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ludwig van, June 15, 2020 |
By Joseph So |
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REPORT | Jonas Kaufmann Affirms His Status As The Otello Of The 21C With New
Recording
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What a terrific way to spend an early Monday morning!
I am talking
about the webinar hosted by Sony Classical to announce the release of their
new studio recording of Verdi’s Otello. While 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time is a
rather ungodly hour for a press conference, I, like the other 114
journalists around the world in virtual attendance, was glad to be glued to
the computer screen, eager to hear what tenor Jonas Kaufmann and Maestro
Antonio Pappano had to say about their new recording.
On the screen
we saw the smiling faces of the tenor and conductor, and that of the
moderator Andrea Penna — Pappano joining in from London, Kaufmann from
Munich, and Penna from Rome. I joined a few minutes early before the start
of the formal session, and heard Pappano and Kaufmann talking about how
artists and opera houses were coping with the current COVID-19 crisis. The
tenor revealed that the Munich Staatsoper was enlarging the orchestra pit to
give the musicians more elbow room, more of a fighting chance with social
distancing.
Then it was down to business. Kicking off the
proceedings, we were treated to a virtual performance of a choral snippet
from Act 1 Otello, with all 56 of the choristers of the Coro dell’Academia
nazionale di Santa Cecilia singing from their respective homes, stitched
together. Pappano shared his thoughts on the challenges of recording such a
celebrated work, with its excellent recorded legacy already in existence.
Kaufmann spoke about the challenges of portraying a multifaceted character
like Otello from both the vocal and dramatic perspectives, and the need to
search for the meaning, the motivations behind Otello’s character. He
particularly stressed the importance of not imitating or copying past great
exponents of the role, and to remain true to his own voice.
Most
interesting was Kaufmann speaking about the challenges of singing Otello
versus Tristan, the two “Mount Everests” of Heldentenor roles. This happens
to be the question I submitted beforehand, and I was happy it was answered.
He was also asked about singing Peter Grimes, and it was revealed that this
role is coming his way two years from now. Of course, an unavoidable
question had to do with the future of opera and the performing arts in this
uncertain time of the pandemic. Pappano spoke about the strange feeling he
had recently, giving his first concert, with three singers and an empty
hall. The bottom line — he, like everyone else in the music community,
doesn’t know what the future holds.
Given the interesting
discussions, 60 minutes went by in a flash. I just received my digital copy
of the recording, and so far I like what I’ve heard very much. It really
solidifies Kaufmann’s reputation as the Heldentenor of our time. I’ll have
more to say about the recording after I’ve had a chance to listen in greater
detail. Stay tuned!
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