{"id":33043,"date":"2016-01-12T10:46:25","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T15:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=33043"},"modified":"2016-01-12T10:46:25","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T15:46:25","slug":"scrutiny-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/01\/12\/scrutiny-2\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Talisker Players’ American Songbook With A Twist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Talisker
Talisker Players, High Standards (Photo: Alexandra Glass)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Talisker Players: High Standards<\/em> with Virginia Hatfield (soprano) James Levesque (baritone). Trinity St. Paul’s Centre \u00a0\u2013Sunday, January 10, 2016.<\/h3>\n

As a classical music lover through and through, I do confess to having a soft spot for American pop songs of the past, from Porter and Gershwin to Bernstein and Sondheim, the so-called golden age of the American Songbook. Far from being lightweight material, these songs arguably define Yankee Culture of a certain era, just as operettas by Johann Strauss and Franz Lehar are evocative of the 19th<\/sup> Century Mitteleuropa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As a genre, the best of the American Songbook are brimming with gorgeous melodies and impossibly clever lyrics, penned by master songwriters, all keen observers of the American psyche, adept at wringing every last ounce of emotion from the listener. An afternoon of these Old Standards can be quite a winter tonic. With the imminent wintry conditions about to hit Toronto yesterday, what better way than to stay warm and cozy inside for a rendition of \u201cStormy Weather,\u201d the Harold Arlen torch song?<\/p>\n

Talisker Players<\/a>, a chamber group with a mandate of fusing words and music, has been presenting an evening of popular songs for the last three seasons. Cellist Laura Jones, a member of TP, is in charge of preparing the arrangements for string quartet. This group has already presented songs by Noel Coward \u2013 okay he\u2019s a Brit, but I digress! \u2013 Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. This season, instead of focusing on a single composer, we have selections from the American Songbook \u2013 works by Jerome Kern, Rodgers & Hart, Lerner & Loewe,\u00a0 George & Ira Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Harold Arlen.<\/p>\n

I attended the first of two performances on Sunday. The soloists were soprano Virginia Hatfield<\/a> and baritone James Levesque<\/a>. It\u2019s tricky \u2013 and often not terribly successful \u2013 for a classically trained singer to tackle pop \u2013 just listen to the many pop recordings by opera singers!\u00a0 The operatic voice is simply too grand for this material.\u00a0 Not to worry \u2013 both Hatfield and Levesque have the kind of voice suitable for both the opera stage and Broadway.\u00a0 And I was absolutely delighted by their excellent diction, something that isn\u2019t always the case!\u00a0 It\u2019s often said you can\u2019t hear the words when a soprano sings high.\u00a0 Well, the tessitura of these songs is sufficiently low, so that Hatfield\u2019s solid middle voice was able to do these songs justice. The infrequent opportunities when she sang high, the voice rang out beautifully, complete with a honeyed high\u00a0piano<\/em>, as in \u201cSummer Time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Talisker
Talisker Players, High Standards (Photo: Alexandra Glass)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elsewhere, I enjoyed her \u201cI Could Have Danced All Night\u201d, and “I\u2019m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair.\u201d\u00a0 Her clear diction allowed most of the words to come through in \u201cI Can Cook Too\u201d though thankfully nobody snickered at the more risqu\u00e9 words by the incomparable lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green!\u00a0 I love this Bernstein song, particularly that recording by the late Evelyn Lear.\u00a0 Hatfield sang it really well.<\/p>\n

Levesque has a more unusual voice, a high baritone almost bordering on tenor. In fact, I find that he seems to sing with two different voices. Some of these pieces are scored for tenor \u2013 such as Sporting Life\u2019s \u201cIt Ain\u2019t Necessarily So\u201d, while a few are for baritone, like \u201cIf Ever I Were to Leave You.\u201d\u00a0 I was quite amazed that he was able to do the highs without any sign of strain, such as in \u201cLonely Town,\u201d and he interpolated a high ending for \u201cEdelweiss,\u201d In fact, the voice sounded more comfortable up there. In the lower reaches, he sometimes under-projected and the words got swallowed.\u00a0 His duets with Hatfield brought a chuckle to the audience \u2013 particularly \u201cPeople Will Say We\u2019re in Love,\u201d but especially the subtle yet very funny \u201cYou Must Meet My Wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vocally both did well, with Hatfield being particularly idiomatic in this material. That said, I would have liked a bit more energy and less stiffness on stage from both, especially in the first half.\u00a0 Hatfield was the livelier of the two, with Levesque looking very stiff in his stage manner. They both relaxed a bit in the second half, but I still feel this material requires more pizzazz, more oomph, more \u201cswing\u201d, to bring it fully to life. To be fair, the venue may have something to do with it \u2013 it\u2019s not easy to sing show tunes in a converted church on a Sunday afternoon!<\/p>\n

To my ears, perhaps another reason is the use of a string quartet.\u00a0 Much of the arrangements Laura Jones did were lovely, bringing out plenty of subtleties and nuances inherent in the music. The quartet played with enviable musicality. Her arrangements worked very well in the quieter, more contemplative songs, such as \u201cSend in the Clowns\u201d gorgeously sung by Hatfield. But I have to say, for the upbeat, fast, high-energy numbers, I miss the presence of a piano.\u00a0 To my ears, the addition of a piano to the quartet would have made a huge difference.\u00a0 Perhaps we\u2019re conditioned to hear this material sounding a certain way, in a certain ambience, a certain venue.\u00a0 Ultimately, it boils down to the music itself, and these songs are immensely satisfying. This TP concert was a different and interesting experiment that\u2019s well worth hearing. You can catch the second show on<\/p>\n

You can catch the second show<\/a> on Tuesday, Jan. 12 8 pm at Trinity St. Paul\u2019s Centre.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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The Talisker Players sample some of the great favourites from the American songbook with soprano Virginia Hatfield and baritone James Levesque.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":33048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,52],"tags":[5774,3233,5773],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/01\/Talisker_Players2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-8AX","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33043"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33056,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33043\/revisions\/33056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33043"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=33043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}