domingo, 21 de novembro de 2010

Strauss, Mozart & Mahler - Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian - 18 Novembro 2010

(review in english below)

Estive na 5ª feira passada neste concerto da Gulbenkian e vou ser muito breve na minha crítica a qual poderão ver também no post que fiz no blog Ópera Lisboa de Plácido Zacarias, em resposta à crítica deste blogger embora referente ao concerto de 6ª feira.


Confesso que ia com grande expectativa porque Mahler é uma das minhas paixões.

O maestro Jean-Claude Casadesus não nos deu um Mahler vibrante e memorável. O último andamento revelou uma Olga Pasichnyk (desconhecida para mim...) com timbre bonito mas incapaz de, na maioria do tempo, se sobrepor à intensidade orquestral.
Para quem ouviu Simone Young dirigir a 5ª de Mahler na temporada passada, esta 4ª na mão da mesma teria sido provavelmente excelente.
A ausência de utilização de tempo rubato na abertura de o Morcego trouxe uma métrica aritmética algo incomodativa. Não gostei.
O concerto para piano e orquestra nº 24 de Mozart não é, por certo, o meu favorito. Acho que o brilhantismo desde David Kadouch, a um mês de fazer apenas 25 anos, não sobressaiu durante o concerto por uma direcção de orquestra pouco dinâmica, empastelada. Não escutei o espírito Mozartiano na sua essência e a sempre praticamente perfeita Orquestra Gulbenkian também não esteve ao seu nível por esta razão. Daí possa dizer que o melhor do concerto tenha sido realmente o extra de Kadouch com Chopin. Magnífica interpretação. Gelou todos no auditório (e especialmente durante a execução da mesma... sem os barulhos adventícios habituais...).

Aproveito para lamentar o cancelamento de Thomas Quasthoff da próxima 2ª feira na Gulbenkian. Embora tivesse na minha ideia que iria cantar o ciclo “A Bela Moleira” o que é certo é que seria “A viagem de Inverno”. Christine Schäfer substitui o barítono alemão. Embora tenha tido uma experiência agradável com Schäfer no Tamerlano de Londres deste ano, não acredito que acabe por ser um concerto muito interessante. Isto porque o meu gosto pessoal leva a preferir, como interpretes para estes ciclos de canções de Schubert, barítonos e não sopranos.


Strauss, Mozart & Mahler - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation - 18th November 2010


Last Thursday evening I went to Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and I shall be very brief in my review. My opinion can also be seen at the blog Ópera Lisboa by Plácido Zacarias, in response to his review of the same concert but performed on Friday.


I confess I went with great anticipation because Mahler is one of my passions.

The conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus did not give us a vibrant and memorable Mahler. The last movement revealed a Olga Pasichnyk (unknown to me ...) with beautiful tone but unable to, most of the time, take precedence over orchestral intensity.For those who heard Simone Young directing the 5th of Mahler last season, this 4 th in the same hand would probably have been excellent.
The lack of use of rubato in the Ouverture of Die Fledermaus brought a too much metric pace somewhat annoying. I did not like it.
Mozart’s piano concerto nº 24 is far from being my favourite one. I think the brilliance of David Kadouch, a month away from completing 25 years of age, was not so evident due to a sluggish conducting. The Mozart essence and spirit were missing and the almost always perfect Gulbenkian Orchestra failed to perfection also by the conducting problem. It can be said that the best of the concert was really the extra by Kadouch (a Chopin’s Nocturne). Beautiful interpretation. It froze everyone in the audience (it really stopped the usual adventitious noises ...).


I would like to take this opportunity to inform and to sorrow the cancellation of Thomas Quasthoff's concert on next Monday at the Gulbenkian. I had the idea that he would be singing “Die schöne Müllerin”, but instead it was “Winterrreise”. Christine Schäfer replaces the German baritone. Although I have had a pleasant experience with Schäfer in Tamerlano this year, I do not believe it will eventually be a very interesting concert, mainly because my personal taste leds me to prefer baritones and not sopranos for these song cycles.

16 comentários:

  1. I agree with your opinion. Schubert's lieder cycles is not suitable for the coloratura-Soprano.

    David Kadouch is a passable Beethoven-Interpret. But sometimes he makes the same facial expression as Lang Lang's. I wonder if it is "in" in the pianists of the young generation.

