|
|
|
|
Broadwayworld, February 24, 2014 |
by Richard Sasanow |
|
Recital: Carnegie Hall, 20. Februar 2014 |
|
Follow the Lieder - JONAS KAUFMANN Conquers Carnegie
|
|
What does an opera singer do on his night off from singing the title role in
Massenet's WERTHER in a new production at the Metropolitan? If he's the
charismatic wunder-tenor Jonas Kaufmann, he heads over to Carnegie Hall to
conquer another world, with his recital debut in an evening of German art
songs, or lieder.
And triumph he did.
Grand intimacy
After hearing Gerald Finley sing Schubert's "Winterreise" the previous
week in the 599-seat Zankel Hall and thinking the size was about right for
this kind of performance, I wondered what Kaufmann's lieder concert could do
to fill the reaches of the 2804-seat Carnegie. I needn't have worried.
Kaufmann was so clearly at home in the concert's repertoire and his
powerful baritonal voice was so flexible to the varied demands of the music
that he made it into an intimate performance on a grand scale. This might
seem like an oxymoron in describing some other singers, but not Kaufmann.
Depth of connection
As a German, he feels a deep
connection to the music of Schumann and Wagner, represented on the program
by selections from "Zwoelf Gedichte (Twelve Poems)," Op. 35 and the entire
"Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love)," Op. 48, for the former, and "Wesendonck
Lieder (Wesendonck Songs)," Op. 90, for the latter. Not only that, but he
also has kindred feelings about the poets who inspired the composers, most
notably by Goethe, but also by Kerner.
These works fit the singer as
if they had been written for him, with the tenor ready to float a note (on
the word im halfway through "Ich grolle nicht [I bear no grudge]") or be
"operatic" and full-voiced (in "Stille Traenen [Silent Tears]," to be urgent
(in "Die Rose, die lillie, die taube, die sonne [The rose, the lily, the
dove the sun]") or suave and sad (in "Traume [Dreams]"). There has been some
controversy about his choice of the Wagner songs, which were originally
written for soprano but which Kaufmann insists are gender neutral. He wins.
Elevated the piano's role
I was particularly
entranced by the gracefulness of the writing in the "Dichteliebe"-- not only
for the way they brought out the nuances of Kaufmann's voice (the urgency,
the power, the thoughtfulness), but how it elevated the piano to the equal
of the singer. Helmut Deutsch, who has worked with Kaufmann since the
singer's student days and, judging by his performance at this concert, is a
virtuoso in his own right. There were times when one didn't know who to
listen to first, because the music for piano was not "mere" accompaniment to
the singer but thrilling in its own right.
After the written part of
the program was over, with Liszt's "Tre sonetti di Petrarca [Three Sonnets
of Petrarca]," Kaufmann let it rip with a half dozen encores, mostly by
Richard Strauss, whose 150th birthday is being celebrated this year and who
is a favorite composer of the singer. (Kaufmann joked that everyone is "fed
up" with Verdi and Wagner, after their extended bicentennial celebrations in
2013.) He sounded free and reenergized, as if he could go on all night. The
audience yelled and cheered, as if they could go on, too.
|
|
|
|
|
|