MUSIC REVIEW : Carol Vaness: Too Moderate to Be Moving

In spite of the counsel of certain ancient Greek philosophers, moderation is not always a virtue. Soprano Carol Vaness’ Monday evening recital at Sherwood Auditorium was awash in moderation: moderate tempos, moderate dynamic levels, a moderate display of emotion, and--not surprisingly--moderate musical rewards.

Both her programming and her manner suggested the thoughtful restraint of a performance tailored to the demure tastes of an afternoon women’s club.

The noted soprano’s unexceptional collection of songs by Rossini, Chausson, Richard Strauss, Francesco Tosti and John Kander belied her reputation as one of America’s exciting young operatic sopranos.

A mere six years ago she sang a brilliant, fiery Donna Anna in San Francisco Opera’s first summer opera season. Her vocal prowess in Mozart and Handel operas quickly brought her to the stage of New York City Opera and the Met, where she essayed the more dramatically demanding roles of assorted Verdi heroines.

Although she grew up in the Los Angeles area, Vaness is a San Diego native. This first local performance, presented by San Diego Opera, displayed her rich, lyric spinto instrument, even throughout its compass and secure in the highest ranges. Her dark timbre was best suited to the five Chausson songs that formed the heart of her brief, 65-minute recital. Her cool declamatory manner aptly conveyed the French composer’s abstract poetic intentions in the subtle sonic tapestries of “Le temps de lilas” and “Le Colibri.”

But this same detachment did little for a set of four Strauss lieder, including her program’s only chestnuts, “Allerseelen” and “Zueignung.” If Vaness skirted the obvious sentimentality of Von Gilm’s poetry, her singing also failed to reveal much personal conviction. In “Zueignung,” her ponderous tempo alone extinguished Strauss’ effusive, Romantic zeal.

On the few occasions when she broke through her emotional reserve, a welcome hint of the diva blossomed, notably in her radiant interpretation of Tosti’s “L’alba separa dalla luce” (a setting of Gabriele D’Annunzio’s evocative poetry). And the audience of opera buffs eagerly pounced on her coy encore, “Come scoglio” from Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte.”

A closing set of three songs composed for the soprano by Kander, better known as the composer of such Broadway hits as “Cabaret” and “Zorba,” proved long on conviction but short on compositional technique. “Plaisir” was a pleasant enough clone of a sumptuous Henri Duparc chanson, but the concluding “The Last Day” sounded more like a synthetic folk song, complete with cloying, ascending half-step modulations.

Pianist Warren Jones followed Vaness dutifully, although his accompaniments had all the individuality of a fast-food restaurant menu.