by Gabriel Furtado
Sauer & Bouvier after performing Platt's "Muldoon Songs"
The New York Festival of Song, well known for its concert series at Merkin Hall, presented the final performance in its NYFOS Next series last Tuesday, focusing on the future of art song. The hour-long program was curated by Russell Platt, known not only as a composer but also as music writer for The New Yorker. In his opening comments, Platt described the works as a snapshot of "Generation X" composers.
Baritone Mischa Bouvier and pianist Thomas Sauer performed selections from Platt's own "Paul Muldoon Songs," in which one felt the influence of Ives' distinctly New England flavor of modernism – fitting for the poems of an Irishman now living in New Jersey. Sauer was then joined onstage by tenor Kyle Bielfield for selections from "Beautiful Ohio," Harold Meltzer's setting of poems by James Wright. The poems, described by Platt as exuding a ”Midwest patience for life," were given a musical setting of equal American stock, integrating sliding tones and blue notes into the score.
Carla Kihlstedt, reciting the texts from "Kafka Songs" before performance
Carla Kihlstedt's performance of Lisa Bielawa's "Kafka Songs" marked a left turn in the evening. Kihlstedt sang, played violin, and spoke to the influence on Bielawa of David Lang and Julia Wolfe. Kihlstedt's vocal style was markedly different than the previous performers, intoning the text in a style akin to Björk, Camille or Merrill Gabrus.
A lighter side to the evening was Gilda Lyons' "Rapid Transit," which gave a crisp, pithy outlet to the ill will every New Yorker harbors against the MTA. Using subway lines and the handful of phrases delivered continually via intercom, soprano Sarah Wolfson and mezzo Blythe Gaissert performed the work with a gusto well-suited to the tongue-and-cheek piece.
Keep an eye out for NYFOS NEXT's return in the fall. With its wide range of curatorial choices and free admission with advance reservations, it's an essential series for anyone interested in the art of song.
left to right: Dilda Lyons, Russell Platt, Sarah Wolfson, Mischa Bouvier, Kyle Bielfield, Carla Kihlstedt, Matthias Bossi, Blythe Gaissert (and out of frame Thomas Sauer and Michael Barrett)