If someone tells you a particular wine is interesting, it's time for some decoding. Does that mean "hard to enjoy" or "delectably complex?" Unusual or downright odd?
In that context, you may be glad to hear that soprano Kelley Nassief's voice is not interesting. In plain terms, it is simply pleasurable. Her voice is strong and smooth, more pinot noir than pinot grigio, and — the metaphor is inescapable — it paired well with the Richmond Symphony.
Nassief sang four pieces for an opera-inspired Masterworks concert, conducted by Steven Smith. The Richmond Symphony Chorus sang several choruses, and the orchestra had a couple of preludes and an intermezzo to itself, as well as "Four Sea Interludes" from Britten's opera "Peter Grimes," for which Smith drew a clean, elemental sound from the musicians, particularly the winds.
Nassief began with Ravel's "Shéhérazade," a concert setting of three poems by an avant-garde contemporary of Ravel. The music tends toward the dreamy and languorous, and Nassief's rich voice set the scene. The orchestra was masterfully supportive.
The highlight of her time on stage was "Song to the Moon," from Dvoøák's "Rusalka." The opera tells the story of a water nymph who falls in love with a human; this aria expresses her longing to be with him. Nassief and the musicians delivered a performance that was both immediate in its expression of that yearning and tempered by restraint, like the sepia glow of a old photograph. Nassief revealed how shapely the sung consonants and vowels of Czech can be. It's too bad this piece was buried in the middle of the program.
The singers of the chorus took on an entertaining variety of roles. In "Dans l'air nous soivons" from Bizet's "Carmen," their portrayal of young women getting off work from a cigarette factory and the men who wait for them was charming and buoyant. The altos, always strong, sounded as if they were walking right beside you, tilting their heads to confide in you about the vapidity of a man's sweet talk.
The men became prisoners enjoying the fresh air in "O welche lust" from Beethoven's "Fidelio." Although at first the singers struggled to assert their lines over the moving parts of the orchestra, they gained strength and confidence as the song progressed.
The full chorus ended the evening as a throng of jubilant Egyptians for the "Triumphal March" from "Aida," but its most appealing work was as displaced Hebrews recalling the hills and breezes of their native land in the chorus "Va Pensiero" from another Verdi opera, "Nabucco." The earnest melodic lines and solid harmonic structure suited the large ensemble nicely.
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