Poise at Expense of Feeling

Something happened on the way to mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager’s return Orange County recital Tuesday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Originally announced as a program of songs by Kurt Weill and Beethoven, Kirchschlager ditched the Weill and added Brahms, Dvorak and a collection of lullabies.

She did this--or agreed to it--presumably to fit the program better into the “Beethoven: The Age of Revolution and Romance” theme, which the sponsoring Philharmonic Society is promoting this season.

The change probably wasn’t wise.

With her movie-star looks and glamour, the 33-year-old Kirchschlager could have put across the Weill songs with more personal impact than she managed in the other repertory. Remember, she made her debut recital here 18 months ago, singing songs by Berg, Korngold and Alma and Gustav Mahler--coolish, modernist art that suits her voice and approach.

She chose a program dominated by infrequently performed works of Brahms (folk songs and selections from Opus 57) and Beethoven (four songs, including “Mignon,” Opus 75, No. 1). The choices stayed in the shoals and led into few emotional depths.

When she sang a standard, such as “Als die alte Mutter mich noch lehrte singen” (Songs My Mother Taught Me), from Dvorak’s “Zigeunermelodien” (Gypsy Songs), the lack of intimate sentiment became quite apparent. So did it in several of the lullabies, including Schubert’s tender “Wiegenlied.”

This is not to deny her strength, directness and vocal poise, which were matched--but not exceeded--in approach by her accompanist, Helmut Deutsch. Kirchschlager has a limpid, even and coolish mezzo, a freshness of voice and strong and reliable technique. She sings lines, however, rather than interpreting words.

She varied lines dynamically and used her voice dramatically. But she made Beethoven, Brahms and Dvorak sound alike, and apart from the dynamic variety, even internal verses held few interpretive differences. There were few flickers of vulnerability.

In that regard, she is not exactly a lieder singer.

She prefaced the Dvorak set, which closed the program, by thanking the audience for its applause after every selection she had sung up to that point, and requesting no applause until the end of that seven-song group.

She sang four encores: “Gehen wir ins Chambre separee” from Richard Heuberger’s “Der Opernball”; Britten’s “A Charm”; “Gluckwunsch” from Erich Korngold’s 5 Lieder, Opus 38; and Brahms’ Lullaby.