MUSIC REVIEWS : BARITONE MALIS IN CALTECH RECITAL

Appearing on a four-concert series devoted to young artists affiliated with the San Francisco Opera, baritone David Malis demonstrated strong dramatic instincts in a recital Sunday in Ramo Auditorium at Caltech.

Malis possesses a weighty, forceful, free and open voice--and knows how to use it with opera-house-size effects in mind. What he has yet to master, however, is word coloring, variety in vocal characterization and a comparable richness in tone when singing softly.

In a series of five songs by Respighi and three by Rachmaninoff, Malis mused convincingly on a number of dark, unhappy situations--at least one had to surmise that from the titles and his declamatory expressivity, because no translations were provided.

But Malis was less successful in projecting the variety of tender and yearning emotions in Beethoven’s song cycle, “An die ferne Geliebte,” and in tracing the range of poetry and sentiment in five songs by Henri Duparc.

He certainly found himself back in his large-sized--as opposed to lieder-style--element, offering a sunny account of Figaro’s “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” as an encore.

Pianist Mark L. Haffner mirrored Malis’ strengths and weaknesses, providing accompaniment that ranged from virtuosic support to emotional dryness.