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Financial Times, April 7, 2014 |
By Richard Fairman |
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Schubert: Winterreise, London, Royal Opera House, 6. April 2014 |
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Jonas Kaufmann, Royal Opera House, London – review
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**** |
The German tenor embarked on a calm, measured journey of real eloquence |
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It is many years since the Royal Opera House hosted a regular series of song
recitals. Given the size of the venue, the singers always needed to be
A-list celebrities and this one-off performance of Schubert’s Winterreise by
Jonas Kaufmann, the leading German tenor of the day, would have fitted the
bill perfectly.
Kaufmann sang against the backdrop of the set for Act
3 of La traviata. It was a shame that the stage had not been extended over
the orchestra pit to enhance the singer’s presence, as it used to be, but
the bleached white set, with its shuttered windows locking out a hostile
world, set the scene well enough for Schubert’s lonely winter journey.
It is odd to think that this is the first time Kaufmann has sung
anything in his native German at the Royal Opera House (all his operatic
roles have been in Italian, with the exception of Carmen in French). One of
the principle pleasures of this performance of Schubert’s towering song
cycle was how well Kaufmann sings his own language – not so much in a poetic
way, or obviously “interpreted”, like Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the leading
German song recitalist of the previous generation, but simply delivering
whole sentences at a natural speed and with a clarity that meant almost
every word could be understood.
It is hard to overstate the
importance of that skill in a recitalist. Each poem in the cycle had shape
and meaning, helped by Kaufmann’s ability to sustain phrases over a long
span, where other singers would stop for a breath or two. He also used the
words to create vivid responses – the traveller’s pain of seeing his image
reflected in the stream, his bitterness towards a clear, bright day – though
this was not a Winterreise of lacerating intensity, like some.
Kaufmann’s journey was a calm, measured, introspective one, ably supported
by his regular travelling partner, accompanist Helmut Deutsch, who kept the
music firmly within small-scale Schubertian boundaries. That meant that
Kaufmann rarely let his Wagnerian tenor sing out fully, which may have
disappointed some; and the emotions, as much as the voice, were kept
contained. But for its straightforward, deeply considered communication this
was a performance of real eloquence.
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