Magdalena Kožená Recital

* Notes *
Magdalena Kožená opened gave an abbreviated recital on Tuesday night in San Francisco. She was ill, and the low notes in her opening Purcell songs were a bit rough. Her accompanist, Karel Kosarek, seemed to lose his place during Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben, but Kožená sang well. Her voice is rich and hefty. After the intermission it was announced that she would not being singing Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder, as her lower register was giving her trouble. She did sing Duparc's L'invitation au Voyage, and only one or two notes were problematic.

* Tattling *
The balcony of Herbst Theatre was nearly empty, and the audience was silent nearly the entire time. This performance did demonstrate why I had to be goaded into going. Recitals can be rather unsatisfying, even when the performer is quite talented, as was the case here.