Venue Switch Suits Barbara Bonney’s Resonant Sound

Two-thirds of a recital is better than none, and two-thirds of a recital in a resonant, flattering auditorium can be quite satisfying. Barbara Bonney, beginning a three-stop concert tour of Southern California this week, brought her Grieg-Richard Strauss-Copland recital to Costa Mesa on Sunday afternoon and performed most of it--not in Founders Hall, as scheduled, but in Segerstrom Hall.

The change of venue was strange but, for the listener, musically profitable. Small voices in small rooms can be pleasing, but genuine voices, voices like Bonney’s, with resonance and color, used with care and intelligence, blossom in rooms of size.

According to spokespersons for the Orange County Performing Arts Center, and Bonney herself, speaking from the Segerstrom stage, when the American soprano discovered that the larger room--it holds 2,994, as opposed to Founders Hall’s 268 capacity--was available, she moved herself, with her pianist, Caren Levine, and a page-turner, into Segerstrom.

With minimal (tasteful) lighting on the stage, plus just barely enough light in the hall by which to read the song-texts, and an audience of about 300 people--the soprano had invited some participants in her scheduled Monday master class to attend--it was an odd-looking event.

And, because of an encroaching Pacific Chorale rehearsal and 6 p.m. pre-concert, Bonney’s recital was cut short. She sang the scheduled Grieg group, consisting of the Six Lieder, Opus 48, the schedules five Strauss songs, and four brief encores.

Bonney lives up to everything you’ve heard about her. She is blessed with striking good looks and a handsome voice of wide range and dynamic breadth. She focuses on words but without fussiness; more important, she sings, often radiantly, with a complete musicality that eschews the unimportant and emphasizes the long line.

In Grieg’s German-text songs of Opus 48, which ends with two of his greatest hits, “Zur Rosenzeit” and “Ein Traum,” Bonney made their many points with restraint and subtle coloration. Yet the climaxes soared, and emotional values emerged fully expressed.

Even more dramatic variety materialized in the Strauss group, which began with the trauma of “Ruhe, meine Seele,” followed by the serenity of “Freundliche Vision” the quiet but potent eroticism of “Das Rosenband,” the utter stillness (for the singer, not the pianist) of “Wiegenlied” and ended on the autumnal complexities of “September,” from the Four Last Songs.

Here, the singer used her control of word and color with great skill and no grandstanding, giving every song its aura, milieu and point. She was seconded in every way by the excellent Levine.

For the closing group, she sang Strauss’ “Zueignung,” Grieg’s “The Last Spring” (in Norwegian), Strauss’ “Morgen” and Schubert’s “Die Forelle.” She then invited her audience to a social hour in the Center Room, where she chatted with them and signed autographs.

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* Barbara Bonney is scheduled to sing her entire Grieg-Strauss-Copland recital in Sherwood Auditorium, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla, Wednesday at 8 p.m. $35 to $45. (858) 459-3728, and Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. $15 to $45. (800) 233-3123.