Reviews

Mezzo-soprano Chrystal E. Williams & Pianist Oksana Lutsyshyn
Chandler Recital Hall, June 8, 2018
Review by John Campbell

This, the fifteenth year of "An Evening with Chrystal E” was very different—as usual a wonderful concert and an added blossoming love story. Once again, pianist Oksana Lutsyshyn was the perfect collaborator in art songs by H. Leslie Adams, Margaret Bonds, Harry T. Burleigh, Hall Johnson, Garcia Lorca and Maurice Ravel.

Ms. Williams' broad smile lighted the hall as she began with six of Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) Canciones Españolas Antiguas. Lorca was a Renaissance man: poet, playwright, dramatist, skilled musician and an almost professional painter. The Spanish and gypsy ballads that Lorca knew as a child are poetry, narrative and drama. But he did not write down his arrangements. The fifteen titles he left us have been transcribed from a recording he made with La Argentinita as vocalist, he as pianist of his own arrangements of traditional Spanish folk songs. With open arms, Ms. Williams began Anda jaleo (Come on, uprise). A veiled invitation to love? Or it could be read as a fortelling of Lorca's own execution (Lorca being the dove) at the hands of Franco's goons. We've since learned that it was a Republican Army resistance song with politically explosive lyrics.  Los cuatro muleros (The four muleteers) is set to a familiar tune. It is about a muleteer stealing a girl's heart, delivered beautifully by the excited singer. Las tres hojas (The three leaves) offers a fast-paced syncopated rhythm that draws you into the story of a lover with a fever and she can not leave him, only stay and share his fever. In Las morillas de Jaén (Three Moorish girls from Jaén), with its sprightly tune, the message is that love is likely even if one is Christian and the spirited girls are Moors. These songs offer some subtle angle on love—even one on the love of the city of Seville, Sevillanas del Siglo XVIII (Young women of 18th Century Seville). Sprightly piano between verses and hand-clapped rhythms added spice. The last song, Zorongo is about un-returned love that is aflame in her "little heart", only his embrace will still the tears of this crazy Gypsy woman!

When Ms. Williams returned to the stage she was accompanied by Brazilian composer/accordionist and her soon-to-be groom Felipe Hostins who played accordion on a piece he composed for his beloved Chrystal E. He began his music studies at age three with his paternal grandfather. Meu Brasil de Chrystal (My Brazil made of Chrystal) has a text that is both celebrational and nostalgic for the country he left behind. It ends in a dance that represents the resilient nature of the Brazilian people who smile and dance their way through life's trials and tribulations.

The Portuguese text delivered passionately by Ms. Williams offered an enthralling bel canto vocalise at the end of each verse and a closing that translates as “Brazil, I know your strength.” In the accordion postlude Ms. Williams clapped out the rhythm and danced. They are a beautiful couple who plan to marry on August 25, 2018.

Chrystal Williams returned with Ms. Lutsyshyn for Chansons Madécasses (Madagascar Songs) by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). With their flowing sensuousness, these are my favorite of his songs and the summit of Ravel's vocal art. Ms. Williams gave an amazingly powerful performance. In the first song, Nahandove!, with its static melody and a harmony that flows calmly, the singer waits for his sweetheart. Her arrival and the aftermath of their love-making is beautifully depicted. The second song, Aoua! (Awa!), is a song of fear and anger. “Do not trust the white man...” displays the violence of human cruelty and the foolishness of colonial overlords of what once had been a happy and loving people. The third song, Il est doux (It is sweet) returns with voluptuous music that speaks of the joy of watching young girls dance while he rests. Evening breezes and moonlight are evoked by restrained piano and languid movement of the vocal line. Our singer and pianist brought to life Ravel's most evocative and haunting of songs.

The second half of the program was sung in English. Beginning with The Negro Speaks of Rivers with text by the great poet Langston Hughes set by Margaret Bonds, we were engaged in an exploration of some of the finest art songs by African American composers and poets. Challenging piano accompaniment to an operatic voice of power and beauty, the song declares the relationship of dark-skinned people to the great world rivers: The Euphrates, Congo, Nile, and Mississippi. These experiences have resulted in “my soul has grown deep like the rivers.” Profound meaning written by a nineteen year old poet and set by a twenty-two year old composer/pianist c. 1935.

Three selections from the song cycle Nightsongs by H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932) followed. Prayer, with text by Langston Hughes, has a spare, meditative piano and gentle voice. The text repeated and sung with more passion: “I ask you this: Which way to go?” It is an open question waiting for God's guidance. The heart of a woman (text Georgia Douglas Johnson) accompanied by a lyrical, jazzy piano, was delivered with passion and tells of the restless creativity of a woman who “dreams of the stars...” and falls back at night, sadly accepting domestic security. The third text, Night Song, is also by a woman poet (Clarissa Scott Delaney) but the somber song ends with a powerful, vocal affirmation: “Another day will find me brave and not afraid to dare!”

Ms. Williams told us “faith is a great part of my life...” and how by using her vocal talent she attempts to bring a change in people's lives. Her aim is to spread peace, unity and joy. Three spirituals followed, beginning with Ev'ry time I feel de Spirit, set by Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949). She included natural gestures as part of her singing: she folded her arms when she sang of “chilly and cold;” a closed mouth hum in Fix me, Jesus by Hall Johnson (1888-1970); a firm stance and a sassy delivery for Ride on, King Jesus!.

The 2018 Scholarship Awards were announced by Christina C. Burns, president of the One on One Club. Honored were Alex Pouloutides and Shannon Crowley (her mother accepted the award). Chrystal sang an encore dedicated to her dad who died in February, 2018. She sang Amazing Grace, which blended into Ev'ry Time I Feel de Spirit with Mr. Hostins' accordion's sensual accompaniment. The audience joined in hand clapping as the couple did a little fancy-footwork with gestures for the line “fire and smoke.” Oh the delights of being in love!

