Michael Daniel

Fine Arts Critique #2, Feminine Voices

11-2-2006

On October 26 the College of Fine Arts, Department of Music presented Feminine

Voices. It was an Opera recital by Dr. Mary Logan Hastings. Mary McClain was the

guest vocalist and Jan Halmes played the piano. There was a small chamber band

consisting of an English horn, a harpsichord, a cello and a flute.

I believe that the songs were sung in German, Italian and French. I am not

bilingual so I couldn’t understand the lyrics by hearing them. I tried to follow along with

the lyrics on the program but I still had problems trying to hear where the vocalist was on

the lyrics sheet so that was of limited use. I will comment on the audio qualities of the

music that I do understand to the best of my abilities.

The opening piece was ‘La Canzone di Doretta’. It was sung by Dr. Hastings. It

was a song about a love poem recited to a courtier in Paris. Dr. Hastings demonstrated a

loud vibrato ‘belt’ with very high notes. ‘Belt’ is a term used in musical theater for a loud

part of a song. It’s a loud, punctuating crescendo in a song. The tone of the piano was

soft and it’s tempo was slow. The vocal component seemed to move in cycles. It started

out soft and built volume until Dr. Hastings belted a few vibrato notes then the volume

slowly fell only to rise again.

The second song was Le Spectre de la Rose. It was sung by the guest vocalist

Mary McClain. I liked McClain better than Dr. Hastings. McClain had better

enunciation and more expressiveness than Dr. Hastings. Her belt notes weren’t quite as

strong as Dr. Hastings but her high notes weren’t as high either so the effect of the belt

was more pleasant. The song sounded sad. The tone was low and the tempo was slow
although it did have a few belt notes. The lyrics on the program are abstract to the point

that I don’t understand what the song is about. Maybe the interpretation needs work.

The third song was L’lle inconnue, which translates to ‘The unkown island’. It

was sung by Dr. Hastings. It is a song sung to a person referred to only as the ‘young

beautiful one’. It is asking the young beautiful one where they want to sail. It describes

an idyllic ship that they are on and it speaks of possibilities for where they can go. This

song was more upbeat. The tempo was fast, the tone was strong. It conveyed a sense of

determination. It ended with a string of belt notes.

The performance continued with Zerfliesse, mein herze. Dr. Hastings sung again

and the chamber band accompanied this song. It was about mourning Jesus. The band

played a slow, low pitch, meandering melody while Dr. Hastings belted out ear-piercing

high belt notes.

During intermission I was able to speak with the Jan Halmes out back. Ms.

Halmes was the pianist. I learned that Ms. Halmes, Ms. McClain and Dr. Hastings were

all old friends from college in Colorado. They hadn’t all been together or performed

together for years. We went back in and the show continued and ended.

For an encore Ms. McClain and Dr. Hastings sang ‘a Fortunae’ together. I think it

was ‘a Fortunae’. I could be wrong as the name wasn’t on the program. I recognized the

song from a Volvo commercial. Until ‘a Fortunae’ I found Dr. Hastings shrill and

annoying. When she sang with Ms. McClain I found a deeper appreciation for Dr.

Hastings’s voice. Dr. Hastings sounds much less shrill and annoying when heard in duet

with a deeper voice. When the two old friends sang together you could really see the

affection on their faces. The encore was the best part of the night.