It appears that this recording was issued a few years ago, but for whatever reason we just received it, and it’s terrific. American mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, at least as of 2012, when this was produced, has a voice of substance, lustrous and silver-toned, especially rich and vibrant in the lower register, with the assured technique of one who has the goods and just knows what to do with her gift. Where has Sasha Cooke been? Her bio says “everywhere”—she apparently was a sensation in the 2013 premiere of Mark Adamo’s opera The Gospel of Mary Magdalene—and she’s a Mahler expert, of which we get a taste on this recital, along with a brief excerpt from another work that also brought her acclaim: John Adams’ opera Doctor Atomic.
She characterizes the mood, various colors, and moments of rising intensity, or more “dreamy” or reflective passages in the Chausson Poème particularly well, expertly abbetted on all counts by a very fine orchestra and its sensitive music director Yehuda Gilad. Cooke’s voice has the size and expressive range to sustain focus on and interest in whatever she is doing, in true collaboration with an orchestra that’s sizable and exceptionally colorful in its own right.
Throughout the Chausson, and also in the Mahler (excellent solo horn and overall string and wind balances in the opening Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft), we enjoy her expressive use of vocal color and dynamics and her deft control of phrasing. In the Rückert Lieder these features are especially evident in “Liebst du um Schönheit”; the quickly tripping text of “Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder” is delivered with clear enunciation, its urgency and energy convincingly characterizing the text. The emotion she portrays in “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (I am lost to the world) is deeply heartfelt and moving—capped with a lovely orchestral conclusion. I would have been satisfied if the concert had ended there; Mahler’s “Um Mitternacht” is just not that interesting, musically or emotionally, compared to the other Rückert songs, and Cooke’s rendition, following such a poignant “Ich bin der Welt”, is something of an anticlimax.
You might think that a couple of Handel arias wouldn’t fit well in the company of Mahler and Chausson, but these two actually work just fine: Cooke and a smaller-sized orchestra treat them with the same attention to expressive motivation and a proper emphasis on the song, the vocal line, and the singer. Cooke’s Ombra mai fù, in which, and I mean this as a sincere compliment, her timbre is colored more like a countertenor, is a gem. The other “aria” on the program, Adams’ Am I in Your Light? from Doctor Atomic, is pretty and well sung but musically (and in terms of text) not especially memorable on its own.
The production features very fine sound, in which orchestra and voice and solo instruments are always sensitively and naturally balanced (the lovely cello solo in La Mort de l’amour is worth noting). It would have been nice if the booklet notes had offered some information about the music, especially the Chausson, rather than spending many pages with the disc’s producer going on about why we should be impressed with the production and the performers and the manner in which the record company makes its recordings. We’re impressed—all we have to do is listen.
