Courting the Farmgirl

From the Concert Vault Dept.: Baritone Sanford Sylvan displayed such virtuosity as he moved through his 30s that his resume included appearances with major opera companies and orchestras throughout the world, and the creation of roles in two acclaimed John Adams operas: “Nixon in China,” in which Syvan sang the role of Chou En-lai, and then the title role in “The Death of Klinghoffer.” We were fortunate enough to see him several times in the Albany area, including performaces as part of what was then known as the Schenectady Museum-Union College concert series. He was based in Manhattan but long associated with Boston, and he spent sabbatical time in Scotland. When he died in 2019, at the age of 65, his New York Times obituary failed to mention, among his survivors, the man he married in 1996. I reviewed his 1984 Union College recital here; below is a recently unearthed review of his 1994 visit, with Schubert’s “Schoene Muellerin.”

                                                                                            

SUPPOSE YOU FINALLY GET this attractive farmgirl to pay attention to you, then she suddenly throws you over for some hidebound hunter. Do you punch him out? Sue him?

Sanford Sylvan

If you're a self-pitying German poet, you rush home and write verse about it, ending up with the lullaby sung to you by the brook you flung yourself into. 

I haven't checked to see whether Wilhelm Mueller was actually being autobiographical in his cycle of 23 poems, published in 1820, but the sorrow and sentiment in “Die Schoene Muellerin” shines through a reading of bare texts and erupts into a magical marriage of music and verse in Schubert's famous setting of all but three of the poems.

The Schenectady Museum-Union College Concert Series had a later-than-usual finish as baritone Sanford Sylvan and pianist David Breitman were at last able to present this cycle. Measles – that dreaded Capital District word just now – postponed the concert until last night.

Which meant no other hardship than that we got to see a gorgeous sunset through the high windows of the Union College Memorial Chapel as Breitman opened the program with the Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946, by Schubert.

I'm a bigger fan of Breitman than I am of the fortepiano he worked with. Not that it sounded untrue – it just seemed wimpy for the job. Years of familiarity with these pieces on a concert grand has my ear trained to expect a full-bodied basso DAAAH when a low key is struck, not the fortepiano's fulsome DOYING.

But Breitman's technique makes the most of the instrument's limitations. A slight roll gives a chord extra body; dynamic range is tooled down to thrive within those limitations..

In programming terms, it was a good move, showcasing the artist who then seems to sit in the background for an hour. Thereafter, Breitman had the tough job of drawing forth the marvelous subtlety in the “Muellerin” piano score, sculpting it to fit Sylvan's style, which was excellently done.

Sylvan is an old friend of the concert series with a deserved reputation for terrific lyrical artistry. He burst forth with a thousand-kilowatt smile as he launched into “Das Wandern,” first of the songs, rendered with an almost tenor-like tone.

But there's a deep, dark-hued resonance that is in itself a foreboding of the colors to come. “Die Schoene Muellerin” is a journey of passion and despair that requires the utmost simplicity for its success. You can't ply the songs with artifice. A setting like “Der Neugierige,” in which the poet asks his favored brook for an indication of his beloved's heart, sounds like a nursery song and needs a sincere, childlike reading.

“Morgengruss,” on the other hand, has complicated layers of contrivance that we need to see through quickly as the oh-so-dignified young man heaps praise upon his sweetheart.

Sylvan sang it with complete understanding and perfect control, conveying a sense that even he was discovering new emotional depths of the music. Even the fortepiano sound blended superbly for a sad, superbly sung evening.

Next season's concerts will feature the complete Beethoven quartets performed by the Takacs String Quartet in six concerts (Oct. 9, 10, Dec. 4, 5, March 12 and 13) as well as appearances by the New England Bach Festival, Boston Camerata, the Emerson String Quartet and the Wu Han, Pamela Frank, Yeesun Kim trio.

– Schenectady Gazette, 16 June 1990