The second half of the Matthews/Lepper recital comprised Strauss and Wagner. We are talking Northern people, for sure. Are Finns Scandinavians? I say no, but we can leave that discussion to another day. Last night at Weill, she started with Sibelius and Grieg-“two of Scandinavia’s most revered composers,” said our program notes. I also reviewed her in the 2016–17 season, when she and others performed a group recital with Thomas Adès at the piano.
After gushing for a while, I wrote, “I could go on, but suffice it to say that Sally Matthews proved the complete package: vocally, technically, and mentally (and temperamentally).” And Sally Matthews? I first heard her-more like fell for her-in the 2006–7 season, when she sang in a Creation (Haydn) under Sir Colin Davis. Lepper in the 2014–15 season, when he accompanied Karen Cargill, the Scottish mezzo, also in Weill Recital Hall. Incidentally, Simon Lepper is not to be confused with Raymond Leppard, the sterling conductor who died last fall. Your correspondent could not be both places at the same time, and he went to Weill, and Matthews/Lepper. In all likelihood, Peoria does not present such a conflict. Also at 7:30, in Weill Recital Hall, Sally Matthews, the English soprano, gave a recital, in the company of Simon Lepper, an English pianist. Last night, at 7:30, in Alice Tully Hall, Susan Graham, the eminent American mezzo-soprano, gave a recital, along with the pianist Malcolm Martineau, an eminent Scotsman.
