"An Evening of Song"

This evening I had the pleasure of attending An Evening of Art Song, a faculty recital given by David Neiweem, baritone; accompanied by David Feurzeig, piano and Alan Parshley, french horn. I was excited about this recital for a number of reasons. The first being- I had heard Dr. Neiweem sing a song or two in collective faculty recitals, and of course had heard vocal modeling from him, but I had never heard him sing a full recital- and generally speaking, when any faculty member gives a full recital it's bound to be enlightening, so why not go and hear some good music for free? Secondly, Dr. Neiweem has quite an earnest love and appreciation for, and understanding of art songs, and (in my opinion) specifically Lieder. Lastly, as a vocalist, I was not about to pass up this opportunity to see one of my vocal influencers (if you will) perform.
     As soon as Neiweem walked on stage he had that 'air' of a performer- if you will.  As a student of voice, it is interesting to see him in a sense practice what he preached to all of us in various studio classes; and from an audience member's perspective, it really did make a difference- the immediate 'performer's air' he adopted while entering the stage. He carried himself with confidence and grace while wearing a welcoming smile.
Neiweem opened his recital with two Italian arias- pieces that -in genre- were separate from his art song 'theme'.  The first I recognized as an aria he had given to a former student and classmate of mine, and it really was a treat to see him perform this.  If I had to assign one term to this particular aria it would be agility.  It was interesting and educational for me to hear him execute all the fast moving notes with what seemed to be ease- though I know and appreciate how much work singing such an 'agile piece of music', as it were, takes.  Before continuing, I should say that throughout this performance I experienced a sort of inner struggle- and this seems to happen at every musical performance. Sure, I am there to enjoy the music, support the performers, and have a great musical experience, but it always seems that I can't "turn the teacher in me off", as they say.  So here I was, blessed to be at this wonderful performance, yet not able to fully immerse myself in the beauty of the performance itself-  continually noticing Neiweem's mouth-space, pronunciation, diction, posture- everything I am trained to be conscious of as a vocal performer, and as a music educator.
     Following you will find the program of his recital, a wonderful selection of songs which were all beautifully well done!

• Two Arias:
• Si, trai ceppi e le ritore (Berenice)
  Va tacito e nascosto (Julius Caesar in Egypt)
• Selected songs of Schubert:
• Wanderers Nachtlied (Goethe) 
  Wanderers Nachtlied II (Goethe) 
  Fischereise (von Schlechta) 
  Die Forelle (Schubert)
• Selected Songs of Carl Lowe
• Tom, der Reimer (scottish, adapted by fontane)
   Die wandelnde Glock (Goethe)
• Selected songs of Hugo Wolf:
• Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen (Italian Songbook) Der Musikant (Eichendorff)
• Selected songs of Ernest Chausson
• Les papillons (Gauthier) 
  La dernier feuille (Gauthier)
• Three settings of poems by Paul Verlaine (Fetes gallantes)
• Claire de Lune 
  Colloque sentimental 
  Mandoline