Barton brings singular artistry to wide-ranging Wolf Trap recital

Mon Jul 15, 2024 at 1:17 pm

Jamie Barton performed a recital Sunday afternoon at Wolf Trap. Photo: Traci Medlock

Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton presented a recital in the Wolf Trap Barns on Sunday afternoon, partnering with pianist Joseph Li. A Wolf Trap alum herself, Barton is serving as artist-in-residence for this year’s summer opera studio. That  continues a relationship with the DC area that has seen a number of Barton appearances in recent years as she has solidified her status as one of the most distinctive voices in the opera world, both onstage and off.

Sunday’s program opened with three songs inspired by Barton’s complicated musical journey during the pandemic. “Music” by frequent collaborator Jake Heggie is part of The Breaking Waves, a set of songs on Sister Helen Prejean texts that revisits material from Heggie’s opera Dead Man Walking, in which the singer has appeared. Barton gave a convincing account of the largely unaccompanied song though the piece echoes the overwrought character and cloying bluesy accents of the longer work.

The following two selections, Purcell’s “Music for a While,” as arranged by Benjamin Britten, and Schubert’s “An die Musik,” offered a reminder of what makes Barton’s sound unique: a rare plushness and consistency of tone, a sense of effortless vocal power, and an upper extension that can thrillingly maintain the color and depth of the middle voice. Both songs benefited from the clarity she brings to texts and the immediacy of her dramatic presence.

The balance of the first half was devoted to Dvorak’s Ciganske melodie (“Gypsy Songs”) of 1880, previously recorded with pianist Brian Zeger for a 2018 disc (along with the Sibelius selections which closed the program). As might be expected from the preeminent Jezibaba of her generation, Barton brought a vivid expressiveness to these songs, deploying careful character choices to fully realize Dvorak’s twin modes of lyricism and earthiness.

Broader, dance-inflected numbers like “Aj! Kterak trojhranec můj přerozkošně zvoní” and “Struna naladěna” strode with an open sound and pungent vocal attacks. The poignant centerpiece “Když mne stará matka zpívat, zpívat učívala” (“Songs My Mother Taught Me”) opened with waves of rich tone before giving way to exquisite hushed piano effects in the second line, a fully realized emotional journey in miniature. And Barton brought a thrilling power and solidity to the closing paean to freedom, “Dejte klec jestřábu ze zlata ryzého,” capped with a roof-shaking climax. Li effectively added atmosphere from the piano, bringing idiomatic figures out of the texture.

Jamie Barton performed with pianist Joseph Li at Wolf Trap. Photo: Traci Medlock

The second half opened with three of Henri Duparc’s songs of the early 1870s. Barton delivered a decadent sound in the impressionistic “L’invitation au voyage” and dreamy “Extase” (on texts of Charles Baudelaire and Jean Lahor), then turned inward to capture the hushed stillness of the opening of “Phidylé” (on a text by Leconte de Lisle). While a welcome showcase for the vocal beauty Barton can produce, she was rather tentative in some of the more delicate effects, limiting the full impact of these recital mainstays.

The final set of Jean Sibelius songs featured a mix of selections from his Op. 36 and 37, all composed around the year 1900. Barton abandoned herself to the sturm and drang of these late romantic works, pushing the dramatic possibilities of the extravagant poetry and Sibelius’ transporting vocal lines. 

“Svarta rosor” (“Black Roses”) came to a bitter, defiant finish, while compelling storytelling and sly humor in the opening of “Flickan kom ifrån sun älsklings möte” (“The Girl Returned Home from Meeting Her Lover”) contrasted with a commanding delivery of the bleak closing stanza. Barton’s generous, expansive singing in “Var det en dröm?” (“Did I Just Dream?”) offered an irresistible finale.

For the single encore, Barton turned to her interests in popular song with Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road).” While showcasing Li’s jazzy touch at the piano and Barton’s ability to effectively scale down her sound, this arch rendition was a decidedly slight addendum to the main program.

The Wolf Trap season continues with Puccini’s La Boheme, which opens July 19 in the Filene Center. wolftrap.org


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