For their Gardner recital on Sunday, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and pianist Myra Huang successfully followed Brahms’s admonition that vocal recitals should cohere much more than in the all-too-commonly encountered haphazard arrangement of songs tossed out as a concert bouquet. Rather, as in song cycles by a single composer, “each piece should relate to the others, contributing to a cohesive and meaningful artistic statement.” Thus their “Of Thee I Sing,” which framed 15 songs ranging from 1894 to today in French, Russian, German and English by native-born and immigrant-Americans, selected in large part because of their texts, riveted this listener. In the ensuing political and musical theater, the artists questioned the achievability and equal application of the American Dream. Cooke explained her thoughts of the concert’s theme:

Langston Hughes once described America as “the mighty dream,” and that phrase is what drew me to the theme of today’s program. Have we come close to realizing that dream? Are we truly the “land of the free” we so proudly proclaim? What does it mean to be American today, on the eve of our nation’s 250^th anniversary? These are questions I’ve been turning over in my head, and I can think of no better way to explore them than through song, where art provides a safe space and reminds us of our shared humanity. Her entire essay is HERE.

After hearing Cooke’s glowing and beautifully acted interpretation of Mahler’s Wayfarer Songs with the BSO Chamber Players at Jordan Hall [BMInt review HERE] last month, I was delighted when her publicist invited me to review and found a pair of seats in the sold-out Calderwood cube. To be sure, we found Cooke to be in luminous voice (though some metal materialized at times when she overwhelmed the space), and she managed to connect with us all by pivoting constantly and looking us in the eye when her back wasn’t turned our way. She characterized each song distinctively with varied colorations and stage business. Spirituals came to us as if directly from a woebegone field hand. She could declaim as if in a grand opera house. With her seductively seamless and wide-ranging instrument, she could also channel Ethel Merman brass in the stagy examples. She dispatched comic numbers as if sharing an intimate story with friends. In general, words came across clearly when she was facing us, especially in German.

Ever-elegant pianist Myra Huang combined beauty of line with liveliness and humor as the songs required, whether in supportive or assertive moments. She could pivot at a moment among rags, tangos, and art songs. Jazzy, spicy, frolicking, reverent—she could do it all.

For the sake of simplicity and completeness I provide a work list with comments.

“At the River” from Old American Songs, Set 2 (1952): Aaron Copland (1900-1990)  Copland’s familiar version adds a bit of post-WPA gloss   

“Sure on this Shining Night” from Four Songs, Op. 13 (1938): Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Perhaps not as inevitable as the Rutter version for chorus, people will nevertheless say that it glowed

“Recuerdo” from Recuerdo (1988): John Musto Developed from simple spiritual into lively rag with eclectic accompaniment and ends with cosmic humming

“The Circus Band” from Five Street Songs (1894): Charles Ives (1874-1954) Cooke and Huang led an irresistible parade—the many abrupt mood changes united by smiling crackerjack warmth

“Prayer” from Nightsongs (1961) H. Leslie Adams (1932-2024) The artists returned to reverie. Cooke’s blue notes and her portamento della voce on the closing stanza “I do not know” ravished.

Break

Cooke introduced Jasmine Arielle Barnes’s American Lament (World Premiere of the ISGM co-commission) as a celebration of “…love of country…it’s past and possibilities.” Cooke gave sumptuous life to Barnes effective word setting—both lyrical and declamatory—making much of the poetry of Langston Hughes and others

Let America Be America Again, Part I provided a nourishing stew of Crossing the River Jordan and the Star-Spangled Banner

The River Remembers glowed with rapture over a flowing piano

Let America Be America Again, Part II. Hughes’s arresting text may have descended into agitprop, but the sentiments surely reached us:

And from Africa I came
to build a “homeland for the free”
Who said the free? Not me?
The millions shot down when we strike?
…

The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today

America The long piano intro incorporated bits of immigrant Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” with contemporary snatches suggesting irony.

Let America Be America Again, Part III. Again Huang’s work attracted our attention as flowing, repeated chords and patient arpeggios morphed into  rat-a-tat anger as Hughes wrote of “…hands at the foundry.” In the optimistic close, Cooke gazed towards some distant shore, while singing of      how “We the people must … make America again!”

The sometimes-devoutly awesome (in its original meaning) second half flowed in three attacca sets of songs from immigrant-American composers.

“Lilacs” from 12 Romances, Op. 21 (1900-02) Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Came across as a bittersweet nostalgic lullaby.

“Laue Sommernacht” Alma Mahler (1879-1964) If the expressionist poetry conjured Demel’s Transfigured Night, the luscious vocal lines evoked Alma’s Gustav. The pianissimo ending inspired a long, thoughtful pause.

“Was du mir bist?” from Drei Lieder (1930) Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) If not up to the immortal Marietta Lied, this Korngold  number certainly possessed his signature gifts.

“Youkali” (1934) Kurt Weill (1900-1950) It broke the mood with a tango. We couldn’t decide whether the exuberant Cooke had become a female  Valentino or a Pirate Jenny.

“Give Me Jesus” (1999) Spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan In this profoundly sad contemplation of death, Cooke rivaled the pipes and emotional directness of Shirley Verrett. After Cookes’s “Oh, when I comes to die” haunted us in her mezza di voce; a bit of scat in the final refrain left us  smiling.

“A Simple Song” from Mass (1971) Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) Does Bernstein always sound like West Side Story even when quoting Psalms?

“Grace” (1988) Michael Tilson Thomas Cooke acted the part of a charmingly comic dinner guest (Thomas penned this tribute to Bernstein for his 70^th-birthday party) as she gave “thanks to whoever is there/for this tasty plate of herring!” We greatly enjoyed her alluring take on older Broadway tradition in that she never crooned. And Huang can whistle while she works.

“Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods (1986) Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) An updated “You’ve got to be Taught” somehow cemented the connections among the Jewish immigrant composers

“Of Thee I Sing” (1931) George Gershwin (1898-1937) Both artists could unabashedly swing, baby, in this irresistibly outgoing tribute to the        stage and to an optimistic vision of America. Cooke conveyed that “certain thing, baby,” and Huang flung out a very freely swung solo verse. Ira Gershwin got the patriotic and stagy last words: “Shining star and inspiration/Worthy of a mighty nation/Of thee I sing.”

The well-earned encore, “In the beginning” from the song cycle Of Gods and Cats by Jake Heggie, based on a poem by Gavin Geoffrey Dillard, purred deliciously.

If you happen to be in Duluth tomorrow night, you can catch the last iteration of “Of Thee I Sing.” Tickets HERE

Lee Eiseman is the publisher of the Intelligencer