Reminder: Don Carlo ROH, Saturday BBC Radio 3

Update: the microphones were stuck to the border of the stage, above the orchestra, that is why you can at times hear the orchestra, especially horns, flutes etc and percussion louder and you can also hear Simon's decided steps ;-))) And Jonas singing from Popy's lap as if he was singing into you ear...

Gorgeous isn't it? Ahhhhhhhh..... reliving it exactly as i remembered it ... http://operaismagic.blogspot.com/2009/10/don-carlo-roh-from-heart.html

Can't wait for the La pace dei sepolcri!!!! ;-)
PS BBC stream seems to be good and holding up to the international "attack" ;-)



Photo: Catherine Ashmore Marina Poplavskaya (Elizabeth de Valois) and Jonas Kaufmann (Don Carlos)

On BBC Radio3 at 18:00 UK time ; 19:00 CET (Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Austria, etc), 13:00 US East coast (New York), for other locations and times, this is a useful site.

On the BBC Radio 3 page, there are also some longer interviews with Semyon Bychkov and Jonas Kaufmann, to listen click HERE (there is also some more information as well as pictures).

For those who couldn't listen to the JK interview on line, here it is:

To listen tomorrow evening to the broadcast on the internet click HERE or HERE.

To listen with surtitles click HERE.

Jonas Kaufmann and the Barcelona connection

A little gift from dear friends in Barcelona :-)
Click on the photo above and you will be taken to Joaquim's wonderful blog where you will be able to listen to excerpts from the Dusseldorf concert :-)))

Jonas has many admirers in Barcelona and some where lucky to see him in Dusseldorf!! And they tell all about the experience in the comments on Joaquim's post :-))More comments to be read on Jonas there as well :-) In case you didn't know there are more Wagnerians in Catalunya ( and Spain) than in Bayreuth ( well, almost ;-)))) But from what i read in Barcelona they like Jonas singing in general, not only his Wagner...
AND... from reading the comments, there is a bit of news for meus amics in Barcelona... apprently there is a good possibility that Jonas might do a Lieder recital in Barcelona in either 2010 or 2011 ( i would think given official schedule, 2011 is more likely, but we will see). That would be great, their wish and my wish come true! :-)

So, click and enjoy!
For a translation to Spanish of Joaquim's blog press here or for an English version press here.
Moltes gracies y molts petonets pels meus amics de Barcelona <3

Erfullung der Sehnsucht - Jonas Kaufmann in Dusseldorf

Photo Susanne Diesner from the Rheinische Post via Marion's page.



Programm:Jonas Kaufmann
Staatskapelle Weimar Dirigent: Michael Güttler
11.10.09 Düsseldorf Tonhalle

1. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 1827) Coriolan op. 62 Ouvertüre
2. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 1827) Fidelio Gott, welch Dunkel hier! ... In des Lebens Frühlingstagen Szene des Florestan 2. Akt
3. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 1791) Don Giovanni Ouvertüre
4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 1791) Die Zauberflöte Dies Bildnisist bezaubernd schön Arie des Tamino 1. Akt
5. Carl Maria von Weber (1786 1826) Oberon Ouvertüre
6. Carl Maria von Weber (1786 1826) Der Freischütz Nein, länger trag ich nicht die Qualen! … Durch die Wälder, durch die Auen Rezitativ und Arie des Max 1. Akt
PAUSE
7. Richard Wagner (1813 1883) Lohengrin Vorspiel zum 3. Aufzug
8. Richard Wagner (1813 1883) Parsifal Amfortas! Die Wunde! Szene des Parsifal 2. Aufzug
9. Franz Schubert (1797 1828) Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern D 797 op.26 Zwischenaktmusik Nr. 3 B-Dur
10. Richard Wagner (1813 1883) Die Walküre Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond Liebeslied des Siegmund 1. Aufzug
11. Richard Wagner (1813 1883) Lohengrin Vorspiel zum 1. Aufzug
12. Richard Wagner (1813 1883) Lohengrin In fernem Land Gralserzählung des Lohengrin 3. Aufzug

Encores:
1 . Giuditta, Lehar – Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert
2. Tosca, Puccini – E lucevan le stelle
3. Carmen, Bizet – La fleur
4. L’Arlesiana, Cilea – Il lamento di Federico



Don’t worry I will not write this post in German, although I am very tempted ;-)
Sehnsucht… in English “longing”, is, as most of you probably know, the title of Jonas Kaufmann’s latest CD. Well, at least in Germany it has that name… in the Uk it’s anonymous.. No comment on that…. I was going to do a post about the CD itself at some point, and I might get round to doing it. Still, in light of the “live” event, the whole thing has taken on a new twist for me.

I should really say that I have had the CD now for … a little over 4 months. I usually tend to grow tired of CDs, that is I listen and then end up parking them away on a shelf, or in some corner of my mp3 player and switch to a different one. I might come back randomly to various older ones, but I am not normally a serial listener of anything. Curiously, this one is still on my active playlist and I find myself going back to it again and again. And enjoying it with the same or mostly, multiplied pleasure. So far so good, it really is a good CD, the sound has been cared for and the repertory is generally newer to me than many other things.

