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Classic Melbourne, 21.8.2014 |
Classic Melbourne |
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Konzert, Hamer Hall, Melbourne, 14. August 2014 |
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Jonas Kaufmann
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Last year, Melbourne saw two classical music events that exceeded anything
that was on offer for the Melbourne Festival proper: Einstein on the Beach
and The Ring Cycle. This year, Opera Australia and Orchestra Victoria have
provided a very early curtain raiser to thrill opera lovers. Indeed, the
advent of the world’s hottest tenor is a festival in itself. Jonas
Kaufmann’s physical attractions alone are enough to increase the heart rate
and banks of roses adorning the front of the stage struck a suitably festive
note.
The glossy program, featuring page after page of glamorous
photographs that would have been equally at home in a quality fashion
magazine, seemed to promote a focus on Kaufmann’s more superficial
attributes. Dressed in elegant tails and sporting designer stubble, he could
have come directly from a photo shoot when he made his entrance after the
Overture from Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani.
But Kaufmann has a great
deal more to him than all this would suggest. As well as having a timbre
that is now instantly recognizable, his voice has the quite phenomenal
degree of beauty, ease and amplitude to justify the superlatives that have
been heaped on it. His command of the messa di voce and an ability to sing
softly throughout his considerable range with unerring control are truly
astonishing.
Although Wagner was lamentably absent from his program
of popular tenor arias by, largely, the greatest composers of verismo opera,
there was plenty of scope for Kaufmann’s dramatic talents, both as an actor
and vocal colorist. After a gloriously full-voiced “Recondita armonia” from
Tosca, which ended in a melting diminuendo, the extended aria from Andrea
Chenier was sung with all the dramatic nuance and intensity that any devotee
of Giordano’s wonderful opera could wish for. Principal tenor arias from La
Forza del Destino, I Pagliacci, Carmen, Werther and Cavalleria Rusticana
were given similarly rivetting treatment.
The only reservation
listeners might have had with regard to interpretation came in the “Flower
Song”. With such exquisitely controlled soft singing throughout, how could
Carmen ever have contemplated ditching the singer? Impossible. The role of
Don Jose is usually sung by tenors with a fair amount of vocal weight, which
all too often translates into strain for this particular aria, especially on
the high notes. Kaufmann’s voice has substance allied with a tenderness that
made his performance of this aria remarkably poignant.
Orchestra
Victoria, under the sensitive baton of Jochen Rieder, interleaved the arias
with a selection of overtures and intermezzi as well as a very spirited
Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah and Massenet’s “Meditation” from Thais,
affectingly rendered by Concertmaster Roger Jonsson. There was fine playing
from the orchestra throughout the evening, with an excellent contribution
from the clarinet in particular.
One of the most satisfying aspects
of the concert was the fact that what was heard was unfiltered by any sound
system. Here was a great tenor at the height of his powers who could be
heard in the immediacy of a well-designed concert hall rather than an
amplified stadium or via recorded sound. Sheer bliss.
It would be
difficult to match the enthusiasm that greeted Kaufmann at the end of the
advertised program and each of a series of encores. Even if he had omitted
the popular aria from “You are my Heart’s Delight” and the repeat in
English, which ended with “I love you”, the ecstatic audience would have
been clamouring for more. The house lights were up, but most people were
still on their feet shouting and clapping, reluctant to let him go until he
made it clear with waves and kisses that it was all over – at least for the
time being.
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