PERFORMING ARTS

Randall Scarlata

Three songs by contemporary Vienna-based composer Wolfram Wagner had their world premieres at baritone Randall Scarlata's Austrian Embassy recital on Monday evening. Spare and quietly melodic, Wagner's subtly crafted Three Songs on Poems by Weldon Kees filtered the romantic art-song tradition through a more angular, modernist style.

In his settings of the poems "What the Spider Heard," "Praise to the Mind" and "Small Prayer," Wagner's unfussy treatment of the English-language texts and more oblique scoring for the piano honored both the plain-spoken surfaces and emotionally ambiguous undercurrents in Kees's writing -- an ambiguity made all the more tantalizing by the poet's still-unexplained disappearance in 1955.

A composer couldn't wish for a more eloquent champion than Scarlata. His is not a large voice, but it's a lovely one -- lyric, almost tenorial, with a mellow timbre and the ability to finely grade dynamics and round the rougher edges of words into a satisfying legato flow. His treatment of text (whether in German, English or French) was specific and warmly communicative, providing equal pleasure in Schubert songs, Poulenc's gorgeous "La Fraicheur et le Feu" or four songs from Lee Hoiby's masterly Whitman setting "I Was There."

Pianist Thomas Bagwell's poised and economical phrasing -- in evidence not least in two solo turns, performing searching renditions of Berg's Piano Sonata, Op. 1, and Lowell Liebermann's Nocturne No. 5 -- ensured a true partnership with Scarlata in all the songs.

-- Joe Banno

Lizz Wright

"I don't have a whole mouthful to say tonight," Lizz Wright said to the people gathered to hear her at the Birchmere on Monday. "I just came to sing some songs -- I hope that's cool."

More artists should adopt Wright's attitude toward chatting during performances -- why do singers spend stage time jabbering on about their lives when they've gone to the trouble of turning their experiences into song lyrics and setting them to music?

Besides, Wright, a gifted songwriter who presents her compositions in toasty, calming tones, has an intimate, conversational style that eliminates the need to breed familiarity with her fans through quips and personal anecdotes.

During her show, Wright sang about subjects such as faith and perseverance, but mostly discussed love -- managing to cover the same general ground over and over again without repeating herself. "I Idolize You," from this year's "The Orchard," spoke of obsessive love; "Another Angel," also from Wright's latest disc, tackled fading love; and "Eternity," from 2003's "Salt," addressed enduring love.

In spite of the no-talking rule she initially set for herself, Wright did decide to say a few things towards the show's close. She talked about song transitions and pop music and, after an encore, she thanked the crowd for its warm reception -- and for the first time all night, Wright couldn't say enough.

-- Sarah Godfrey