In Jonas’ case for me it was also particularly interesting to listen to it, as except for the Fidelio I had no memories of live experiences to fall back to and some were totally new for him as well. Still, Cds are just impressions of a moment in time and they can give you a taste of the music, but they can’t really replace the live rendition. Having said that, I really love the music on the CD and some are real treasures, like Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella or Wintersturme. To the point that for the first time in my life I have a personalised ringtone on my handy :-) It has just become a bit tricky to explain to people why I don’t tend to pick up the phone until it has rung at least 4-5 times… Can’t really tell one’s parents or one’s boss that you keep them waiting on the line because you want to hear Jonas sing Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond …. one more time ;-)

But however much I like this CD it is full of those deadly arias that make or break a night at the opera in a live performance. It is definitely not a CD that translates easily into a concert recital. I am also one of those funny people who prefers a full opera to aria recitals. So here I was trying to make up my mind about definitely going to Dusseldorf or not. In the end the agenda made the choice easy, since it was the only one on a weekend it was going to be either this one or none :-( And I wasn’t going to accept “none” as a valid choice.

Then of course I started wondering what the program would look like. You could mix and match from both CDs… but that would just be a style salad, didn’t think that would be the case. Sehnsucht needs its integrity to be what it is and say what it means to say… but come on… even Wagner only put one of those stones on the tenor’s shoulders in an opera…this CD had a whole mountain worth of them…. At the same time I was dying to hear things like Wintersturme live! Then I saw the program and half of me was scary excited with the prospect of hearing most of them live for the first time and the other half of me was… just plain scared ;-) Can anyone be expected to sing all that in under 2 hours? Can Parsifal and Florestan coexist in such a tight space in time? Can Tamino emerge fresh from Florestan’s hallucinations? Well actually the question wasn’t really “can it?”, I know in Jonas Kaufmann they can …. And “Sehnsucht” proved they can :-) what gave me the jitters was the “how?” I knew the CD had, willingly or not, created a certain imprint in my ears and of course I realised the live experience would be different, the unknown was of course how different?

Anyways, since I was only going to get one shot at this, on the day I parked jitters aside and went for the Wilhelm Tell approach , put the apple on my head , sat completely still, opened eyes wide and trusted the archer’s skills :-) Well, in practice wriggled myself into my first ever front row seat at a concert, almost dead centre, knees almost touching the stage and eyes at .. well, shoe - level for artist, conductor and orchestra…. Yes, really, that close! And no, I’m no advocate of half measures as you can tell ;-))) A bit too literal on the “laying stuff at somebody’s feet” thing for my taste ;-) And talking about strange, have you ever had music being created literally at the top of you head? If not, you should try it sometimes :-) Like snorkelling but in music, not water :-)


The program itself turned out to be very well conceived, the orchestra pieces were really enjoyable and naturally linked the arias together , or rather formed natural bridges in-between. It’s been ages since I last heard Beethoven’s Coriolan and it was the perfect start. Not that all the pieces were perfectly played… generally well, but Mozart’s Don Giovanni lacked a bit of agility and precision and some of the others had a bit too much oomph. Nothing too disturbing though and their enthusiasm was refreshing.

We were off to a relaxed start when the conductor discovered he had forgotten the Fidelio score and was off to fetch it. Tenor was left alone on stage and decided to share a confession about how he thinks he is getting old ( wha??? Yep, really ;-)))) because for some arias he feels he needs the score close by for added comfort. Fair enough, we all giggled :-) several people made sympathetic observations about Wagner arias being waaaaayyy loooong :-) Old or not ( baaahhh!! Quatsch!!!!!) he must have really good eyes, because from where the scores where laid on a low stand I couldn’t have seen any of the text, never mind little black dots on lines…. No luck with me prompting anything either I’m afraid because I had not done my homework, besides I’m awful at learning text by heart ;-) Conductor was back with score and bang we were thrown right into Florestan’s cell! Unbelievable, but it was from giggles to chills in the blink of an eye. And right above my head a wonderful thing happened… I got to hear and feel that Gooooooooottt being born, exactly that Goooot that made my jaw drop all those months ago when i first heard it live in Zurich… Oh my God….. It made the air around me physically vibrate and I felt it up to the little hairs in my ears…. Guttler took the first part pretty slow only to kick into hurricane speed at the end. But I got mein “Das Masss der Leeeeeiiiiideeeeeennnn” as intense and heartfelt as I could have wished it!!!! Jonas reached up to the “fuhrt mich zur Freiheit ins himmlische Reich” as if carried by the „sauselnde Luft“.. .what an accomplishment at that hallucinating speed!!!! It was clear he was in excellent form and even though at such closeness I was wondering whether I wouldn’t hear the sounds being produced rather than just the voice itself, no such thing happened. It is not a bad thing even if it does, like the orchestra sound becoming a kaleidoscope of instruments, rather than one flow of sound, it’s just different from what one is used to. Amazingly enough emerging from a meter and so above my head the voice sounds as perfectly tuned and honed like from the back of a hall or the top of the amphitheatre. Maybe this is boring to explain for you, but I found it amazing :-) This is how it must sound from the stage, heard by colleagues only normally, absolutely fascinating. Close up the nuances are amazing, the passes quicker and smoother than one could imagine. It’s so incredibly agile, like a race horse really :-) And you can’t hear a single breath!!! I could hear the conductor , even instrumentists, but not Jonas breathe….. all you heard was clear musical line and round, soft, full words.

