Cal Performances
As introduced by Cal Performances, the occasion was a late addition to their 2024-25 Season, solely introduced late final October when the season was absolutely underway. However, the event attracted the who’s who within the Bay Space’s classical and operatic music circle, and Davidsen sensationally rose to the problem and introduced a totally coherent and heart-warming program that actually left the viewers wanting extra!
The Metropolitan Opera’s reigning diva rose to fame after successful a number of prizes on the Operalia, Queen Sonja, and Hans Gabor Belvedere Competitions in the identical 12 months a decade in the past. Since then, Davidsen has graced the world’s main opera homes earlier than debuting on the Met in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Pikovaya dama in 2019. This was additionally her first public recital because the information broke that she’s pregnant with twins and that she could be taking a break after a run of Fidelio on the Met subsequent month.
One would assume that such accolades would lead to some diva-ish habits, however on Tuesday, Davidsen demonstrated none of that. She projected a glowingly heat and radiant persona, humbly and gracefully acknowledging the viewers’s loud appreciation whereas interjecting—mic in hand—softspoken private anecdotes concerning the numbers.
The live performance started with one thing acquainted: three songs from Edvard Grieg’s 6 Songs Op. 48, specifically “Dereinst, Gedanke mein” (No. 2), “Zur Rosenzeit” (No. 5), and “Ein Traum” (No. 6). Davidsen recorded the entire cycle with Leif Ove Andsnes in early 2022 and had carried out the identical three songs in her recital all around the world, together with the sold-out Met Opera live performance in 2023.
From the primary notes, Davidsen demonstrated why she is the world’s in-demand dramatic soprano. Clad in a flowing white robe with floral motives and no rating in sight, she burst into Grieg’s songs with scorching depth, glamorous phrasing, and clever studying of the texts. Her formidable voice sounded spherical, full, and elegantly booming within the huge Zellerbach auditorium. “Zur Rosenzeit,” specifically, was peppered with scrumptious pianissimi all through the tune. Most significantly, there was a a lot noticeable heat in her supply, much more so than within the 2022 recording. Whereas perhaps missing Andsnes’s meditative interpretation on the report, Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau – one of many UK’s main accompanists – additionally displayed heat in his glorious piano enjoying, and the duo gave the songs a synchronized but elevated sense of hopefulness, betraying the actual fact this was their first enjoying collectively.
“Ein Traum” was extremely dreamy, no pun supposed. The tune included “leaping” notes in every phrase that Davidsen carried out so effortlessly, as in the event that they had been nursery rhymes. Moreover, Davidsen and Martineau styled the tune as a big crescendo, each in dynamic and velocity, bringing such an exhilarating finish to the Grieg set!
Two excerpts from two very totally different operas about “the destiny of two very totally different ladies” adopted: the well-known “Dido’s Lament” from Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Elisabetta’s ultimate aria, “Tu che le vanità,” from Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo. Whereas her diction may not be as crisp as one would possibly like, her “Dido’s Lament” was significantly outstanding for the restraint she exercised all through, proving that she was the grasp of her monumental instrument and that she was skillful in coloring her voice to swimsuit any temper or temperament.
The Elisabetta aria was a totally totally different matter, the one which proved that I used to be unsuitable in my bias. Beforehand, I assumed she excelled solely in Austro-Germanic repertoire, and I’ve averted catching her Italian roles dwell thus far. However, her tackle “Tu che le vanità” utterly blew my thoughts with appreciable shows of method, easy singing, formidable legato, and, most significantly, a eager sensitivity to the textual content, giving an emotionally dramatic transition from longing to resignation and making a tour-de-force efficiency that was simply the spotlight of the evening!
Cal Performances
Davidsen defined that her two “core composers” had been Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner, so it made a lot sense to shut the primary half with a section on Strauss, beginning with “Es gibt ein Reich” from an opera that has develop into her calling card, Ariadne auf Naxos. I first encountered Davidsen on this opera on the Aix-en-Provence competition in the summertime of 2018, and at the moment, I used to be greatly surprised not solely by the sheer quantity of her voice but in addition by the darkish mezzo-ish hue of her tone with the massive, velvety low notes. Revisiting this aria seven years later, I used to be astounded by how vivid her sound had develop into, and significantly at how comfy she sang this troublesome aria. Interpretatively, she additionally discovered a special angle on the texts, imbuing them with a way of lightness, virtually playfulness, not simply all doom-and-gloom. She capped the primary a part of the recital with “Befreit” from 5 Lieder, Op. 39, sending the viewers into intermission at a fever pitch!
