Liedermatinee Jonas Kaufmann Helmut Deutsch

Note: Foto belongs to Julien, posted here(on opera-giocoso) ( i hope he is ok with me borrowing it, it was just too perfect to resist, it really captures the bond these two have)


So back from Zurich and planning to stay put for a while (so those overdue thoughts on Elisir and Lohengrin at the ROH will also get a chance to be written down, i promise :-)).

It was so incredibly hot in Zurich!! 30 degrees and in London just 15, too much of a difference. And I’ve been fighting off a nasty tonsilitis since the beginning of the week. On Thursday I wasn’t so sure to go but then the antibiotics finally kicked in and since I had no fever decided i was ok to travel. Not that throat ache or loss of voice has ever stopped me ;-) I had a client at work once say with delight on the Friday when my voice cracked on the "good bye" and completely dissapeared on the "see you next week".."if you will be able to still ask us questions!". So i wrote on a scrap of paper: "if you think my chatting skills are scary you haven't seen my non-verbal communication yet!!!" ;-)

Anyways, never a boring time with these travels lately, i must have a really cheeky guardian angel who thinks it is amusing to see how bad things can get before they turn out good in the end… Plane was good this time ( loooveee those new planes Swiss has, extra leg-room, yay!, and they are cheaper on the route than BA if you manage to book in advance, and they upgraded the croissants to yummy sandwiches), pity i had to carry the farmacy with me ( good thing at the airport security control nobody tried to taste my cough syrup... puke!)... I mean, just what you need, hot weather and you can’t have anything icecold…

In Zurich I watched the concert from Berlin on TV( Beethoven, 9, Barenboim, Berlin, Brandenburger Tor, Pape, JK, Roschman, Meier) but the images weren’t that good, when the singers sang they showed the orchestra, when the chorus sang the conductor and so on… and the lot clearly didn’t get much rehearsal time, some really audible hick ups and the chorus was pretty much chaotic… The 4 singing were the best bit of it, but the microphones weren’t all that great… still probably the biggest audience they ever sang in front off :-) And a special event after all ( even if the politicians didn’t think so, the benches where they were supposed to sit were 30% empty and one in the front row fell asleep during it, he sat there dozing off with his head fallen on his chest… and woke up with a jump during Freude… smashing! ;-))) All on national TV... ( don't even think about giggling at the fact that i was sitting in Zurich in a hotel room, watching a concert from Berlin on TV.. remember! tonsilitis... supposed to rest, relax, recoup, ergo...i had a good excuse!)

Then dinner, cough, cough, alcohol free beer, cake, cough, spazieren, lake, cough, chat, cough, chat, 4 hours sleep... Sunday!

The Liedermatinee was great! Only Jonas knows how he did it, with all his busy schedule the week before. Two hours of beautiful singing and storytelling! I always love the Strauss but hearing the Burgschaft and the Dichterliebe live was special. Helmut Deutsch was also in good shape, I’d almost say better than in Paris, somehow they both managed to capture the attention of the audience from the first note and it was as if you couldn’t get your eyes and ears off them. The managed to arrange the hall really nicely with a big bouquet of flowers on the sides and a huge tapestry the size of the curtain pulled down behind them. I wish i had the camera with me!

Someone said his voice maybe sounded a bit tired (more likely a bit sleepy ;-)) … I honestly couldn't say. At least it woke up quickly, wish i was so fast at being ready to go in the mornings ;-) I may be wrong, but i don't think there are many tenors around singing Burgschaft, and probably also Dichterliebe, it sounds as if made for baritones, both definitely dip low and very low indeed and any tenor would have a tough time filling those registers to the full without ocassionally mixing some warm air in :-) (there was very little of that by the way, thank God! warm air we did not need, more like buckets of ice :-))))

What I do know is that in terms of retelling and interpreting the songs he was very good. Because I think the point is not to pay attention to the actual note or think about how his voice sounds, but to think about the song you hear and the story it is telling you, the images it paints. It may sound strange but while listening to them it was like having a picture showing in my mind. I could imagine the flowers, the Bachlein, the Wind, the tears and embraces, all in Technicolor!! Amazing! In Paris I was excited and really liked it, but yesterday I could have sat there and listened to them for hours and hours, telling more and more stories and the movie in my mind would have been Oscar-worthy!

I especially liked the Dichterliebe, which really felt like a cycle, like a continuous string of little pearls, rather than a collection of individual songs. I’ve known the poetry since school time, but like this it becomes much more the expression of the poets feelings and thoughts. If there hadn’t been that stupid mobile going off in the middle of it!!! Unbelievable! Of course it took a while for the owner to find it.. I was upset because i thought, now that’s it with the “Stimmung”!!! Jonas just went on as if nothing at all had happened and he somehow managed to make the next song more intense, more intimate, so that I managed to slip right back into the “Traumwelt” which he created and immediately forget about the phone.

