Another concert

After enjoying Wednesday's concert so much, I went to another on Friday. This one was a recital by Tae Kim and Jonathan Nussman.

Jonathan played Pish-Tush in The Mikado, and did so extremely well. According to the review in the New England Gilbert & Sullivan Society's newsletter, he "was the most poised and polished musician on stage", giving laudable depth "to such a small, one-dimensional character". He really did throw himself completely into his role, and I also thought his portrayal was excellent.

He is a semi-professional musician (ie. looks for paying roles as well as non-paying, but doesn't find as many as he would like), and I remember a recital he was advertising late in the rehearsal period for Mikado. I was planning to go, but it reached the day and I was exhausted and thought an early night would be better for me. If my recollection is correct, I felt that the decision was correct and the early night worked.

So I was glad to be able to see him this time. I walked over the Harvard Bridge to Boston Conservatory, arriving a little early to a mostly empty room (while it was definitely never jam-packed, it did fill up as time went on).

This time I did bring a program home, so I can tell you exactly what was performed:
Sechs Variationen F-Dur, by Beethoven (piano)
Banalites, by Poulenc (voice)
Etude 13, by Ligeti (piano)
Franzosische Suite III h-mol, by Bach (piano)
Goyescas V, by Grandados (piano)
Dichterliebe, by Schumann (voice)
Tae Kim was the piano soloist, and also accompanied Jonathan.

Despite being both a pianist and a baritone (or close enough) myself, I don't really feel qualified to evaluate their performances. I did enjoy them very much: my favourite of the piano pieces was the Beethoven (I thought the style of the variations was interestingly diverse: the earlier seemed quite Mozartian to me, while the latter sounded more like my idea of Beethoven). I thought Jonathan's performance simply improved as the night went on. His songs were in French and German, but I really thought he was able to convey the tone without the benefit of words that at least this audience member could understand.

In short, I really enjoyed this week's concerts, and perhaps I should keep my eyes peeled for more now that I am not rehearsing myself.