Posted on Sat, Jan. 26, 2008 10:15 PM

An Armenian at the Folly: Soprano sings the long line
By PAUL HORSLEY
The Kansas City Star

Isabel Bayrakdarian possesses a firm, luxurious lyric soprano and sings with
a crystal-clear, almost prescient sense of diction in a rainbow of languages.
But what most impressed at her Harriman-Jewell Series recital Saturday at the
Folly was her extraordinary capacity to spin an endless melodic line, a
mellifluous flow that takes you from the beginning to the end of a thought or
idea.
You’d think all singers should be able to do that, but it’snot as common as
you imagine.
The Lebanese-born Canadian-Armenian star of the Metropolitan Opera – and of
Howard Shore’s score for the film `The Two Towers’- sang in seven languages,
including her native Armenian.
You’ll rarely hear a singer muster so much meaning from such a range of
texts. Her husband, pianist-composer Serouj Kradjian, was an unusually
proficient and sophisticated accompanist.
Bayrakdarian’s stage presence is commanding, and her technique is solid and
consistent. She doesn’t knock you over with diva-like star power. Instead, her
poetic and spiritual currents run deep.
Occasionally her rapid vibrato cloyed in the Folly’s close acoustic, and I
found myself yearning for a wider range of color.
Yet I found myself drawn to her `long line’ from the opening set of Poulenc
songs (`Banalités), where she struck attitude (`Hôtel’) or pleaded
plaintively (`Fagnes de Wallonie’) as called for.
She was also vividly aware of communicating the text in the American composer
Jake Heggie’s `Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia,’ a setof musings on facets of
Shakespeare’s heroine.
Her `Song of the Moon’ aria from Dvorák’s `Rusalka’ was diamond-polished
rather than plush and velvety. Rossini’s `Una voca poco fa’ was explored for
its comedy, conveyed not just with saucy gestures but by injecting humor right
into the vocal line (for example, by stretching trills a tad too long).
After intermission came out in a new gown, which one striking mango-apricot,
and sang five Armenian folk songs, which for me were the highlight of the
evening.
Most of these tunes had an ancient flavor, with a narrow voice range and a
long-breathed cantilena that is unlike any folk song I’ve heard.
One of them, `Call to the Sea,’ was a patriotic song that asked somewhat
defiantly:
`I wonder if the day will come / When I see a flag on Mount Ararat,/ And
Armenians from all over the world / Will make their way to their dear
homeland.’
At the song’s stirring climax, Bayrakdarian’s voice welled up to a
luminosity we had not yet heard.
She then launched into Ravel’s `Five Popular Greek Melodies,’ in Greek
rather than in the French in which they were set.
Again, soulful lines were juxtaposed with boisterousness and urgency, as in
the subsequent set of Spanish Folk Songs by Fernando Obradors.
Bayrakdarian’s Spanish was as nimble as her French and Italian. Thelush,
sensuous encores were in Spanish, too: Lecuona’s `Malaguena’ and Montsalvatge’s
un-p.c. but delicious `Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito.’

Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano
Reviewed: Saturday, Jan. 26

Place: Folly Theater
With: Serouj Kradjian, piano
Audience: 450 (approx.)
Presenter: Harriman-Jewell Series

To reach Paul Horsley, classical music and dance critic, call 816-234-4764 or
e-mail phorsley@kcstar.com.