Shicoff, Terfel Earn Cheers in a Pleasing, Varied Program

Conventional wisdom says the public stays away from singers’ concerts. That’s not true. Give the public what it really wants--high notes and familiar tunes--and it shows up, practically invariably. This proved true again Sunday night, when a good crowd came early and stayed late to hear American tenor Neil Shicoff and Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel at the Hollywood Bowl.

Returning to the Cahuenga Pass after an absence of 15 years, Shicoff shared the stage with a Bowl debutant, the justifiably touted Terfel. The two men made an odd stage couple, yet both related genially to each other and to the audience. Equally important, they sang with fervor, and entertainingly.

They produce a fascinating contrast, Terfel being the jolly, apparently easygoing one, Shicoff a darker, more serious presence. When they sing, Shicoff delivers careful but solid high notes and thoroughly inflects the music; he’s a good singer, yet risk hangs over him like an overcoat.

Terfel apparently has plenty of rich, generous tone--the Bowl’s overheated sound system makes any comparisons, or even reliable judgments, impossible, of course. But he caresses, spits out and sanctifies the words, all words, in any language. Listeners have to love him, because he communicates completely and leaves no message garbled.

With the versatile Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and its charming and game conductor, John Mauceri, as their collaborator, the two singers gave a highly varied program that moved from the music of Verdi and Puccini to 1990s show songs by Alan Menken and Cy Coleman; Richard Rodgers bridged the gap. A little something for everyone; the audience cheered frequently.

Shicoff’s singing of “Recondita armonia” from “Tosca” did not actually sound effortful, but the tenor seemed to want to make it so. He gave the same impression in “Quando le sere . . . “ from “Luisa Miller,” yet delivered it with authority. One admired his performance of “Pourquoi me reviller” from Massenet’s “Werther,” though it proved textually unspecific--producing the desired sound seemed more important than underlining the words.

When he got to the over-orchestrated Menken ditties from “Hercules” and “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Shicoff merely sang them loudly, making them as irrelevant as they are.

Terfel’s contributions included toying with the music, the words and the audience--without disrespecting any of them. He sang important monologues from “Falstaff” and “Otello” with clear enunciation and rich sound, achieving characterization from vocal details. He sang “It Might as Well Be Spring” with honeyed tone and probing word-meaning. He even sang a chestnut nine years older than himself, “On the Street Where You Live” from “My Fair Lady” with romantic ardor and an irresistible sincerity.

The singers cooperated felicitously in duets from “Don Carlos,” “The Pearl Fishers” and “City of Angels.” Their encore, which brought more cheers from the audience, was a special and amusing arrangement of “Anything You Can Do” from “Annie Get Your Gun.”