Susan Graham & Music from Copland House
WASHINGTON, DC
The Kennedy Center
11/4/21
A CENTURY HENCE, anyone seeking a window into the tempestuous stretch of American history between the late 1960s and the dispiriting days of a perduring pandemic could glean insights from A Standing Witness, the provocative new song cycle for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble, with music by Richard Danielpour and poems by Rita Dove. Written for the luminous Susan Graham, who gave the Washington premiere November 4 at the Kennedy Center, and the excellent group Music from Copland House, this hour-plus work distills major events that helped to define, and largely divide, the nation, as observed through the eyes of a woman whose identity the last song names as “Liberty’s pale green maiden, stranded”—the silent witness who has long stood in New York Harbor, holding aloft a torch.
The cycle contains fourteen songs—Prologue, a dozen “Testimonies,” Epilogue—plus one instrumental interlude (a darkly beautiful reflection on 9/11). Danielpour’s writing, from lush to spiky, is rich in word-painting and other atmospheric touches that enhance Dove’s poetry, which, whether rhymed or free, vibrates with high-def imagery and frequently stings…Graham anchored the performance with unmistakable assurance and conviction. Her warm, supple voice and exemplary articulation ensured that every textual nuance registered —the singer filled the room with a tonal glow…Throughout, there was polished, communicative playing from flutist Carol Wincenc, clarinetist Benjamin Fingland, violinist Suliman Tekalli, violist Melissa Reardon, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and pianist Michael Boriskin. The firsthalf of the program featured colorful performances of instrumental works with vocal roots—Pierre Jalbert’s “Crossings,” which makes bittersweet use of a French-Canadian folk song; and selections from John Harbison’s inventively arranged “Songs America Loves to Sing,” the perfect lead-in to songs that, as Dove and Danielpour so ardently propose, America needs to hear. —Tim Smith