MUSIC REVIEWS : TENOR PORRELLO IN A CHURCH RECITAL

It seems hard to believe that Schumann’s ecstatic “Er ist’s” and Poulenc’s melancholy “Bleuet” could be made to sound like bolts of the same cloth, but New York City-based tenor Joseph Porrello raised that dark possibility during a Sunday recital at the First Congregational Church.

In Porrello’s readings, almost every selection in the 26-song program emerged with the same features, the same phrasings and the same quasi-ardency--no matter if the language was French, German, Italian or English, or if the song originated in the dockside cafes of Palermo or the barricades of neo-Classical musical style in Paris.

Even the Five Songs for Tenor, written for Porrello by Gian Carlo Menotti in 1983 and receiving their West Coast premiere at this recital, became so much musical tofu in Porrello’s hands--with the exception of the final song, “The Swing,” which overcame the lackluster projection of the artist and impressed with its trademark sweeping Menotti melodiousness.

It’s a shame Porrello is not possessed of more imagination, for his voice is a fine instrument: free on top (if somewhat colorless), rich in the middle and powerfully baritonal below, with a wide, stable dynamic range. The virtues of his physical abilities shone in the Bellini songs that opened the recital, but were not enough by themselves to make the remainder of the program work.

Pianist Kenneth Merrill’s tasteful accompaniments were handicapped by a most recalcitrant, spongy-sounding instrument.