Don’t for a second think that I was analysing all this while he was singing.. God, no!!!! it just suddenly hit me somewhere in the middle of some ouverture :-)

The orchestra hopped through the Don Giovanni and then there we were, to be or not to be…. Tamino? And there he was, right in front of us, youthful, enthusiastic, open to the world and falling for his Pamina…. I thought the full-bodied voice was a suiting expression of Tamino’s overflowing longing for love and life in general. But it came enveloped in such tender innocence and softness, one couldn’t help but smile. I liked Florestan but I was even more touched by Tamino. It was all I had expected and so much more! I know this is a point of dispute for many, but I believe people let themselves be blinded somehow by the tone of voice and forget to listen to how and what he sings. All the feelings and hopes Tamino has were there :-) For those who doubt it they should have listened to the nuances of the Liebe as expressed by Tamino versus the Liebe in Siegmund’s aria…nobody but Tamino can cherish that last “eeevig ware sie dann meeeeeein” in such an almost reverent way!

On to Weber’s Oberon, obviously enjoyed by everyone present, as I was saying during this concert there never was a dull moment, never a feeling of wanting to speed things up, on the contrary a feeling of wanting to make time last to enjoy it longer.

And Jonas became Max! I am soooo glad my suspicions last year that this had been left out to join the Sehnsucht “crew” were right :-) I can’t imagine a better musical bridge between Florestan, Tamino and Parsifal. It was simply electrifying, the romantic moments , the curt, intense phrases towards the end, the hair-raising high notes and the deep drop on Spott! There was a feeling of invisible crescendo in the atmosphere, some kind of expectation. I was really stunned! It felt like a rhythmic series of musical punch lines that picked on your heartbeat and accelerated your pulse to follow the music.

Needless to say, knowing what would follow from that kept everyone adequately wired :-) Although I have to say much of the audience either had to check their programs to identify the pieces or simply didn’t know what was being sung. And still the electricity in the hall proved that even though the audience maybe wasn’t fully aware of the difficulty of what was presented, the singing which appeared to be so easy and natural was rather extraordinary :-)

The Lohengrin Vorspiel only contributed to the heightening of the festive feeling, I for one was almost holding my breath. Jonas came back jokingly arranging the score and before I even had time to say to myself and now… it hit me: Amfooooooooortaaaasss!!!!!! …. Die Wuundeeee….. The fact that he can literally laugh one minute and then turn one inside out in two words is witchcraft!!!!! I’ve ducked this a couple of times when listening to the CD.. no idea why really, probably chicken! Well there was no escaping there….. nowhere to hide from its impact, no way to shield oneself against its burn. Nothing could have prepared me for it…..It’s great on Cd but as I now know, you haven’t heard Parsifal until you’ve seen and felt the wounds live. That knowledge and the rejection in “dieser Kuss” and the definitive “ewig von mir!!” I can’t begin to explain the wealth of nuances, colours and dynamics, the intentions dripping from very word! I know now that Parsifal has become one of my favourites from the CD, if not the absolute favourite :-) Sunday in the hall I was literally fighting for air amidst a sensation of “what was that????? ” I’m sorry to say I didn’t manage to get one note from Schubert’s Rosamunde, which I am sure is a perfectly lovely piece, but I was busy gathering my wits….

Especially since somewhere in the middle of it, realisation hit me again…. Wintersturme!!! My first Wintersturme live ever was next on the menu….. By this moment I had forgotten that this program is difficult to sing, bla bla bla…. Never mind the tenor! He’s doing just peachy!! It’s me I was worried about…where is the oxygen in this place???? The women behind me goes : “Kommt da noch was?” In an almost doubtful and surprised tone… she too felt it had been quite a lot.. well lady, you have no idea!!!! Check out this one!!

Well… if you think the one on the CD was good… I think it was definitely meeehhh compared to the one live… exuberant, just overflowing with passion… I felt like “jauchzen” myself! And I’ve never seen anyone transform themselves so completely from Parsifal’s restraint and disciple, decided containment to such open, almost explosive and definitely contagious joy!! He IS Siegmund!!!! it was just a dream! And his entire being, his melancholic smile, his every pore seemed to exude Liebe und Lenz.... just.... unbelievable!!!! I mean the difference between Parsifal and Siegmund couldn't be wider in terms of mood of the aria, colour of voice, everything... and yet it happened, there , live in a matter of minutes! I don't think Wagner ever sounded so enchanting, so full of life and almost divinely beautiful!

