Posts tagged susan graham

Before the show I must admit I was not particularly excited to hear a vocal recital, even a recital from the one and only Susan Graham. I may have been thinking like one of those purists who believe that music should be performed in its intended manner, and when you pull a piece out of an opera, the singer out of character and costume, and the stage out of the set, it’s just different and weird.

I take back all those thoughts after last night’s performance. Oh man, was I blown away!

In particular, during the second encore Graham’s performance of À Chloris by Reynaldo Hahn literally left me breathless. I don’t think I inhaled for the final 30 seconds of the piece. I had never head that piece before last night, and now I’ll always remember her performance when I listen to it. 

The above video is not from last night. It is, however, the same piece performed by Susan Graham and Malcolm Martineau at a different recital a few years ago. I found this recording – an illicit one I’m sure – and debated whether I should re-post it here. On one hand, it’s against the rules to record at the performance, so I don’t want to help promote bad behavior.

On the other hand, I want as many people as possible to get a glimpse into the beauty of Susan Graham’s art, which hopefully can inspire others to make an effort to see her in concert, or see another vocalist in concert, or to see any musical performance for that matter. Our post-performance discussion included the topic of whether the audience for this type of music is aging out, and sadly I think it is. I don’t know why. I don’t understand why young people don’t make the effort to enjoy vocal performance, opera, or classical music in general. There’s a demographic gap that needs to be filled, and, for better or worse, I think social media channels like Youtube can be a powerful tool to reach that younger audience.