(© Fadi Kheir)

For a third straight year, the Teatro Real de Madrid brought its talents to the stage of Carnegie Hall to tremendous success.

The performance, featuring the Orchestra of the Teatro Real under conductor David Afkham and the incredible artistry of soprano Saioa Hernández and violinist Maria Dueñas, was superb in not only the quality of its music but also its overall structure.

The stars of the night were undoubtedly the two soloists and the concert was cleverly designed around them and the interpretations they would embark upon. Dueñas’ interpretation of the cinematic Korngold Violin Concerto was preceded by Joaquin Turina’s aptly-titled “Danzas fantásticas,” while Hernández’s numerous romanzas were flanked by two Ravel classics, giving the entire evening a sense of narrative and dramatic cohesion.

The master of proceedings was Afkham, who masterfully led the orchestra through the wide-ranging repertory, managed to find optimal balance with the soloists throughout, and also delivered some incredibly potent musical moments that will be hard to forget.

Fantasy

The muted string sounds of Turina’s “Exaltación” were a magical beginning to the concert. Afkham took him time building the piece to its most explosive moments, creating a sense of unpredictability in the shifting tempi. That was neatly mirrored in the Ensueño, which opens with a roar, aggressively performed here. The piece gradually shifts into a softer soundscape and the interpretation here also seemed to expand as the piece progressed, allowing the listener to dwell in that musical world a bit longer. The Orgia was passionate and intense, wrapping up that segment with great energy.

It was a perfect prelude to the rich “Moderato Nobile” of the Korngold, here performed with a great intensity by Dueñas. The violinist brought her signature intensity from the off, the vibrato wide and fast, the sound blossoming immediately. Her approach to that opening melody, which builds and rises to violinistic heights, had an urgency and relentless drive that you don’t often get from other violinists who prefer a more contemplative approach. Premiered by Jascha Heifetz, the king of propulsive (and in my view, more dramatic) violin playing, Dueñas’ approach seemed more a spiritual successor in that regard. The same goes for her luxurious and unrestrained use of portamento. Some of the portamento is marked in the score, but a lot of it is up to artistic discretion and Dueñas’ use, especially ascending to the violin’s stratosphere, felt not only stylistically appropriate, but idiomatic and riveting. Her playing throughout the first movement was rich in its intensity and technical brilliance. The Risoluto, wherein the violinist gets a Cadenza of sorts, features a challenging interplay of arpeggiated doublestops, first as sixteenths and then eventually as sixteenths against triplet sixteenths. It happens three times before the Pesante Ritenuto. After thrusting forward throughout the rest of the piece, here Dueñas stopped time. The first of these passages was taken very slowly, with a lot of breadth given to each note. The second built on that, stretching the phrase and then speeding up sooner. And the final time took that momentum and continued building on it. It was magical and a brilliant shift of pace. The entire reading of this first movement had a heightened dramatic quality to it, even operatic.

The second movement was ethereal in its vocal quality. Dueñas milked those opening dolce lines of the Andante, creating a sense of longing, a tension that opposed much of the propulsion and heat she had built up in that first movement. There’s a poco allargando about 15 measures in, but you felt like she had brought that earlier to dream-like effect. Her rich sound was potent and beaming in the first movement, but here it was its most vibrant, the highs shimmering. Sublime was the word. Fire was the one I would use to describe the final movement, here forward-moving and the true definition of Allegro assai vivace. This movement is a bravura send-off for the piece, growing increasingly challenging as it develops before receding to a deceptive calm near the end. Dueñas not only navigated but dominated every violinistic hurdle, riproaring all the way to the end. Her night was crowned by thunderous applause.

Then it was time for intermission.