Thank God some kind soul put Lohengrin’s Vorspiel next, to let me gently float back to earth, I’d have broken more than just my heart being knocked back to the ground after that…. I had no voice to shout Bravo with the rest of them…

I somehow had a feeling the In fernem Land would start within the music, with no interruption and not surprisingly I was right. I’m boring myself by now by saying this every new time I hear him sing it : it is the best of all the Gralserzahlungen he’s sung…. Well, it was! I could go on and on about the Taube, Gral, Retter und Lohengrin genannt… but there is not point in chopping to pieces something so beautiful!

The audience, we all went wild… shouting, clapping, the lot!

So he just sang more… 4 more!!!!! Honestly, went he sang E lucevan I thought to myself … La fleur is next ;-))) And I was really thankful because he restored this for me where I have struggled through another quite disappointing one recently… It was that incredible situation which can almost be described as : well, he just did Sehnsucht for the main program and RA for encores!!!

I think it is amazing he sang those encores... and every single one of them was excellent... but for me right there with the last note of Lohengrin i had just lived through one of the most amazing nights in my life... i have never before and i don't know if i will ever hear anyone sing like that ever again...well, maybe except Jonas himself ;-))))

The music and the standing applause went on and on and we almost got encore nr 5 when they realised he would loose the last flight back to Munich, where he had to be the next morning for a Lohengrin rehearsal. He politely excused himself for not being able to do the programmed signing session and we finally released the still buoyant tenor and the already half dead conductor into the night…

I am so in awe you wouldn't believe it... i mean i saw the entire Carlo run..... and one week later i come out of this concert turned somehow upside down and inside out.... i've never ever experienced such a thing.... nor did i ever expect to be so touched by a concert… I thought i knew how Jonas sounds and what he can do.... i am so glad he proved me wrong again!

The memories of this night are tucked away in a place deep inside to be cherished forever :-) After all, it is the day I discovered Jonas Kaufmann… again :-)

Berg's Wozzeck with Salonen and Keenlyside

Simon Keenlyside as Wozzeck © Opéra de Paris / Ruth Walz 2008
Alban Berg's Wozzeck
Royal Festival Hall
Thu 8 Oct 2009 7:30pm
Berg - Wozzeck (semi-staged)


Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Simon Keenlyside Wozzeck
Katarina Dalayman Marie
Hubert Francis The Drum Major
Robert Murray Andres
Peter Hoare The Captain
Hans-Peter Scheidegger The Doctor
Anna Burford Margret
David Soar First Apprentice
Leigh Melrose Second Apprentice
Ben Johnson The Idiot
Philharmonia Voices

Jean-Baptiste Barrière video direction

If you want to get a bit of a feel of what last night was like here a small video courtesy of PhilharmoniaLondon




.......Every now and then my ears need a breath of fresh air and I generally need to do, see and hear something “new”. And after an intensive Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Berlioz treatment Alban Berg does seem like sparkling fresh and new :-)

Well, ok, not all new… I had read Georg Buchner’s “Woyzeck”, albeit many many years ago and at least the main singer of the evening is all but novelty to my ears ;-) But, I had never been to the Southbank centre before, I had never crossed the Hungerford bridge before.

To be honest on paper it looked like just as much pleasure like going to the Barbican, that is .. none! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some wonderful evenings at the Barbican but getting there and out of there I hate, it is almost creepy if you have to do it like me on foot around the area. But I was intrigued by the music, wanted to hear and see Esa-Pekka Salonen conduct it live and wanted to understand why Simon Keenlyside is such a big fan of this particular opera and role. So I rushed through the working day, literally put trainers on while dashing out on the street to make sure I could make it fast enough to the underground and armed with a mental image of the tfl journey-planner hurried into the unknown …And that is all the preparation I had time for, no pre-listen, no browsing the libretto, not even a lazy reading of the synopsis…

It is beyond odd that I came out of a most depressing piece with a feeling of accomplishment and almost elation. And it is entirely due to the fact that the quality of playing and singing on the night was exceptional!

Berg’s music is these days less of a surprise to newcomers as it has actually been around for almost 100 years. To me it sounded much smoother than I expected although full of contrast and colour. It doesn’t flow harmonically in a traditional sense, but changes abruptly as do the feelings of the main characters. It spite of it’s apparent harshness and abrupt twists and turns it does not estrange you, but on the contrary traps you, engages you. Salonen created with the Philarmonia a sound that while precise and extremely well coordinated was never detached, but profoundly touching and emotional, lending the piece a strange, almost romantic feel at times. Curious, because I had to think back to the Damnation at the Barbican last month and precisely this kind of feeling was not always present there. The final musical attack on the death scene was marvellously violent and obliterating:-) It gave that almost cleansing feeling, I guess an almost cathartic release from al the pain and torture, at least that is how it felt to me.
(Esa-Pekka Salonen in a Figaro photo from this interesting article on Wozzeck in London and Paris and his work with the Philharmonia Orchestra. And here you also have an interesting article from March 2008 when Simon Keenlyside made his debut in the role at the Opera de Paris (in French). )


