Jonas Kaufmann conquers Munich

Jonas Kaufmann / Helmut Deutsch - Nationaltheater Munich, 26 July 2011

One of life's great guilty pleasures is striding past a straggle of downcast faces and Suche Karte signs, smugly contemplating the sought-after ticket tucked away in one's own reticule.

Jonas Kaufmann sings pretty regularly in his home town of Munich but even so this was an instant sell out. The five extra rows of seating squeezed in over the opera house's covered orchestra pit were nothing like enough. The lucky ticket holders were -guess what? - mostly female and middle-aged with a number of ladies-only parties amongst them. The backslapping businessmen and their rigidly-coiffed wives who normally populate the posh seats seemed to have stayed at home. 

It's a big venue for a couple of guys and a piano to fill. I didn't get a tape measure out, but my coveted row six stalls seat felt like the back of Wigmore Hall. From the upper tiers I guess the intimacy of lieder could only be conjured by the imagination. It was the size of the venue as much as Kaufmann's natural strengths which made the more operatically-inclined sections of the programme the most effective. 

Actually, I'm not sure if even Wigmore Hall would have done much for his opening Liszt selection. Memorable melody and psychological acuity were not the composer's strengths. The texts for this selection came from the greatest of German poets, Goethe and Heine, but the musical settings sound almost interchangeable. If the test for a great Lied is whether you could imagine the music being paired with any words other than its own text (think Schubert's Erlkönig, Gretchen am Spinnrade or even Die Forelle) then Liszt fails each time.

Where Liszt often scores is, unsurprisingly, with the piano part. Unfortunately Helmut Deutsch, like the snoring husbands around me, had settled on the role of accompanist to the main attraction. He played beautifully but modestly, leaving Kaufmann to do what he could. Kaufmann is in superb voice right now, with absolute control of his instrument, but I sensed a lack of connection with the material, and nothing about these songs sounded essential. A dutiful anniversary excursion, nothing more.

What the Liszt selection did, purely by contrast, was to point out how expertly Mahler set the Rückert-Lieder which followed. Each song has its own musical personality, brilliantly matched to the text, and a dramatic sweep that makes each like a mini-opera. From the dreamy Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft to the blazing Um Mitternacht, Kaufmann found the perfect tone colours to match. And if Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen is as some think Mahler's greatest Lied, then Kaufmann did it justice in a mesmerising performance that seemed perfectly attuned to its every word. Deutsch matched him, displaying that rare ability some pianists have to evoke an entire orchestra with a touch of the keys.

Given that Kaufmann is rightly noted for the heroic and very manly quality of his voice, his second half selection of songs more usually associated with the female voice was interesting if not downright provocative. Of course men do sing Duparc and Strauss, and often, but even so they seem more natural territory for a silvery soprano. 

Unlike many sopranos, Kaufmann's diction was impeccable throughout, proving that his French is pretty much irreproachable. His Duparc tended to the prosaic (and dare I say it, Germanic) but an almost feminine delicacy and care with words preserved the fragile essence of the material.

But it was the closing Strauss section that proved his crowning achievement. Forget Fleming, Brewer, Isokoski, Schwanewilms or whoever. Strauss's opera roles might not fit Kaufmann like a glove, but the songs do. Once again, Deutsch conjured up an orchestra with his fingers. Kaufmann switched to operatic gear and let fly. Having spent most of the evening in mezza voce, he could legitimately exploit the thrilling power of his full voice again and again. Now that's something you wouldn't get in the Wigmore Hall.

Four encores and a standing ovation later it was all over.

