MUSIC REVIEW : BARITONE TRAKAS AT AMBASSADOR

Before he began his generous debut recital at Ambassador Auditorium, Pasadena, on Monday night, Christopher Trakas asked his audience to refrain from applauding except at the end of each song group.

It was a wise request, since the program Trakas then sang, assisted by pianist Steven Blier, listed no fewer than 31 items by 15 composers.

Yet, this did not turn out to be as lengthy or protracted an agenda as it seemed it would. Trakas, winner of two major New York competitions in the last three years, is a young artist of facets and dimensions, one perhaps not wholly formed or developed, but interesting in prospect.

The voice, a mellow baritone, is fascinating in that it seems to be voluminous without being penetrating. In many moments, particularly in the first half, it failed to cut through the fat sound of the resident Ambassador Steinway. This failure could not be attributed to Blier, who, though he is in his own way a glib, aggressive and immodest pianistic partner, nevertheless usually assists his singer in a graceful manner.

More dichotomies surfaced as the evening progressed. Though Trakas certainly showed himself--in an opening Faure group, Mahler’s “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen,” Ravel’s “Cinq melodies populaires grecques” and three Spanish songs--to be intelligent, text-sensitive and musical, a distracting sense of self-consciousness seemed to separate the singer from his audience.

Except in the Ravel group, that is, when Trakas delivered well-projected, hearty and uncharacteristic, brightly resonant performances.

Most of the English-language second half followed this pattern. George Butterworth’s all-but-forgotten “Six Songs From ‘A Shropshire Lad’ ” (1911) emerged deeply felt, plangent in tone and beautifully shared.

After that, songs by Barber, Ives, Weill, Hundley, Bowles Bolcom, C. Berg and Chanler formed a tasteful and witty entertainment. The encores were Mercutio’s aria from Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette” and Schubert’s “Staendchen.”