French and Italian Opera Concert: Denyce Graves, mezzo soprano, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Emmanuel Villaume, conductor, Symphony Center Chicago 9.6.2007 (JLZ)

Saint-Saëns: Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah
Saint-Saëns: Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix from Samson and Delilah
Chabrier: Joyeuse marche
Massenet: Il est doux, il est bon from Hérodiade
Bizet: Entr'acte to Act 4 from Carmen
Bizet: Habanera from Carmen
Verdi: Overture to Nabucco
Verdi: O don fatale, o don crudel from Don Carlo
Puccini: Intermezzo from Act 3 of Manon Lescaut
Cilea :Acerba voluta from Adriana Lecouvreur
Mascagni: Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
Mascagni: Voi lo sapete from Cavalleria rusticana
Traditional : Spirituals (Give me Jesus and Witness)

Known to its audiences for years, the mezzo soprano Denyce Graves’  concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is the latest of her appearances in the city.  Ms. Graves was the featured soloist in a program that involved music from French and Italian opera and included both Romantic and Verismo works. Some of the music is quite familiar for those who know Ms. Graves recordings or heard her in the relatively recent production of Bizet’s Carmen at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Thus, the inclusion of famous arias from Carmen and Samson et Dalila are almost expected, even though they truly need to be heard on the opera stage to elicit the dramatic spark that is characteristic of the singer Ms. Graves also deserves to be known for more than as being the latest interpreter of  femmes fatales, and this particular concert demonstrated several different facets of her musical personality in various other roles.

One of the more intriguing selections was Salome’s first-act aria “Il est doux, il est bon” from Massenet’s Hérodiade. Decades before Richard Strauss composed his opera Salome on the same story, Massenet’s work included some ravishing music, and this selection demonstrates its power. Demanding in its upper range, it is an aria that reveals the character of Salome when John the Baptist’s voice alone captures her imagination. While the voice sometimes seemed understated, Ms Graves' hands and facial gestures showed her involvement with the piece.

Likewise, the aria of the Princess of Bouillon from Cilea’s opera Adriana Lecouvreur was very effective. Her capacity for drama was particularly evident in the section “O vagabonda stella d’Oriente,” where her aggressive approach made it memorable. Later in the program Ms. Graves offered a fine reading of Santuzza’s aria “Voi lo sapete” from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, where she moved deftly between the declamatory and lyrical phrases of this critical piece. Even out of the context of the opera, this aria remains a powerful piece that was wisely placed near the end of the program. Ms. Graves was rapt in the final measures, and it was unfortunate that a fan broke the tension with yet another of his distinctive screams of “Brava” before the last sounds died away. It is, perhaps, easier to hear this piece on the opera stage than in a concert performance, where the programming almost always risks such an outburst.

Nevertheless, it is clear from the response to Ms. Graves that her voice is attractive to a wide range of individuals. Her command of the repertoire is evident in concerts like this, and in hearing her perform selections like Eboli’s aria “O don fatale” from Verdi’s Don Carlos, the danger of limiting her to the roles of Carmen and Dalila becomes apparent. Numbers like those show some sides to her singing not revealed by   Carmen, which has become something of a signature role for her.   At times it would have been good to hear more of her lower register, which was not as resonant as it could have been. Yet the demands of register shifts are always the domain of the mezzo soprano, who has challenges that other voice types do not always encounter.

In addition to Ms. Graves, this concert involved the French conductor Emmanuel Villaume, who replaced the Myung-Whun Chung for this concert, which is the annual fundraiser for the Orchestra’s Pension Fund. Often a special event like this can celebrate the CSO’s repertoire and history in functioning as a benefit for the resident performers themselves. The choice of opera, specifically French and Italian repertoire, differs somewhat from the music chosen for other Pension Fund programs. While imbalance occurred in parts of several vocal selections, the instrumental pieces were less problematic.

The CSO was particularly effective in its reading of the famous Bacchanale from Saint-Saëns’  Samson et Dalila, which does not always benefit from such detailed playing.  With his precise conducting and clear cueing Villaume made this instrumental number into a stunning orchestral showpiece, and the Orchestra responded to his leadership with an extroverted performance of this sometimes clichéd embodiment of musical Orientalism.  A similarly fulsome tone was apparent in the Overture to Verdi’s Nabucco, but the warmth of the strings emerged most clearly in the extended quotation of “Va pensiero” that is essential to the structure of the work. Another famous orchestral excerpt, the Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana, as well as Chabrier’s rarely heard Joyeuse marche made up most of the rest of the program.  In the end, though, this  was Ms. Graves’ evening, with two spirituals, “Give Me Jesus” and “Witness” concludingt the concert, and with the Seguidilla from Carmen as an encore.