I enjoyed very much last night’s recital of Christine Brewer at Jordan Hall in Boston. Craig Terry was the pianist, replacing Craig Rutenberg whose absence was due to an injury, according to an insert in the program booklet. Miss Brewer was suffering from a cold, and mentioned at one point that she had taken a lot of cold medication. She cited the cold as her reason for singing only one encore.

Program:

C.W. Glück
“Divinités du Styx” from Alceste

Wagner
Wesendonck-Lieder (Five Poems for Female Voice)
Der Engel
Stehe Still
Im Treibhaus
Schmerzen
Träume

Richard Strauss
“Ich liebe dich,” from Sechs Lieder, Opus 37, no. 2
“Breit’ über mein Haupt dein schwarzes Haar,”
from Sechs Lieder, Opus 19, no. 2
“Befreit,” from Fünf Lieder, Opus 39, no. 4

Intermission

Britten
Cabaret Songs

John Carter
Cantata

ECHOES OF NIGHTINGALES:
Sidney Homer
Sing to Me, Sing
Edwin MacArthur
Night
Paul Sargent
Hickory Hill
Frank Bridge
Love went a’riding
Idabelle Firestone
If I Could Tell You
Frank LaForge
Hills

Encore
Merrill: “I came on two buses and a train” from Carnival

Miss Brewer explained that the songs grouped together as “Echoes of Nightingales” are songs associated with, and sometimes sung as encores by, singers such as Helen Traubel, Kirsten Flagstad, Eileen Farrell, and Eleanor Steber.

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“Ultimately, Christine Brewer’s programming and performance made Saturday evening’s recital a success. She was able to dazzle with an awe-inspiring sound and acrobatic subtlety in her voice, and her collaboration with Terry, so clearly focused on interpreting, on understanding the inner psyche of these masterpieces, provided an intimate engagement with the audience, a rare feat.”–Sudeep Agarwala, The Boston Musical Intelligencer