In Hyde Park, Upshaw roots poetry in emotion

REVIEW | 2 song cycles, one a world premiere, at U. of C. concert

The University of Chicago's Mandel Hall isn't known for its modern amenities or comfortable seating, but its lively acoustics, wooden Victorian opulence and accessible sightlines make for a hyper-sensory experience. That the superb U. of C. Presents music series regularly brings here first-rate stars makes it an essential destination for downtown-weary Chicagoans.

These elements happily converged Friday night in Hyde Park, where the versatile soprano Dawn Upshaw and the sterling Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra performed works of Osvaldo Golijov, the Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias, Astor Piazzolla and Prokofiev. As a frequent Chicago guest conductor and cross-genre specialist, Texas-based Miguel Harth-Bedoya was this exotica's fine purveyor.

Upshaw sang a pair of song cycles, including Iglesias' brand new commission from the SPCO. "In the Land of the Lemon Trees" is angular and heated music set to poems by John Ashberry ("Late Echo"), Rene Char ("Voyageurs") and Wallace Stevens ("The Poem that Took the Place of a Mountain"). A film composer with credits that include "Volver" and "The Kite Runner," Iglesias fuses a Modernist's timbral colors with the spice of his homeland -- an amplified Spanish guitar here, a snaking oboe line there. Upshaw didn't sound fully invested in this world premiere until she reached the impassioned Stevens stanzas, which bloomed beautifully in the Hall's bare acoustics.

Iglesias wrote "Lemon Trees" after hearing Upshaw sing Golijov's "Ainadamar," so it was fitting that Upshaw also performed her own muse Friday night. In another poesy setting, Golijov's "Three Songs for Orchestra and Soprano" was a more comfortable vehicle for the singer, and we finally heard those aching but honeyed vocals. Her gravely, hypnotic treatment of the Emily Dickinson poems was a shot in the arm and a teasing primer for her Nov. 17 return in Golijov's "Ayre."

If the song cycles were the feature presentations, the two instrumental works were little more than pleasing filler. Albert Gonzales' bloated arrangement of Piazzolla's "Fuga y Misterio" would've benefitted from emphasizing root materials instead of this ambitiously layered instrumentation. A drum kit rudely robbed the music of its simpler charms and made one hanker for the duo-piano and bandoneon version. Or any other authentic combination for that matter.

Veteran SPCO concertmaster Steven Copes took the soloist's role in Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto Op. 63 and gave a resolute and highly exacting performance. Yet all the idiomatic quirks in Prokofiev's eccentric sound felt compromised in favor of pure technical facility.

Bryant Manning is a local free-lance writer.