Evening star., 1951-12-10
BY Alice Eyersmon

by AItCe EFefSm0n
Song recitals by Camilla Will
liams in the Asbury Methodist
Church, and by Florence Miller in
the Phillips Gallery yesterday
afternoon gave occasion to hear
vocal programs somewhat out of
the ordinary. Miss Miller, eSpe-
cially, selected choice and rarely
performed numbers that required
a musician of sound training to
present. Miss Williams, one of the
principal leading sopranos of the
New York City Opera Co.. in
cluded arias in her list otherwise
taken up with Lieder and French
songs, Negro spirituals, and songs
in English.
Miss Miller, but lately out of a
sick bed. took time in warming
up both vocally and interpretively.
She found songs in French more
sympathetic to her vocal quality
and to her temperament, and in
this group was the Swiss-born
Ernest Bloch's 'Ronde," which she
sang exceptionally well. The
language comes easily to her and
the special style developed by
Debussy, Pierne, and later Poulenc,
offered no difficulties for her.
Poulenc's "Cinq Poemes" carry
the mark of the composers au-
dacity in composition and. if not
particularly pleasing from a me-
lodic standpoint, they demand an
understanding approach from the
singer. His "Bleuet" was more
charming and less unusual.
Timbre Is Pleasant.
Mahler's '1ieder zines fahrenden
Gesellen," needed a sharper enun-
citation of the text than Miss
Miller used. Her soprano. while
of pleasant timbre and of am
pie range. has neither the tonal
depth nor warmth tc extract the
utmost from these songs. 1t would
not be just to consider her re-
stricted quality in the high regis
ter as other than stemming from
her recent illness without knowing
to the contrary. But there was
evidence throughout her singing
OF lack of breadth and the tones
were occasionally hard.
There was more expansion in
every direction in her delivery of
Debussy's "C'est fextase langou-
reuse" and Noel des enfants qui
mont pas de maisons" and in
Pierne's charmingly light lie
Moulin" But the superiority of
Miss Miller's secure musicianship
in the difficulties of rhythm and
mtonation,s and her appreciation
of style, made strong impression.
Warren Perry Thew was at the
piano and while his accompani-
mentS were colored artistically, he
did not seem as yet to have de-
veloped accompanying style.
Miss Williams. who has the
distinction of being the first
Negro artist to sing the role of
Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's ''Madama
Butterfly" presented her program
with great polish. In spite of
her many operatic successes, her
finest work was done in the
Lieder where the innate beauty
of her voice came through NOV
ingly. When unforced, her soprano
is remarkably warm and pure
responding to every shade of
emotion. Her singing of Schu-
bert's "Nacht and Traueme" was
a gem in every sense.
Tones Out of Focus.
The same lovely, controlled, and
flexible sound was employed in
the beginning of the aria, I'm
quelle trine morbide" from Puc-
cini's "Manon Lescaut," and the
high notes near the end were of
the same quality. But immedi-
ately after, pressure seemed to be
applied and the tones became
brittle and out Of focus. This
happened also in the crescendo
runs of "Zeff1retti lusinghiere"
from Mozart's "Idomenco," spoil
ing the effect of the preceding
softly sung scale. Were Miss
Williams to overcome this ten
dency which can have such un-
happy consequences, there is no
limit to what she can accomplish.
For she is an artist in her grasp
of the songs and in her knowledge
of how to vary the color of her
voice to interpret them, beauti-
fully and with finish, and to
project the emotion to her
listeners.
The recital was presented un-
der the auspices of the XI Omega
Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority, of which Miss Williams
is member. Exceptionally fine
accompaniments were provided by
Borislav Bazala.
Lutheran Chorus Presents
Excellent A CopeIlo Concert
By Elena de Soyn