Christine Brewer's Enthralling Night

By Stephen Brookes
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, November 30, 2006; C09

Christine Brewer may be the most powerful dramatic soprano currently striding the world's concert stages. Her voice is almost a force of nature -- more like a beautifully controlled tornado than anything else … the naturalness and spontaneity Brewer brought to her interpretations; [showed] the power came not just from the magnificent voice but from the brain behind it.

Accompanied with fine sensitivity by pianist Craig Rutenberg, Brewer opened the program with Wagner's …"Wesendonck-Lieder."… Her sense of phrasing and pacing are acute, and every detail was clearly etched -- yet nothing felt contrived or calibrated for effect.

The slightly unhinged erotic tension of Richard Strauss's "Gesange des Orients" made for more daunting fare. Rarely performed, the five songs push singers to their limit …Brewer unleashed them with a passion that nearly tore the ears off everyone in the room.

The tone lightened considerably in the second half of the program, when Brewer …sang John Carter's 1964 Cantata. Based on four traditional spirituals… her ethereal account of "Sometimes I Feel (Like a Motherless Child)" was especially moving.

Five settings of songs from the British Isles closed the program… Benjamin Britten's arrangement of "The Salley Gardens" especially stood out for its subtlety and delicacy of feeling. Called back onstage by a rapturous audience, Brewer and Rutenberg performed no fewer than five encores…