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Presto Classical, 11th February 2013 |
Katherine Cooper |
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Wagner from Jonas Kaufmann and others |
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Die
Walküre - Mariinsky
When I was musing last year about
possible plans for the Wagner bicentenary, a complete Gergiev Ring with a
cast like Kaufmann, Stemme and Pape seemed like a pipe-dream – but this week
sees the release of their first instalment – Die Walküre - recorded live in
concerts at the Mariinsky Concert Hall last year.
The opera’s opening
burst of electricity is always gripping, but what struck me soon after was
the intimacy of Gergiev’s account: the sparsely-scored passages in the early
scenes sound like true chamber-music, and so much detail that often gets
lost is coaxed out (I don't think I’ve ever noticed before just how magical
much of the viola-writing is!).
This has to be one of the finest Act
Ones on record, due in no small part to Jonas Kaufmann’s Siegmund. His very
dark timbre might take some getting used to if you’re accustomed to
brighter-toned singers like James King (for Solti), but he now sounds less
cautious than he did in his role-debut at the Met two years ago and is even
more attuned to Siegmund’s savagery and tenderness. Anja Kampe conveys all
the tremulous rapture one could wish for as his sister-bride, and Gergiev
brings off the close of the act with such feverish eroticism that it’s
virtually Not Safe For Work!
This is the first time Nina Stemme’s
donned Brünnhilde’s horned helmet on record and what a debut she makes here!
She nails the fiendish ‘Ho-jo-to-ho!’s with total security, and her
sumptuous middle and chest registers are a constant pleasure in this most
low-lying of the three Brünnhilde roles.
Aside from the white-hot
first act, the highlight of the set for me is the ‘Todesverkündigung’
(‘Annunciation of Death’), as Brünnhilde comes to summon Siegmund to
Valhalla: the whole scene glows with a fittingly uncanny radiance, with
Stemme and Kaufmann sparking off each other with the chemistry that made
their collaboration on Abbado’s Fidelio so special.
René Pape has
also waited for a long time to take on Wotan and on this hearing he’s come
to it at exactly the right moment: the role seems to lie so very comfortably
for him, and his characterisation of the King of the Gods as flawed but
never less than noble reminded me of Fischer-Dieskau on Karajan’s acclaimed
cycle. If Gergiev’s Ring fulfils the promise of this first instalment, it
looks set to become a worthy successor.
Kaufmann
- Wagner This week also sees the release of Kaufmann’s
much-anticipated solo Wagner album: I gave you my first impressions before
Christmas, and can honestly say that this is a disc that just keeps on
giving! I’ve been listening to the Tannhäuser monologue (in which the broken
hero tells of his fruitless journey to Rome for Papal absolution) pretty
much on loop this weekend, and am still uncovering new marvels - the audible
exhaustion at the opening, the thin, peevish tone and pedantic diction which
he assumes to quote the Pope’s words of condemnation, the abject hysteria as
he abandons himself to Venus...For me, this is quite the best thing
Kaufmann’s done yet, which really is saying something!
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