From The Muskoka Times, Sept. 29, 2000

helen heubi: REVIEW

Henri Loiselle makes great singing sound easy

The rich voice of Henri Loiselle filled the Gravenhurst Opera House nearly to overflowing as he opened the Muskoka Concert Association's 2000-2001 season Monday night. The bass-baritone also has a rich repertoire, ranging from classical works by Donaudy, Martini, Handel and Mozart to Broadway hits and folk favourites like "Home on the Range," the first song that he sang in public at age six.

During the first half of the program, I was wishing, as I often have before, that I were a baritone, so that I too could do justice to Handel's "Where'er You Walk." Perhaps taking it lightly, at a brisk pace, as Henri did, might be part of the secret. Each of the first set of selections was a pearl, but the graceful Handel aria was a crowning delight to me.

Speaking of pearls, pianist Rachelle Risling made the most of the Gravenhurst Opera House's nine-foot Steinway. Also from Saskatchewan, and now studying for her master's degree in Toronto, she is at home in all the styles of music that we heard that evening. "She is very young," I heard someone remark. Yet many a would-be accompanist could take lessons from her, never overpowering the singer, and always being there in support, as needed.

Schubert's "An die Musik" might be Henri Loiselle's theme song. Despite government cuts to the arts, the beauty of his chosen art form remains, untouched. He introduced me to Schubert's "Litanei," and I look forward to hearing it again and again.

As for "Der Erlkonig" -- the most familiar piece to me of the Schubert set -- Henri and piano accompanist Rachelle came through with flying hooves, scarves of mist, scary Elf King, terrified child and worried father. This grim story is not a favourite with page-turner Marion Loiselle, who gamely takes her crucial place beside the pianist all the same. Not a happy ending, but what a wonderful drama for piano and baritone is this wild ride through the night to the poem by Goethe.

Mozart's operas "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" provide ideal roles for Henri Loiselle, who has toured extensively with the Canadian Opera Company. The audience so thoroughly enjoyed all three Mozart arias of the evening that it is a wonder we did not anticipate the inevitable standing ovation then and there for this artist with a warm voice and personality to match.

Henri Loiselle is neither Alexander Kipnis nor Paul Robeson, but his interpretations of "Der Erlkonig" and "Ole Man River" reminded me of both of these great singers, while being still essentially his own. Paul Robeson's was the definitive "Old Man River" when I was growing up. At home, we wore out our 78 r.p.m. record of that Jerome Kern classic, as Henri may also have done. From the age of five, he was singing along with his mother's extensive record collection in the farm kitchen before the rest of the family was awake. Henri's "Ole Man River" evokes the voice of Robeson, without mere mimicry, as if the great activist had handed on a torch to a worthy heir.

Before the very grounded work-related songs like "Ole Man River" and Merle Travis's "Sixteen Tons," Henri Loiselle took us back to the early 1800s, when many Canadians had to flee the consequences of the very short 1837 rebellion. "Un Canadien Errant" is a poignant song that we may hear even on nearby Muldrew Lake at a summer singsong. Felix Leclerc's "Hymne au Printemps" swings from the melancholy of a lonely prairie winter to the promise of a Prairie spring.

The audience joined in on "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Music", and earned applause from the soloist, who also gave us "How to Handle a Woman" from "Camelot" and "I was Born Under a Wandering Star" from "Paint Your Wagon." "Home on the Range" has, as well as a lilting tune, some particularly poetic lyrics in the second verse.

"Accentuate the Positive," Bing Crosby's hit from the Forties, is a strict necessity for a Saskatchewan farmer. One year of perfect farming out of 30, says Henri, is not going to make anyone wealthy, as in the song from "Fiddler on the Roof." A heartfelt "If I Were a Rich Man" completed the program.

Henri Loiselle accepted our standing ovation modestly, saying we didn't need to stand up, as he had already prepared an encore: Gershwin's "I've Got Plenty of Nothin'."

This world-class bass-baritone who farms in Saskatchewan may not be wealthy in material terms, but must feel rich with a mine of musical endowments, only partly tapped, and a wide horizon of repertoire to be developed. Each new avenue demands more of this eternal student, as he builds his art on solid grounding from early childhood. He is now at work on several compositions by Gabriel Faure in anticipation of an extended tour in Quebec.

Thanks to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Societe Radio du Canada, Henri Loiselle can be heard more and more often all the way across our country.

His website is www.quandrant.net/henri (Posted Sept. 29, 2000)