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January 13, 2009

Bernarda Fink expertly lures listeners
into Schubert, Dvorak art song
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Reporter

Art songs place performers and listeners in the most intimate of musical
relationships. A story about lost love or other poetic subjects is sung to eager
recipients. We listen to every word, even in a language we might not know, and
take in every physical gesture as if they are matters of revelation and trust.

A stellar example of a singer intimate in the ways of the art song is Bernarda Fink, an Argentine mezzo-soprano keenly attuned to subtlety, inflection and contrast. With pianist Anthony Spiri as superb collaborator, Fink reveled in these gifts Sunday in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Hall during a recital of works by Schubert and Dvorak. The concert was part of the Cleveland Museum of Art's Viva! & Gala Around Town series.

Reinberger is an ideal venue for such an artistic experience. Audience members sit close enough to the stage to become extensions of the sonic narrative. The hall's warm, clear acoustics ensure that each detail will be heard as if a personal conversation is taking place.

Fink knows how to draw listeners into the miniature dramas she is singing. She balances utmost elegance with a bold sense of tension and release. Where others might exaggerate, Fink prefers to understate, though she can generate ample heat when the emotional temperature rises.

The focus and beauty of her timbre allow Fink to penetrate the core of a song. She devoted the first half of her concert Sunday to a diverse selection of Schubert pieces, ranging from odes to nature to melancholic expressions of lost love.

Spiri's kaleidoscopic, shapely pianism set the atmospheres for these vibrant Schubertian encounters. Occasionally relying on the printed music, Fink gave tender and forceful life to the multitude of lyrical verses, including six songs set to Goethe texts.

Schubert relies upon performers to pay meticulous attention to his compact marriage of music and words. Fink and Spiri were eloquent co-conspirators as they ventured through the affecting terrain into which this composer poured much of his soul.

To two song cycles by Dvorak, Fink brought enormous wisdom and spontaneity. The mezzo sang these pieces from memory, enabling her to send the Czech texts directly to all ears.

Dvorak's "Five Biblical Songs" show the composer's deep commitment to sacred sources, including a setting of "The Lord's Prayer" infused with his special melodic freshness. His "Gypsy Songs" are dark, impassioned and exuberant, which Fink acknowledged in performances imbued with concentrated fervor.

The encores were folk songs, one by Dvorak and another in the language of Fink's heritage, Slovenian. They made a disarming end to a cherishable occasion.

To reach Donald Rosenberg:
drosenberg@plaind.com , 216-999-4269

Other News Articles:

January 13, 2008

Bernarda Fink expertly lures listeners
into Schubert, Dvorak art song

Art songs place performers and listeners in the most intimate of musical

relationships. A story about lost love or other poetic subjects is sung to eager recipients. We listen to every word, even in a language we might not know, and take in every physical gesture as if they are matters of revelation and trust.