St. Edith Stein Roman Catholic Church
Brockton, Massachusetts
October 26, 2003
The best things about attending an Anthony Kearns concert (besides hearing his voice again), include the possibility that he might add a new song, or you might gain new insight into something you've heard before. Both those things happened at Sunday's concert in Brockton. Anthony added a new Thomas Moore melody, called "Oft in the Stilly Night" and while it will not replace "Love Thee Dearest", it was most beautifully sung. Also, I must have been in a very short coma in Hartford because I did not really remember "My Heart and I", a song by the famous tenor Richard Tauber. On Sunday, I really heard it. It is an absolutely gorgeous song and Anthony sang it exquisitely. It wasn't only the beauty of his voice, but the heartfelt emotion he put into the song that made it so wonderful, and certainly one of the highlights of the afternoon. Not even Richard Tauber could have sung it any better.
At the expense of redundancy, I'll just say that Anthony's voice is really coming into it own now. The high register is full and ringing, the low notes are strong and almost baritonal. But he never sacrifices the lyricism of a piece to go for volume. He again sang "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" from " The Land of Smiles" and it was magnificent. And "Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms", which I don't think I've heard him do before, was just lovely. There were lots of Irish songs, such as "The Gentle Maiden", which began the concert, "Off to Philadelphia", The Pallatine's Daughter", which always gets a great response, "Phil the Fluther", and of course "Danny Boy." There isn't such left to say about Danny, except that Patrick prefaced it with some very moving words, the audience cheered, and I don't want to hear anyone else sing it, except Anthony.
The Duets between Anthony and Patrick were still present. The audience loved them, especially "Friendship", the song Patrick wrote for his Gilbert & Sullivan production in Dublin. And I especially loved the duet "We'll Gather Lilacs in the Spring" by Ivor Novello. It was a perfect little jewel in the vocal cords and fingers of Mr. Kearns and Mr. Healy. I'll close by saying that Anthony again sang "E Lucevan le Stelle", by Tosca. I've heard him sing it several times, now, and each time, it becomes more and more his. His voice has the plangency AND the lyrical quality to do justice to it. It was extraordinary. When he first sang it, Anthony said it was "for the girls". But I'm afraid we'll have to give it up. Now, it's for the world.
What to say about Patrick Healy. He's still what he's always been…a marvelous musician, composer, lyricist, scholar, raconteur, and one of the nicest people you'll ever know. That's quite a list of accomplishments. But he also accompanies Anthony Kearns superbly so that they're not just two men on a stage performing. They're the blending of two talents into one Memorable experience.
By Berta Calechman