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Sunday Times, 4 January 2009 |
Hugh Canning |
Beethoven: Fidelio, Paris, November/December 2008
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Fidelio
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excerpt only: |
A dash to Paris before the Christmas rush
enabled me to catch one of the rising star tenors of the moment, the German
Jonas Kaufmann, triumphing as the incarcerated Florestan in Beethoven’s
Fidelio – the greatest of “rescue” operas, inspired by the real-life escape
of an aristocrat during the French revolution.
....Kaufmann is the show’s star, his grainy, not overlarge tenor producing
sounds of heartrending poignancy. The swell of tone from pianissimo to a
searing outpouring of despair at “Gott! Welch’ Dunkel hier!” (“God! What
darkness here”) was a moment to make the audience stop for breath. Two years
ago at Covent Garden, Kaufmann’s Don Jose, in Carmen, electrified audiences.
In his native repertoire, he is surely unrivalled at present. Elaine
Padmore, of the Royal Opera, was at the performance I attended, so one hopes
Kaufmann’s Florestan might be seen here before too long. |
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