In the evening, I attended a concert by the Pasadena Symphony consisting entirely of music by Mr. Richard Strauss.
The concert began with a perfectly acceptable performance of Don Juan.
The Four Last Songs followed, sung by soprano Miss Jane Eaglen. The accoustics of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium are very unkind to vocal soloists, and last night was no exception. I know Miss Eaglen must have a large voice for her to have the success she has had in the roles she has sung in the world's great opera houses. One would never have known that last night. Maestro Jorge Mester kept the orchestra waaay down to provide some semblance of balance between it and the singer. Complicating matters was the question of Miss Eaglen's suitedness to this music. The songs really require a singer with a far more focused tone and greater breath control than Miss Eaglen was able to offer last night.
The second half began with the Serenade in E-Flat Major, which is for a smallish ensemble of wind instruments. Written when Strauss was seventeen years of age, the piece sounds precisely like what one might expect a student's composition to sound like.
The concert concluded with the final scene from Salome. This music is much more suited to Miss Eaglen's voice than The Four Last Songs, and her performance was much stronger than in the first half. Mr. Mester did not hold back, and the performance of this haunting scene, generally speaking, succeeded. Although Miss Eaglen is one of the most popular and successful dramatic sopranos of our day, I cannot keep myself from comparing her to several singers who have preceded her in the dramatic soprano repertory. With no disrespect to Miss Eaglen, her performance last night left me yearning for the singing of people like Miss Birgit Nilsson and Miss Leonie Rysanek, whose interpretations of this music from Salome were far more effortless, credible and transcendant.