The singing was under the strenuous score amazingly lean and clear and also in character. Peter Hoare’s Captain was appropriately sharp and hysterical with some nerve tingling top notes and Hans Peter Scheidegger’s earthy bass come over convincingly scary as the crazy doctor. Katarina Dalayman’s Marie infused her interaction with her son with warm sadness and some gorgeous low notes and at times of remorse conquered with her Wagnerian panache the piercing top notes. The Philarmonia Voices provided the edgy, strong and chillingly “happy” and contrastng chorus interludes before the final resolution. Everyone’s diction was good, at least good enough for me to be able to understand the text without having to look at the surtitles to my upper left, which would have been immensely distracting.

In fact the semi-staged performance work really well, with everyone to only being well suited to their parts from a musical point of view, but also providing reliable acting. So much so that the visual display to my left behind the orchestra on the big street proved more of a distraction than an addition. The interaction between the characters, even if only on a meter wide band around the orchestra and confined to a few chairs, was captivating enough, that one didn’t want to look away. I suspect this was less of a problem if seated in front with everything going on in front at various levels. But sideways, after I while I stopped looking at the screen when singers were on stage and only looked back during the musical interludes. I ignored the surtitles altogether, even if I missed the odd word here and there, too much neck-twisting!

I think the visuals were not a bad idea, but sometimes too repetitive and probably would have worked more in a completed non-staged performance, concert with singers on stage most of the time. With the acting and singing going on and the orchestra on display on stage, it was too much to focus on. However, I have to say I appreciated the almost static (by comparison to the rest of the images) red moon among trees at the end. Effective for the completion of the “bloody” mood.

The major reason why I don’t believe this particular performance benefitted from the creative visual is… Simon Keenlyside. It would have been an absolute shame not to focus on him while he was on stage…. No image, no matter how ingenious is better than that! I’m starting to grasp maybe not all why he loves the part, but just how much he does! It was heart wrenching and scary to watch his Wozzeck. So obviously the physically fittest of all the cast he managed to “brake himself” to the point of complete merger with the character. The gestures, the poses, the steps where so incredibly natural it was chilling. I really wonder how he does it, is it choreographed? Does he do it mostly spontaneously, is every movements carefully placed? Having seen him as Posa so recently, this was a total revelation of what he is able to do. Did he look and sound crazy… yes and no… is Wozzeck the crazy one or is he rather the temporarily sane one in a screwed and screwed up world? I guess it isn’t about certainty with either Berg or Keenlyside as Wozzeck, it is about the questions he makes you ask yourself. It is very touching how he hangs on to every shred of sanity and logic and belief to prevent the slide towards the abiss, but everyone inevitably pushes him nearer to the edge. I personally like the fact that the others seemed madder than Wozzeck, that his thoughts seemed sometimes to come from introspection rather than a wild mind. However the gestures and movements enforced the sensations that lucidity is ever farther away… Keenlyside is too sophisticated an artist to be just the object of abuse of doctor, captain, lover …. He lends his Wozzeck a touch of Hamlet at times I felt, which managed to draw you in even more than being a mere onlooker of a poor man’s unavoidable decent into death and /or madness, whichever you feel has come first. It’s even more admirable that his voice sounded in this ruptured part generally even smoother and cleaner, warmer and easier handled than in his recent run of Posa… figure that…

He’s left me wondering what he can do with other characters, amazed by what he can create outside his voice and, to be honest, almost frightened of how deep he is able tor reach within with the characters he portrays. I hope he can rid himself of them as soon as he steps off stage :-) And it has left me also strangely looking forward to hopefully heaingr him in a liederabend where he is not a single character, but many, all filtered and contained within the artist, the Simon Keenlyside I can recognise as himself and where the voice is the impulse that drives the stories.

There were of course 10 minutes of very very enthusiastic applause for everyone!
And I’ll be definitely looking forward to more Salonen and Philarmonia Orchestra in the near future! It seems to be a an exciting and dynamic match :-)

The Royal Festiva Hall at the South Bank centre at night, photo on Panoramio.com by paulie455

So I left the Royal Festival Hall with a smile on my face and crossed the bridge back to the underground under the crisp winds. I stopped in the middle of the bridge to listen to the melancholic jazz music that came from a saxophone player, to smile at the city lights under the huge bright moon on what was a wonderful night over the Thames…. Lingering along the bridge I suddenly realised how beautiful London can be at night and while i looked at the people filling in the streets towards Covent Garden for the first time I felt like I belong here and I’m really happy to be here :-)

And all that thanks to an evening with Berg’s Wozzeck… now how weird is that????

This concert was recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast in Performance on 3, at 7.00pm on Thursday 15 October.

Reviews:

What'sonstage

MusicOMH

Telegraph

And some interesting contributions from bloggers (including a few photos from last night):

Entartete Musik

Classical Iconoclast

Framescourer

Don Carlo ROH ...from the heart

photo Catherine Ashmore at musicweb-international.com

Ohh Carlo…..

