{"id":87470,"date":"2024-04-16T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T04:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/operawire.com\/?p=87470"},"modified":"2024-04-15T11:47:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T15:47:22","slug":"cd-review-michael-spyres-in-the-shadows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/operawire.com\/cd-review-michael-spyres-in-the-shadows\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review: Michael Spyres&#8217; &#8216;In the Shadows&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIn the Shadows\u201d is the title of baritenor <a href=\"https:\/\/operawire.com\/?s=Michael+Spyres\">Michael Spyres<\/a>\u2019 latest solo recital for Erato and Warner Classics. It traces a musical genealogy from M\u00e9hul, Weber, and Auber to the Romantic period of Wagner whose \u201cRienzi\u201d and \u201cLohengrin\u201d are, to various extents, the culmination point of the artistic developments since the early 19th century.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><b>Musical Ancestry<\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">The program is certainly ambitious and unusual in its combination of multiple repertories. Warhorses like \u201cMeco all\u2019altar di Venere\u201d and \u201cGott! Welch Dunkel hier!\u201d go hand in hand with a seemingly obscure aria from Spontini\u2019s \u201cAgnes von Hohenstaufen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Unsurprisingly, it also includes some Meyerbeer and Rossini whose works were well-known sources of inspiration to the young Wagner. Yet Spyres never veers towards the generic. He proves ever so versatile in delineating Wagner\u2019s ancestral heritage, so to speak, and in infusing its variety with his kaleidoscopic timbre and interpretational nuance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In addition, Spyres is a real polyglot; his clarity of diction makes the texts unfailingly intelligible, even if his German and Italian have a slight edge over the French. For instance, he navigates the sinuous lines of the Belcanto arias with just as much feel, if not philological insight as the prayer from \u201cRienzi\u201d &#8211; and not coincidentally so. \u201cIn the Shadows\u201d makes a point of pertinently showcasing the analogies, in terms of melodic buildup and even style.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><b><i>Chiaroscuro<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Thematically, the title-giving <i>chiaroscuro <\/i>is equally pervasive in creating links between the variegated landscape of 19th century <i>topoi<\/i>. As such, it is indeed tempting to suggest a direct lineage from Florestan\u2019s prison scene to \u201cNein! L\u00e4nger trag\u2019 ich nicht\u201d from Weber\u2019s \u201cDer Freisch\u00fctz.\u201d Spyres relishes their chromatic nuance and dazzles mostly in the soft, languishing lines of Florestan and Max\u2019s Romantic <i>Sehnsucht<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The American also impresses in low tessitura passages. In the shadowy or, in this case, funerary piece <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 <\/span> \u201cSuona funerea\u201d from Meyerbeer\u2019s \u201cIl Crociato in Egitto\u201d <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 <\/span> he touches on his voice\u2019s baritonal core which powerfully exceeds the coloristic effects of the traditional <i>voix sombr\u00e9e<\/i>; it has plenty of body and is textured like a fully supported baritone.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><b>Rousset and <i>Les talens lyriques<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Spyres is accompanied by <a href=\"https:\/\/operawire.com\/?s=Christophe+Rousset\">Christophe Rousset<\/a> at the helm of <i>Les talens lyriques<\/i> who customarily span the 200-year period between Monteverdi and Beethoven; rarely does the orchestra venture into the later repertoire of mainly French composers including Berlioz and Massenet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This unfamiliarity, for want of a better word, may account for the somewhat atypical treatment of the Wagner arias which are not afforded the broadband treatment of the post-war years up until now. Rousset takes little interest in orchestral bombast; yet on the flip side he relentlessly draws out the tempi to their very slowest, making \u201cAllm\u00e4cht\u2019ger Vater\u201d clock in at a near-soporific 11 minutes and 11 seconds. For comparison, Donald Runnicles in his Decca recital from 2013 only takes nine minutes and 47 seconds, not to mention his earlier take with Ben Heppner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Regardless, \u201cIn the Shadows\u201d is a delight. It stands as a courageous attempt to reshuffle the repertory and embed it into an overarching perspective of historical continuity. For that, and its vocally flawless execution it must be ranked as one of Michael Spyres\u2019 most validating recitals to date.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIn the Shadows\u201d deserves every chance of being brought into the light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIn the Shadows\u201d is the title of baritenor Michael Spyres\u2019 latest solo recital for Erato and Warner Classics. It traces a musical genealogy from M\u00e9hul, Weber, and Auber to the Romantic period of Wagner whose \u201cRienzi\u201d and \u201cLohengrin\u201d are, to various extents, the culmination point of the artistic developments since the early 19th century. Musical Ancestry The program is certainly&nbsp;{&hellip;}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":87483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,8],"tags":[22197,7697,22198,1695,1183],"class_list":["post-87470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvd-and-cd-reviews","category-in-review","tag-christophe-rousset","tag-erato","tag-in-the-shadows","tag-michael-spyres","tag-warner-classics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CD Review: Michael Spyres&#039; &#039;In the Shadows&#039; - OperaWire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cIn the Shadows\u201d is the title of baritenor Michael Spyres\u2019 latest solo recital for Erato and Warner Classics. 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