Allegro Performs Straight From Heart

Allegro Friday, Feb. 13, The Met

Love songs and poetry find their places in our hearts at least once a year on Valentine’s Day, but Allegro reserves its celebration for every other year. Allegro’s “Roses and Lace” concert took place Friday and Saturday evenings at The Met. I attended Friday.

To put it on every year might tax the patience of some listeners and require scraping the bottom of the repertoire barrel to continually invent a new angle. A biennial performance allows the program to be uncontrived and fresh.

Allegro’s melancholy selections were exactly that. Simple and straight to the heart. A few gorgeous love songs by Franz Schubert and a handful of well- and lesser-known ditties by the American master of song Stephen Foster and there you have the framework of a program which seems obvious almost to the point of triteness, but is unbeatable.

While not unbeatable, Allegro’s directors, Beverly Biggs and David Dutton, were certainly having a good night. Dutton’s oboe exuded enviable musical and technical control, especially on Foster’s “Anadolia” for solo oboe and with Ann Fennessy on Handel’s “Ombra mai fu,” which was possibly the prettiest song all night.

In her remarks, Fennessy pointed out that this aria stands on its own without the need for beautiful poetry - with the disclaimer, “Shakespeare or Goethe it ain’t.” Her wit helps turn potentially tedious chores, such as translation of texts, into pure entertainment.

With all of the wistful stuff on the bill, it seemed as if Fennessy was holding back on the vocal cords most of the time, with only a few moments of the full pipes here and there. Tender was the watchword, though, as the songs on the playlist rarely touched on quick tempi, much less the raucous.

The best examples of this tenderness were the aforementioned Handel, Donaudy’s “O Del Mio Amato Ben” and Foster’s “Beautiful Dreamer.” These were plaintive in tone and unhurried in attitude.

The poetry, particularly the aspect of audience participation, amazed me. On the one hand, I suppose those attending knew in advance that they were to write poems, and that these might be read from the stage. On the other hand, it is surprising how many people apparently participated by submitting something either prepared in advance or off the cuff, and the quality of some of the impromptu submissions.

It is hard to tell whether those whose efforts were read were shy or embarrassed to have a bright light shined on their private lives and feelings. Nevertheless, everyone there seemed to ooh and ah in the proper places and sharing these poems made for an intimate group experience.