Washington Classical Review

Tenor Benjamin Bernheim presented a recital for Vocal Arts DC Sunday at Lisner Auditorium. Photo: Courtney Ruckman

Last month, Vocal Arts DC became the latest presenter to move the rest of its season out of the Kennedy Center. Happily the organization found new venues for its song recitals, beginning with Sunday’s Washington debut of Benjamin Bernheim. The singer, who has made several lauded appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in recent years, appeared with pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson at Lisner Auditorium.

Lisner is too large for the generally smaller audience to be expected for an art song series, but its acoustic suited the French tenor’s dulcet voice. The crowd, some of whom likely demurred from attending events at the Kennedy Center, showed up in strong numbers. This was only the latest remarkable debut by the city’s finest presenter of art song performances.

Most of the program focused on repertory, French and otherwise, that required subtlety and nuance. From the first notes of Henri Duparc’s luscious mélodie “L’invitation au voyage,” both musicians made clear they were up to the task. Matheson’s accompaniment at the piano began soft as a whisper, remaining evanescent but also able to provide ample support. Bernheim gave careful attention to both poetic diction and expression of line.

Two other Duparc songs, “Chanson triste” and “Phidylé,” hewed to the same character. The latter stood out especially for the repetition of the words “Repose, ô Phidylé,” gentle and hushed as a lullaby, as if the narrator did not want to wake his beloved.

A more expansive dynamic palette came in Ernest Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer. Matheson’s touch at the keyboard became less transparent, appropriate to the part being an orchestral reduction, roiling with many complex sea-inspired motifs. The Canadian-born pianist more than justified the inclusion of the orchestral Interlude, giving poignant scope to the prominent opening melody, much of it played by bassoon in the original.

Bernheim applied the more intense side of his voice to the two extended songs, “La fleur des eaux” and “La mort de l’amour.” A particular form of French melancholy pervaded the performance, accompanied by the rhythms of the waves, as a love is born, flowers, and then dies, all layered with nostalgia and regret.

The tenor read the score from a tablet for a set of Catalan and Spanish songs that seemed less familiar to him. Federico Mompou’s “Damunt de tu només les flors” and Joaquín Turina’s “Los dos miedos” felt rather close in character to the French songs. This was perhaps too much of a good thing, although a melting melodic line is this tenor’s greatest strength. More crunchy dissonance in Alberto Ginastera’s “Canción al arbol del olvido” proved a welcome contrast, given salience and edge by both tenor and pianist.

Benjamin Bernheim and pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson enjoy a light moment during Sunday’s Vocal Arts recital. Photo: Courtney Ruckman

A set of three art songs by Giacomo Puccini turned more to the crowd-pleasing vein, opera in all but name as the composer reused two of them in later operas. (One member of the audience was particularly pleased, shouting his approval and garnering laughter and appreciation from the singer.) Here Bernheim had the chance to display the sobbing Italianate ring of his high range a bit, for example in “Sole e amore,” a tribute to the violinist Paganini, with a tune that is familiar from La Bohème.

Much of the recital’s program came from the duo’s album Douce France, released in 2024, including three arrangements of popular French chansons, in arrangements by Guy-François Leuenberger. The most effective proved the bittersweet version of Joseph Kosma’s “Les feuilles mortes,” first sung by Yves Montand. The nostalgic melancholy and even some of the words, by Jacques Prévert, recalled the Chausson cycle earlier in the program.

Charles Trenet’s “Douce France” was imbued with sentimentality, while “Quand on n’a que l’amour” did not quite achieve the sense of emotional abandon that made Jacques Brel’s own performances of this song so powerful. Still, the throughline of the program, illustrating the connection between the 19th-century mélodie and the 20th-century popular chanson, was illuminating and subtly argued.

Two encores satisfied the crowd’s demands, beginning with a sensitively rendered “E lucevan le stelle” from Puccini’s Tosca for more Italian pathos. The second, the aria “Toute mon âme est là! . . . Pourquoi me réveiller” from Massenet’s Werther, reinforced the impression that Bernheim’s greatest gifts lie in the French repertoire, for which he is becoming best known.

Vocal Arts DC dedicated the concert to the memory of Vickie Carlson, a longtime board member who passed away last April. As a regular volunteer at the presenter’s patron desk, she always welcomed attendees with a smile.

Baritone Quinn Kelsey and pianist Craig Ketter perform songs by Copland, Price, Bonds, Carpenter, Finzi, and Vaughan Williams 5 p.m. March 1 at Live at 10th and G. vocalartsdc.org