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Sometimes it’s just better not to read the comments on YouTube
opera clips. The comments
on this clip take Jonas Kaufmann to task for his glottal attacks. Gee I never
heard any Italian tenor use a glottal attack.
Some idiots jerks annoying people will make up any
excuse—valid or not—to criticize Kaufmann, or other
well-known, well-liked (and well-talented) singers, simply because they are well-known and well-liked (and well-talented).
Here are Anja Harteros and Jonas Kaufmann in the finale from Verdi's Don Carlo, in a performance last January at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich.
Don Carlo: "È dessa! ... Un detto, un sol"
Harteros and Kaufmann may not be Italian, but they sure can sing the heck out of Verdi! Apparently they also did a Verdi Requiem not long ago. I would LOVE to hear that!
You should be able to hear it before too long. We were there for the Requiem concert at La Scala in August (absolutely exquisite), which was filmed. Can't wait for the DVD to come out, the performance was unforgettable.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the head's up. I will be watching for it!
DeleteI haven't heard the "glottal acctack" criticism re Kaufmann, but more often than not I am told that he resorts to falsetto, e.g., the quiet ending to Don Jose's Flower Song. I don't believe it is falsetto, but beautifully nuanced interpretation that Bizet wanted but rarely gets. When EMI announced the release of Don Carlo I was so hoping that it was the revival cast of a year later. Alas it was Villazon who was in deep waters throughout the run and the recording validates that. The replacement Eboli was not an improvement but Kaufmann rules the day as far as I am concerned. Eboli would appear to be almost impossible to cast these days and her two arias are difficult. Harteros is a wonderful soprano and on the basis of the video clip she must make a superb Elizabeth. If only it were in French......
ReplyDeleteHarteros is Elektra in the M22 Idomeneo, and I was surprised at first to hear her singing Verdi and Wagner, but she pulls it off rather well.
DeleteI have heard at least four different recordings of JK singing the Flower song and he most definitely does NOT go into falsetto. It's only one of his more memorable and amazing vocal feats!
Thanks for your comments! :)
Yes, that final bit was not 'falsetto' but 'mezzo voce'.
ReplyDeleteI must say that these days I find Herr Kaufmann using more and more chest voice than he used to, say, five or eight years before.
true! and I think that has as much to do with his newer repertoire as with anything else.
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