David Daniels, Cocker Spaniels

Or Susan Graham at Zellerbach in Berkeley.  Susan has her own song called "I am a sexy lady" which ended her program.  In it she complains that she is always required to play dudes and kiss other women at the opera, but she is a real woman.  Somehow David Daniels and the obvious rhyme Cocker Spaniels came up.  We're not sure how.  She loves this song.

It was an excellent program.  I liked best the Berlioz La Mort d'Ophélie. She has a great feeling for Berlioz. I am always looking for the feeling.

She did a group based on the Mignon songs of Goethe ending with the great Hugo Wolf "Kennst du das Land."  My doctoral document was on settings of Goethe, so I always enjoy hearing examples of these.  I honestly didn't know that Duparc did a translation of "Kennst du das Land?"  I should have.  The group also included the Tchaikovsky song on "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt."  In the intermission I complained that she had left out "Connais-tu le pays?" from Thomas's Mignon.  I was wrong again!!  She sang it as an encore.  This was particularly lovely. 

Susan Graham excels at a kind of light lyricism, especially of the French variety, and the concert was rich in examples that were well suited to her voice and style.  Malcolm Martineau was her excellent pianist.