Songbird: Orchestra Kentucky’s guest presents the music of Barbara Streisand

Orchestra Kentucky presented an evening of musical nostalgia with guest artist Karine Hannah and her "Songbird" Tribute with the music of the legendary singer-actor Barbara Streisand on a perfect summer evening in Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the SKYPAC. Such tribute concerts are valuable because it helps keep the music of the past alive and remind us that our musical memories are a part of who we are as people. This is something I have thought a lot about recently because of my recent exposure to  Renee Fleming's book "Music and the Mind" and how we have a sort of musical DNA which, when revived, brings back feelings we've had in the past, in this case, positive feelings.

An evening well spent

It is easy for me to drive and park to go to The SKYPAC. As I stroll a couple of blocks up College Street and see the people walking towards the theater as the sun sets behind "The Hill", it always lifts my spirits. When I walk into the SKYPAC and meet friends, and enter the auditorium, I am simply in awe of it, because never in my wildest dreams did I think Bowling Green could ever have such a wonderful venue. After the concert, I stopped into Lily May's next door to have a nightcap and see who may have come in after the concert. I took a walk through Circus Square Park, snapped a couple of photos, admired the "Home is where the heart is" sculpture, and enjoyed the atmospheric lighting and rolling sound of the fountains at the center of it all. I've never understood the rush to get home after concerts. I always like to enjoy the evening after and let the sights and sounds imprint my soul with beautiful thoughts. It keeps me sane.

The Program

The program listed on the website was basically the concert given, with a couple of exceptions. I tried to keep track of it, and I'm not sure if I got it right, so I'll just let it stand. I think there were some alterations to it, but it really isn't noteworthy.

1. SOMEWHERE
2. SING/HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN

Medley:
3. NO MORE TEARS
4. STONEY END
5. MY HEART BELONGS TO ME
6. WOMAN IN LOVE
7. HE TOUCHED ME

Duets (with John James):
8. GUILTY
9. WHAT KIND OF FOOL
10. PAPA, CAN YOU HEAR ME
11. YOU DON’T BRING ME FLOWERS

Acoustic section:
12. LOVE COMES FROM THE MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES
13. SONGBIRD
14. EVERGREEN
15. DON’T RAIN ON MY PARADE
16. PEOPLE

There is a thing that I think of when I hear such presentations. I call it "Musical Imitation". I'm not actually sure I know how I feel about it. On one hand, if the goal is to try and 're-live'  the experience of hearing a Barbara Streisand concert, then it seems like an interesting thing to do. But, in my experience doing such evenings where I sang the music made popular by such artists, including some of these, I never imitated them; I sang them as I sang them. I've had discussions about this topic with people about bands that cover songs from artists, and there is a discrepancy between doing it just like they did it, or taking the song and doing it as you do it. I also have this issue with classical music. I won't decide for you, but as for me, the way I see it is "I'm not them, so I can't recreate them."

So, this evening was clearly a "Musical Imitation" type of concert done with the highest respect for the original artist, Barbara Streisand. Ms. Hannah's voice and appearance are truly very similar to Barbara Streisand's. I sat in the Mezzanine as usual, so it was quite a distance away. In many ways, I think Ms. Hannah's voice is fuller and richer than Barbara's, although I never heard her in concert. Ms. Hannah uses head voice very well, which gives her the ability to sing freely in the upper part of her range, as well as resonate fully in the mid range. "Belting" isn't really my cup of tea, but it is part of the way that Streisand sang; after all, it is used all of the time in music theater. She sang the entire evening flawlessly and with a huge commitment to the songs.

Ms. Hannah was joined by singer John James on several duets. He also backed some songs from the side of the stage. He has a nice sound and supported Ms. Hannah very well. They sang harmoniously together and shared a nice friendship on stage.

Conductor Jeff Reed directed Orchestra Kentucky by elegantly navigating the back-phrasing that is so common with this style of music. The orchestrations are beautiful, and the orchestra performed them excellently. They are so attentive and react to Maestro Reed's cues with sensitivity and enthusiasm. In these concerts, when you have amplification involved, it is very difficult to get the sound of the amplified singer or electric instruments to balance well with the orchestra, and that part is completely out of the hands of the music director, the singers, or the instrumentalists. I've never heard it done very successfully anywhere, so this isn't a critique of it, just an observation from my point of view. To me, amplification is sort of like a surgeon operating with a hatchet instead of a scalpel, but it can't be helped.

Nostalgic Memories

Art is not a perfect science. Life, definitely isn't. We try, we make mistakes, we succeed, and we fail miserably. That is the nature of reality. That is the passing time of a live musical experience that is created, experienced, and lost all in the same moment. What is left behind is how it made us feel inside. We carry memories throughout our lives with the tags of our sensory markers, which bring up scenes of our past, that sometimes can be so powerful that we start thinking about them and forget to continue to listen to the music. This happens to me all of the time, and I fight to stay with the music and not drift off into 'water-colored memories' of what life was like ... back then. For those who lived when Barbara Streisand was the current sensation, you can't help but attach her music to those times of your past. For those who may have experienced this music in this concert for the first time, I wonder what that would be like. What this all means is that we lived and we are alive now. That is a precious gift.

Thank you to Karine Hannah, Orchestra Kentucky, SKYPAC, and Jeff Reed for delivering a beautiful evening of music to remind us of what life is all about. It takes a lot of courage to do that! It is boundlessly appreciated.

The Way We Were

Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Lyrics: Marvin Hamlisch, Music

Mem'ries light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories of the way we were
Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another for the way we were

Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? Could we?

Mem'ries may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget

So it's the laughter we will remember
Whenever we remember the way we were.

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