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Evening Standard, 07 April 2014 |
Barry Millington |
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Schubert: Winterreise, London, Royal Opera House, 6. April 2014 |
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Jonas Kaufmann, Royal Opera House - music review
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***** |
Kaufmann filled the space with the persona of the suicidally despondent winter traveller |
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Pitting himself against the demands of the big Wagner and Verdi roles, Jonas
Kaufmann has earned a reputation as one of the most accomplished operatic
tenors before the public today. With Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise the
challenges are very different: verbal nuance and vivid characterisation need
to be fused on a much smaller canvas.
The main stage of the Royal
Opera is not an ideal venue for such an intimate work, yet Kaufmann filled
the space, not with tone, nor with his undeniably charismatic presence, but
with the persona of the suicidally despondent winter traveller.
There
were occasional eruptions of sound at moments of anger or despair but the
nuances had to be largely taken on trust. What impressed, however, was the
prevailing register: the intense concentration and focus of the poetic and
musical content — to which pianist Helmut Deutsch made the contribution of a
true partner.
Heroic tenors and musical intelligence all too rarely
coincide. But Kaufmann is that rare creature: a singer possessed of a
gloriously burnished tone apparently capable of anything, who is yet willing
to sacrifice volume and éclat in the greater cause of artistic truth.
Altogether an extraordinary achievement.
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