Reviews of Musical Events on the Monterey Peninsula
Lyn Bronson, Editor      P.O. Box 1801 Carmel, CA 93921
Phone: (831) 624-7971 Fax: (831) 625-3717
E-mail: LBronson@redshift.com
http://www.BronsonPianoStudio.com/reviews.htm

Walking into the Woman's Club on San Carlos Street last night for David Gordon's vocal recital, we entered a venue transformed from a plain vanilla meeting hall into a magical concert setting bedecked with hundreds of colorful sunflowers strewn around the walls of the room and along the edge of the stage. The stage itself, instead of being dominated by a big, black leviathan of a Steinway concert grand, contained a smaller mahogany Knabe grand piano and gave us the feeling we were observing the intimate ambience of someone's living room. Incidentally, Mr. Gordon requested that I take no photos - otherwise a picture showing this lovely and colorful tableau would be accompanying this review.

Mr. Gordon, whose vocal contributions over the years to the Carmel Bach Festival are legendary, has become more familiar to us in recent years as a vocal coach and master teacher in the Adams' Master Classes, and also as a lecturer and program annotator. However, since moving to the Monterey Peninsula last year, he has increasingly become a member of our musical community and has returned to his first love in life: singing. A few months ago he sang for the local branch of the Music Teachers' Association of California and next year he is appearing as a vocalist on the regular subscription series of the Mozart Society of California. Thus, this evening's program can perhaps be seen as a preview of coming events.

Ever the professional, every aspect of this evening's recital was managed by Mr. Gordon with taste and dignity. The appearance of the hall, the lighting, the arrangement of the stage, the printed program and its inclusion of the full texts of the songs heard during the evening, his demeanor on stage - everything was beautifully managed like the true professional he is.

The evening was advertised as "an evening of music and poetry," and so it was. As a genial host, Mr. Gordon gave us a running commentary on many of the songs heard during the evening. Sometimes it was a social commentary and sometimes it was a valuable historical perspective that he shared with us, but he consistently drew our attention to the important marriage of poetry and music that was so much a feature of the music we heard during this program. And always we had the impression that Mr. Gordon had no desire to show off for us, but rather to share with us some music that he truly loves.

The first group of songs was by Schubert and contained some favorites like Liebesbotschaft, Der Lindenbaum, Die Forelle, Wanderers Nachtlied, and Bei dir allein. Initially, his voice sounded a bit thin and distant, but by the end of the concert it sounded richer and more resonant. Gazing at the ceiling of the Woman's Club, we observed what appeared to be acoustical tile, and this may have contributed to a lack of reverberation, but one quickly became accustomed to the acoustical properties of the hall, and was able to enjoy Mr. Gordon's singing for what it was - full of intimacy, charm and vocal mastery.

After a charming group of Fauré songs, including the ever popular Mandoline and Aprés un reve, we heard a gorgeous group of songs by Brahms and some contemporary songs by Alva Henderson, Vaughan-Williams and Peter Warlock. Henderson's "Planting a Sequoia" is based on a moving poem by Dana Gioia describing the stoicism of the poet, who had recently lost a child to "sudden infant death syndrome" and subsequently planted a Sequoia seedling mixed with a lock of hair and a piece of his infant's birth cord to symbolize "all that remains above earth of a first-born son." Peter Warlock's "Yarmouth Fair" ended the concert with a humorous touch and demonstrated Gordon's charming acting skills.

Throughout this concert Gordon was ably assisted by pianist Melinda Coffey who drew some lovely sounds out of the piano and demonstrated a nice cantabile tone. She also played three solo selections: Schubert's Impromptu in G-flat Major, Op. 90, No. 3, Fauré's Impromptu, Op. 31, No.2, and the Brahms Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2, all of which were song-like and quite appropriate to the theme "an evening of poetry and music."