Yesterday was a special night for classical music fans from around the Vancouver area because we had the opportunity to see Anthony Roth Costanzo’s Vancouver debut, presented by the Vancouver Recital Society.
I had no idea who Mr. Constanzo was before buying my ticket a few weeks ago. The eye-raising thing that I noticed was that he’s a countertenor (a man who uses his falsetto to sing extra high). This was the first time for me to hear one in a concert hall.
Quite some time ago I received a CD of Andreas Scholl (another countertenor) singing Bach Cantatas, as a present. This may have been my first exposure to a countertenor and I found myself listening to the CD over and over due to Mr. Scholl’s “lovely” singing and near perfect phrasing.
So, I guess what I want to say is that I’ve had a bit of exposure to what a countertenor can sound like but never in a concert hall.
I have a confession to make... this was the first time in my life to actually pay money to attend a vocal recital. During my university days at music school, I found certain opera students to be the most obnoxious in the music building. They would always strut and keep their chins pointed up. I found this behavior... repulsive so I (ignorantly) avoided their concerts.
Well, many years later, I’m trying my best to be a bit more openminded.
Anthony Roth Costanzo seems to be a genuinely nice person. He walked onto the stage with a big smile and was very polite to the audience throughout. The audience members probably didn’t notice but on the cover of the “text and translations” booklet, it says, “we kindly ask that you hold your applause until the end of each set of songs.” Well, perhaps, they were so moved that they just had to clap after each song... Mr. Constanzo didn’t seem bothered by this but it seemed it may have been a bit of a distraction since he needed to “get into” the right “mode” for the next song.
The concert had a good variety of songs. The first half consisted of three songs by Henri Duparc, three “jolly” good songs by Benjamin Britten and five songs by Franz Liszt. After the intermission, there was some Mozart, Handel and Gershwin followed by one encore.
I’ll be honest and admit that the lyrics of most of these pieces were over my head. Maybe I should’ve taken a poetry class during university instead of those short story courses... but one of the Benjamin Britten songs was amusing (The Foggy, Foggy Dew) for its contents.
I applaud Mr. Constanzo for being an extremely accomplished singer. He really “gets into” things” and “gives it his all” (I don’t think I’ll ever be writing reviews for Gramaphone magazine using lame idioms like these...). Those scales and ornaments that he sang during the Handel arias (?) sure gave me chills. I could appreciate his breath control and how he maximizes the air in his lungs. Bravo!
The pianist Bryan Wagorn did an acceptable job but when Mr. Constanzo told him to “TAKE IT!” as in “AD LIB” during I got rhythm, I felt Mr. Wagorn could have “taken it” a little further. He seemed stiff during the that song, not exactly swinging. All of the Gershwin was played in a very “classical” way by Mr. Wagorn... I’d prefer it all to be played in a Earl “Fatha” Hines way. Oh well.
Overall, the concert was excellent and I’m glad I attended. There were quite a few empty seats in the balcony area. I guess people wanted to stay home and watch the boring TV...
