COMPETENT BUT NOT ENOUGH
By Fred Kirshnit
Isabel Bayrakdarian
New York Sun, NY
Jan 16 2007
Under the auspices of the George London Foundation, soprano Isabel
Bayrakdarian and her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, offered a
pleasant recital at the Morgan Library on Sunday afternoon.
Although usually described as a great American baritone, Mr. London
was actually born in Montreal and the foundation takes pains to include
Canadians such as Ms. Bayrakdarian and Mr. Kradjian in their aspirant
base. For this program, there was supposed to be another couple from
up north, baritone Russell Braun and his wife, pianist Carolyn Maule,
but Mr. Braun was detained by visa problems and so, with very little
notice, the two performers had to tack on pieces to fill out their
now exclusive afternoon.
In the first half, they presented what they had intended to be their
portion of the original event. Ms. Bayrakdarian began with a short
set of Schubert, which ranged from the dramatic Sei mir gegruesst,
intoned a little heavily, to a much more satisfying and lyrical
Nacht und Traume and the familiar An die Musik. The soprano quickly
exhibited the qualities that would characterize this performance. She
has solid pitch control but a bit of difficulty with nimbleness and
a rather timid approach to vocal characterization.
The most interesting part of the afternoon was the inclusion of five
songs by Pauline Viardot-Garcia. Madame Viardot was the daughter of
the famed tenor Manuel Garcia and the sister of Malibran, a favorite
of Rossini. She studied composition with Liszt and appeared in concert
with Chopin. Later she became the obscure object of desire of Ivan
Turgenev. Her songs this day fell into three categories, the Spanish,
the French, and the Chopin mazurka. Ms. Bayrakdarian put them over
with great pluck and a voice often too big for the room.
Then, after a short pause, the artists in attendance served up a
Spanish menu to fill the space intended for Mr. Braun and Ms. Maule’s
presentation of a substantial amount of Robert Schumann. First, songs
by Rossini in a decidedly Iberian mood. Ms. Bayrakdarian did a good job
with La Partenza and Bolero but was not adept enough at alliteration
and rapid fire diction to successfully navigate the one truly Italian
number, Tarantella Napoletana. My only previous encounter with her
was at the opera house, and I remembered her portrayal of Teresa in
the opening night of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini in 2003. Then her
cavatina in the first act was fine, but her cabaletta sloppy. She
may want to concentrate on lighter, slower fare going forward.
Mr. Kradjian had his chance to shine as soloist in The Maiden and the
Nightingale from Goyescas by Enrique Granados. It was after attending
the world premiere of the opera version of Goyescas that Granados died
when his ship was sunk by a German u-boat. This rendition was quite
well played but a bit gingerly for my taste; it never really achieved
the level of passion suggested in the score. Like the singing of the
day, it was competent but not inspiring.
Ms. Bayrakdarian chose to end her program with another Spanish set,
which included the Malaguena by Lecuona – ubiquitous in the 1950s
as an encore piece for opera and pop stars alike. This is a familiar
work that requires a great deal of showmanship, which does not play
to this particular singer’s strength. She seemed almost embarrassed
by her own attempts at saucy gesturing. Much more in character was
her lovely encore, a simple Armenian lullaby sung with genuine and
heartfelt emotion.
This was my first experience at the new hall in the basement of the
Morgan. It is freshly appointed and boasts if not warm, at least true
acoustics. However, I was forewarned about one of its aspects that
should be passed along to all readers: With the possible exception
of the upper level at Madison Square Garden, this auditorium has the
steepest stairs of any concert venue in New York.