The Master Class Continues

Marilyn Horne’s annual song series, known as The Song Continues, offers a cornucopia of events for the music lover but, with the press of time being relentless, one has to make choices. I opted for a Wednesday recital at Weill Hall because it included, among a program of rarities, a chance to experience a world premiere.Scott Wheeler is a teacher at Emerson College in Boston, and composed “Heaven and Earth” on a commission from the Marilyn Horne Foundation. He was recently awarded a commission from the Metropolitan Opera to compose a work to be performed at the Lincoln Center Theater. His new four-song cycle was sung by tenor Dmitri Pittas.The songs are highly inventive and the structure of the cycle as a whole leads to a dramatic impact. The vocal lines of the first three songs are written in an expanded tonality, but there is definitely a gravitational pull toward a tonal center. The piano part is quite a bit more peripatetic, with some rather adventurous leaps along the way. All four songs are set to texts of William Blake, so the wording is musical in and of itself. What is most noticeable on a first hearing is the breaking apart of that comfortable tonality in the final song, “O for a Voice like Thunder.” Here the singer’s task is more difficult, as he must cross some treacherous chasms between notes. The loss of a central tonic leads to quite a frightening experience of memorable power. This performance whetted my appetite for that future operatic effort.Of course, it helped immeasurably that the songs were so ably sung by Mr. Pittas, who is currently singing Macduff in Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Met. He has a huge voice and exhibits an iron control over it. When he intoned notes that might have seemed wrong, as he did in the second song, “The Little Vagabond,” he had already demonstrated enough chops for the audience to realize that these were the pitches thrown at him by Mr. Wheeler, not lapses of intonation. Carrie-Ann Matheson handled the keyboard part with aplomb.Ottorino Respighi is known now almost exclusively for his orchestral tone poems, but he was actually primarily a vocal composer, fashioning at least one great opera in “La Fiamma.” Mr. Pittas offered three of his songs, and especially nailed “Nebbie” from 1906.Sharing this recital was a student from the Curtis Institute, soprano Amanda Majeski. She recently performed Francis Poulenc’s one-character opera “La voix humaine” there, and so is familiar with his insouciant idiomatic style. She did a creditable job with “C” — that’s the actual title of the song — and “Fleurs.” However, the choice of songs by the Viennese sentimentalist Joseph Marx might have been a tactical error. Written in the 19th-century German tradition, each of the five on her program center around at least one big, loud high note. Sadly, these tones were Ms. Majeski’s undoing, some being sharp and all sounding harsh.Ms. Horne was on hand to kvell a little about her mini-festival, pointing out how gratified she was that there was such a large crowd in attendance. The song recital, often on life support in America, is not dead yet.

The Master Class Continues

More from the New York Sun

Will Europe and the Rest of the World Listen to Marco Rubio?

Jesse Jackson’s ‘Unfinished Business’

Mamdani, in $127 Billion Budget, Puts New York City Taxpayers on the Spot in Bid To Boost Revenues

A New Documentary Showcases Billy Preston’s Musical Contribution to The Fab Four

Mamdani Threatens To Hike Property Taxes If Albany Refuses To Raise Income Taxes on Corporations and the ‘Ultrawealthy’

Transgender Cult Leader Leans on Landmark Supreme Court Second Amendment Decision for Defense

Fani Willis Refuses To Obey New Law and Pay Trump’s ‘Preposterous’ Legal Fees, Citing Bills for ‘Seafood Lunches,’ Luxury Hotels

As Iran Threatens Retaliation If America Strikes, Watch the Proxies