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Evening Standard, 22 April 2013 |
Barry Millington |
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Konzert, Royal Festival Hall, London, 21. April 2013 |
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Jonas Kaufmann, Festival Hall - music review - Triumph of the tenor king: Jonas Kaufmann
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Described as the Wagner tenor we've all been waiting for, Jonas
Kaufmann's unimpeachable artistry carried the day |
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He's been described as the Wagner tenor we've all been waiting for. And for
once the hype is justified. Jonas Kaufmann, currently the world's most
sought-after tenor, demonstrated in this programme devoted to the two
bicentenary composers, Wagner and Verdi, that he has everything.
He’s
not an orthodox Heldentenor and perhaps all the better for it. Rather he
combines Germanic expressive weight and Lieder-like sensitivity to the text
with Italianate lyricism. The golden tone fused with musical intelligence of
the highest order is a winning combination. He frequently uses a mezza voce
(half voice) to great effect, modulating smoothly through the dynamic range
to a thrilling forte.
The alternated Verdian arias and overtures
(from Luisa Miller, Simon Boccanegra, La Traviata, Don Carlo, La Forza del
Destino and Nabucco) in the first half and Wagnerian bleeding chunks plus
orchestral items (Die Walküre, Meistersinger and Parsifal) in the second —
did we really deserve the Ride of the Valkyries? — left something to be
desired. So too did the expensively glossy printed programme, crammed with
soulful pictures of the photogenic tenor and detailed synopses we didn’t
need but lacking the texts we did.
Of better quality was the fine
playing of the Philharmonia Orchestra (with one stunning clarinet solo by
Andrew Marriner) under the admirable Jochen Rieder.
Yet Kaufmann’s
unimpeachable artistry carried the day — right through to the last of four
encores (from Verdi’s Macbeth), in which he summoned once again the engaging
energy and ringing tone that had been evident in the opening item.
For the sake of his legions of admirers, one hopes Kaufmann is pacing
himself sensibly. His talent is too rare to squander.
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