Jonas Kaufmann: I will sing the full Tristan in 2021
mainIn Boston, where he has given an outstanding account of the second act of Tristan und Isolde, the German tenor says he’s taking his time before broaching ‘the full marathon’.
He’ll do it in a full staging, he says, ‘in three years’ time’.
‘It is so much fun!’ he cries.
Listen to his enthusiastic interview:
And a clip from the performance:
Norman, don’t you think that saying that Kaufmann gave an “outstanding account” pf Tristan in Act II with the Boston Symphony is actually inaccurate? The majority of the people who were there and heard it have all said the same thing: Kaufmann’s performance was underwhelming, his voice did not fill Symphony Hall, and he was out-sung by singers singing supportive roles. That the Boston Globe/Jeremy Eichler and Jeffrey Gantz (who writes for the Boston Globe as a substitute) both gave him strong reviews….well, there are certain things I’d rather not say here, but if you want to consider either of them as reliable sources, I have a bridge I’d love to sell you.
[On the other hand, Mark DeVoto, who is generally HIGHLY respected in Boston as a non-professional reviewer, said it all by never mentioning Jonas Kaufmann or Camilla Nylund in his lengthy review. In his review, given the lack of any mention of the singing of either of the leads, I was wondering if he would get into a detailed discussion of the hall’s beautiful wooden floors.]
I have no vested interest in any specific consensus around Kaufmann’s singing, except for what my own ears heard. But to call it an “outstanding account” ignores a lot of information from some very unbiased sources, which all indicate something very different.
Well said.
I second your opinion on the Globe reviewers and Mark DeVoto.
A close friend who attended and whose ears I trust (and who also happens to be a Kaufmann devotee) said the same thing. Friend (rightfully) complained that Kaufmann and Nylund were stuck to their music scores, preventing them from realizing their characters and that both were too often inaudible. Fujimora sang splendidly albeit with a score too, friend said, and so did Zeppenfeld, who sang without score. The latter two walked away with the show, friend said.
Why does it matter whether they use a score? I remember Fischer-Dieskau singing with a score Mephistophele in Berlioz’ Damnation of Faust. He was fully up to his reputation.
Are thinking about their readiness to sing in a staged production?
It matters when in a high profile, much publicized and highly anticipated gig. It would not matter in Kazakhstan. The Isolde and Tristan for these Boston gigs had more than ample time to memorize words and music. That they didn’t implies laziness at the very least.
But if the performance is musically good, why does it matter?
By the way, the Fischer-Dieskau appearance I mentioned earlier was at the Salzburg Festival, 1979. If anybody cared about the singers singing from a score, I couldn’t tell from the ovations. And back then things were more formal in general.
Just to pick on one aspect of your comment (memorization):
Live opera performances often have a prompter, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that using music = being lazy.
However, you can perform with music and look up from it frequently to connect with your audience & colleagues, or you can keep your eyes locked on the score and basically ignore the fact that it’s a live performance.
Some people in the audience will feel personally insulted if the soloist does not perform from memory; others will care only about the sound. (And goodness knows it’s possible to give a boring performance from memory too.) Personally I wouldn’t care if the person used music or not, but I would be bothered if I felt s/he wasn’t communicating with the audience.
Good point about communicating. Singers can do that with or without a score.
After all, having a score does not mean being glued to it.
To suggest using scores implies laziness is a very peculiar notion! A singer can have a score in front of him and still make regular and direct communication with the audience. It so happens I have just been watching Karajan’s superb video of the Verdi Requiem made in La Scala with Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, Luciano Pavarotti and Nikolai Ghiaurov.. The ladies are scoreless; the men have scores in their hands. Although the cameras become the audience, even Pavarotti is looking directly forward into the auditorium most of the time. I then compared this with the 1982 Abbado//LSO version at an Edinburgh Festival concert with Margaret Price, Jessye Norman, Jose Carreras and Ruggero Raimondi. All the singers use scores. I do not believe anyone in the audience would have felt this created any lack of communication nor laziness on the part of the singers.
Petros, except that Kaufmann and Nylund —were glued— to their music stands.
