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Spring
arrived with Charlotte in Connecticut. I think it
was waiting for her -- I know I was.
I'd bought my tickets a month earlier in the midst of a
blizzard -- trapped in my home, tapped into the Internet.
But the day of the concert brought the first warm winds
and clear skies of Spring -- a marvelous relief after a
tough, long winter here.
Though my wife isn't quite the Charlotte fan I am, she
sure didn't fight the idea of joining me for the concert.
She took one look at the price of the tickets and scurried
off to the mall to buy a sassy black dress to go with her
pearls. Our 50 mile drive to Hartford put the golden
rays of the later afternoon sun behind us and brought expectations for a terrific evening ahead of us.
Hartford's Bushnell auditorium is a true piece of New
England -- brick exterior, white arched trim and porticos.
It could be a large house of worship. It sits on a
wonderful, open corner of the downtown, next to a
spacious open area. Not surprisingly, it was sold
out this night. We joined the many small groups,
many of them clearly families, as they made their way
toward the Hall. We thought we looked as though we
might be going to Church -- and then, of course, we
realized we were!
Most of you are familiar now, from the other concert
reports on this site, of the songs Charlotte has chosen
for this concert tour -- quite an eclectic group of her
favorites, drawn from all three albums and
spiced with several wonderful show tunes.
Without a doubt, I was most anticipating the songs I'd
never yet heard her sing, "Bali H'ai" in
particular.
To my ears, the highlights of the evening were in fact
Charlotte's renditions of "Bali H'ai" (which is
a fantastic fit to her vocal talents) and
"Summertime." "Bridge over Troubled
Water" was terrific as well -- I hope to see it on a
future album.
"Pie Jesu" was fascinating -- it's great to hear
how this song changes as Charlotte grows.
Charlotte did wonderfully as well with "Mae Hiraeth
yu y Mor." a Welsh song from her first album which
she sang "bravely" without a microphone. Accompanied only
by the harp, Charlotte's voice carried very nicely through
the concert hall, and the audience's attention was rapt
here.
Those who worry about Charlotte's voice can relax.
Across the evening, Charlotte's sound was clarity itself,
alhough in "La Pastorella," she reminded us
she's still human when she missed one of those many rising
staccato notes. I'd say this was her only
conspicuous error.
"Summertime," was our reward for giving
Charlotte a standing ovation, and served to close the
concert very strongly. Charlotte's voice today, with
a nice use of portamento, makes this so very much stronger
than the version on the second album. And she's
worked out an arrangement with Jesse Cook on guitar that
is very distinctive -- Jesse does an interlude between
verses that extends the song another minute or more and
gives it a wonderful sultry flavor.
Of course, things are never perfect. Surprisingly,
the Bushnell elected to forego printing a program for the
evening (!) which served to remind me just how important
those little sheets can be. And visitors to our
Forums here will know from my posts and those of others
that there are still significant opportunities to further
improve this concert before its conclusion in Minneapolis.
But, make no mistake. We had a wonderful evening,
and the air was still Spring-like as we headed for the
car.
Charlotte's headed to New York now for her most important
concert stop at Lincoln Center. But she'll be back
in New England soon enough for concerts in Providence and
Boston. You can be certain we'll welcome her
strongly. We've learned she brings the sunshine.
----------------
Dan McGrath
Brookfield, Connecticut
April 7, 2001
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