The Art of Jennie Tourel

The Art of Jennie Tourel: Alice Tully Hall Recital, 1970. Vocal works by Stradella, Monsigny, Beethoven, Debussy, Liszt, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Dargomizhsky, and Massenet, plus encores. Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano; James Levine, piano; Gary Karr, double bass. (VAI Audio VAIA 1213, 2 CDs)

Jennie Tourel, distinguished singer and teacher, was one of Leonard Bernstein's favorite performing collaborators. Bernstein chose her as soloist in his 1964 New York Philharmonic recording of his Third Symphony, Kaddish (Sony 60595), a work that the Juilliard Orchestra will play at Avery Fisher Hall on November 10 (see article on Page 1). Tourel was a Juilliard faculty member from 1963 until her death 30 years ago this month, on November 23, 1973. Her students included Faith Esham, Barbara Hendricks, Neil Rosensheim, and Neil Shicoff.

Three recent CD releases allow us to experience Tourel's special artistry. The Art of Jennie Tourel (VAIA 1213, 2 CDs) vividly preserves a complete recital the mezzo-soprano presented at Alice Tully Hall in April 1970 (originally issued on Vox CDs). Her gifted pianist is the 26-year-old James Levine. Although recorded late in Tourel's career (at age 69), this engrossing recital offers an object lesson in stylistic authority and understanding. Tourel generously gave five encores; all of them are here. As a bonus, VAI adds arias the singer recorded with conductor Pierre Monteux in the mid-1940s, and a charming 1969 interview by John Ardoin.

Tourel can be heard in her prime on a new Pearl CD (GEM 0198). It contains elegant accounts of Ravel's Shéhérazade and Berlioz's Cléopatre with Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic taped in 1950, arias from Offenbach's La Périchole and Les Contes d'Hoffmann with Maurice Abravanel from 1947, and a scintillating 1952 recording led by Jean Morel (who taught conducting at Juilliard from 1949-71) of La Vie Parisienne, adapted from Offenbach by Manuel Rosenthal.

Lastly, a Jennie Tourel album has been issued in Decca's The Singers series (467907). It consists of 23 Italian, French, and Russian songs recorded for American Decca in the 1950s. Tourel once stated, "When I sing 20 songs in a recital, I tell 20 stories." Her CDs reveal her to have been a master storyteller.



Sejong Soloists Play Eric Ewazen

Ewazen: Concerto for Violin and Strings, Adele Anthony, violin; Down a River of Time (Concerto for Oboe and Strings), Linda Strommen, oboe; Sinfonia for Strings. International Sejong Soloists, Hyo Kang, artistic director. (Albany Troy 577)

Eric Ewazen received his doctorate from Juilliard in 1980 and has been a faculty member of the School ever since. Ewazen, who studied composition with Milton Babbitt, has written a good deal of brass music. His latest CD, in contrast, is dedicated to his music for strings. It is performed by the International Sejong Soloists, an expert, mostly Juilliard-trained, 25-piece conductorless string orchestra, named after a 15th-century monarch during whose reign cultural achievements in Korea reached a high point.

Ewazen's Concertos for Violin and Oboe, as well as his Sinfonia for Strings, are accessible, appealing, and affecting. The confident soloists are violinist Adele Anthony, winner of the 1996 Nielsen Competition, and oboist Linda Strommen of the Juilliard faculty. Sejong's artistic director is Hyo Kang, a member of the School's faculty for 25 years.

Other noteworthy Ewazen CDs on the Albany label include Bass Hits, concert pieces for bass trombone (Troy 479), and Orchestral Music and Concertos for saxophone, clarinet, and flute (Troy 477). CDs from Well-Tempered Productions are Music for the Soloists of the American Brass Quintet and Friends (WTP 5189) and Chamber Music of Eric Ewazen (WTP 5172) Don't miss the composer's American Indian–themed Shadowcatcher (New World Records 80587).

The Juilliard Symphony will play Ewazen's A Hymn for the Lost and the Living on November 24 at Alice Tully Hall under Otto-Werner Mueller.

Michael Sherwin, marketing manager of the Juilliard Bookstore (bookstore.juilliard.edu), has written for High Fidelity and Musical America.