Lemper’s Velvety Grasp

Truly a great thing to pause and examine a fortunate convergence of “Weilliana” in the recent days here in Southern California. My only divergence from Mark Swed’s vastly appreciated, informative, well-thought-out criticisms are those leveled at the otherworldly German chanteuse Ute Lemper, who performed at the Ojai Music Festival with guitarist Eliot Fisk last Sunday morning (“His Legacy Lives On,” June 5).

Swed says she “killed Weill with too much slickness,” and that she is “not a very good singer.” Whose standards are we using here? No, obviously, she’s not Maria Callas or Beverly Sills or Lena Horne or Cecilia Bartoli. She’s Ute Lemper. That’s why all references to her in program and advertisement billed her as “singer.” Not “soprano,” not “the world’s most technically perfect vocal artist.” She’s a singer, and an enthralling one. She held that crowd so tightly in her velvety grasp, that when she concluded with “Speak Low,” you could hear the snap of a twig.

I feel sorry for Swed in that he may have been too busy being a prominent critic to let down his “cultural guardianship” and simply enjoy the sounds.

TONY HANOVER

Van Nuys