Jonas Kaufmann, la coqueluche du Paris

So the Manon run in Chicago is over and JK is back in Europe, more precisely Paris! And it seems the French are rolling out the red carpet for him ;-) With Romantic Arias finally appearing in France, together with the ROH Carmen DVD his Liederabend at the Garnier, and especially his Florestan are eagerly awaited. And it seems that so far they liked what they heard (la coqueluche = darling!!!)

According to Opera: "C’est le ténor que les scènes du monde entier s’arrachent et l’un des plus exceptionnels chanteurs-acteurs de notre époque ! En cet automne 2008, la France déroule le tapis rouge sous les pas de Jonas Kaufmann"

Le Figaro : "Les fans sont fébriles, car voici la première vague de l'assaut Kaufmann à l'Opéra de Paris. ... Romantic Arias, montre l'habileté avec laquelle il plie son timbre splendide et l'intelligente projection de sa voix aux univers contrastés de Puccini, Verdi ou Berlioz.... On y ajoute un charme et une prestance ravageurs, et voilà la nouvelle coqueluche du monde lyrique."

L'Express: "On ne rencontre ce genre d'artiste qu'une fois par génération : un acteur magnifique porté par une voix d'une exceptionnelle beauté. "

ForumOpera: Romantic Arias - "Dieu soit loué ! Notre époque a aussi ses géants. " Carmen - "Jonas Kaufmann est le plus prodigieux des Don José. La qualité de sa prestance, son jeu névrotique autant qu’érotique, s’accorde idéalement à celui de sa consoeur.... variété d’accents et un timbre de voix inoubliables ; précis et raffiné jusque dans les récitatifs qu’il cisèle dans un français superbe, sa « Fleur » suspendue à un fil, est une vraie confession impudique et pathétique, un moment de théâtre et de musique absolument poignant."

Femmes : "Car il a tout. Un physique de cinéma au sex-appeal ravageur, un look de rock star, et surtout une voix chaude, ronde, riche en coloris ambrés, avec des aigus pimentés et sensuels.... Si vous ne succombez pas, c’est que vous n’avez pas de cœur qui bat, pas de peau qui frissonne et pas d’oreilles pour entendre! "

Qobuz presents JK to the French public : "Jonas Kaufmann, un romantique à Paris... JK est une des voix les plus envoûtantes du moment. Mais quelle voix ! Un régal romantique " And there is a video here.

Qobuz reviews on RA and Carmen: "RA- Jonas Kaufmann nous livre tout d’abord un récital d’opéra exceptionnel. Sans doute même le plus remarquable paru ces dernières années....Outre qu’on succombe immédiatement à la beauté de la voix de Jonas Kaufmann — longue, moirée, caressante — c’est la rigueur du musicien qui saute d’abord aux oreilles." Carmen :"Réussir un vérisme vocal et théâtral si à fond engagés en maintenant une telle pureté bien chantante est une gageure qu’on ne se souvient d’avoir vue tenue (ni même posée) par personne (un Rosvaenge a pu le faire). ... par-dessus tout la scène ultime, exemple vivant d’une incarnation scénique et vocale totale — on risque bien de ne revoir cela que sur ce DVD béni !"

You migth have noticed that the Carmen review above is written by André Tubeuf

Here is a more extended article about JK that Mr Tuveuf has reedited with the occasion of the upcoming performances in Paris:

http://qobuz.com/blogs/andretubeuf/2008/11/04/

"Dans la voix et dans l’œil, il a la passion, le feu sombre ; en scène il est ardent, aisé, immédiat. Ce qu’il apprend, et nous apprend ? La patience. La prudence. Le long chemin. Depuis six, sept ans on l’observe, on le suit : et on le voit, on l’entend changer....La nature l’a fait pour le chant, et il a la culture du chant. À aucune époque on n’a beaucoup connu ça ! ...Né pour flamber, avec ce jarret félin, ou fauve, pourtant c’est un paisible....Sainte patience. Qu’il nous préserve, en late developper, le Tristan qu’il porte en lui poétiquement, dramatiquement, dont il a les yeux extasiés et le raptus vocal. "

I didn't know what to pick from the article, do read it whole if you wish because it is very detailed and provides a wonderfully deep analysis of the artist.

