Review: Sondra Radvanovsky triumphs in dynamic recital

Illinois soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is a familiar figure beloved by local and international opera audiences. She has won fans for singing Leonora in Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” and the title roles of Puccini’s “Suor Angelica” and “Tosca” for L.A. Opera over the last decade as well as a “Trovatore” in a Met “Live in HD” series telecast in 2011.

On Saturday, she appeared in a recital presented by L.A. Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and once again triumphed for an adoring audience.

She sang a challenging program of arias and songs by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Massenet, Duparc, Copland, and yes, of course, Verdi, the composer she has become most identified with because of her commanding vocalism and dramatic presence.

But it is actually her mastery of dynamic range and sustained line that advances her so prominently in that repertory. She applied a silvery, dark and lean tone to three Verdi songs, one of which the composer took almost wholesale into “Trovatore,” as well as to the powerhouse aria “Pace, pace mio Dio!” from “La Forza del Destino” and the virtuosic Bolero from “I Vespri Siciliani.”

Radvanovsky seemed not so concerned with warmth and beauty of sound as with dramatic credibility, even if that sometimes meant a harsh or even grating tone. The result is distinctive, although it may not win universal acclaim.

She started the recital straight out of the gate with Beethoven’s concert aria “Ah! Perfido,” illuminating that demanding musical and shifting psychological portrait with strength and skill.

Introducing most of the other selections from the stage, Radvanovsky said she aimed to make the recital intimate — in a 3,000-seat hall, no less — and to relate the music to her life and career, which included studies at USC, UCLA and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, where she worked with the great French baritone Martial Singher.

Singher was the recipient of her dedication of “Pleurez! Pleurez mes yeux!” from Massenet’s long-faded opera “Le Cid,” although Radvanovsky made a strong case for resurrecting this lyrical aria.

Two sets she dedicated to her father — four ravishingly sung songs by Rachmaninoff and three of Copland’s “Old American Songs.” Actually, she choked up at the start of the second, “At the River,” breaking off, then apologizing to the audience, she said, because the song reminded her of her father, who had loved the music. (He died when she was 17.)

The apology was unnecessary, because the moment was so genuine and her singing was so restrained and touching. These songs were a reminder to emphasize the subtlety and introspection Radvanovsky brings to her singing and not to focus so exclusively on those big, gleaming top notes.

Throughout the recital, pianist Anthony Manoli was her accomplished and deeply sensitive collaborator.

Radvanovsky sang four encores: “Io son l’umile ancella” from Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur,” “I Could Have Danced All Night” from Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady,” “Vissi d’arte” from Puccini’s “Tosca” and “O mio babbino caro” from Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.”

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