Amazing, because I am sure he heard it too and it must be really annoying, and then to draw everyone in with such easiness is no small thing. I don’t think before last morning I really saw how he can hold the audience in his hands or rather clinging to his lips. And it is not by imposing his presence in any way. I would even say in an opera his presence is more defined, not necessarily aggressive, but assertive, he is there! But in a liederabend/matinee it is different, the “Minnesanger” has priority. How to explain it? In an opera when he sings you feel as if he extends himself to reach you, he reaches out to the audience, where as in lieder it works the other way around, you feel drawn to him, to follow him where he leads. It is just as powerful, but in a different way. It was magic to be able to enjoy it without constant interruption of applause and just drown a bit in the music ;-) I think most people felt like this because at the end of the cycles there were long moments of silence before the applause erupted :-) Helmut also did his bit to make the tension special by keeping his hands on the keys just for a few seconds more to let the feeling linger. Magic, magic, magic!

The Strauss was more animated, because they are much more contrasting in mood and with those Jonas likes to play about more ;-)

He doesn’t move about too much, but a smile, the simple expression of his face is enough to convey the feeling. Mind you it was a good idea not to move more, it was as hot as hell if not more! He was singing about tears running down the cheeks and you could see the sweat drops slowly trickling from his forehead onto the lapels of his suit ( they both wore suits, Jonas without a tie ;-)) . After the break they both appeared just in white shirts and Jonas asked for understanding and explained that they had to leave etiquette for the sake of art , and he very kindly said that of course in turn we are allowed to do the same ;-))) We kindly decided to keep our clothes on, in spite of the heat ;-)))

The applause was big from the beginning but it was loud cheering and bravos by the end and we got 3 more encores: Breit uber mein Haupt, Ich trage meine Minne und Nichts :-) Maybe he would have gone on for 1,2 more but they had Rigoletto on in some 30 min and we all got more or less thrown out ;-) Oh, Pereira came on stage to give him and Herr Deutsch each a big bouquet of roses… roses were beautiful.

I’m glad I didn’t cough once, I completely forgot about the throat :-) I did get through half a box of Strepsils ( and i absolutely hate hard candy!!) I guess with all that sugar i could have done without dinner and lunche for about 2 days... Felt like licking at a bowl of salt at the end ;-) Mind you, others weren’t so lucky, a couple peppered the whole thing with “cough” “cough” and all throughout we could hear people talking on the corridor, but while they were singing and playing nobody really noticed these disturbances. Well, except i had a lady next to me trying to open a plastic box with small rattling candy during a lied ...but after barely escaping assasination from the one in front of her she decided to wait with play until the pause between the lieder ( and thanks to the one in front of her i am able to avoid a sentence of live in prison for commiting murder with my bare hands!). I am somehow for all eternity and all performances plagued by little old candy munching grannies, now what have i done to deserve that???

And with that the full two hours of the joy of singing came to an end and Jonas had to go back to signing and photo -duty :-) An official signing had been organised and the lucky present were able to get the new Cd and get up close with the charmingly smiling artist and the equally talented pianist. This artistic and friendship bond they have is evident whenever you see them playing and working together and it is what glues the whole thing together and allows both of them to rediscover this music anew every time, with a freshness and spontaneity that makes it exciting for the listener as well.

Looking forward to doing this again :-)

Liedmatinée Jonas Kaufmann Zurich, 24/05/2009
Jonas Kaufmann Tenor
Helmut Deutsch Klavier

Franz Schubert 1797-1828
Die Bürgschaft D 246

Robert Schumann 1810-1856
Dichterliebe
Liederzyklus nach Heinrich Heine, op. 48
Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
Aus meinen Tränen spriessen
Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube
Wenn ich in deine Augen seh’
Ich will meine Seele tauchen
Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome
Ich grolle nicht
Und wüssten’s die Blumen
Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen
Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen
Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen
Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen
Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet
Allnächtlich im Traume seh’ ich dich
Aus alten Märchen winkt es
Die alten, bösen Lieder


*** Pause ***


Richard Strauss 1864-1949
Fünf Lieder op. 21 «Schlichte Weisen»
All’ mein Gedanken, mein Herz und mein Sinn
Du meines Herzens Krönelein
Ach Lieb, ich muss nun scheiden
Ach weh mir unglückhaftem Mann
Die Frauen sind oft fromm und still

Vier ausgewählte Lieder
Sehnsucht op. 32, 2
Nachtgang op. 29, 3
Freundliche Vision op. 48, 1
Ich liebe dich op. 37, 2

Vier Lieder op. 27
Heimliche Aufforderung
Ruhe, meine Seele
Morgen
Cäcilie


Encores:

Breit' über mein Haupt dein schwarzes Haar
Ich trage meine Minne
Nichts

Tip: Helmut Deutsch will also visit us in London acompanying both Matthias Goerne and Thomas Quasthoff at the Wigmore in the next season.