The overheard comment of a schoolgirl leaving Saturday evening’s concert by Asher Hainovitz and the Barbara Thomas Singers – “I wish it had gone on for hours” – was probably a good index of popular feeling.
In many ways, it was Cantor Hainovitz’s most satisfying appearance yet. His voice is supple and controlled, he has enough breath to fill a zeppelin, and he can shape a phrase most musically. He could have a big future.
There were some small technical lapses. He sang flat in the recitative Oh, Loss of Sight (Handel), and pushed ahead of the accompaniment in Il Mio Tesoro from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Generally, though, his technique was ample and assured.
Authentic
What bothered me more were some shortcomings of taste and style. Heart-wrung sobs have to be endured in Neopolitan balladry as part of the genre. But they make cheap emotional capital and are quite out of place in oratorio and antique airs.
His singing of Hebrew songs was authentic and vital. Stylistically, this was the high point of the evening. Becky Nussbaum accompanied him sensitively throughout.
The Barbara Thomas Singers are young, disciplined, balanced and enthusiastic. They provided a lighter note and were well received. Cantor Hainovitz joined them in four items. The arrangements were generally discreet, but Schubert’s Ave Maria sounded syrupy in this guise.