I was at the Saturday performance. It’s no secret that Fujimura and Zeppenfeld were the stronger performers, but they are seasoned Wagnerians who sing these roles frequently in Europe so it wasn’t surprising that they were more comfortable in their roles (both sang from memory on Sat). Nylund has beautiful warm tone but not so much power to cut through the orchestra when she needs to, especially in the first half of the act as it seemed she was saving herself for the second half. She also regularly crescendoed into the high notes. I think she is perfect for Strauss and look forward to hearing her Marschallin. Kaufmann also felt underpowered, but what he lacked in sheer volume he made up for in color. I didn’t have any problem hearing him from where I was (row Z), but could have used even more volume. But the tone was burnished and rich and the diction clear. Friends said his voice sounded more open on Sat than on thurs. Looking forward to hearing it at Carnegie this week.
Fujimora and Zeppenfeld have sung their roles many times, where as this was a first time outing for both Nylund (who’s wisely decided against putting it in her repertoire) and Kaufmann (who is working toward incorporating into his). I’m not at all a Kaufmann fan, in fact I find his voice strained and strangulated, but I give him kudos if he can get half decent reviews from a first try at the Tristan’s heaviest act.
I suggest that for a fairer judgement of his performance, one should listen to the broadcast of the 2nd performance.
From what the reviews (all first night) said and what I heard from the 2nd performance, I thought that all the reviews were very much short of the Mark.
Kaufmann really sang well at the 2nd performance, that makes me look forwards to further performances of his of this role.
I have attended live performances of Tristan going back to the 60s, so I am a pretty fair judge.
SLARTY, please forgive my curiosity. Where was your seat in Symphony Hall on Saturday night? I was there too, second balcony, last row, middle section. I saw Kaufmann, but barely heard him. During the moments I could hear him, I still had difficulty understanding his German (Disclosure: I am a German speaker). The contrast between Nylund/Kaufmann and Fujimora /Zeppenfeld was like night and day. Sorry, but, at this point, Kaufmann is not Tristan. Unless he works really hard. He intends to do the whole marathon in three years, as he says. I wish his voice the best. Otherwise, based on the underwhelming performance on Saturday evening, if he indeed manages to sing the whole piece, I am afraid that one may have to come to only one conclusion after it is done: “Tristan dead. Tenor too.”
One addition: IF Kaufmann indeed sings the whole Tristan, I strongly recommend he do it at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, which is not as big as Boston Symphony Hall, yet a great Wagner venue of its own merits. After all, Tristan Act Two was composed in Venice. La Fenice is a house in which I would expect to hear Kaufmann’s voice without difficulty.
In many houses You can hear Kaufmann without any problem, even in very big ones as Met, Salzburg Großes Festspielhaus, München and big concert halls as Amsterdam, Wien or München……
Cannot understand what You ment; perhaps You had a bad seat in Boston….
Actually, the second balcony is the best place to sit in Symphony Hall. I’ve heard a number of singers with modest voices from there, including Ian Bostridge and Barbara Bonney, and have never had trouble hearing them. I was sitting there on Thursday night, and concur with those who found that Kaufmann’s voice lacks presence. It’s not the orchestration, because that was true even when there wasn’t much going on in the orchestra.
I also listened to the broadcast from Saturday, which clearly provides an advantage to the voices – there were many times that the orchestra was virtually inaudible over the radio.
Callas sang Isolde in Italian at the Fenice early in her career, with what is said to have been a reduced. The Liebestod she recorded on Centra with an orchestra definitely diminished, in fact hardly there, giving a hint of a remarkable Isolde.
You can’t doubtlessly judge on voice by listening to a recording or broadcast. Volume and
enunciation may significantly differ from live experience.
You certainly can evaluate a voice through a recording. As it sounds through a/that recording, that is.
You also can evaluate a voice through another medium, air and room acoustics of a performance room only.
It will sound different in both, more or less.
Considering that probably more people these days hear musicians through recordings, rather than being in the same room with air between them only, I wouldn’t be so adamant at devaluing recordings. They have their place, both in consumption and professional evaluation of musicians.
Having said that, of course professionally a singer will still primarily be trained to a standard of live performance and the recording artists will follow and try to recreate that impression to an artistic standard within the given technical limitations, but also responsibly using the additional possibilities of the medium.
(e.g. Karajan et al and their choice of singers for studio productions was often specifically for the sound through microphones and audio technology. Some voices too weak for Wagner singing for instance.)
Meal is absolutely correct. The producer and engineer of a broadcast performance have the ability, often used, to alter the balance compared to what those listening in a concert hall are hearing. If they thought Kaufmann was underpowered, it would have taken just a tweak of his microphone to increase the volume and presence of his voice.
