Accompanied by pianist Helmut Deutsch, Beczała performed at the Isaac Stern Auditorium, the venue's largest space with a capacity of 2,790.
His programme featured works by Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and Grieg, in addition to four songs by Polish composer Mieczysław Karłowicz.
Roman Markowicz, a critic for Poland's Ruch Muzyczny journal and the Polish American publication Kurier Plus, said that Beczała "was in excellent vocal form, his unique tenor voice filling the huge space of the Stern Auditorium without the slightest effort."
Critic David Wright had this to say about Karłowicz and Beczała in the New York Classical Review: "Before his untimely death at 32 while skiing in Poland’s Tatra Mountains, Karłowicz composed tuneful songs full of his love of the outdoors.
"The four on Monday's program ranged from the pretty parlor song It Goes Over the Fields to the bitter twist ending of The Enchanted Princess.
"Beczała shaped the Polish texts artfully, and Deutsch provided textured backgrounds and eloquent postludes, especially in the closing song, I Remember Quiet, Golden Days."
Wright also wrote: "On this night Beczała, whose big, pleasing voice has rung out in lead roles from Cavaradossi to Don José was emphasizing the intimate and the poetic over the grand gesture."
He added: "The applause, robust at first, kept going long enough to bring the artists back for four brief encores: Rachmaninoff’s A Dream and Spring Waters, Moniuszko's The Spinner, and Still wie die Nacht by Carl Bohm."
In an interview with Polish state news agency PAP, Beczała noted that Monday's concert was his third recital at Carnegie Hall.
Photo: StrangeTraveler, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
"I take every opportunity to promote Polish music," he said, highlighting the inclusion of Karłowicz's songs.
Beczała added that he is currently rehearsing for the role of Radames in Verdi’s Aida at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The production is set to premiere on New Year’s Eve.
On January 25, a performance featuring Beczała will be broadcast live to cinemas and theatres worldwide as part of The Met: Live in HD series.
(mk/gs)