CONCERT REVIEW: Courtenay Budd at Artist Series

A song recital can be many things – a musical poetry reading, a luxuriant bath in vocal beauty, a thrill ride or an opportunity to nap for some.  In her Artist Series performance at the Historic Asolo, soprano Courtenay Budd touched on all these aspects, save the latter, with some aplomb.  In fact, bright, lively and engaging in her performance, she was anything but boring.

Soprano Courtenay Budd

Opening modestly with a set of Schubert lieder revealing her smooth, light and supple voice musically caressing the text, she developed more depth and presence as she moved on to Mahler and Strauss.   Mahler’s “Hans und Grethe” benefited from Budd’s real talent for storytelling which delighted us repeatedly throughout the evening.   Her  glorious upper range, despite a bit of an edge,  burst out in Richard Strauss’s song, “Cäcille” and we began to appreciate her considerable emotional range.

Honestly, I fell in love during her set of French songs.  This was where I felt her voice was most lovely and Budd struck the musical balance of beauty, poetry and story.  Each song was a masterful choice of music and delivery, from Bachelet’s lovely “Chere Nuit” and the giddy “Villanelle” by Chaminade to a sensually evocative song by Poulenc,  “Chemin de l’amour,”  and the spicy characters of Delibe’s “Les filles de Cadix.”

Throughout the program, Budd performed in splendid partnership with accomplished pianist Yelena Kurdina, who was able to step in for Charles Wadsworth who was originally scheduled to tour with Budd.

As lovely as that all was, Budd emerged for the second half of the program dressed to kill and singing songs with which she seemed all the more comfortable.  There was an attractive sizzle to this entertaining woman, so committed to sharing what she loved about the music of contemporary American composers.  She dug back into the standards of this genre with David Del Tredici’s “Acrostic Song,” from his final Last Alice Symphony, and the great fun of Leonard Bernstein’s rollicking “Glitter and Be Gay.”  In homage to the lonely shopaholic lusting after an expensive Italian handbag, Tom Cipullo’s “The Pocketbook,” as Budd delivered, was quite comic.

Seemingly unafraid to sacrifice traditional tonal beauty for the purpose of the text and story, Budd was highly entertaining if not note and pitch perfect.   She sold each song like a Broadway belter with a bit of classical finesse.   While not there in person, Charles Wadsworth, the composer, was there in spirit with a touching song, “Someone Like You.”

To round out the program, perhaps all a glimpse of Courtenay Budd the woman, we were treated to her comic musical comments on Hot Yoga.  Never a dull moment.