And finally, in Le Point Mr Tubeuf issues a very warm invitation: "Déjà sans doute le numéro un de la jeune génération de ténors, de l'opéra au lied, il n'a simplement pas de concurrent. Fantastique programme avec les « Pétrarque » de Liszt, les « Michelangelo » de Britten et un ensemble Strauss que lui seul ose, et réussit ! L'indispensable Helmut Deutsch l'accompagne."

I hope he will be plesantly surprised by what he will hear when listening to the recital ... I wonder whether AT will find JK's voice different than last time he heard him?

For those of you who would like to read on, the links contain way more than i could post here, and you know what to do :-): http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ You can also find the articles on Marion's page.

So, now it seams i have to share my favourite tenor with the whole of Paris!!! Oh well, the sacrifices one must make!! ;-)

Guess i don't need to tell you where i will be on Sunday ;-)

Matilde & Corradino ( Aleksandra Kurzak and Juandi Florez) fill the ROH with giggles

Foto MARK ELLIDGE at timesonline


This Halloween performance of Matilde di Shabran was the perfect date-night-out. If there was ever an operatic rom-com - this was it! It is definitely not the most accomplished Rossini creation, but in spite of being a good 3 hours 15 minutes long, it manages to be very entertaining. At least for me, once I got into it, it felt as if over in a flash!

Never mind the intrigue; it is all very obvious, in spite of the considerable number of characters on stage. It is all about the boy and girl :-)

It took some time for everyone to get going, but once they did, it was all smooth from there. The staging and direction (Mario Martone) is nothing special, but it also doesn’t disturb the music, which given the difficulty of some parts of the score is not such a bad thing. But it does put all the weight of the performance on the singers. It was entirely up to them to take the plot forward and give shape to their characters. And still in the ensemble scene with have some déjà vu moments, with the chorus in the back and the singers in the front, spread evenly across the stage, singing towards the audience. foto Catherine Ashmore

So let’s then do as I did there and zoom in to the characters:

The biggest contribution to the recitative and the language came undoubtedly from the “poet” Isidoro (Alfonso Antoniozzi) .. I enjoyed his Neapolitan twang to the fullest and pity no translation could ever do it justice ( and as always some laughs were slightly timelagged due to this). He is an excellent actor and as his singing is reduced to a minimum (and this is rather weak compared to his acting) gives a delightful performance.

Marco Vinco as Aliprando (the good doc) has a warm and deep tone to his voice, perfectly suited for the role. And although in his first phrases he had a bit of trouble reaching into the audience, the volume then smoothly adjusted to fit perfectly with the orchestra. He is definitely a pleasure to listen to, making it all sound quite effortless. Belcanto indeed and not something encountered so often in a young bass-baritone and in a Rossini performance.
Mark Beesley as Raimondo didn’t particularly stand out for me, but I don’t think the score is very generous with him, not really giving him the opportunity to shine. His performance however was much more balanced than the other experienced and he didn’t seem to need the time to warm up. I’d like to hear him again in a more substantial role. Same is valid for the evil contessa sung correctly by Enkelejda Shkosa.

Vesselina Kasarova’s Edoardo sounded slightly strange to me, some brilliant upper parts and then suddenly a pit in the lower register, which comes totally unconnected to the rest. And I was a bit unpleasantly surprised to see the exact same mimic and gestures as earlier in the year in her Carmen. She is sometimes wonderful (and her 2nd aria got some well deserved applause), but makes you wish you heard her with your eyes closed.

Matilde/Aleksandra Kurzak - I did remember her from last November’s Adina, however I can’t say she made an impression on me then. Weeeelll, what a change!!! Fair to say I was blown away!!! The effortless singing, the cheeky character, the spunk of this Matilde! From the moment she appeared on stage you knew who would command this story. She more than once stole the show. And how’about Rossini??!!! In a 3 hour and a bit opera where do you put the most difficult coloratura for your soprano? At the very end of course, when she has already been singing for more than 2 hours!! Kudos to her, she looked at ease and totally in control all the way… I tell you, I would have been s*****g myself knowing what would come at the end! But she totally aced it! And the high notes were flowing playfully from those smiling lips and what you were left with was not the technical effort of the score but the personality and strength of this cute Matilde. Brava! Molto Brava! A Matilde to fall for and a singer to admire! And applaud they did, she got as many cheers, shouts and applause as JDF and that more than proves how well she’s earned the public’s admiration.

