Washington Classical Review

Countertenor Iestyn Davies performed with harpist Oliver Wass Friday night at the Dumbarton Concerts in Georgetown.

The consistently fine concerts given by Iestyn Davies in Washington over the past fifteen years have made any appearance of his required listening. Sadly not enough people got the memo about the British countertenor’s latest recital, presented by Dumbarton Concerts Friday night in the intimate sanctuary of Georgetown’s Dumbarton United Methodist Church.

Davies has partnered often recently with lutenist Thomas Dunford. On this tour harpist Oliver Wass, who teaches the instrument at the Royal College of Music, provided not only the accompaniment but some stunning solo works.

The larger sound of the modern concert harp gave Davies more room for the expansive side of his voice. An illness, which had prevented the countertenor from joining Wass at a couple of their recent tour stops, left a touch of raspiness in the voice, requiring Davies to make a few modifications to the program.

An opening set sounded unaffected, beginning with a buoyant performance of Monteverdi’s Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius from Selva morale e spirituale, followed by an enigmatic reading of Frescobaldi’s Se l’aura spira. Wass and Davies melded beautifully in “Delizie contenti” from Cavalli’s Giasone, set in a sensuous, relaxed tempo, and the forthright “Strike the Viol” from Purcell’s Birthday Ode for Queen Mary.

The harp adaptations in a set of three Schubert songs felt less comfortable, especially the fast-moving “Seligkeit,” but both “Im Frühling” and the mysterious “An den Mond” suited Davies’ voice beautifully. One of the program substitutions, Beethoven’s youthful song “Adelaide,” proved a highlight of the evening, with a reflective tempo allowing Davies to unfold his poignantly phrased legato line.

Nico Muhly composed his Four Traditional Songs for Davies in 2011. The countertenor brought just the right sense of subversive folk simplicity to three of the four songs, omitting “Searching for Lambs.” The accompaniment, rendered with striking flexibility by Wass, sheathes these odd melodies in sometimes thorny modern harmony. This group made an intriguing companion to the first half’s inclusion of Poulenc’s Le bestiaire, six bizarre miniatures on surrealist poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire, rendered with arch seriousness.

Wass’s impressive range of solo pieces began with Giovanni Maria Trabacci’s Toccata Seconda & Ligature per arpa, from 1615, apparently the first published piece written specifically for harp.

Although Wass said he would normally play this piece on baroque triple harp, he played the entire program on a modern pedal harp. (While on tour, Wass relies on loans of local instruments, in this case one provided by Anastasia Pike, harp professor at James Madison University.) Wass gave the piece, written in a free-wheeling fantasia style, a fanciful, improvisational flow. Debussy’s “Clair de lune,” from Suite Bergamasque, sounded even more fleeting and twilit on the harp than in its original piano version.

Two virtuoso showpieces showcased Wass’s extraordinary technical skills. He gave guitar-like flair to the “Spanish Dance” from Falla’s opera La vida breve, as arranged by Marcel Grandjany from Fritz Kreisler’s version for violin and piano. Even greater challenges lay in Britten’s Suite for Harp, which Wass rendered with exquisite control of dynamics in the Overture and Toccata movements. The Nocturne, a hazy meditation involving only seven notes in endless combinations, featured ethereal harmonics in a ghostly melody, and a light touch enlivened the charming Fugue. (The final movement, Hymn, was omitted.)

The concert ended with two Handel gems. Davies gave a sly wink of the eye to “Sento Amor” from the comic opera Partenope, adding tasteful embellishments to a lovely da capo repetition. Even better was David’s sublime aria “O Lord whose mercies numberless” from Saul, the latest reminder that one of the numberless choirs of Washington needs to perform the 26 non-Messiah oratorios of Handel more often. In a brilliant programming touch, Wass inserted the Symphony for Harp that follows this aria in the oratorio as an interlude between the aria’s two verses. Such a performance makes it impossible to believe that the raging Saul could not be calmed by David’s serene music.

Each musician offered an encore, beginning with Wass’s harp adaptation of “Alla Turca Caz,” the last piece of Fazil Say’s Four Parça, a Fats Waller-ized adaptation of the “Rondo alla turca” from Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11. 

Choosing to end on a sublime note, Davies turned to the bleak melancholy of Dowland’s “Flow My Tears,” an apt observation of the 400th year since the celebrated English lutenist and composer’s death. Weeping is surely the best way to remember the composer who chose the motto Semper Dowland semper dolens.

Trio Zimbalist performs a piano trio arrangement of Ravel’s Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé, as well as Smetana’s Piano Trio in G Minor and Robert Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 1 7:30 p.m. November 14. dumbartonconcerts.org