I'm back from a very enjoyable graduate recital. Jesse opened with a Beethoven piece, An die ferne Geliebte, opus 98, and closed the first half with Poulenc's cycle Chansons Gaillardes. The second half began with Gerald Finzi's Shakespeare Songs, Let Us Garlands Bring and closed with three musical theatre pieces with guest duet-ers, Wildhorn's "A Dangerous Game," Simon's "Lily's Eyes" which is moving but not nearly so well written as Bizet's Au fond du temple sant, although "Lily's Eyes" is becoming as ubiquitous as the Bizet. The closer was "Luck Be A Lady" with a seven-piece men's chorus and a nice 4-[oece combo of piano, bass, drums, and guitar, the same group that played for the Wildhorn and the Simon pieces.
The accompanist for the Poulenc, Finzi and Beethoven was Kenneth Merrill, who was quite wonderful. The pops accompanist was Cyrus von Hochstetter, who needs to learn how to do an unarpeggiated button. "Lily's Eyes" had a very sloppy close. Jesse sounded really great, and I think it was an overall success.