    At the old maestros such as Michelangeli, Rubinstein, Richter... I can see the aristocratic elegance.

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  2. ..another world of classical music,opera...spiral dance of the sound of music...
    ..best regards...

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  3. Caro FanaticoUm,

    Which tenor on my posting "Rising Stars" is your favorite?

    The reaction of the readers are quite different. American prefer the New Yorker Charlse Castronovo. In Japan Francesco Demuro is very popular. Germen prefer Calleja.

    All the tenors on my posting are great singers. However, my favorite is Saimir Pirgu. His voice touches my heart the most. I don't know why. It's just my feeling.

    Beethoven didn't like talking about music. Oneday he said, you shouldn't try to understand music, but just feel it.

    we have first snow here.
    Have a good day!

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  4. Dear lotus-eater,
    From those you posted as Rising Stars, so far I have only heard Joseph Calleja and Saimir Pirgu. From the two of them, I prefer Joseph Calleja, although in our blog, wagner_fanatic does not like him at all!
    But my favourite ones, at present time are, by far, Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Florez, both with completely different styles and repertoires.

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  5. Have fun in London. Please take many pictures at the ROH. It seems like hundreds years since I've been there.

    On account of the intransparent ticket booking system of the bayerische Staatsoper München, where Kaufmann often sings, I failed to get a ticket for Fidelio.

    I may go to Zürich in Apr.to hear Saimir Pirgu.
    Experience something new is exciting. Pirgu sounds fresh and almost innocent.

    I look forward to your posting about Adriana.

    P.S. wagner_fanatic doesn't like Calleja because of his acting? Is there something about Calleja on your blog? I don't know where to click.

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  6. Dear lotus-eater,
    Yes, I will be soon in London and I will see Adriana Lecouvreur with, among others, Jonas Kaufmann, probably the best tenor of our times. I look forward to hearing him. Then, of course, I will write a post here on the whole experience.
    About Calleja, we have already commented on him in this blog twice. I have commented this La Traviata and wagner_fanatic and myself (in the comments) this Simon Boccanegra.

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  7. Dear lotus-eater.

    You will find so much about Calleja in our blog... Me and FanaticoUm have our different opinions on this tenor. I cannot say that I dislike Calleja. He is a good singer and a very good actor but... it is his vibrato I hate. His voice is very beautiful but he has a vibrato that sounds like a goat sound, specially when he ends sentences in "a" or "e". That ruins me the show.

    The Simon Boccanegra DVD from Royal Opera House this Summer is almost out there and I cannot wait to revive the experience since I was on that performance. Maybe Calleja vibrato will sound less "goatly" on the DVD...

    Could you please try to see if you feel his voice the same way as I do? Maybe we both can show FanaticoUm what a "goatly vibrato" is...

    Saimir Pirgu is an excellent tenor. He has already sund here in Portugal some 3 years ago on a Cosi fan Tutte. And I also heard him in Cyrano with Domingo in Paris. He is very good.

    I have seen that it is very difficult to get a ticket for anything Kaufmann is on. I also considered to go to Munich this year and listen to his Fidelio (I also adore Anja Kampe). I was unnable to get tickets also.

    Zurich Opera house is superb. Will it be your first time there in April? If you like Wagner, I would recommend you to see Tannhauser or Parsifal there.

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  8. I'd heard Calleja in Frankfurt once. At that time he was very young and his vibrato wasn't that extreme. It came later. At the momentt sometimes better, sometimes worse. "goatly" is a fantastic expression!

    The booking system of Bayerische Staatsoper München is absurd!!! Here in Germany many people complain about it. I'm thinking of writing a letter to BSO.

    At the Zürich Opera I've seen "Tosca", Kaufmann as Cavaradosi, in 2009 and "Les Pecheurs des perle" last Oct, in which the the american baritone Franco Pomponi made such a great performance. He is so sexy! smile, smile...

    Yes, Zurich Opera is nice. Excellent acoustic, pretty, cosy atmosphere, easy to get tickets...

