton Debut at Zankel Hall

It's the wrong time of year to expect a hurricane in New York, but that didn't stop mezzo Jamie Barton from taking Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall by storm this week. With her warmth, sly sense of playfulness and a voice that just won't quit, Barton held the audience captive.

Her program, accompanied by pianist Bradley Moore, showed off many of the qualities that won her the Main and Song Prizes at the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition (a showcase for opera and concert singers at the outset of their careers): velvet tone, a clear focus and huge range and, perhaps most importantly, the joy of singing. Centerpiece of the evening was the world premiere of Jake Heggie's three-song cycle, "The Work at Hand," which was commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Heggie is much admired--by a broad range of singers and audiences alike--for his vocal writing, which is definitely tonal in style and easily accessible. (Mezzo Susan Graham has also spoken about his "emotional veracity.") This work is no exception. Collaborating with pianist Moore and the wonderful cellist Anne Martindale Williams, Barton's measured lyricism and adept phrasing--and winning manner--were well served by the piece. Williams' muscular playing during the introduction to "Individual Origami" (the first of the songs) was outstanding.

The rest of the program was designed to show off Barton's skills in adapting to the demands of a wide range of musical (and foreign) languages. Singing works often done by sopranos, Barton was equally at home with very different composers, whether the urgent, plaintive lines of Joaquin Turina's "Homenaje a Lope de Vega" or luxuriating in Ernest Chausson's "Le colibri" and "Hébé." I found her particularly compelling in Dvorak's suite of "Gypsy Songs," which displayed Barton's ability to switch styles and feeling without sacrificing the group's cohesiveness; she soared ecstatically in "When my old mother taught me to sing," bringing out the poignancy and yearning in her voice.

I missed having some opera selections on the program--I greatly admired her performances of Bellini, Cilea and Verdi in Central Park last summer, at the Met's annual concert--but the hymns she chose for her encores showed that she's not only a wonderful singer but a thoughtful one as well.

###

Photo by Jennifer Taylor

To post a comment, you must register and login.