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Wagner and Schoenberg: Lucy Shelton (soprano), Asher Fisch (conductor), Ensemble ACJW, Paul Recital Hall, The Juilliard School, New York City, 9. 1.2009 (BH)

Wagner: Siegfried Idyll (1870)
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912)

Ensemble ACJW
Asher Fisch, Conductor
Lucy Shelton, Soprano

Julietta Curenton, Flute
James Austin Smith, Oboe
Alicia Lee, Clarinet
Romie de Guise-Langlois, Clarinet
Seth Baer, Bassoon
Alana Vegter, Horn
Alama Maria Liebrecht, Horn
Paul Murphy, Trumpet
Owen Dalby, Violin
William Harvey, Violin
Meena M. Bhasin, Viola
Julia MacLaine, Cello
Evan Premo, Double Bass

Schoenberg:
Angelina Gadeliya, Piano
Erin Lesser, Flute
Sarah Beaty, Clarinet
Owen Dalby, Violin
Caitlin Sullivan, Cello


It must have been a great treat for the young musicians of Ensemble ACJW to work with soprano Lucy Shelton, who has made Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire into one of her specialties.  Not every singer is meant to tackle this gorgeous, still-shocking bit of music theater, now almost 100 years old.  The 21 texts—each exactly 13 lines—are by Otto Erich Hartleben (1864-1905) and I doubt their blood-drenched power will dim any time soon.

In Juilliard's intimate Paul Hall, Shelton took the stage in a dress sprinkled with mirrored bits, giving her the look of a soothsayer, as if her strange pronouncements might actually come true.  She was completely inside Schoenberg's world of Sprechstimme, the half-spoken technique in which each word seems to be rising and falling at the same time.  Near the end of "The Dandy," Pierrot "paints his face in sublime style—with a ghostly moonbeam," which Shelton whispered, holding a hand over her mouth.  Ecstatic swoops anchored the middle of "Chopin Waltz," describing the blood-smeared lips of a sick patient.  Shelton commanded an impressive palette of emotions: now howling, now imperious, sometimes singing with seductive lyricism, at other moments almost screaming.  At one point in "The Moon-fleck" she had the matter-of-fact stance of a teacher instructing her students, only to follow it in "Serenade" with a sound that can only be described as a weird croaking noise.  The five instrumentalists, all superb, plunged into the score with gusto.  When they were not helping Shelton etch the grotesque, they could sometimes be seen gazing at her what I interpreted as pleasurable awe.

The program opened with Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, in a lean reading persuasively led by Asher Fisch.  Fluent and flowing, it was as tender and lush as the Schoenberg was icy and spare.  Standouts in the excellent ensemble included James Austin Smith on oboe, and in the fleeting trumpet climax, Paul Murphy.

It should be mentioned that, for those who think that New York City concerts always come with a price tag (sometimes exorbitant) this evening was free.  And given the prowess of the ACJW musicians, I can't imagine a more rewarding way to spend two hours, hearing them tackle two touchstones of the repertoire.  I was completely transported.

Bruce Hodges


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