Chrystal E Williams, soprano; Oksana Lutsyshyn, piano
Sixteenth Annual Scholarship Concert
June 7, 2019, GSA Black Box Theatre
Review by John Campbell

Returning to her high school vocal alma mater, Chrystal Williams' recital included music by Schumann, Britten, Kern, Gershwin, Burleigh and Hall Johnson. We feel honored that Chrystal returns each June, especially now that she has an international career that includes singing at the Met this fall.

First, venturing into German art song, she gave an animated Frauen-Liebe und Leben by Robert Schumann (1810-1856). With Schumann's setting the piano comes into its own as a full participant with the voice in this cycle. In eight songs a woman tells the story in her own voice about her life from the early stirring of adolescence through love, marriage, childbirth and the death of her husband as she learns to draw inward for strength to survive. Robert wrote it as a wedding gift for his beloved Clara. Ms. Williams, with Oksana Lutsyshyn at the piano, gave a superbly coordinated performance which brought to us a stunning, engaging reading of these Romantic songs.

In the first song, Seit ich in gesehen, (Since I saw him), the verses are full of longing and the music conveys the young girl's simplicity and uncertainty. The unanswered passion in the second song, Er, der Herrlichste von allen (He, the most glorious of all) showed us her ecstatic mood in the singer's face. A quiet piano closes the song with a hint of uncertainty about whether she will be his chosen one. Things become clear in Ich kann's nicht fassen, nicht glauban (I can't grasp it nor believe it) when he says “I am yours forever” and the song ends quietly on a note of wonder. In song four, Du Ring an meinem finger (The ring on my finger), she gazes at the ring on her finger in a somber mood with beautiful legato singing as she realizes that her life has changed. In the fifth song Helft mir, ihr Schwestern (Help me sisters) Ms. Williams is greatly animated as her sisters prepare her for her wedding. It ends with a “melancholy, joyfully departing from your midst.”

Alone at last with her husband Süsser freund du blickest mich verwundert an (Sweet friend, you look at me in wonder), she is rapturous, crying, trembling with joy and prepared. An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust (On my heart, at my breast) she sings “Here, at my bed, the cradle shall have room” and we feel the glow of her contentment in her voice. The cycle ends with Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan (Now you have caused me my first pain) and her personal world is a void because he has died. She withdraws with high notes delivered with deep passion that narrows to a sad plea: “Left all alone I stare into an empty world.”

In Clara Schumann's real life her Robert died at age 46 after he fathered eight children with her. As a famous piano recitalist and teacher, Clara was able to take care of her family, and mentor Brahms, promoting both his and Robert's music.

Chrystal Williams explained that her passion had to be reined in a bit for the Schumann but in her next set, A Charm of Lullabies by Benjamin Britten, she could fully express herself. The texts of the Lullabies are a brilliant twist on the idea of a “lullaby” on poems by William Blake, Robert Burns, Robert Greene, Thomas Randolph and John Phillips. It is a spiky journey. The menacing opening of A Cradle Song leads to an ending that is almost a lullaby. Blake's words include “O! The cunning wiles that creep in thy little heart asleep leading to dreadful lightnings break.”

Robert Burns' A Highland Balou has unsettling music and talks all about the child growing up to be an outlaw. Ms. Williams facial expressions and spare gestures made clear the stories being sung. In Sephestia's Lullaby a child is abandoned by his father. The last song, A Charm, loudly demands “Quiet!” followed by horrendous threats; the overwrought mother has had enough. John Phillip's The Nurse's Song starts out sweetly with “Lullaby baby” a cappella with a piano note to close the first stanza. The nurse will do her duty but I doubt the child will grow up free of trauma. All of this ends in a menacing, quiet voice.

Ms. Williams told us that in lieu of a Spanish set of songs, and proving that American songs can be dramatic, they would offer “Americana”: Gershwin's Embraceable You and Kern's Can't help lovin' dat man of mine. Chrystal Williams and Brazilian Felipe Hostins wed at Niagara Falls, New York in August, 2018. Ms. Williams introduced Felipe at her 2018 recital where they performed Meu Brasil de Cristal, composed by Felipe for his beloved. Unfortunately this time he had a gig in New York City and could not attend. She closed the set with Gershwin's Summertime. She brilliantly created each character in these American standards.

Her closing set, “Spirituals” offered Harry T. Burleigh's Ev'ry time I feel de Spirit followed by Hall Johnson's Fix me, Jesus which opened with a deep hum as she eased into the story of the singer's journey preparing for her dying bed. Her coloratura pyrotechnics were stunning. The last song is always Ride on, King Jesus!, a memorial to her mother and an acknowledgment of the singer's God-given talent, mightily enhanced by all her years of arduous preparation. Ms. Lutsyshyn was the perfect partner in this musical journey.

We noticed this now mature artist has an enhanced confidence, stage presence and marvelous powers of expression. She gave a stunning and brilliant recital. Chrystal recently returned from England where she sang the lead role in Birmingham Opera's production of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. The London Times stated: “A sensual Lady Macbeth leaves our critic shaken and stirred...” (March 7, 2019). She will appear at the Metropolitan Opera in November in Philip Glass' Akhnaten.

The 2019 scholarship recipient was graduating Governor's School for the Arts Senior Brooke Jones whose singing has given much pleasure to local audiences in her four years there. We will be following her career development as she attends Juilliard, just as we have with Chrystal for twenty years. Like Chrystal, Brooke has the talent!