Well, if the gentlemen can repeat their comments, maybe I can also repeat mine….
For those who weren’t there in Boston, and haven’t heard the performance of 07.04.2018 transmitted by radio, here you have a link, https://we.tl/J9p02d77K9
Download, listen and Enjoy! Make you own judgement
And btw, It was mentioned on the radio ” a standing ovation” , at this second night.And there is a video, at social media, that shows that.
I wonder if the Boston public usually gives standing ovations to underwhelming and inaudible singers..
but maybe the standing ovation was for the brief minutes of Fujimora and Zeppenfeld…yeah, what a generous audience….
Hearing this “on the radio” is different from actually hearing it while present at Symphony Hall. I was. The standing ovations are true, but I will tell you a secret: they were even louder when Mihiko Fujimora and then, especially, Georg Zeppenfeld appeared to take their bows – the Wagner enthusiasts among which I stood, at the back of the second balcony, reserved most Bravas and Bravos for these two artists. As for Camilla Nylund and Jonas Kaufmann: yes, they got their ovations as well, which of course better captured by the microphones hovering over them. What was not broadcast, of course, is what concert attendees said to each other when leaving the venue: the sense of being underwhelmed with Kaufmann’s performance was pervasive. Last no least: the Boston Symphony Orchestra was as sublime as one could expect, and even better. It is a first-rate Wagner orchestra. Needless to say, they had an equally great share in the justly deserved standing ovations. As for Jonas Kaufmann singing the whole Tristan, I, for now, go with the Norns: “Weisst du, wie das wird….?”
• first, in a concert perf it’s perf OK to sing w score
• second, JK is above all else a Lied singer, with a Lied singer’s brains
• third, he never forces, in the sense of causing a non-musical sound
• eighth, he has every right to move cautiously into a new role, esp a killer like Tristan
• sixty-seventh, Brangäne is a supporting role = to Kurwenal
• sixty-eighth, Marke does not have to compete w orch
• two hundredth, if Zeppy Zeppenfeld hadn’t mem’zd Marke’s 25 mins by now, he’d hv 2 be pretty dumb
• lastly, nobody is talking about Nelsons’ conception of the Act, about his rhythm, about line
@ Caravaggio
I missed seeing you in Boston. Where you there at all?
Where are the distinctive tenors these days? Listen to Rene Kollo on Solti’s Mahler 8, it’s so distinctive and heroic, masterly even.
There are no good singers any more. There never have been.
Kaufmann is no Kollo.
Kollo was no Melchior.
Melchior was no Vinay.
And on and on …
I would not spend a single Cent to go to a Melchior opera nowadays; too much fff and less painting the role. 11 seconds Wälse is olympic but not my taste of Wagner.
Many of us would give away half our vocal cords not to mention an arm and leg and kidney to have a Melchior around today.
Definitely not me.
Nomention Vickers, who although he talked on about his weird notion that the whole thing is really Tristan’s dream — he could hardly have sustained such a notion during the ne performance at the Met when he sang with Birgit Nilsson — a memorable occasion. In any case, he was a — and by then, having learned much about Isolde (a lot of it from talking to her great friend Leonie Rysanek, who by her own admission was forbidden by Karl Bohn to take on the role), gave a glorious account. Vickers was a great Tristan. powerful, magnetic, ideal. Together they had a great triumph.
Vickers was a great Tristan, especially at the Met in a single performance with Nilsson, conducted by Leinsdorf — a legendary night at the opera.
Nobody should be recommending listening to a radio broadcast to gain an accurate opinion of any singer’s voice live. You do realise that, don’t you?
I often attend Boston Symphony performances on Thursday and then listen to the radio broadcast of the Saturday performance. The voices of vocal soloists are ALWAYS much more prominent relative to the orchestra in the radio broadcast than they were “live” in the hall. The broadcasts may be enjoyable but they do not give an accurate idea at all of what the voices sounded like in the hall.
Both Kaufmann and Nylund were sometimes inaudible on Thursday night, and they almost never during the performance sounded like people who were meant to sing Tristan und Isolde.
