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Broadway World, Jan. 22, 2018 |
Joanna Barouch |
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Liederabend: New York, Carnegie Hall, 20. Januar 2018 |
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JONAS KAUFMANN at Carnegie Hall
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Wondering if Jonas Kaufmann is going to go out onstage on any given night is
something of a parlor game for many opera fans. Mr. Kaufmann has canceled,
for whatever reasons, a number of high-profile engagements at the Met in the
last few years, most recently an appearance in the current production of
"Tosca." The most recent worries about whether or not he would make it to
his January 20th recital at Carnegie Hall were put to rest when he strode
through the doors with his pianist, Helmut Deutsch, in tow. And what
followed was one glorious, hour-long traversal through Franz Schubert's 1823
song cycle, "Die schöne Müllerin," (The beautiful Miller maid") based on
poems by the aptly named Wilhelm Müller. Although these poems were initially
created as part of party games for a salon of creative intellectuals, they
became much more with the addition of Schubert's sublime music.
The
Romantic ideal of true love was not to be found in a lifelong, happy
partnership. It was, as one writer put it, "about Romantic longing as its
own reward, because it can only be satisfied by death." "Die schöne
Müllerin" illustrates this path through twenty mostly strophic songs sung by
a carefree miller. He is bursting with life, and as he walks along a
babbling brook he makes it his confidant. He falls in love as he wanders. No
happy thought goes unvoiced, and in "Ungeduld", the most well-known of these
songs, the singer can let himself go full-throttle into ecstasies of love as
he cries out "Dein ist mein Herz und soll es ewig bleiben!" (Yours is my
heart and shall be forever!). Mr. Kaufmann did just that, his mahogany
toned, gleamingly ardent tenor ringing to the rafters of the Hall. If he had
stopped right there it would have been enough. All 2700 people in the room
were with him, as evidenced by the miraculous audience silence when the last
sound died away. And it was only the seventh song.
What followed was
simply mesmerizing. Mr. Kaufmann brought the audience along with him through
delirious happiness all the way to the final tragedy with the utmost of
expression and understanding. In the deceptively simple "Trokne Blumen" (Dry
Flowers), Mr. Kaufmann's sensitively shaped musical line held everyone
spellbound, finishing with the heart-rending "Des Baches Wiegenlied" (The
Brook's Lullaby) whose concluding lines ("Good night, good night! /Till all
shall wake/ Sleep out your joy, sleep out your sorrow!/The full moon is
rising/ The mist is yielding/ and heaven up there, how far!") left not a dry
eye in the house. Although some vocal breaks could be heard now and then,
these just added to the pathos of the story.
Mr.Deutsch was no mere
accompanist. He played this extremely difficult score with exquisite
attention to the ebb and flow of emotions as well as with technical mastery.
Mr. Deutsch was Mr. Kaufmann's equal, breathing with him, watching his every
move, and taking the lead when the music called for it. His pianistic
depictions of the mill-wheel's turns and bangs, of the rippling water, and
of the miller's emotional state throughout were truly breathtaking. The flow
of energy between Mr. Kaufmann and Mr. Deutsch was musical collaboration at
the highest possible level.
Mr. Kaufmann chose 4 more Schubert lieder
with which to encore his splendid performance. One was from Schubert's other
major song cycle, "Winterreise", but the one which sent the deeply
appreciative audience out into the night with a song in their hearts was
"Die Forelle" (The Trout).
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