Susan Graham: Artist Portrait

Susan Graham is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer, whose artistry is much sought after in all the major opera houses of the world. This is quite a good CD to introduce you to this talented singer and her wide repertoire (from the hard core operas by Haendel, Gluck, Mozart, and Berlioz to the operettas of Yvain and Messager to the contemporary Ned Rorem and Jake Heggie). Ms Graham’s strong voice and her imposing physique (standing 5'10'' tall) makes her particularly successful in the ‘trouser roles’ where the female singer portrays a young man on stage (tracks 1-6 features arias sung by 2 of her best known trouser parts).

Her voice is a light lyric mezzo with excellent upper extension. It is radiant and rather lighter than what one would expect from a typical mezzo (her voice is similar to Anne-Sofie von Otter's and Magda Kozena's and not as heavy as the likes of Marilyn Horne's or Teresa Berganza's). Her strength is in the middle - upper register where her voice is creamy. She subtly shades her voice in different colors to great effects. Beautiful legato (connected lines of notes) singing with great pianissimo (very soft singing), but tends to get a bit overbearing (to me) in mezzo forte and louder. Her lower register isn’t as versatile as the rest of the voice. Ms Graham is not known for vocal agility, tho she isn’t a slow moving train either... Her short and quick coloratura (florid singing of many notes in fast succession) runs are fine, but she can’t live in Florid-ville a la Bartoli or Kasarova (so you aren’t going to hear her doing Rossini or bel canto stuff). For a non-native speaker, her sung French is excellent (it helps that the voice is placed well forward). She is musical and has her own style of interpreting each role, an elegantly expressive singer (tho will occasionally be too understated and comes off sounding cold).

Tracks
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (Italian)
1. Voi che sapete che cosa e amor
2. No so piu cosa son cosa faccio
Cherubino is one of opera’s great “trouser roles.” He is the boyish and very horny page of the Count and Countess Almavivas. In #1, Cherubino sings a ‘longing for your love’ song he wrote for the Countess as she looks on bemused by the amorous adolescent. Ms Graham’s radiant tone highlights Cherubino’s adoration of the Countess. The tempo gets a bit too slow for my taste; however, and the piece drags toward the end. #2 is Cherubino explaining his life ambitions (basically to bed every girl he could get his hand... among other things... on) to the maid Susanna. Just the right mix of horniness and boyish naivete. You'd be hard pressed to find a better version.

Haendel: Alcina (Italian)
3. Di te mi rido
4. Mi lusinga il dolce affetto
5. Mio bel tesoro
6. Verdi pratti
Alcina is a Baroque opera. These arias are sung by the knight Ruggiero who slowly works his way out of a love spell casted by the Sorceress Alcina as the opera progresses. Ms Graham isn’t as adept at fast florid singing in pieces like Di te mi rido (#3) as the likes of Bartoli or Kasarova or the late Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson, but she is as good as anyone in infusing her voice with tremendous range of emotions while maintaining simple melodic line in the slower and more lyrical pieces like ‘Verdi pratti (#6). This also carries over to the lyrical Mi lusinga (#4). My only quibble is that the slow but graceful florid passages in this piece aren't done in the manner than enhances the interpretation, but they sound like she's doing technical singing.

Gluck: Iphigenie en Tauride
7. O malheureuse Iphigenie! (French)
This is Iphigenie’s big aria, and Ms Graham has made the role her own the past few years. Iphigenie (the Greek daughter of Agamemnon and Klytamnestra) is lamenting her family tragedy (if you think the Kennedys are cursed, have a look at the House of Atreus!). Ms Graham is at her most expressive here without ever going overboard into Hammy-Ville. This is quite a modern sounding aria from a Baroque opera! Flowing, sweeping melody that calls for superb control of the voice as the tessitura jumps up and down in deceptively smooth manner. If you’ve got a register break, you’re doomed as there’s no way of making the break into an effective dramatic statement here like you could with ‘Non piu di fiori’ from La Clemenza di Tito. Ms Graham’s registers are seamlessly integrated; however, and this disc is worth buying just for this track alone.

Ned Rorem (English)
8. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
9. Early in the Morning
10.The Wintry Mind
11.O You Whom I Often and Silently Come
Ned Rorem is quite underrated as a composer. These are his tone-poems that describe very specific pictures. Here Ms Graham sings it as if not only is she seeing the snowed up woods or the sidewalk cafes on the streets of Paris in the early morning, but as she is in those pictures herself.

Hector Berlioz: Beatrice et Benedict: (French)
12. Comment le dedain pourrait-il mourir?
13. Dieu! Que viens-je entendre?
These are arias from a witty opera based on Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing. Ms Graham sings Beatrice’s arias with flare and effectively uses her lustrous voice to accent conflicting emotions. Her pianissimo is beautifully smooth and her French diction is faultless.

Jake Heggie: Dead Man Walking: (English)
14. This journey to Christ
15. Who will walk with me?
16. Dead Man Walking!
17. He will gather us around
Susan Graham created the role of Sister Helene Prejean, the nun who mentored a deathrow inmate, in this opera when it premiered at San Francisco Opera in 2000. I haven’t heard the whole opera yet, but these tracks give good motivation to try the work. They are quite surprisingly lyrically understated for the story.

Moises Simons: (French)
18. C’est ca la vie, c’est ca l’amour
This is a dancy and flirtatious song. To my taste she is a bit too reserved. This isn’t a polite song, but calls for more ..er.. assertiveness? Without being vulgar, of course. Much like Carmen’s Habanera. Maybe being American makes it harder (the Europeans aren’t as shy about being sensual, I think).

Maurice Yvain: (French)
19. Yes
I had never heard of Yvain before. This is a rather flirtatious song sung flirtatiously in that French care-free way.

Andre Messager: (French)
20. Les hommes sont bien tous les memes
I had never heard of Messager either... but he must have been something of a feminist. This is a provocative song of a woman ranting at how men are so stupid and deserved to be played with. Not nice, text-wise, but quite amusing musically.

All in all, a great CD to buy for lovers of lyric mezzo-soprano voice and French-style opera singing. The CD lining provides track listing and a note on Susan Graham and her operatic career in English, German and French. It does not contain libretto, however.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening