Jonas Kaufmann, Champs-Elysées, 17/03/2009
Orchestre National de Belgique Michael Güttler, direction
P1Puccini : Tosca, « Recondita armonia »Puccini : La Bohème, « Che gelida manina »Weber : Oberon, ouvertureFlotow : Martha, « Ach so fromm »Mascagni : Cavalliera Rusticana, intermezzoMassenet : Werther, « Pourquoi me réveiller »
P2Verdi : La Forza del destino, ouverturePuccini : Tosca, « E lucevan le stelle »Bizet : Carmen, suite n°1 (extraits)Bizet : Carmen, « La fleur que tu m’avais jetée »Wagner : Lohengrin, prélude de l’acte IIIWagner : Lohengrin, « In fernem Land »
EncoresCilea : L’Arlesiana, « E la solita storia »Massenet : Manon, « En fermant les yeux »De Curtis : Non ti scordar di meVerdi : Rigoletto, « La donne e mobile »
So why one more arias concert with JK? Why the same program 3 times? Other than never getting enough of that lushious voice, you mean?
Well, because experience tought me that it never is the same. The place, the music, the public, the singer himself and his voice, all are different every time and you can never know how the chemistry will work out on a particular night.
Then there is something special about Paris.... All the times i have been there the reaction of the public was one i have never seen or heard before. I don't believe it is a fabricated or otherwise media induced reaction to a famous name. Because it is by no means instantaneaos. No, you can actually feel the public warming up, their reaction slowly, gradually changing. You don't hear the click when the bond happens, but you physically feel it. That moment when you are drawn into the performance to the absolute exclusion of all else in your environment. You can wish it to happen, but you can't construct it unilaterally from you own will. It is like when you most force yourself to focus, to concentrate and you just keep getting distracted. An then there are those times when it just happens: you stop blinking, you almost stop breathing, you hang on every note and you feel your heart beating faster, slower, you physically feel all emotions to the point where your hands sweat and you feverishly race to the culmination of each aria. Time streches and you actually do live a story, even if it is only for 3-4 minutes. And then comes the tension release when you pull air into your lungs, release the bag you are clutching and snap out of it and realise you were not the only one holding your breath. The reaction to such mass enchantment is always an outburst of Bravos, shouts, and enthusiastic applause. By the intensity of the outbust you can measure the efectiveness of the spell an artist is capable to throw upon his audience. You suddenly know beyond the shadow of a doubt which arias worked and which didn't.
On Tuesday in the TCE it happened again and again and again with an ever increasing level of intensity until you could almosty feel the air crackle with tension. Which is almost a Guiness book record when we actually should have all fainted after 10 minutes from total lack of air and complete overheating!!! If i hadn't paid for the ticket for an aria concert i'd have thought i was in one massive sauna! But in spite of adverse conditions singer and audience batteled bravely on and went on to have a night to remember!
In this respect i think the audience in Paris is special in that it probably is more open to the experience. I don't think people here come to see something with a fixed idea in their head of how it will be. And if they like it they let go and enjoy themselves, why not? They enjoy being exited and amazed by an artist and show their gratitude in an explosive way! Here it is not frowned opon to shout out your Bravos, to enthusiastically clap and jump up to clap and laugh and shout some more. There is no ban on showing emotion and there is happiness and laughter and delight. There is no restraint in beaming up thy neigbour and saying: amazing wasn't it? To laugh and cry and sigh and generally enjoy yourself. And enjoy themselves they did last night!
In the second half the clapping became rythmical almost every time after a couple of seconds. And the bravos only got louder. I really didn't feel the need to shout myself, i just plastered a smile on my face and watched and listened absolutely elated at the thrilling sound of an audience absolutely in love with the singer on stage.
There are so many beautiful things to be said about each aria i could go on for weeks! But some things i felt were particulary good: for one his lower register was so secure, and warm and stong. It felt as if he could go there with ease and comfort and make it sound just right. And he got to sing the arias as he likes, as he feels them and make them his own. That in this case meant an amazing amount of suspended, etheral, sweet and heartstopping piani!
The recondita armonia made an even better start than usual and that was Mario right there! By Ach so fromm the audience was already won and Pourquoi me reveiller ...well it was wild!!!! There was sadness and almost anger with life, why should this Werther go on he asks? He got the balance of feeelings and the tourmoil just right to take the audience just to the brink of the abyss and let them fly :-)
Then JK came back and delivered the most beautiful account of Floria and Mario's love i've heard from him to date. He made me see the traces her steps left in the sand, the tenderness of their embrace, the fingers trembling with passion over her falling veils. Every single one of us wanted to let the tears flow for the dying Mario and his love.
No need to tell you about his Jose, a certain DVD tells it much better than i can :-)
The skill and spiraling crescendo behind the Gralserzahlung is getting ever more polished and the knight more brilliant!
After some more waves of applause we got all in all 4 encores!!! At the end of this night he managed to outdo himself again and produce a Lamento beyond words. Anyone ever in doubt about his "italianita" should have been there!
So i sat back prepared for the next one, thinking i've got this all figured out: but then what music is this? It wasn't Non ti scordar ( although we did get that as well) and it wasn't Dein ist mein ganzes. He had one more surprise in store: "En fermant les yeux"anyone???? Yes pleaseeeeeeee!!! I've never heard his Des Grieux life before and i was just speachless...it was the most beautiful dream i could have dreamt. In absolute silence he delivered it in a sweet, tender, enchanted piano, that had the whole hall jumping up at the end for standing ovations that didn't stop until the end.
Two more encores had members of the audience shouting Merci and Dankeschon back at the singer, which i found particularily touching. After all, encores are not a must, and it was nice to see an audience recognise when an artist is particularily generous, still giving more than 100% at the end of a long, draining but magic evening. For some final adoring giggles and more delighted sighs he transformed into a cheeky charmer and pulled a secure and totally seductive Duca out of the bag.
Little to say about the orchestra i'm afraid. I guess the answer to how a bunch of obviously talented and good instrumentalists can play so badly and acompany even worse is probably too few rehearsals. However, this does not excuse the chaos in the Lohengrin prelude, the horns blasting for what is worth all throughout In fernem Land, etc etc. Why they didn't figure out how the sounds of percussion and horns would reverberate above the chords and onto the singer much more than usual due to the boxed wooden panneling that incased the stage beats me; it was pretty obvious. They didn't help much and most of the time were just out of sorts whith what he was trying to create as a style and line of singing. More praise to JK for pulling his concept off in spite of it.
What a night!!
And it didn't end there, JK spent another hour and a half afterwards talking to whoever still wanted more, signing all sorts, listening and smiling, not only patiently but friendly and engagingly. And as relaxed and down to earth as if he hadn't almost made them lift the roof off the house in the thunder of applause ;-)
What more can I say? As a friend of mine so lovingly put it (and it sums it up perfectly i think ;-)) :
Curly strikes again!
