This is an ambitious recital by soprano Anna Prohaska, organized around the story of Eve in the Bible. The program has six sections: "Morning in Paradise," "Eve Awakens," "Arcadia / Pastoral Idyll," "Playing with Fire / Eve and Evil / The Fall of Man," "Banishment / Exodus / Memories," and "Earthly Life." Plainly not all of these deal directly with Eve; the connections with her are indirect and metaphorical, and listeners may have varying degrees of ability to follow the thread. However, the execution of the idea is ...
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This is an ambitious recital by soprano Anna Prohaska, organized around the story of Eve in the Bible. The program has six sections: "Morning in Paradise," "Eve Awakens," "Arcadia / Pastoral Idyll," "Playing with Fire / Eve and Evil / The Fall of Man," "Banishment / Exodus / Memories," and "Earthly Life." Plainly not all of these deal directly with Eve; the connections with her are indirect and metaphorical, and listeners may have varying degrees of ability to follow the thread. However, the execution of the idea is masterful. Prohaska deploys a startling variety of repertory, from the near serialism of Albert Reimann to the folk song I Will Give My Love an Apple (no metaphor there), including German, French, English, Russian, and American songs (the American vernacular accents in songs by Leonard Bernstein and Charles Ives are solid). More than this, she inhabits the songs as if they were indeed all about Eve, changing her delivery and mood convincingly in each section. Few singers could have pulled...
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