Ok, ok, I am getting there! I know what you all want to know, especially since I clearly said I had never heard HIM live before ;-))))

foto Catherine Ashmore

Oh, well what did you expect? I loved him, of course! :-)
Juan Diego Florez was an adorable Corradino and yes, he is very much lovable himself. He wasn’t applauded when he came on stage, but I think it was just because it was incredibly fast and the moment was gone; I believe it was also right. It would have been unfair from the public towards his colleagues as no performance really stands just because of one singer. And applause is there to reward somebody’s performance not just acknowledge their physical presence, however nice it may be ;-)))

Surprisingly, it wasn’t his voice that knocked me off my socks, it was his stage personality. Of course his voice is beautiful! But I had heard it in recordings before and he is every bit as good as those, which is a compliment, as few singers are as good live as their recordings. He too sounded a bit quiet for me for the first phrases, but he then found his zone and brought the house down on several occasions. I’m not saying anything new here when I mention that he doesn’t have a booming volume, but does anyone want to have their ears shattered in Belcanto?? I think not; I don’t give much credit for volume anyway, because that is mostly genetics and you don’t get many brownie points in the long run for the gifts of mother nature alone :-) What makes him special are not even those easy high notes that he throws with the ease others say good morning. It is his sweet and intense lyrical singing, with this silken mezza voce of his that really does you in. Your know Pour me rapproche a Marie? Well that is what I mean, that is where for me he is better than all the other belcanto tenors today. And for working hard to polish this part of his singing I admire him. He has them all at his feet with high Cs. Ds. Es and all the other letters of the alphabet he can do, but I appreciate that he doesn’t leave it at that and is intent at showing all the other things his voice has to offer. For this reason my favourite part voice-wise as Corradino was the bit in the last act when he thinks he has sent innocent Matilde to death himself. He was absolutely exquisite there and I long to hear him sing something like that again. By the way, he’s got amazing diction; considering the amount of words he had to pronounce during these coloraturas it is no small success that one could understand every word he uttered.

And did anyone every say he was bland and not the best actor? Well all the laughs you will hear in the radio broadcast are 90% his! He is unbelievably funny! His face never stops moving and his got 1000 of them; and he is not a bit afraid of making a fool of himself ( and mind you he is a very composed person outside stage ;-) ) I didn’t feel anything special for that winding staircase… that is until Juandi was jumping up and down on it and started crawling in and around the railing like a little koala! Unbelievably funny and it made you want to cuddle him then and there! And there were a gazillion moments like that, he was never out of character, singing or not. He is an incredible bundle of energy and character.

It looked as if he enjoyed himself immensely and it makes me wonder why would anyone want him to sing something as boring as the Duca, when there are a gazillion more interesting and fun roles out there that he can excel at, why be one of the pack when he can be the prince? Oh yes, of course he knows just how good he is and he graciously accepts the admiration. From what I saw this evening he’s found that good balance between being a star and knowing you are one and still being able to make fun of yourself, not taking yourself too seriously and being a good and generous colleague.



I have to give a very big Bravo to the orchestra and the maestro Carlo Rizzi! They made the very very very best of this score! They showed how classy they are and Rizzi is fun to watch, with his baguette elegantly changing hands or disappearing all together. He did an excellent job in my opinion and got me for the first time truly excited about his Trovatore in spring (even more so considering how they were dissing Il povero Trovatore during the insight ;-))))

I can only say how much I regret not being able to watch it one more time. Now that I know where the thrills are, musically speaking :-)

I’ll be counting down the day to my next Rossini, this time one on my top-3-know-it-by-heart list of all times! Il Barbiere with the adorable JDF and the amazing DiDonato (and for me the big unknown of the evening, Simon Keenlyside as Figaro).


This performance is broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Saturday 22 November

Keenlyside and Martineau serenade at Wigmore

Wigmore Hall 26/10/2008 Simon Keelyside – baritone Malcolm Martineu - piano
Part I
Gabriel Faure/ Paul Verlaine - Mandoline
Gabriel Faure/ Paul Verlaine - En sourdine
Gabriel Faure/ Paul Verlaine - Green
Gabriel Faure/ Armand Silvestre - Notre Amour
Gabriel Faure/ Armand Silvestre - Fleur jetee
Gabriel Faure/ Paul Verlaine - Spleen
Gabriel Faure/ Edmond Haraucourt – Madrigal de Shylock
Gabriel Faure/ Louis Pomey - Aubade
Gabriel Faure/ Victor Hugo - Le papillon et la fleur