Yes, I’m aware of that, naturally. But a whole performance.. singers, orchestra, conductor, conception of the Act II, conception of Tristan.. shouldn’t be reduced just to 2 factors.It’s a too poor review,imo… So why not listen to the performance? A Radio transmission is great ,because it’s a fact. Is something concrete. Radio allows us ALL to listen with our ears and not be restricted to the opinions of only a few. I can make a judgement, according to MY own parameters
It’s a different perception from the hall?Obviously! Like all the CDs or DVDs I have at home, and all those voices of the past, and the majority of voices of today. Most singers will never be heard LIVE , by the great majority of people! I can’t have an accurate opinion of MOST singer’s voice live..or orchestras, conductors and so on. So what?
Well said! When expectations are high, inevitably some people will be disappointed. I have listened to the broadcast and find very little connection with what the hypercritics of Mr Kaufmsnn’s performance have to say. A debut in such a role must be daunting to anyone and I feel sure that over the next three years he will ease himself into it.
I would hope that he performs it at Covent Garden with Sir Antonio Pappano conducting or perhaps at his home house in Munich with Kiril Petrenko.
Why be in sich a hurry to knock the man down?
By 2021 in Munich it will be Vladimir Jurowski, and Pappano may have moved on from Covent Garden.
http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/opera_now/pappano-signals-roh-departure-2020/
New crew will start 2021/2022. Whats about 2020/2021 season……?
But the number of seats where one can get an accurate impression of a singers voice is relatively small too. Imagine this Tristan had happened in one of these stupid new halls like Hamburg, and you sit in one of the many seats where the singers face away from you, then a radio broadcast, if well done, is actually so much better.
Nobody of the critics talked about, how well the conductor balanced the orchestra to let the singers cut through at all times? That’s so very important as far as the conductor’s job in an opera is concerned.
Maybe if JK wasn’t always audible it was because the orchestra was too loud? Also, it’s much different having the orchestra blaring away behind you than having the orchestra in a pit (not to mention having an experienced opera orchestra that knows how loud it can play).
Good point. A non-opera orchestra will often interpret the composer’s “fff” dynamic indications without a grain of salt. (And they won’t always play softer just because the conductor tells them to.)
Wow, it will take 3 years to prepare for that role? 🙂
Do you know his agenda for the next 2 years? He will not sing alone. He has a clear idea about singers, conductors and opera theater where he wants to do his debut. He always has. Do you know the agenda of the others singers and all people involved ? If he talks about 3 years, he certainly has his reasons . And every singer has his own method. Do you want to dictate his timing? Do you accept other people to tell YOU how and when..in your job? I dont think so. But I hope that you take so seriously your new commitments as J.Kaufmann !
It was a joke. Did you see the smiley icon?
It’s like wine. You let it ripe in you for a few years.
I like Kaufmann – he is a nice guy , who means well and sings well some things. Tristan is not among them and probably by 2021 he will realize that too. Nylund has no business as Isolde. The Boston Symphony is a very good orchestra and Nelsons is very talented, but that was no Wagnerian sound, or phrasing, or style. They got what was printed on the page , which is commendable , but it sounded superficial and they missed the mark on so many levels. Fortunately, I have my recordings with real Wagnerian voices, conductors and orchestras and it is a real pleasure listening to them. Boston Tristan was a miss. Keep trying guys , you might get it – the first 10 years are the hardest:)
Bingo, Kundry. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
True. But then, better that Tristan than no Tristan.
I give Mr Kaufman the credit for having decided to move into Tristan territory in a gradual way before deciding to take on the whole role. In the nature of things there will have been limited orchestral time but enough for him to try out the role vocally. Ehen , in three yeats, he sings it in its entirety therr will be probably a month to rehearse, not 3 days.
He will already have establishrd where and with . He had done that with all his recent important .debuts.
The judgments and comparisons that some people are making, appear hasty and unfair.
He mentions even Siegfried, but on what timescale? Will he not be past it by then?
Reading the above comments makes me somewhat sad that so many people appear as cynical, even prejudiced commentators on perfomances they have the good fortune to have been able to attend. Some of us HAVE to depend on radio or recordings, because of lack of opportunity, money or access, and whether the ability of sound engineers is up to providing an acceptable final ‘product’. Those people who can attend even one ‘live’ performance are extremely fortunate, but some comments seem to reflect a kind of superior attitude towards those who strive to offer us works of beauty and harmony. Can we not just revel in what is good, and forego rather rude comments such as, “…..Will he not be past it by then?”
I could not agree more with what you say. Too much judgment and not enough appreciation and enjoyment from a small group of commentators
Sadly, if he is past it, he will be past it on the wireless, as well as in the theatre.