Operatic

I loved the choice of encasing this second half in the joviality and humor of Ravel. The “Alborada del gracioso” was wonderfully energetic, a continuation of the Korngold but also set the stage for the Spanish-language arias and romanzas that would follow. Throughout the “Alborada,” Afkham really let the orchestra explode before shifting them back to softest of tones, using Carnegie Hall’s unrivaled acoustics to mesmerizing artistic effect. The central section, shifting the solo to the woodwinds for a moment of sublime melancholy, further opened the path to the operatic nature of this part of the program. At the other end of the performance, the “Valse” was a wonderful end to the program. The opening lines are full of mystery and foreboding, though Ravel drops a low note in the brass to diffuse the tension. You could hear that low note loud and clear. It was perfect. Then the piece ratchets up into an explosive Valse, which was performed gloriously. But for me, the moment that crowned the performance came halfway through where, Ravel essentially presents a Rossini crescendo that leads to the first gong strike. The dramatic build here was irresistible, the tension palpable, the gong strike euphoric in the release of said tension. There was some truly mesmerizing musicality throughout these two pieces that made them a perfect complement to what came between them.

And what came between them was a vocal titan. I saw Hernández for the first time a few months ago interpreting Turandot in Berlin. From the moment she first appeared, she dominated the scenery. When she finally got her first chance to sing “In questa reggia,” I was in shock. That’s how powerful and potent her voice is. There’s volume, presence, resonance, elegance, beauty, and true musicianship all packed into one. More than that even.

Listening to her again in one of the greatest concert venues in the world was like rediscovering her incredible artistry. From the opening notes of “¡Allí está! Riyendo junto a ese muer” from “La vida breve” she filled the auditorium with sound. The first high note on ‘Seperaó” in exploded into the space and she rode above the orchestra, her laments intense throughout the ensuing lines leading up to full lows on “Yo me siento morir ” There was ferocity on “Unas veces se dispara” leading into more vocal opulence and aggression on “¡Qué ingrato!” which she sustained throughout much of the ensuing passages. Eventually the intensity relented leading to an unforgettably soft “Como el pajarillo solo.” The close of the aria was delivered with a renewed power and her voice rang beautifully into the hall.

The renowned Danza No. 1 from this very same opera followed, offering a beautiful counterpoint and a shift in energy from the dark and dramatic aria that preceded it.

That allowed for a perfect transition into “Junto dende chavaliyo” from “El Gato Montes” where Hernández luxuriated in an elegant legato line, the voice building and growing throughout the piece, but always retaining a consistency in brilliance and focus. Halfway the line shifts into consistent triplets for the soprano. Hernández retained her clarity of both line and text throughout. At the climax, she got another chance to unleash her vibrant top in ecstatic fashion.

For her final selection in the program, Hernández showcase “¿Qué te importa que no venga?” From the off, she had a dark intensity in her singing, allowing her middle and lower voice to shine throughout the opening stanzas of the romanza. By the time the final “Madita sea mi sino,” her potency had ramped up and the soprano matched the thunderous orchestra. And for her final moments, she blossomed on the high note, riding over the ensemble and releasing into a lengthy explosion of applause.

At the time, the audience didn’t know it, but she would be back, this time with “Petenera” from Moreno-Torroba’s “La Marchenera.” Here, that ample line from the “Gato Montes” romanza flourishes with a particular sweetness materializing during the passage that opens with “La primera rosa.” The breadth of line was powerfully felt throughout this piece, with Hernández shifting from incredibly potent high notes to the delicate pianni on “mi querer.” The soprano gets to stop time with one of her high notes and Hernández did just that. And even if the previous note was incredible, she delivered one final display of dramatic soprano bravura on yet another high note riding over a full orchestra to close her encore. It was an incredible night for the Spanish soprano. She’s had an incredible career in Europe over the past few years and really should be singing at the opera house a few blocks uptown on a regular basis. It’s truly an operatic tragedy that the management / the board over there hasn’t moved mountains to make it happen.

While there’s no doubt that Hernández and Dueñas were the stars of their respective moments, Afkham was a strong collaborator for them, and the orchestra was on the money throughout the Korngold and the romanzas.

The concert ended with one final encore, this time the “Intermedio” from Giménez’s “La boda de Luis Alonso.” The piece is celebration embodied, and it was performed with unrivaled ebullience, providing a capstone to one of the best concerts I have witnessed in quite some time. I look forward to the Teatro Real’s return to Carnegie Hall next season.