Maurice Ravel/Jules Renard – Histoires naturelles Le paon * Le grillon * Le cygne * Le martin-pecheur * La pintade

Part II
Hugo Wolf/ Eduard Morike - Morike Lieder Gesang Weylas * Heimweh * Auf eine Christblume II * Lied vom Winde *

Franz Schubert/ William Shakespeare – An Sylvia
Franz Schubert/ Johann Gaudenz Freiherr von Salis Seewis – Die Einsiedelei
Franz Schubert/ Pope, trans Herder – Verklarung
Franz Schubert/ Johann Baptist Mayrhofer – Freiwilliges Versinken
Franz Schubert/ Friedrich Schiller – Gruppe aus dem Tartarus
Franz Schubert/ Johann Peter Silbert – Himmelsfunken
Franz Schubert/ Ludwig Rellstab – Standchen
Franz Schubert/ Karl Gottfried von Leitner – Die Sterne
Franz Schubert/ Ernst Schulze – Auf der Bruck

Encores:
Hugo Wolf/ Eduard Morike – “Der Knabe und das Immlein”
Hugo Wolf/ Eduard Morike - “An die Geliebte”
Francis Poulenc/ Guillaume Apollinaire - “Hôtel”


I have been looking forward to this for a while and it proved to be everything I expected and more!

It is well known that Simon Keenlyside does quite a lot of lieder-singing and that he is fond of the genre. Also the things I most admire about him is his technique and his phrasing. In both the Don Carlo and the Don Giovanni I heard him in it was the intimate, softer passages that I liked most. And he is en excellent story teller.

There is no better time to enjoy these things than during a Liederabend. And it is one of the few times you will get to enjoy a singer’s voice at its fullest. There are no sets and costumes, no 100 instruments to battle for your ears’ attention.

I was quite surprised that the program was half-French and when almost arriving late panicked that I didn’t know it and wouldn’t understand a thing. I needn’t have worried! His French is very good, much much better than I expected. In fact I dispensed with the program altogether because I understood every single word. This was actually the part of the evening I liked best. Though by only a fraction ;-) I liked the lot and the French bit probably won me over a tiny bit more because of its romantic, soft and sensuous lines. It was just perfect for a Sunday afternoon!

Malcolm Martineau is his perfect match, the outcome of the night was definitely due to their excellent collaboration. They have this obvious artistic bond which gives instant musical communication. And he is a cheeky one!!! Being sat on the side I practically had him in direct view … a pleasure to just watch the stories play on his features and his knowing smiles which preceded each playful note with a fraction of a second! A delight!

SK’s German was even better than his French and boy does he sing it well! Schubert was a total treat and he didn’ hold anything back! There was a well deserved explosion of cheers and applause after that Auf der Bruck!


Every time I go back to the Wigmore I like it more. Love the acoustics and love their relaxed, friendly ways and their warm appreciation of the performers. Where else are you kindly and friendly asked to try and control your cough and drops are provided by the staff if you need them? The program also kindly reminds you when the songs go on on the next page and also advise you to please turn as silently as possible… just imagine a couple of hundreds of people going all at the same time : flip flip!


The incredible picture was taken by Joyce DiDonato

I really don’t know how to explain it, but it felt as if it was an evening with friends, artists and public alike felt cocooned in a bubble of harmony and warmth. And both Simon and Malcolm perfectly captured the feeling in their last encore (of 3!!) : Hotel/Poulenc.

I am glad this got recorded for the Wigmore, so we can have a reminder of a perfect moment in time and music.

I am going to leave you now with my favourite Schubert bits of the night from a wonderful recording Simon Keenlyside and Malcolm Martineau did a couple of years ago ( I uploaded these from my own cd ;-)) Mind you, Simon’s voice has change quite a lot since then, it is darker, more burnished and I feel more expressive. I also suspect he is always better live than recorded because he has tremendous energy in the midst of the performance.


Himmelsfunken



Das Standchen




Die Sterne



Auf der Bruck

I also dug up this version of the last encore, it is just wonderful! Unfortunately not with Simon, but really good as well:
Poulenc Hotel:

Banalites: Hotel - F. Poulenc

I believe it is from this CD ( but do correct me anyone if you realise i am wrong)

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon everyone!