A NEW MEZZO HITS THE HIGH NOTES 
                                              By D. Rane Danubian
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of Aug. 16-23, 2010
                                                                  Vol. 12, No. 4
            MENLO PARK, CA---The eighth Music@Menlo chamber-music festival closed out on a high note with a resounding mostly-vocal all-American concert at the new Menlo-Atherton (High School) Center for Performing Arts on Aug. 14. The efforts of the stunning young mezzo Sasha Cooke and the Jupiter String Quartet overshadowed any shortcomings elsewhere.
            Music of the 20th century was spotlighted in the vocal selections of the radiant Ms. Cooke, who had appeared in spring with the San Francisco Symphony in Berlioz songs. This is an artist of the once-in-a-decade caliber, a joyous discovery in every sense.  The mezzo has a lucid, lyrical instrument which glows, suggesting a chamber singer in the lower register, yet turning operatic in the powerful soaring high voice (a facet that the Metropolitan Opera has already put to good use).  She is an animated interpreter with a bent for acting, conveying twists with no more than a raised hand, or a coquettish thrust of the hip. She also enunciates the texts as well as any one I have heard all year. Her frilly attire, reflecting neither her personality nor her repertory, was the sole distraction.
            She ventured bravely into the quirky, comic cabaret songs of ex-West Coast composer William Bolcom, originally written 1978-96 for the incomparable Joan Morris. Cooke came out quite well in three selections, of which only “Black Max” was as biting as predecessors in Kurt Weill’s songs. “Amor” was gently flirtatious, and “Blue” more suggestive of desire.
            Spirituals which are more commonly the repertoire of black singers, usually in the lowest voice registers, were included in arrangements of Henry T. Burleigh. There are no race impediments in “By an’ By,” “Deep River,” or “Wade in de Water”---they are genuinely made-in-America music, and Cooke’s convincing foray seemed to say, these  belong to all of us. 
            Four late-1930s songs by Samuel Barber were not the ideal showcase for his centennial, as these are academic and, in the case of  “The Secrets of the Old,” too convoluted in jamming the text into the music. Most effective was the Nocturne, a heavenly sigh of love, lyrical right down to the pillow-soft exit. Wu Han accompanied on piano.
            No less arresting was a stunning performance by the Jupiter String Quartet, a group in residence at Lincoln Center in New York. This is an electric ensemble, very closely coordinated, keenly balanced, and astonishingly animated. They played the popular Dvorak “American Quartet” (No. 12, 1893), bringing out all the anticipation of resolution in the plaintive, longing slow movement (patterned after music that Dvorak had heard in America).
            The concert ended up with different personnel doing Dvorak’s other “American:” the larger-scale String Quintet Op. 97, running a generous 35 minutes. The assemblage, apparently tossed together for this event, was notable more for interpretative fire than for finesse.
            This grand-finale concert was held in the new 492-seat Center for the Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton High School with its striking glass facade, inaugurated last October. It is the best of all three sites used by Music@Menlo, whether you talk about acoustics, sight lines, seating comfort, or parking availability. Now Music@Menlo is no mere summer avocation for professionals and advanced students; the new site will serve as home for three M@M winter concerts, leading off with the Emerson String Quartet Oct. 3.
            Music@Menlo chamber concerts on the San Francisco Peninsula July 23-Aug. 14.  For info: (650) 331-0202, or go online.
                ©D. Rane Danubian 2010

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        D. Rane Danubian has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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