Graves displays her all-around skills

A poised and commanding Denyce Graves sang an engaging multipart recital Monday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The distinguished mezzo-soprano opened with an obligatory, warm-up set of songs by Dowland, Purcell and Handel, turned expansive in four Brahms lieder, then really hit her stride with dramatic French repertory -- three songs by Duparc and “Mon coeur s’o uvre a ta voix” from Saint-Saens’ “Samson et Dalila.” The biblical seductress is one of her signature roles and she sang it to open the 1999 Los Angeles Opera season.

After intermission, she turned to another -- as she said from the stage -- of her “bad girl” roles, singing Carmen’s Seguidilla, then offered a fascinating, rarely heard pair of songs by Argentine composer Carlos Guastavino, who died in 2000, and a work written for her, “Te vas de mi” (You Are Leaving Me), by Cuban composer Jose Maria Vitier. She ended the recital with four African American spirituals.

Perhaps in testing the hall or to make sure that people sitting at the sides and the back of the stage didn’t feel left out, Graves turned occasionally to sing in their direction. At other concerts, some who sat at the back remarked at the loss of focus from vocal soloists facing forward, as well as the difficulty of hearing a piano when its raised lid was facing away from them.

At these moments, for those seated in front of her, Grave’s rich mezzo took on a slightly brighter boost. At all times, Disney Hall carried her voice with fullness and immediacy, but it did not create a sense of intimacy with the recitalist. Perhaps to overcome that, she introduced a number of the pieces from the stage and grew increasingly engaged as a singing actor, obliterating any distance between her and the audience.

Graves wore a flowing rust-colored gown, decorated with roses, for the first half of the program. For the second, she wore an equally glamorous shoulderless black spangled gown.

Warren Jones, one of the best accompanists in the business, was her fluent, if too self-effacing pianist. There were three encores -- the Habanera from Bizet’s “Carmen,” followed by two entertaining numbers, “Times Like This” from the musical “Lucky Stiff,” and a song called “I’m Hungry.”