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  9. I agree. I loved Zurich also. But it is quite expensive to go there from Portugal. That is the main reason because I do not go there so often. The seasons are usually superb.

    I like the booking systems in which you can book tickets for all the performances starting on one specific date. This is how Barcelona, Zurich, Deutsche Oper Berlin work. It is easier and people can plan what they want to see and find cheaper flights and hotels. How can we get these cheaper travel items if you can only book one or two months before the performance? Impossible!

    Munich is still missing in my "catalogue"...

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  10. Dear lotus-eater,
    As wagner_fanatic mentioned, we are in total disagreement concerning Calleja. I really admire his tenor voice and for me his vibrato is similar to everyone's else who sing well. Goatly vibrato... please, come on! I wish to have many goats like this out there!
    Concerning Munich, I am planning to go there in the beginning of April and see three operas, Lucrezia Borgia, Dialigues des Carmelites and I Capuleti e i Montecchi. I ordered the tickets by mail a couple of months ago. I hope I will not have a bad surprise, but I am worried with what you wrote. The flights and hotel are already booked and paid for! I admire Germany very much and I never had such a situation there, so I hope I will not have the first this time...

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  11. Caro wagner_fanatic,

    Do you know about "Volksvorstellung(people's performance)" in Zürich Opera? For it the ticket preices are 75, 59, 44, 25, 15SF. But you can book for it not ealier than month before.

    The list of the Volksvorstellung:

    DIE SCHWEIGSAME FRAU - STRAUSS
    Thursday, 23.12.10, 20:00-22:30

    HÄNSEL UND GRETEL - HUMPERDINCK
    Saturday, 01.01.11, 14:00-16:20
    Sunday, 16.01.11, 14:00-16:20

    LE NOZZE DI FIGARO - MOZART
    Saturday, 01.01.11, 19:30-23:00

    TANNHÄUSER(with Vesselina Kassarova)
    Sunday, 13.02.11, 17:00-21:30

    LA TRAVIATA (with Saimir Pirgu)
    Thursday, 07.04.11, 19:00-21:50

    LA JUIVE - HALEVY
    Sunday, 17.04.11, 13:00-16:45

    MOSES UND ARON
    Sunday, 22.05.11, 20:15-22:15
    Sunday, 29.05.11, 20:00-22:00

    CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA/PAGLIACCI(with Jose Cura)
    Monday, 13.06.11, 14:00-17:00

    Caro FanaticoUm,

    Concerning BSO München:

    It depends who sings. If kaufmann, Netrebko or Florez sing, you need a luck to get a ticket. Sometimes Edita, too. Otherwise no big problem.

    Munich is my favorite city in Germany. On account of the personal reason, I go there quite often.

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  12. Dear lotus-eater,
    Edita Gruberova is scheduled for Lucrezia Borgia at that performance. I heard she is fantastic in that role. I hope I will have no problems!

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  13. I know that she singt in Lucrezia. There's no doubt that she is one of the best Belcanto singer in the opera history.

    If you don't get any Email from BSO within 3-5 days, normally there's no problem.
    I really hate the intransparancy of BSO. Why don't they let people purchase the tickets directly on line? No theater but BSO does that!
    People complain and complain.... But BSO just ignore it!

    There's so many odd stories about BSO.
    You know that Kaufmann is born in Munich. Since 1999 he had engagement in Zürich Opera. Even though the rest of the world was impressed by his performance, BSO didn't want him. It lasted for 10 years! Since 2009 he is on the stage of BSO. Kaufmann made a comment in his interview. If Kaufmann were not so popular, BSO still haven't invited him to Munich.
    That'll be absurd. The star tenor Kaufmann is on the stage in the whole world but his hometown!

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  14. I hope I will not get that "fatidic" Email. But I have to wait until the beginning of 2011.
    What you describe about Kaufmann is ridiculous!

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  15. Dear lotus-eater,

    Yes, I do know about those cheaper Zurich opera performances. Last year I thought of going there and see Die Meistersingers. I sent an email and they offered me a full booking program including those cheaper tickets and hotel reservation and, this way, it could be done before that "one month rule". I ended up going on the same dates to Milan and try to see Domingo... If you have already read on this blog, things did not get very well.

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