Tenor Mok Shows Strong, Clear Form

Tenor Jin-Hak Mok made an arresting, auspicious United States debut, marred, drat the luck, by a single ill-fated stumble in the High C Sweepstakes at the end of a recital Sunday at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo.

He cracked on the high C of “Ah, mes amis”--the easy one, if there is such a thing--before strongly executing the marathon high C’s of “Pour mon a^me”, both from Donizetti’s “La Fille du Regiment.”

Up to that point, the last programmed piece of the evening, the 28-year-old Korean, born in Seoul but now living in Italy, had just about everything going for him.

He has a beautifully tempered lyric tenor--even, strong, fresh and clear throughout the range, bronze in color, warm on top, virile in application. Let’s hope he doesn’t overstrain it.

He is an engaged and imaginative artist. His diction, especially when singing in Italian and with the exception of somewhat accented English, is exemplary.

His most dramatic utterances came in Federico’s lament from Cilea’s “L’Arlesiana” and the Korean song, “Yearning for Kum Kang Mountain.”

He was eloquent in the anguish of “Pourquoi me reveiller” from Massenet’s “Werther,” the bold artistic credo of “Che gelida manina” from Puccini’s “La Boheme” and the sweetness of Schubert’s Serenade. He was expansive in “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” from Lehar’s “Das Land des Lachelns,” sung for some reason in Italian, as “Tu che m’hai preso il core.”

He ventured into Domingo territory with Lara’s rousing “Granada” and into Pavarotti repertory not only with “Fille” but also with “Una furtiva lagrima” from Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” and some of the encores--”O Sole Mio,” “Cor ‘ngrato” and “Torna a Sorrento.”

Lawrence James Wong provided sympathetic accompaniment. The recital was sponsored by the Tenor Society of Southern California.