How do you put so much music into words without exaggerating, without leaving important things out and without boring everyone to death… I suspect I’ll become one of those old grannies who will forever pester her grandchildren and everyone else she meets with the story of the Don Carlo she once saw… and nothing will be quite like that Carlo she saw in her days :-)

Of course every performance is unique in its own way and maybe many are worth seeing and some even remembering for a long long time… But we probably all have some recordings at home which leave us wondering what it must have felt like to be there, what did the public think when they listened to it live? Did they think 20, 30 years later or more people would think it special, reference it and constantly compare others to it? I’d love to be able to go back and sit through one of these and compare the feeling to the one I’ve had during this Don Carlo run. And apparently I wasn’t the only one thinking that this was not just your good performance of the week, or the season. I’ve heard many people around me say that it is the best they have seen, or rave about how extraordinary x or y was. The overall smiling faces at the exit also confirmed the kind of festive feeling the evening had surrounding it. It’s not that usual to see smiling faces after almost 4h and a half hours of opera, especially when the most loved characters end in brutal death :-) And still this tale of love, betrayal, freedom and politics left many elated. It also seems the word spread during the run that this is a must see thing, as many famous faces were sighted in the hall ;-) Even singer colleagues travelled to enjoy it.

Having said all this …. I am reluctant to be so definitive about things that I see, because it always is a personal view and my criteria may well be different than other people’s; besides this is not about giving out titles and prizes. So I will rather stick to this:

They have been of the performances I have most enjoyed over all the years I have been seeing opera and will definitely be of the ones I will never, ever be able to forget. Musically this cast and this orchestra and this conductor have revealed so many new facets of this piece, I am grateful for being able to see all performances! It has been a very very happy time, more so than I even expected and the feeling of joy was increased by the feeling that every evening I shared the “buzz” with people surrounding me in the audience. What more can I ask from going to the opera than being given these short, but unforgettable moments of happiness :-)

In a piece where I heave learned to love every single note it is hard to single out those which are “extra special”… I’ll try to mention a few, but wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up retelling the whole opera ;-)

So, I loved…


Jonas doing the softest little trills on “Benedici un casto amor” in the first act and the audience on the last performance remembering that is was his only aria and giving into the impulse of applauding him…

Popy and Jonas really bringing out the fresh chemistry in the first duet; it felt like the perfect carefree young couple freshly in love….

Jonas posing as if in the portrait he has just given Elisabetta and making the audience giggle very single time and then bursting into the “Caaaaarlo son ioooo... e t'aaaaaamo!”…. ohhhhhh….

Pumeza Matshikiza well sung and lively Tebaldo, she definitely was a sparkling stage presence :-)

Robert Lloyd for being part of this production and lending the ghost of Carlos V that world-weary and at the same time peaceful quality

Simon and Jonas for delivering my favourite “Dio, che nell'alma infondere” ever !!!! especially the retake in piano is the most touching and musically stylish I could have imagined. I am grateful to both for putting all their singing and acting skills into creating the friendship bond between Rodrigo and Carlo on stage. It was natural and warm and very touching. Of course there was general choreography, but in all the times I have seen it there was never a gesture that seemed purposely placed or born out of anything else than live interaction. It actually was different every single time and made it exciting to go and see what they come up with or end up doing on the night. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t find the fist on chest thumping just a tiny bit funny… I know it fits the plot and it ties the friendship and Flanders and it is an encouraging gesture, but grown men doing this kind of exaggerated gesture today do look a bit odd :-)

Simon “handling” the court ladies and their curiosity in a most elegant and clever fashion. After the first performance I was waiting for the “D'un gran torneo si parla già, E del torneo il Re sarà.” like for a piece of candy... Verdi must have really loved Posa’s character, because there is not a note he sings that isn’t delightful! And Simon’s slightly annoyed smiles while responding to Eboli were priceless :-)

Popy delivering with dignity and total regal air “Un favore chiedete alla Regina.”

The whole duet between Carlo and Elisabetta in the garden.. from the “Io vengo a domandar grazia alla mia Regina” to the “Ah! maledetto io soooooooon!” Here like in the duet Rodrigo/Carlo each performance brought something new and the interaction became increasingly natural. I love every note, every word of it… Jonas burnished and finite tone in “Mi volsi a un gelido marmo d'avel” and the desperate dip into the fountain , Popy’s equally emotional “Perchè, perchè accusar il cor d'indifferenza?”, Jonas singing the most unbelievable “Perduto ben, mio sol tesor, Ah, tu, splendor di mia vita” (especially that last viiiiiiiiit-aa somehow touched you straight in the heart), Popy singing ever so softly over Carlo’s head in her lap “Ahimè! Il dolor l'uccide... /Tra queste braccia io lo vedrò Morir d'affanno, morir d'amore... /Colui che il ciel mi destinò! ” and Carlo coming back to his senses in a lost piano and then in an emotional outburst on “Elisabetta! tu... bell'adorata” while trapping her within this arms and Popy bravely resisting :-) and pulling herself proudly up in the “Compi l'opra, a svenar corri il padre/Ed allor del suo sangue macchiato /All'altar puoi menare la madre.”. You have to admire a woman and singer who can deliver those lines with such willpower and despair at the same time.

