Soprano Karoline Podolak and pianist Rachael Kerr gave a recital on Oct. 9th at University of Toronto’s Walter Hall for the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto. The program appeared to be chosen to give us a combination of well known and not so well known Slavic songs and pieces that showed off Podolak’s impressive coloratura.
It was straight into the deep end with “Ah! Où va la jeune indoue” from Délibes’ Lakmé which opens with a crazy unaccompanied vocalise and continues with a plethora of coloratura imitating the notes of a bell; hence its soubriquet “The Bell Song.” It was very impressive and a good way of letting us know what was to come later in the recital, as the second set was in a completely different register.
Here, we were offered eight songs by Chopin in Polish. These are apparently very popular in Poland but were new to me. They are simple and almost folksong-like, dealing with nature, love and that resigned, depressing version of Polish nationalism exemplified by Spiew z mogily (Sing from the Tomb). There are some Chopinesque touches in the piano part but the vocal line is straightforwardly melodic and sung beautifully and simply by Karoline. The first half finished up with another Polish song; Feliks Nowowiejski’s Kaza mi mama (My mother says) which is a bit silly but provided some more impressive coloratura.
Pianist Rachael Kerr & soprano Karoline Podolak at Women’s Musical Club of Toronto
After the intermission it was more Slavic rep, this time in Russian and Czech. Two short and sweet songs; Rachmaninoff’s Zdes khorosho (How Fair this Spot) and Dvorák’s Když mne starámatka zpívat ucivala’ (Songs My Mother Taught Me) were sung elegantly with really clean high notes. Then came Alyabev’s Solovey (The Nightingale). This has a challenging piano part and, surprise, more coloratura which was once more handled with aplomb by our resident songbird.
The final set might be called “personal favourites” I guess. From the world of operetta, there was “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss” sung in English, and “Mein Herr Marquis” (auf Deutsch), both performed very stylishly and rather sexily as was “Una voce poco fa.” It had, of course, more coloratura (dispatched with apparent ease) as well as an opportunity for some cheeky vocal and physical high jinks.The last number on the program was Ardit’s “Il bacio,” where Karoline wandered the hall handing out roses while continuing to sing beautifully. The encore was “I Could Have Danced All Night” which showed an (entirely unsurprising) flair for the classic musical theatre style.
So, a varied and very enjoyable recital sung in seven languages showing off Podolak’s pinpoint coloratura and a very clean, rather beautiful sound throughout the registers.
For more on Women’s Musical Club of Toronto’s season, visit www.wmct.on.ca