***********************************

Programme:

Franz Liszt  Vergiftet sind meine Lieder, Im Rhein, im schönen Strome, Freudvoll und leidvoll, Der König in Thule, Die Glocken von Marling, Die drei Zigeuner

Gustav Mahler - Rückert-Lieder  Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder, Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft,
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, Um Mitternacht, Liebst du um Schönheit

Henri Duparc  L'Invitation au Voyage, Phidylé, Le Manoir de Rosamonde, Chanson triste, La vie antérieure

Richard Strauss  Schlechtes Wetter, Schön sind, doch kalt die Himmelssterne, Befreit, Junggesellenschwur, Wie sollten wir geheim sie halten plus encores - Ach weh mir unglückhaftem Mann, Zueignung, Heimliche Aufforderung

***********************************

 
 
 
   
 
  
 

Comments

[FragendeFrau]

Thanks for the review! It looks as though he wasn't using music this evening? (as opposed to the recital Zerbinetta reviewed)

I hope trips to Japan before the Met recital don't tire him out too much. All the commentary on how fabulous he's sounding these days makes me wonder if his cancellation of the Met Japan trip earlier this year was a good idea for several reasons.
************************************
Intermezzo replies - no, he didn't use music (but he made the odd slip in the Liszt, so I can understand why he might have done so)

[sub opera]

And why does Kaufmann appear so dishevelled?

[Jacky Watercarrier]

Your review was a pleasure to read, so perceptive and informative. The next best thing to being there.

[Vecchio John]

sub opera: the ministrations of all those parties of middle aged ladies with their reticules?

[Manou]

It is obviously stipulated in his contract that he must always appear tousle-haired, unshaven and in need of a good shower.

If you look him up on Google Images, you get 109,000 pictures with this trademark look - I could only find this one

http://www.musicalcriticism.com/recordings/dvd-carmen-2.jpg

where he has remembered to use a hairbrush.

He regularly gives interviews where he bemoans the fact that his image seems to attract inordinate attention - always illustrated by moody (hirsute) photoshoots.
***********************************
Intermezzo replies - you may be interested to hear that he has attempted to counter this superficial and utterly unfair focus on his appearance by not shaving before he modelled Strenesse menswear in this month's issue of Max-Joseph (Staatsoper magazine).

[May]

In defense of how disheveled Kaufmann looks in these photos- I was at the recital in Bamberg on the 22nd- at the start of the evening, his hair was as combed and neat as his curly mane allows and by the end of the evening it wasn't, which is understandable, sweat and movement.

The hall in Bamberg is smaller so I think there we were treated to a happy medium between the Wigmore and the Staatsoper. What a magnificent recital! Thank you for the review of the Munich one.
I also agree that his diction is immaculate in French- it is possible to take a dictation to it. I loved his Die Drei Zigeuner and although I agree with you that Mahler outshone Liszt in lieder- these songs still sounded much more beautiful to me than when sung by others.

[Manou]

@May - of course you are right about the vexed hair question, and of course his beard grows during the concert, too...

[F]

http://www.euronews.net/2011/07/27/all-tosca-s-men/

[Liane]

It is very true. I was in both concerts and loved every minute of both though the Liszt Lieder don't say very much to me but he was combed perfectly at the beginning of the concerts and since I was sitting in one of the first rows I could see that he was sweating quite a bit and with his movements and bows it is no wonder that his hair gets a bit dishevelled.It shows that he does not use hairspray. Since my school days I also have loved the Drei Zigeuner, but we sang it of course to a different melody which I prefer.

[Fragende Frau]

Evidently the critic from the SZ was at a different recital:

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/w5538a/126503/Gaumiger-Edelknoede.html

[Elianor]

It was a nice evening but, by my opinion, built only for the hard and wonderful Um Mitternach. Duparc was too dramatic, so a little boring, and Strauss well sung but sung as a habit, and you could hear it. The risk and the real commitment was on the Mahler. Wonderful but enough? Great, smart but fragile tenor. Moreover, it was like a "Kaufmann show", showing all he can do with his voice, except, again, on the Mahler, sung without any safety.

[Elianor]

May be I'm a little harsh with Kaufmann but the musical level in Munchen this year was so high that the least lack of excellence was heard.

[Manou]

Elianor - stand by for a ferocious lynching from the Kaufmaniacs...