Sparks flying in the confrontation between Rodrigo an Philip … it was never any other way than heart-stopping and riveting. I almost stopped breathing every single time and the gradually darkening lights to intense red perfectly accompanied the tension… which was for me absolutely explosive when Simon delivered the “Orrenda, orrenda pace!(deathly silcen) /La pace dei sepolcri (buuuummmm!!!!!)O Re, non abbia mai di voi l'istoria a dir:Ei fu Neron! (in chilling voice)” aaahhhhhh, amazingggg!!! Simon’s exaltation in the delivery of the aria ending in “Date la libertà!” and Furlanetto’s amazingly shaded, varied depiction of the king with his deeply ingrained convictions of reigning through fear and death, his admiration of the idealist, his well meant warnings, his doubts regarding the Queen, every gesture perfect, nothing too much, nothing too little… “La morte in questa man ha un avvenir fecondo.” The whole weight of the world is lying in his voice and words when the king says “O strano sognator! Tu muterai pensier,Se il cor dell'uom conoscerai,Qual Filippo il conosce!” Up to that last gesture which is looved and waited for where he extends his hand to be kissed and then almost seems to want to caress Rodrigo’s hair and in the end decides to do neither... The whole play of voices and words, of piani and forte or covered darkness and open sounds… so much to see, hear and feel in something over 10 minutes.

Back to the “lovely” things in life … Jonas saying “A mezzanotte al giardin dellaRegina sotto gli allor della fonte vicina… È mezzanotte” with so much lightness and youth fullness that you can’t help being touched but Carlo’s forever hopeful soul :-) Simon almost dashing out of Carlo’s arms after Eboli with drawn dagger …scary that one. I liked the fact that it was physically challenging, there wasn’t any mock fury, the struggle, pulling and pushing was all real.

Verdi’s genius in creating the terzetto started by Eboli with “Trema per te, falso figliuolo” it takes a really good orchestra, an excellent conductor and 3 great singers to pull that one off with such punch!

Then the next bit of Carlo&Rodrigo interaction with the “A te! All'intimo del Re...!...Sospetti tu di me? ...No; del mio cor sei la speranza. /Questo cor che sì t'amo /A te chiudere non so. /In te riposi ogni fidanza; /Si, questi fogli importanti ti do. Io m'abbandono a te ......Tu puoi fidar in me.” Incredible! The contempt in Jonas “Intimo del re” and Simons shades of anger, disappointment, disbelief and hurt in “sospetti tu di me?... di me? ” On one night he actually shoved Jonas hard ;-) and that heart felt hug at the end… ahhhh and yes, the fist on chest thing again :-)

The bells going round the house before the autodafe , the Flemish deputies choir and the looks exchanged between Elisabetta, Philip and Carlo in this scene

Furlanetto’s “Ella giammai m'amò...!” , the very very very best today, no doubt about it. The setting for the scene is perfect, every single word and turn of voice fits every word. It never felt like singing of certain known phrases, but like what it really should be ... an intimate confession. You are held captive by every word and although long and intricate it always felt over in a second. Grazie maestro for the understated, elegant and exquisite demonstration of what a wealth of experience, talent and a wonderful voice can do in this role. Regal in every aspect :-)

Rarely in an opera are political conflicts so ironically and effectively presented like in Don Carlo, and the “chat”between the Inquisitor and the king is an excellent example thereof. I’m going to stop myself from citing the entire libretto from it, although I honestly think I would enjoy it even if the muppets sang it! Luckily, not the case here :-) I do have my favourite words, shreds of music even here : the Inquisitor saying “Le idee del novator in te son penetrate!” and of course famous almost last words ;-))) “Perché evocar allor l'ombra di Samuel? /Dato ho finor due Regi / al regno tuo possente...! /L'opra di tanti di tu vuoi strugger, demente! /Perchè mi trovo io qui? /Che vuol il Re da me?/” “Santa Claus” Tomlinson was really scary here and I felt an incredible chill when he said in his deep, hot-as-the-flames-of-hell voice the last two lines, finite and like a unmoveable death sentence. You can hear in these deceptive words all the crucial decisions he has made and that this will have consequences, and not of the happy kind. Bravi!
I love the next scene between the king and Elisabetta just as much, and a little bit more for Popy than for Furlanetto ( not that he wasn’t great, it needs two for this martial drama to unfold). But Popy was here every single time better and better and a true French princess and Spanish queen. There is incredible strength of character and power of expression in this young, slender, elegantly pale singer and you can’t help but feel proud of her in this scene. Her “Io l'oso! Sì! /Ben lo sapete. Un di promessa /al figlio vostro fu la mia man; /Or v'appartengo, a Dio sommessa, /Ma immacolata qual giglio io son. /Ed ora si sospetta /L'onor di Elisabetta...! Si dubita di me... /Chi m'oltraggia è il Re!” I like it so much that she isn’t just the unjustly accused, but the whole weight of her acknowledgment of her destiny, duty but also status comes through. Overall I really liked Popy’s gutsy Elisabetta, no meek, oppressed women, but a real queen, even though a deeply unhappy one. And Furlanetto’s king is frighteningly out of control in his “Ardita troppo, voi favellate! /Me debole credete e sfidarmi sembrate: /La debolezza in me può diventar furor. /Tremate allor, per voi, per me.” Another one of those many moments which make your pulse race…


