A Chameleon Shows Her Colors

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Renée Fleming has nothing left to prove at the opera house, and so it was heartening to observe her self-confidence and listen to an entire Thursday evening at Carnegie Hall without one single aria on the printed program. The concert, titled Rejoice Greatly, contained nods to the world of classical music but was primarily a Christmas compendium of favorite songs in varying styles. Ms. Fleming proved that she was a master of each and every one of them.

The more elevated repertoire ranged from the Baroque to the modern and demonstrated Ms. Fleming’s chameleon sense of subtle coloration. She is absolutely the best at interpreting the music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries — anyone who has ever heard her Seven Early Songs of Alban Berg will testify to this — and so was superbly warm in the Maria Wiegenlied of Max Reger, with its reference to the main theme of the second of the Two Songs for Alto, Viola and Piano of Johannes Brahms. Also deeply satisfying was the velvety vibrato of Dank sei dir, Herr, a piece by fin de siècle composer Siegfried Ochs purportedly based on a Handelian air.

Handel was, of course, on the program and Ms. Fleming’s “Rejoice Greatly” was notable for its steely ornamentation, perfectly on pitch melisma. But personally, I was more moved by her larger-than-life intonation of Leonard Bernstein’s “A Simple Song,” whose title belies its complexities.

The excellent Orchestra of St. Luke’s was on hand, but not merely as an accompanying group. It was an equal partner in the proceedings, producing, under guest conductor Daniel Beckwith, high quality versions of music ranging from the overture to Handel’s Saul to Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride. Last week, at the concert given by the Collegiate Chorale here at Carnegie, this ensemble was impressive in the Sinfonia from Bach’s Cantata BWV 248 from his Christmas Oratorio. This night, they reprised the effort, notable for its comforting, rocking lyricism.

So all of this was good, but the real treats were yet to come. Ms. Fleming dazzled with “What Child Is This?” But she was really just warming up. The first half ended with a version of Schubert’s “Ave Maria” that was amazing. The control Ms. Fleming showed in the little crescendos of the first few notes was staggering, the swelling of tone to an emotional zenith memorable. There are many good renditions of this piece, but Ms. Fleming seemed to reach a higher plateau, and she did so without indulging in any exaggeration or prolongation that might have been perceived as operatic. There was no ham at this Christmas dinner.

Over the years, my only complaint about Ms. Fleming is that she never provides anything about which to complain. Finally, at this concert, she obliged. She sang an absolutely terrific performance of the Laudamus te from Mozart’s Mass in C Minor — she was so infectiously exuberant that she literally jumped up and down waiting for the orchestral introduction to be over, in anticipation of releasing her pent-up emotions. Fabulous, but for one flaw. This was a memorable realization, to be sure, but not for this piece. Ms. Fleming has disturbingly fallen into the trap of modernizing her ornamentation with a distinctly pop flavor. This is music from a mass, but Ms. Fleming sounded as though she was auditioning to become a back up singer for Diana Ross. This was, one hopes, just an isolated incident. She was probably just swept up in the general conviviality of the evening.

Sometime collaborator Mark O’Connor provided violin obbligato for his own arrangement of “Away in a Manger” and Ms. Fleming took us all on a journey through various singing styles in the second half. Most amusing was her only high-falutin’ diva turn of the night in the rather transformed “Deck the Halls.” And when she ended the regular program with “O Holy Night,” it was obvious to everyone — or should have been — that we were in the presence of greatness.


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