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guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 21
August 2002 |
Tim Ashley |
Edinburgh Festival, August 2002: Die
schöne Müllerin
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Jonas Kaufmann: Die schöne Müllerin
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Usher Hall, Edinburgh |
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Very much the discovery of last year's festival,
German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has continued making waves this time round. At
the end of his performance of Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with pianist
Helmut Deutsch, the audience was in bits and pandemonium broke out, leaving
Kaufmann looking slightly bemused at the sensation he had caused.
Kaufmann already has sex-symbol status, though what is crucially important
is that the beauty of his artistry matches his looks. His voice is dark and
handsome. He achieves psychological and dramatic insight by working through
the music rather than going against it. Lines are never fractured for the
sake of textual emphasis; a tremendous palette of vocal colour generates the
intensity.
Schubert's song cycle, often romanticised, consequently becomes a tragic
monologue of great complexity, a journey from optimism to despair via the
tangled irrationalities of desire. Kaufmann's voice rears in elation at the
onset of passion, the tone then shifting with unease as doubt sets in. The
final realisation of betrayal is done with heart-stopping simplicity.
The difficult closing song, in which the protagonist's voice is replaced by
that of the river in which he has drowned himself, is surreal and
otherworldly, haunting you long after the final chords have died away.
Deutsch, meanwhile, matches Kaufmann's approach turn for turn, exposing
extraordinary layers of meaning in Schubert's piano writing.
The reaction at the end was fully justified. This was an overwhelming
experience - the greatest performance of the work I've ever heard. |
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