Posa’s death scene…really hard to describe, because this too was born again every single time… I’m dangerously close to thinking that I’ll never see another Posa dying more beautifully and realistically in the arms of another Carlo… I had a big knot in my throat already when Posa sings “Felice ancor io son se abbracciar ti poss'io!”… And I like that this particular Carlo doesn’t take that long to understand what Rodrigo is talking about, you feel his stupor and dread already at “Convien qui dirci addio!”. I’ve rarely heard a voice as sweet at that of this Rodrigo telling Carlo not to cry: “Ci congiunga Iddio nel ciel, /Ei che premia i suoi fedel'. /Sul tuo ciglio il pianto io miro; /
Lagrimar così, perché? /No, fa cor, l'estremo spiro /Lieto è a chi morrà per te.” And that last word held on a seemingly endless tone while touching their foreheads... It almost felt like the connection between the two singers gave their joint force to the phrases. After the gun shot the last performance gave the perfect ending to Rodrigo’s life as well. The choreography of this scene has always been brilliant, but given the circumstances must be really hard to execute because both singers are facing the audience and supporting a dying Rodrigo or holding his hand while not really facing each other is not easily achievable without it looking awkward. Thursday they both fell with perfect coordination and without even exchanging a look on their knees, where Rodrigo tells Carlos Elisabetta is expecting him in the monastery and gradually falls in his arms while dying. Carlo supports him partially so that singing doesn’t become an act of torture while resting his head crying on Rodrigo’s shoulder. At the right time according to the text he extends his arm to grab the one extended by Rodrigo and when he finally dies “Ah! ... di me... non... ti... scordar...! “ Carlo gently slides Rodrigo to the floor, while holding his head so that he doesn’t end up bumping his head on the stage floor, making sure he doesn’t role into a position that he would either not look lifeless or which would be impossible to hold until the soldiers lift his body up. It really takes these two to pull something like this off, unspoken coordination and attention and consideration for the colleague and all this while singing and listening to the text as if having a conversation in a lunch break. I really can’t thank Simon and Jonas enough for the faultless singing in this scene as well as for all the efforts made to create it anew every time and make it absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking to watch.

Almost the end, you’ll be happy to know :-)

Popy huuuge aria in act 5 is something for which she deserves many many Bravos. I am not a big fan of long soprano arias, not even with Verdi, but she worked and worked and worked on this one until she too managed to fill the hall with only absolute silence and her voice. Although a certain tenor would certainly love for the old forgotten Verdi aria here to be reborn.. I wouldn’t want to miss this one… ideally I would have them both ;-)))

The final duet Elisabetta/ Carlo is almost as beautiful as the one in the garden scene, and even sadder if possible… and if you are not yet under the spell of those magically spun piani, this will get you there for sure! I really felt my heart soar on the “Si, con la voce tua quella gente m'appella./E se morrò per lei, la mia morte fia bella!” and just dissolve at “Non vedi, Elisabetta! /io ti stringo al mio seno, /Nè mia virtù vacilla, /nè ad essa io mancherò! (desperate!)/Or che tutto finì /e la man lo ritiro dalla tua man, /Tu piangi? (of course she does, who wouldn’t????)”.
Of course there is the killing and the excellently choreographed swords fight, however for me it could end ethereally and oh so sadly on their intertwined voices singing: “Ma lassù ci vedremo in un mondo migliore, /Dell'avvenire eterno /suonan per noi già l'ore; /E là noi troverem nel grembo del Signor /Il sospirato ben che fugge in terra ognor!/In tal di, che per noi non avrà più domani, /Tutti i nomi scordiam /degli affetti profani.”... Brava Popy for holing her own in the piani and those who haven’t heard Jonas sing them, you have to try and catch him do it!!... you have no idea what you are missing :-)


Fine.

Don Carlo....

Update (Friday morningish...... no longer in Spain but been to heaven and back!!!! Gotta do some earthly things like work during the day but i will be back tonight and respond to everyone and tell you all :-)

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Just getting ready to head to the ROH for one more.... i can't think it is the last... where have they all gone!

Believe it or not i am sooooo excited!!! As if it was the first one and i am going to enjoy every single note of it!!!

I'll be back with more :-) Have a wonderful evening everyone, i'm heading off to... Spain via Fontainebleau...


Fontainebleau! Foresta immensa e solitaria! Quai giardino, quai rosal, Qual Eden di splendore ........