Celebrating Mozart's 250th with the Greatest Singer in the World
January 27 is reckoned to be the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart.
I will be marking the occasion by making my first visit to Tenerife and the Canary Islands Music Festival. The concerts of the festival take place in the new Auditorio de Tenerife, a fantastic looking structure designed by Calatrava.
I will be going to a concert performance of "La Clemenza di Tito" but the highlight of the visit promises to be on Mozart's birthday itself with a recital by Juan Diego Florez, who will just have celebrated his 33rd birthday. Although I have seen Florez several time in opera I have never heard him in recital. By all accounts, his concerts are hugely exciting events.
A bit like barristers, opera fans tend to be great devotees of "The Golden Age". The language is different but the concepts are often the same. Whereas the Bar Gadgee will talk wistfully of Undefended Divorce, the old Opera Fan will speak with inordinate affection of the Carl Rosa Opera Company. When in the robing room you will still hear people saying 'Myrella Cohen would have sorted this out' so in the Floral Hall at Covent Garden you will hear voices saying 'but of course no-one has sung this properly since Zinka Milanov'.
It is a very special event, then, when a singer appears on the opera circuit who actually has even the Golden Agers saying 'this is something special'. This happened with the spectacular rise of Juan Diego Florez.
He first came to my attention when he sang Rodrigo in Rossini's "Otello" at Covent Garden just after it reopened. He returned to the Royal Opera House as the tenor lead in Rossini's "La Cenerentola" and Bellini's "La Sonnambula". His speciality is the music of the early nineteenth century, which requires a tenor with a voice of clarity and flexibility, considerable coloratura skill and good high notes.
I next heard Florez at Covent Garden in "La Cenerentola". His singing that evening was not just a joy to hear, it was a privilege. At this performance everything was in place. His voice seemed to have more warmth and sweetness to it than it had. He sang a beautiful legato line. He decorated scrupulously and apparently effortlessly and without obscuring the musical line. His high notes were clear, true and bold. His diction was clear, he acted naturally and convincingly and he looked fantastic.
In 2004 I undertook the enormous hardship of travelling to the Rossini Festival in Pesaro to hear him in "Matilde de Shabran". This was the work in which Florez had his first big break at Pesaro back in 1996 and he returned in total triumph in the leading role of Corradino. "Matilde" is a fascinating piece in that its only solo arias are for minor characters and so almost the entire opera consists of ensemble pieces. The venue for this performance was the Teatro Rossini, a beautiful little gem of a theatre with clear acoustics and a wonderful sense of contact between performers and audience.
It is tempting to say of this performance that Florez was Florez. But that is to take for granted something that is very special. He looked terrific and had an easy and attractive stage manner. He acted well, particularly in the comic moments of the first act. His incredible technical expertise was completely on display as were his ringing and clear top notes. What struck me more then anything in this performance, however, was the sheer beauty of his voice, particularly when singing quietly. At times in the second act it was almost as if one's ears were being caressed with the softest velvet.
His most recent appearance at Covent Garden was last season in “Don Pasquale”. It was difficult to say which was the more amazing: Florez's pyrotechnics in the second act aria or the beauty of tone and perfectly clear legato line in the serenade. What was so impressive about the second act cabaletta was not just the high notes and obvious stuff but the precision of the staccato notes and the incredible delicacy and accuracy of the decorations in the second verse.
I think he is one of the great opera stars of our time. Further than that, going back through my memory and my recordings, I think he stands comparison with the greatest singers from the past in this repertoire. His performances take me back, before recordings, to accounts of the great tenors of the nineteenth century Rubini, Mario and David.
I will be marking the occasion by making my first visit to Tenerife and the Canary Islands Music Festival. The concerts of the festival take place in the new Auditorio de Tenerife, a fantastic looking structure designed by Calatrava.
I will be going to a concert performance of "La Clemenza di Tito" but the highlight of the visit promises to be on Mozart's birthday itself with a recital by Juan Diego Florez, who will just have celebrated his 33rd birthday. Although I have seen Florez several time in opera I have never heard him in recital. By all accounts, his concerts are hugely exciting events.
A bit like barristers, opera fans tend to be great devotees of "The Golden Age". The language is different but the concepts are often the same. Whereas the Bar Gadgee will talk wistfully of Undefended Divorce, the old Opera Fan will speak with inordinate affection of the Carl Rosa Opera Company. When in the robing room you will still hear people saying 'Myrella Cohen would have sorted this out' so in the Floral Hall at Covent Garden you will hear voices saying 'but of course no-one has sung this properly since Zinka Milanov'.
It is a very special event, then, when a singer appears on the opera circuit who actually has even the Golden Agers saying 'this is something special'. This happened with the spectacular rise of Juan Diego Florez.
He first came to my attention when he sang Rodrigo in Rossini's "Otello" at Covent Garden just after it reopened. He returned to the Royal Opera House as the tenor lead in Rossini's "La Cenerentola" and Bellini's "La Sonnambula". His speciality is the music of the early nineteenth century, which requires a tenor with a voice of clarity and flexibility, considerable coloratura skill and good high notes.
I next heard Florez at Covent Garden in "La Cenerentola". His singing that evening was not just a joy to hear, it was a privilege. At this performance everything was in place. His voice seemed to have more warmth and sweetness to it than it had. He sang a beautiful legato line. He decorated scrupulously and apparently effortlessly and without obscuring the musical line. His high notes were clear, true and bold. His diction was clear, he acted naturally and convincingly and he looked fantastic.
In 2004 I undertook the enormous hardship of travelling to the Rossini Festival in Pesaro to hear him in "Matilde de Shabran". This was the work in which Florez had his first big break at Pesaro back in 1996 and he returned in total triumph in the leading role of Corradino. "Matilde" is a fascinating piece in that its only solo arias are for minor characters and so almost the entire opera consists of ensemble pieces. The venue for this performance was the Teatro Rossini, a beautiful little gem of a theatre with clear acoustics and a wonderful sense of contact between performers and audience.
It is tempting to say of this performance that Florez was Florez. But that is to take for granted something that is very special. He looked terrific and had an easy and attractive stage manner. He acted well, particularly in the comic moments of the first act. His incredible technical expertise was completely on display as were his ringing and clear top notes. What struck me more then anything in this performance, however, was the sheer beauty of his voice, particularly when singing quietly. At times in the second act it was almost as if one's ears were being caressed with the softest velvet.
His most recent appearance at Covent Garden was last season in “Don Pasquale”. It was difficult to say which was the more amazing: Florez's pyrotechnics in the second act aria or the beauty of tone and perfectly clear legato line in the serenade. What was so impressive about the second act cabaletta was not just the high notes and obvious stuff but the precision of the staccato notes and the incredible delicacy and accuracy of the decorations in the second verse.
I think he is one of the great opera stars of our time. Further than that, going back through my memory and my recordings, I think he stands comparison with the greatest singers from the past in this repertoire. His performances take me back, before recordings, to accounts of the great tenors of the nineteenth century Rubini, Mario and David.
posted by Alnwickian at 10:05 pm
2 Comments:
The late Myrella Cohen was a circuit judge in Newcastle in the 1970s and 1980s: notorious for her ability to 'carve up' criminal cases.
I used her name just an example that nostalgia for a 'golden age' is not confined to opera lovers: even barristers suffer from it!
Thanks for your comment!
You can find an obituary of Myrella Cohen froma Jewish women's organisation here:-
http://www.icjw.org/icjw/site/institutional/newsletter/newsletter15.php
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