A better casting for the male leads of Don Giovanni is hard to imagine. Unfortunately the ladies did not quite live up to their male counterparts. According to himself, this was Bryn Terfel´s last performance of Don Giovanni as the Don.
Manfred Honeck conducted the Verbier Festival Orchestra for this concert performance on July 20th 2009.
Showing posts with label thomas quasthoff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thomas quasthoff. Show all posts
Friday, 24 July 2009
Friday, 24 August 2007
Mariss Jansons with Beethoven 9 in Salzburg
Competing for attention last Friday night with both Claus Guth´s Nozze di Figaro next door and Mozarts C-minor mass, the guest performance of Symphonieorchester des Bayerische Rundfunk conducted by Mariss Janssons nevertheless completely sold out the Salzburg Festival Hall.
The concert started with Honeggers 3rd symphony, a work I was not familiar with by a composer that I am not extensively familiar with either – a tonal piece with floating harmonies. According to seasoned concert-goers, the coupling of the Beethoven 9th with a “modern” piece is now common practice. The Beethoven, of course, was the main thing. And the performance was greeted ecstatically by immediate standing ovations by the entire audience, which I was a bit curious about. I mean – the performance was good – but I missed some structure and dynamic particularly in the first and third movement.
Four stellar soloists were hired for the occasion: Krassimira Stoyanova, Lioba Braun, Johan Botha and Thomas Quasthoff – although the female parts are so small that I wouldn´t think it worth the effort to hire stellar female singers, since you hardly hear them sing and I guess just about any soprano and alto would do justice to the very small parts. Furthermore, Thomas Quasthoff´s lyrical bass-bariton does not seem ideal for the bass part (the largest solo part).
The concert started with Honeggers 3rd symphony, a work I was not familiar with by a composer that I am not extensively familiar with either – a tonal piece with floating harmonies. According to seasoned concert-goers, the coupling of the Beethoven 9th with a “modern” piece is now common practice. The Beethoven, of course, was the main thing. And the performance was greeted ecstatically by immediate standing ovations by the entire audience, which I was a bit curious about. I mean – the performance was good – but I missed some structure and dynamic particularly in the first and third movement.
Four stellar soloists were hired for the occasion: Krassimira Stoyanova, Lioba Braun, Johan Botha and Thomas Quasthoff – although the female parts are so small that I wouldn´t think it worth the effort to hire stellar female singers, since you hardly hear them sing and I guess just about any soprano and alto would do justice to the very small parts. Furthermore, Thomas Quasthoff´s lyrical bass-bariton does not seem ideal for the bass part (the largest solo part).
Monday, 25 June 2007
Copenhagen: Haydn´s Creation with Thomas Quasthoff
The Creation. June 2007. Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen. Soloists: Thomas Quasthoff, Klara Ek, Marcel Reijans. Conductor: Helmut Rilling.
I have always had mixed opinions on Thomas Quasthoff as an artist. While I deeply admire his achievements, I generally finde his interpretations too emotional and sentimental, especially in Schubert and Mahler, which are cornerstones in Quasthoff´s repertoire.
In this Creation, however, he displayed none of these tendencies, providing a very much to the point reading displaying his very beautiful voice which has considerably more ring to the lower registry than I´expected.
Accompanied by the fine young Swedish soprano Klara Ek and the conductor Helmut Rilling, who genuinely extracted enthusiasm from the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra playing, as always, on modern instruments.
After the concert, the music director of Tivoli, Nikolaj Koppel interviewed Rilling and Quasthoff on stage. Among other things, both artists agreed that period vs. no period performance was not an important issue: The important thing was making the music come alive. A statement with which I very much agree. Directly asked, Thomas Quasthoff furthermore stated he had no intentions of doing more operatic roles.
I have always had mixed opinions on Thomas Quasthoff as an artist. While I deeply admire his achievements, I generally finde his interpretations too emotional and sentimental, especially in Schubert and Mahler, which are cornerstones in Quasthoff´s repertoire.
In this Creation, however, he displayed none of these tendencies, providing a very much to the point reading displaying his very beautiful voice which has considerably more ring to the lower registry than I´expected.
Accompanied by the fine young Swedish soprano Klara Ek and the conductor Helmut Rilling, who genuinely extracted enthusiasm from the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra playing, as always, on modern instruments.
After the concert, the music director of Tivoli, Nikolaj Koppel interviewed Rilling and Quasthoff on stage. Among other things, both artists agreed that period vs. no period performance was not an important issue: The important thing was making the music come alive. A statement with which I very much agree. Directly asked, Thomas Quasthoff furthermore stated he had no intentions of doing more operatic roles.
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