Music Reviews : Bryn-Julson, Oppens in Recital at Schoenberg Institute

Schoenberg’s late-Romantic and Expressionist songs finally seem to be winning an ever-wider circle of performances. Phyllis Bryn-Julson surveyed the repertory Sunday afternoon at the Schoenberg Institute in a stunning joint recital with pianist Ursula Oppens, which they also recorded last week.

Bryn-Julson--who was last here less than a year ago in a series of concerts with Pierre Boulez--need fear nothing in the way of angular Angst and abstraction, and she made the freely dissonant songs of “Das Buch der hangenden Garten” sound like spontaneous storytelling. Her voice sounded slightly hoarse and brittle at first, in an understated delivery close to heightened speech, but warmed into a fluid performance that married expressive naturalness to carefully calculated musical and textual point.

In the Four Songs of Opus 2, Bryn-Julson opened up in almost Wagnerian expansiveness, an approach more effective in the raptures of “Erhebung” than in the deceptively simple balladry of “Schenk mir deinen goldenen Kamm.” She has a big, gleaming voice, which she worked to uncomfortably overwhelming effect in the small hall.

For a finale, the soprano turned to seven of the cabaret songs. There she proved an insinuating chanteuse, supporting all--from the rippling effusions of “Galathea,” to the barely veiled ribaldry of “Der genugsame Liebhaber” and the glowing sentiment of “Mahnung”--with warm sound, crystalline articulation and generous spirit. In encore, she led the audience in a sing-along account of the boom-boom-boom chorus of “Seit ich so viele Weiber sah.”

Oppens accompanied with restrained brilliance, taking infinite pains with pedaling and color, exploding where needed with orchestral depth and bravura. Her effort was beautifully balanced with Bryn-Julson’s, in pristine ensemble.

For an opener, Oppens played Hanns Eisler’s succinct Opus 1 Piano Sonata, emphasizing its motivic clarity and expressive variety in a crisp, eloquent performance.