Dan's Papers - August 22, 2008 - Clash of the Titans

Rufus Wainwright is a 35-year-old, two-time Juno Award-winning, edgy, Canadian/American "pop" singer/songwriter.

Jessye Norman is a 62-year-old, four-time Grammy Award-winning dramatic soprano of international renown.

The two may seem like odd bedfellows, but in fact, their upcoming pairing at the Watermill Center is a stroke of sheer genius.

In western music, there has always been a divide between classical and popular genres. Because of hefty commissions from the church and private patrons in the 18th and 19th centuries, the "classical" style dominated the music scene - it was the "popular" music. Music for the commoners included folk and, earlier, troubador songs - simple ditties often with bawdy lyrics, performed by musicians who traveled from place to place for their gigs. It was very easily accessible music.

Today, the tables have turned. The music of 20th- and 21st-century classical composers, with wild explorations of tonality and instrumentation, is challenging and thus limited in its audience, finding a home in a few concert halls, adventurous music festivals and on conservatory recital stages. On the flip side, pop music - most of which is stuck in the 18th-century harmony, song structure (verse/chorus/verse/chorus) and instrumentation (guitars and drums replacing lutes and tambourines) - is ubiquitous. And despite the adage, "There are only two types of music: good music and bad music," most people are adherents of one style or the other. There is the occasional crossover, when modern composers "borrow" from pop or folk idioms, or vice versa - like the '60s rock opera, Tommy, and some modern musical theater that blurs the lines between opera and Broadway. But outside of theatrical music, there is rarely a successful fusion of the two worlds.

Rufus Wainwright is one of the few pop artists who has successfully bridged the chasm between pop and classical - in fact, his music has been called "popera." Wainwright, in his own words, is "a huge opera fanatic." So it was no surprise that he would choose Norman, an operatic legend, as his guest for the upcoming performance at the Watermill Center's benefit concert on August 30.

Many people will recognize one name or the other, but few will be familiar with both artists. After a little Googling, pop fans might angst about being forced to listen to opera; opera fans might be perturbed about Norman's pairing with a rock singer. But for those who know both of these artists, there's one thought: "Wow. What a brilliant combination."

The successful blending of the two aesthetics starts with Wainwright's output. To say he writes "big" songs is an understatement. Calling him a songwriter is like calling the "Ride of the Valkyries" a little ditty. His best works are structured like full-blown arias, with melodies that gracefully segue from quick-paced, recitative-like passages to broad, sweeping phrases. Many of Wainwright's arrangements are "through composed," establishing specific moods and colors from section to section. Every element is thought out - instrumentation, layering within the arrangement, word coloring and phrasing, time signatures, tempo - through deliberate yet uncalculated technique. In his five CDs of original music the best songs are really scenes, telling a story or revealing the inner thoughts of the character.

Shockingly, for someone with such advanced composition skills ,Wainwright had only a smattering of formal training - a "lot of piano lessons," and two years at McGill University's music school. "I wasn't very good there, I was kind of lazy," he said. "But in retrospect, all those hours I didn't spend practicing scales, I spent writing songs and developing my own style."

Wainright's training was largely experiential. Raised in a family of musicians (the son of folk singers Loudon Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle), he listened to the great opera composers, whom he cites as his major influences. "I love all of them, except Meyerbeer. I feel bad for him," he joked. (Meyerbeer has the dubious distinction of writing the last opera to feature a male castrato.) "But my favorite is Verdi because there's such a mystery to what makes his music so amazing. I still can't figure it out. Even in Traviata's stock 19th-century arrangements, there's still mystery."

Wainwright has parlayed his passion and leanings toward the classical genre into success in the alternative pop world for a few reasons. His subject matter is topical - he writes about addiction in "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk," sexuality in "Gay Messiah," the artifice of boys who feel "as pretty as princes" in "Poses." His language is very much in the vernacular. In "Cigarettes," he sings, "If I should buy jelly beans, have to eat them all in just one sitting." Jelly beans.

Another element that makes Wainwright's heady output accessible is his voice, by no means a legit, pear-shaped tone. Wainwright lazily slurs from note to note, with a casual, warm yet slightly nasal pop sound that betrays the melody's musical complexity and sophistication. (Yet he has a wide vocal range and his pitch is dead on.)

But fans of the operatic vocal style can't help but imagine Placido Domingo singing the hell out of "Poses," or Kathleen Battle taking on the initial delicacy of "Cigarettes" and launching its grand, ascending scale passages.

This is where Wainwrights's shared billing becomes transparent. Enter Jessye Norman. While the details of the program were not disclosed as of this writing, one could only hope that the performance would involve Norman singing Wainwright.

"I'm not sure what she's going to do," he said. "I made some requests, and she seemed enthusiastic, but if she just shows up and does a few songs, I'll be thrilled. Whatever diva wants, diva gets."

It's anybody's guess what Norman might want. In addition to performing title roles in operatic chestnuts like Aida and Carmen, in the heavies by Wagner and Strauss, and more transparent music by Poulenc and Faure, Norman has reached beyond the standard repertoire, collaborating with cutting edge artists like Bill T. Jones, Steve McQueen and Watermill Center Artistic Director Robert Wilson.

Which is how she came to Wainright. "I've been working with Bob [Wilson] on a piece based on Shakespeare sonnets that will premiere in the spring in Germany," said Wainwright. "Bob is an amazing director and I have to say, very well connected. He has a lot of amazing friends and one of those is Jessye Norman. When I got ready to do the benefit I politely requested that I work with her."

Wainwright's working with Norman will also inform his current project: He has been commissioned by Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb to write his first opera, which he calls Prima Donna.

"It's about an opera singer, a prima donna," he said. "It takes place in France, sounds very French - and I'm writing the libretto in French with a friend." While he couldn't reveal much more about it, he said it will premiere not at the Met, but elsewhere, "very very soon."

The concert at the Watermill Center may be a small preview of what's to come, as alternative pop fans are lured into the gilded halls of the opera house. Will worlds collide? More likely, they will coalesce.