Well, if we all live long enough, we shall find out. Meanwhile, happy opera going!
Well said! I had the great fortune to attend–and enjoy–all three performances. Naturally, I understood that the Thursday performance in Boston would be Kaufmann’s first attempt, so I reined in my expectations slightly and had a wonderful time. At Carnegie Hall, it was obvious that Kaufmann had gained confidence. I felt no need to criticize the first two performances because I knew he would improve each time. I have been a Wagnerian for 35 years, and I think JK will make a great Tristan.
Could someone reload the recording of the infamous concert? I just found this article and the comments incited me to listen to the live recording. I am a fan of JK, and I love his German singing, even if I think Tristan might be a bridge too far… :)))
I cannot personally help you re the recording of the Boston concert, but I seem to remember that it was on one of the US radio stations, & therefore someone in the USA should have the link somewhere………….. anyone out there able to help Cantopardo?
Approximately a decade ago, they (big gun impresarios, international
entertainment conglomerate specialized in classical music and so-called
critics affiliated with mass media corporation) did it with that Mexican
clown. Seeing that Mexican clown is throwing in the white towel after
repeated throat surgeries, these people are trying to do it all over
again by catapulting another under-par so-called singer into tenor
superstardom. Of course the chosen one needs to be a cunning businessman
who’s blessed with matinee idol bearing and the physique of a male
model, one whose ambition in reaching the top takes precedence over
everything, including the attainment of art, one who’s well versed in
the art of prostituting art, but cares little, and probably knows
nothing, about arts. He also needs to have a personality that is as
affable as it is weird because he has to understand the fine art of
boot-licking and abusing the hand (the fans) that feeds him all in the
same time. Then, a star or more accurately, a pseudo opera star, is
born. Kaufmann’s groupie and that Mexican clown’s are probably the most
wretched people in the world because they choose a fate that’s more
abhorrent than reveling in drenching themselves in a tub composed of toxins and human secretion (the unsavory kind): they choose to indulge themselves in something akin to committing necrophilia.
May I humbly suggest and recommend that some of the commentators above, do really try and get out there and LIVE! This rather sad series of comments has gone on long enough, imho. There are many exciting and challenging opera events around now, and upcoming. Those of you who are lucky enough (as I’ve said before!) to be able to attend concert and stage performances in our opera heritage, may perhaps hold back occasionally, so that those people who would really very much like to see something live, can actually obtain tickets. We all strut our time upon the stage, and then are heard no more [with apologies to Wm Shakespeare here]!! Please think calmly about this.
I have read this same comment somewhere else, exactly copy-pasted. I ignore who the Mexican clown you refer to is, but you certainly sound bitter about both tenors. Surely millions of people cannot be wrong, neither can be conductors such as Pappano . I think that ,your musical knowledge apart, there is something personal in your comments. What this is, I cannot name.
The vocal production is as throaty as it’s guttural, with distinctive register breaks. Notes off the stave are squeezed out without any build-up and in many sequence smudged. Legato is as abundant as rainfall in Sahara. Stylistically, he’s all over the place in addition to the fact that he is channeling his inner Renee Fleming in that every word, every sentence is fussed and tweaked to the extent that any sense of spontaneity is lost. Those comparison to the legendary Jon Vickers by certain so-called critics is simply preposterous. The Canadian’s voice is naturally produced and is employed with the greatest artistry, whereas the voice of “the most gorgeous thing on the lyric stage today” (so claimed by thousands and thousands of queens around the globe) is weirdly produced, sounding synthetic and grating.
Your comments Mannail888, are very interesting, even if somewhat over dramatic. I respect your seemingly detailed musical knowledge, although ignorant of course of your technical or personal background. Many of our generalised comments can merely be our own personal opinion, based on such things as an artiste’s looks, personality and so on. I’ve always believed that criticism, in any sphere, should be constructive not merely destructive, in order to give the reader, or hearer a ‘fair’ assessment. That person can then begin to form their own opinion, based on someone else’s observations and unprejudiced judgment. I do not think your comments can be described as fair, or unprejudiced.
Flagstad, Melchior and Wagner would definitely turn in their respective graves. Schwarzkopf, upon hearing this so-called classical singer’s recent take of Vier Letzte Lieder in the great beyond, would most definitely hurl out “Maledizione”.
Or “sei verflucht”.