Arts & Events

As part of the Schwabacher Recital Series, soprano Toni Marie Palmertree gave a recital Wednesday evening, March 21, at Taube Atrium Theatre in the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera. This event was under the aegis of San Francisco Opera Center and Merola Opera Program. Accompanying Ms Palmertree on piano was Mark Morash, and clarinetist Jose Gonzalez Granero joined them for several pieces. 

Let me begin by saying that Toni Marie Palmertree has a big voice. This is obvious to anyone who has heard Ms Palmertree sing. So I wondered how this big-voiced soprano would fare in recital in the intimate setting of Taube Atrium Theatre. The answer is, well, mixed. But it’s a surprising mix. Toni Marie Palmertree’s calling card is the high note sung fortissimo. In fact, when I first heard Ms Palmertree in a Merola concert some years ago, I wondered in print if she might not be a one-trick pony, relying on her high notes sung full blast. Over recent years, however, I’ve been won over by Ms Palmertree’s ability, especially noticeable as Liu in Puccini’s Tutandot, to sing lyrically and movingly without recourse to clarion call high notes. Of course, the big high notes are still there when called for; but they’re not all that’s there. In fact, what impressed me the most at her Wednesday recital were the intimate, low-key songs by Catalan composer Frederic Mompou. Conversely, what surprised me the most was that in the confines of Taube Atrium Theatre Ms Palmertree’s clarion call high notes were often piercing and occasionally shrill. This was a complete reversal of what I had expected. 

The program chosen by Ms Palmertree was also a surprise. To begin with, there was not an Italian number on the list. Also, three of the six composers on the program wrote songs in English; and only Benjamin Britten was well known, while the others were little known Charles Griffes and John McCabe. One composer, the aforementioned Frederic Mompou, wrote in Catalan. Claude Debussy, the lone French composer on this program, was represented by songs composed to his own poems. The program closed with songs by Spanish composer Fernando Obradors. 

The recital began with Ms Palmertree performing four songs by Benjamin Britten from On This Island set to poems by W.H. Auden. In the first song, Let the florid music praise!, I noted a ravishing low note from Ms Palmertree on the word ‘death’. The second number, Now the leaves are falling fast, was a fast tempo song, and it was followed by the lovely, dreamlike Seascape. The fourth and final song by Britten was the bouncy, ironic As it is, plenty.  

Next on the program were three songs in Catalan by Frederic Mompou. The first two were softly intimate and sensuous. They were beautifully rendered by Ms Palmertree, ably accompanied by Mark Morash on piano. The third song by Mompou was dramatic, and here too Toni Marie Palmertree sang movingly. These songs by Mompou were perhaps the highlight of the recital in my opinion. 

To close out the first half of the program, Ms Palmertree sang Three Poems of Fiona McCleod by Charles Griffes. (The poems were written by William Sharp under pseudonym Fiona McCleod.) For these songs Ms Palmertree was accompanied by Mark Morash on piano and Jose Gonzalez Granero on clarinet. There were plenty of high notes in these songs, and this is where I began to detect both a piercing quality and occasional shrillness in Toni Marie Palmertree’s clarion call high notes. This surprised me, for on other occasions I’d been very favorably impressed by the richly colored high notes of Ms Palmertree. The tendency toward shrillness continued in the Debussy songs performed by Ms Palmertree after intermission. Further, though her diction in French was mostly fine, she sang the word coeur as if it were corps. Mark Morash’s accompaniment on piano was particularly moving and expressive. 

Following the Debussy songs were Three Folk Songs by John McCabe. There was an American song, a Scottish song, and an English song. For these numbers clarinetist Jose Gonzalez Granero joined Ms Palmertree and Mr Morash. The final McCabe song, John Peel, was set at so fast a tempo it fairly flew by; and it must have been difficult to sing, but Ms Palmertree carried it off quite well. To close out the scheduled portion of the recital, Ms Palmertree sang six Canciones clásicas españolas by Spanish composer Fernando Obradors. Her diction in Spanish was excellent; and several of the songs, including the last two, ended with the typically Spanish high wordless shout. As an encore, Toni Marie Palmertree sang Cole porter’s “Every time we say good-bye,” which she dedicated to all her San Francisco friends as she heads off on her career. We wish her well.