MUSIC REVIEWS : Canadian Soprano Nielsen Impresses at Ambassador

The song recital is such a delicate yet demanding vehicle that it takes a performer of considerable taste and savvy to bring it off.

Canadian soprano Wendy Nielsen showed that she had the proper tools for the task in her impressive Gold Medal recital at Ambassador Auditorium Monday. Intelligence showed in the makeup of her program, a wide-ranging affair touching on the familiar but mostly exploring lesser-known byways, and in her presentation of it: She knew when to turn on the emotive sluices, and when enough was enough. She seemed never to rely merely on her pretty voice.

A pleasant and relaxed stage presence, Nielsen gives a song its due, without cheap tricks. With sturdy, involved support from pianist Michael McMahon, there wasn’t a wasted move in this recital, a steady stream of interesting music.

Her rich, vibrant soprano, with especially dark and luxurious low and middle registers, fluently negotiated the various challenges. After a brief Schubert group, Nielsen gave elegant expression to three Liszt/Hugo songs, including an airy “S’il est un charmant gazon” and a regal “Enfant, si j’e tais roi.” The cutesiness of Tchaikovsky’s “Behind the window” set her up well for the kill in the potentially maudlin “Was I not a little blade of grass?,” delivered here with genuine impact.

Dynamic and coloristic sensitivity illuminated four well-crafted Dohnanyi songs, but enunciation was a problem in English songs by Hoiby, Argento and Walton (no texts were provided for these). Arias by Mozart and Catalani brought each half to resounding, florid conclusion. Her unusual encores were a comic Handelian setting of “Old Mother Hubbard” (by Victor Hely Hutchinson) and a Newfoundland folk song.