Cal Performances handled this occasion as a Gala, utilizing it additionally to honor Gordon P. Getty, who was bestowed with the Cal Performances Award of Distinction within the Performing Arts. Jeremy Geffen, Cal Performances’s Govt and Inventive Director, gave a heartfelt speech in the beginning of the second half, detailing Getty’s dedication and generosity over time to Cal Performances, and Davidsen herself echoed the sentiment afterward.
The live performance’s second half was devoted to solely two composers, Franz Schubert and Wagner. Davidsen traded her look with a full-length black robe, and, irritatingly, a stand with a pill was positioned on stage.
Davidsen admitted that she solely just lately returned to Schubert’s songs (after beginning with them initially) and that Martineau was important in studying the items. Whereas her voice was nonetheless as spectacular as ever, interpretatively, her presentation on the primary two Schubert lieder, the well-known Der Tod und das Mädchen, D. 531, and Der Zwerg, D. 771, didn’t catch hearth. The most important challenge was that each had been delivered in a declamatory vogue, and so they lacked the storytelling facet so essential in virtually all of Schubert’s Lieder. This was significantly evident throughout Der Zwarg, a tune a couple of dwarf murdering a queen who betrayed him. The Lied was styled as a conversational piece between the dwarf and the queen, however by performing it with such pressure, the nuances between both sides get misplaced. It additionally didn’t assist that she was glued to the pill throughout these songs, projecting her voice downwards and missing the expressivity of, for instance, the Grieg units.
Cal Performances
Fortunately, issues improved considerably for the subsequent tune, the fragile Du bist die Ruh, D. 776. Davidsen clearly responded effectively to Friedrich Rückert’s attractive texts, performing the tune with such light tenderness and full of sentimental arm gestures. Her voice additionally sounded beautiful and ethereal, and Martineau was an important asset right here in creating an ideal ambiance. An harmless rendition of the well-known Ave Maria (D. 839) rounded out the Schubert section.
That introduced us to Wagner, her different core composer. As introduced earlier than, the Met is planning to debut her Isolde subsequent season and her Brünnhilde beginning within the 2027-28 Season, all in new productions by Yuval Sharon and performed by the Met’s music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Such preferential remedy was undoubtedly because of her particular affinity for Wagner and her acclaimed performances of his heroines worldwide. On Tuesday, that shut bond was in full show along with her heavenly takes on “Allmächt’ge Jungfrau” from Tannhäuser and “Der Engel” and “Träume” (plus the encore “Schmerzen”) from the Wesendonck Lieder, all of which appeared in her first two solo albums for Decca Classics, the 2019 self-titled album and the 2021 Beethoven, Wagner and Verdi album. The poise, glamorous voice, command, and, as soon as once more, effortlessness of supply had been all important but vital property in Wagner’s repertoire, and she or he had them in abundance.
Davidsen and Martineau gave the Bay Space viewers a particular parting present: her very first public efficiency of “Liebestod” from the finale of Tristan und Isolde (she previewed Act II final November in Munich with Simon Rattle and Stuart Skelton) a undeniable fact that excited the audiences. To my ears, it was undoubtedly a piece in progress. She bought the phrasing and the dynamics proper, however the finish consequence felt slightly disjointed. A giant a part of it was that she breezed by the piano accompaniment (that Martineau performed with Herculean efforts) with no sense of the standard “battle” in opposition to the gargantuan orchestra. I had little doubt she’s going to current an altogether totally different standpoint by the point Tristan und Isoldearrives on the Met!
After the live performance, the viewers showered her and Martineau with prolonged applause, and the reception visibly moved her. It was an important introduction to one of many most interesting dramatic sopranos on the earth, and little doubt Bay Space audiences wished to see extra of her. (Fortunate LA audiences get to catch this program tomorrow). On the very least, it undoubtedly would whet the urge for food for the Met Opera’s new manufacturing of Tristan und Isolde subsequent season. For me, I’m beginning counting the times for her subsequent Don Carlo(s) to rectify my previous errors!
