Hearing the Soprano

I attended Lucia Popp’s Oct. 6 recital and particularly appreciated the carefully chosen program. I was surprised and, ultimately, disturbed, to find Daniel Cariaga dismissing the program as “downbeat” and “boring” (“Soprano Popp Opens Ambassador Season,” Calendar, Oct. 8). It is disturbing that your reviewer should spend a recital counting the high notes, rather than considering the achievement actually before him.

Popp took us on a fascinating journey into a particular world: the world of the fin-de-siecle art song, as written by the Slavic, Jewish and Germanic composers of Central Europe. As a Slovak living in Vienna, and as a singer of extraordinary richness and acuity, Popp makes a superb guide to that varied terrain. Her performance illuminated the sentimental lyricism of Dvorak, the savage wit of Mahler, the austere poetry of Wolf, and the extravagant showiness of Strauss. Instead of showering the audience with high Cs or scurrying from tragic songs to comic ones, Popp used her resources to create a unified musical experience, which remained interesting because of the singer’s interpretive brilliance and the inherent fascination of the music.

SARAH COLE

Santa Monica