Hard to believe, given the slew of awards she has received in the last 10 months, but soprano Leah Crocetto’s Schwabacher Debut Recital in Temple Emanu-el’s Meyer Sanctuary on Sunday afternoon was her first full-length classical recital anywhere. Despite her inexperience, the results were mind-boggling. Crocetto displayed a marvelous, at times magnificent, instrument that sounded right at home in most of her repertoire.
In less than a year, the second-year Adler Fellow has followed her triple win of first prize, Spanish Prize, and People’s Choice at the José Iturbi International Music Competition in Los Angeles by becoming one of five winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New York. Just this past week, she received a Richard Tucker Foundation 2010 Sara Tucker Study Grant, one of four given to “young singers displaying enormous promise at the beginning of their professional careers.” This recital further confirmed that she is on course to become one of the major sopranos of the early 21st century.
Dramatic Swells
In a recital that found her equally comfortable singing in Italian, Russian, German, and English, Crocetto never played it safe. She even dared sing Liszt’s Tre sonetti di Petrarca (Three sonnets of Petrarch). If you wonder why Liszt’s gorgeous song “Oh! quand je dors” (Oh! When I sleep), which also mentions Petrarch, is programmed far more frequently than the three sonnets, it’s because few sopranos have the chops to pull them off.
The first sonnet, “Pace non trovo” (I find no peace), which Crocetto also sang for the José Iturbi, has no place to hide. Her Italian soul not only conveyed all of its considerable drama, but also made glory of a frighteningly exposed high D-flat that comes in the middle of the final verse. Occasionally, the sanctuary’s overly bright, exceedingly resonant acoustic exaggerated the undertones of her tight vibrato, but mostly she sailed through this supreme test without being covered by pianist Mark Morash, who played to the max.
If the sheer size of Crocetto’s voice, which made my spouse think of Eileen Farrell, was perfect for the first song, her dramatic sensibilities and exquisite half voice were ideal for “Benedetto sia’l giorno” (Blessed be the day). Although she could have held back more in the final sonnet, “I’ vidi in terra angelici costumi” (I behold on earth angelic grace), and made more of the last verse, the song was beautifully phrased.
The Liszt was only one of many wonders on the program. Crocetto spent part of the opening set, Bellini’s Sei Ariette (Six little arias), finding the right placement for her voice. It took a while to tune her whirling vibrato to the challenging acoustic, and to allow the lows to fully sound. By set’s end, though, she had established that her instrument is capable not simply of bel canto grace and elegance, but also of opening to express drama with an intensity that is the hallmark of greatness.
Four selections from Rachmaninov’s Opus 21 left the audience cheering. The last song, “Zdes’ khorosho” (How nice it is here), helped ensure her triumph at the Iturbi competition. Climaxing on a gorgeous high B, it also showed her simplifying the vibrato and lightening to produce ravishing tone. The other songs were distinguished by effortlessly floated highs, moving tones of loneliness, and heart-seizing dramatic proclamation. The ultimate impression was that drama (equally expressed by Morash in his solo passages), plus a concomitant ability to express nuance between huge outpourings of heartfelt tone, may well become Crocetto’s calling card as she debuts on major international stages.
Crocetto also sang three selections from Ferran Obradors’ Canciones clásicas españolas. Although she had never heard Arleen Auger’s incomparable version of “Del cabello más sutil” (Of the softest hair) when we spoke less than a month before the recital, the way she floated high tones suggested that she has little left to learn. Morash, by contrast, rushed the arpeggios under each phrase, bringing the music to a halt each time Crocetto paused to breathe.
The closer, “Chiquitita la novia” (Tiny is the bride), was capped by an astounding swell of sublime sound that could have helped Samson topple the temple. (I can just imagine what it did to the judges at the Iturbi.)
The Glories of English
Although Samuel Barber’s four songs Opus 13 were not ideally suited to her — “Sure on this shining night” fared best — Crocetto performed wonders with Gregory Peebles’ three Humanities. The old-fashioned melody of “From Seamus (who wants to be hospitable)” was irresistible, as were Crocetto’s evocative low voice and idiomatic crooning. Morash went whole hog, to great effect.
That Crocetto took some time off from classical studies to sing jazz on New York’s restaurant row (see SFCV’s profile of her) was reflected in her final set of Gershwin and Porter. While Gershwin’s The Man I Love was too operatic, Crocetto tamed the vibrato somewhat and settled into her low voice for some fabulous singing on the other five selections. And Morash had a ball in flourish after flourish.
Encores followed, as night the day. Joaquín Rodrigo’s Aranjuez con tu amor, based on his guitar concerto, was as dramatically stunning as Doretta’s great aria from Puccini’s La rondine was beautiful. (The former figured in her Iturbi win, while the Puccini knocked out judges on both coasts.) Those of us present will be telling our actual and proverbial grandchildren, “I was there when the great Leah Crocetto sang her first recital.”