Lawrence Brownlee and Damien Sneed perform at The Crypt Sessions
(Andrew Ousley)
Sergio A. Mims writes:
If Le Poisson Rouge is cool and Roulette
is edgy among New York's alternative venues, where does that put the
crypt at the Church of the Intercession at 155th Street and Broadway?
Slightly underground, with a performance area framed by discreet stained
glass, dramatically vaulted ceiling and intimate seating capacity for
100, in the inaugural season of The Crypt Sessions.
In an hour-long recital of songs and spirituals, Metropolitan Opera
star Lawrence Brownlee said he wasn't performing so much as "sharing" in
the tradition of the African-American church. But the singing wasn't
all that different from his Tuesday dress rehearsal for the Met's
revival of "La Donna del Lago" (which opens Dec. 11). High notes and
gospel improvisations aren't even vocalized differently than the
coloratura cadenzas that regularly challenge leading tenors in Rossini
operas.
Though informal — with Brownlee in jeans, sport jacket and seated on a
stool — the evening wasn't a lightweight sing, partly because the
arrangements of spirituals by pianist Damen Sneed sometimes embraced
bebop jazz at its most adventurous.
"The ashes of the parishioners are buried in the crypt," said
Brownlee. "You can't help but feel the solemnity." Nor could the
listeners resist soaking up the gothic atmosphere during its
processional from a pre-concert wine-and-cheese reception, past the
adjoining Trinity Church Cemetery, to the crypt itself.
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