Word: mezzos
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...second half of the program, mezzo-soprano Paula Rasmussen, tenor Richard Clemont and bass Nathan Berg joined Christine Brewer along with the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus. The work, Beethoven's Mass in C, was definitely the highlight of the evening. Written in 1807 on a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy II, this was Beethoven's first setting of the Mass, and was a complete failure in the prince's eyes. Perhaps he did not appreciate Beethoven's extensive text painting (creating musical pictures of the text), and his application of personal feelings to the various parts of the mass...
...orchestra. Celebrating the glory of God, Beethoven managed to represent this feeling of joyful gratitude through a wide variety of tonal colors and a quicker tempo. It was in the solo sections of the Gloria that the audience first got to really hear the warm, haunting voice of mezzo-soprano Rasmussen, a good match for Brewer's soprano...
...which the dialogue is spoken rather than sung, and a refreshingly colloquial English translation by Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof). Updated it was, but dumbed down it wasn't. Assaf made her dramatic points with crisp simplicity and no pandering whatsoever. No less direct was the Carmen of mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman, a fire-eating singing actress who played straight to the video cameras, giving a devastatingly sexy performance full of anger and pride. It all added up to a no-nonsense Carmen that anybody could believe...
...this isn't about accolades; this is about soul. This is about that glorious mezzo-soprano, the gospel growls, the throaty howls, the girlish vocal tickles, the swoops, the dives, the blue-sky high notes, the blue-sea low notes. Female vocalists don't get the credit as innovators that male instrumentalists do. They should. Franklin has mastered her instrument as surely as John Coltrane mastered his sax; her vocal technique has been studied and copied by those who came after her, including Chaka Khan in the '70s and Whitney Houston...
...Tanglewood Festival Chorus and P.A.L.S. who marched in during intermission sang during the fifth movement, accompanying the soloist, American mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar. Seventy-five choir members, highly visible young ladies and younger boys and girls dressed in whit and blue framed the orchestra. The fifth movement started with P.A.L.S. singing "ding, dong, ding, dong." The Tanglewood chorus answered with wide smiles and German verse. One couldn't tell if their smiles were the stages smiles that performers have to wear or genuine glee at hearing the younger kids perform. They hadn't looked too lively on their...