|
|
|
|
|
Financial Times,
Apr 15, 2003 |
By David Murray |
Recital, Wigmore Hall, London,
11 April 2003,
Schumann, Liszt, Richard Strauss
|
Munich tenor sparkles on Wigmore stage
|
|
Jonas Kaufmann, appearing at the Wigmore in
William Lyne's splendid valedictory Director's Festival, was unruly and
special. In his first half, with Schumann's Kernerlieder and the
Dichterliebe cycle he sounded like a high baritone - but he took the high
A in "Ich grolle nicht" to frantic effect where for years genteel Wigmore
baritones have chosen the lower option and left their accompanists to rise
to the climactic phrase instead. All his Schumann was riveting: acute
intelligence, every phrase carried straight through and meaningful.
After the interval, he displayed not only clear, open, expressive Italian
in Liszt's three "Petrarch Sonnets", but subtle and searching commitment
(much aided by Helmut Deutsch's accompaniments) - and also a true
operatic-tenor sound, properly scaled down for Petrarch's sentiments. He
opened it up for his final Strauss group, alert and penetrating, and
choosing to be warmly intimate for "Breit über mein Haupt". In some other
Strauss songs, and in his encores, he displayed some extrovert, artful
comedy-acting. He is a notably interesting artist and performer, and there
are encouraging rumours that he will sing Lensky at Covent Garden before
long. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|