The mezzo-soprano who’s tackling Isolde
OperaThe French singer Sophie Koch, who is taking on the mega-Wagner role in Toulouse, tells ForumOpera:
‘I made the decision to tackle Isolde just after Kundry. Being with Nikolai Schukoff for this production is very important; I was immediately confident; if I had been with Jonas Kaufmann, I would have been less confident. Here we carry each other.
‘It took me a long time, more than a year, to learn the role. It’s a long poem, full of alliterations, assonances, it’s easy to get the brushes mixed up… It’s not the language of Tannhäuser , it’s not that of the Ring , it’s the language of Tristan , very medieval, Wagner dissects the feeling of love so much, I find that very beautiful.
‘To approach Isolde is to be in front of Everest. At first we are scared. There is especially the first act, terrible. At II, we rest a little in the duo!
And especially just after the prelude of I, it starts very strong right away.
‘Right away. So there I say to myself, we must not immediately throw ourselves into the mouth of the wolf; you have to stay very zen for this little ariette who starts the role. I had seen Nina Stemme who had done it 150% and I took note of it, I said to myself: “don’t do that! You don’t have to go 150%; it’s just a warm-up lap. I’m suspicious of myself, I’m the type to throw myself into the role but here I have to keep this distance.’
Read on here.
pictured: Nikolaï Schukoff and Sophie Koch : Tristan and Isolde
“if I had been with Jonas Kaufmann, I would have been less confident” what does that mean? Did she not like singing with Jonas?
They did but is she crazy as does she want another awful boing like the poor American soprano they asked in Paris just for the sake to be woke?
This world is pathetic and the managers of most companies just useless – of course she feels confident with Nikolai who simply has no voice for Tristan either….
It’s a very curious thing of her to say, isn’t it?
If you read it in the interview, she mentions just before that Schukoff was the tenor when she had her debuts in Wozzeck and Parsifal, and she lists him as one of the key people who « believe in her ». So I’m pretty sure she just means it’s important to have a tenor with whom she has that relationship.
Besides, Kaufmann brings public spotlights and pressure, because he’s Kaufmann. Not what you want when essaying a new demanding role.
Very well put.
No, she means less confident that he will turn up.
being cynical why not asking Domingo for King Mark?
Indeed, nothing toulouse trying out such roles in the provinces.
Hm. They sang together in Werther (in Paris, Vienna and New York) and later still in La Damnation de Faust in Paris. While everyone was enthralled by Kaufmann’s Werther, Sophie was a good – but not “for the ages” (unlike his Werther) – Charlotte.
If she had sung Isolde with Kaufmann as Tristan everyone would be talking about Kaufmann and as she sings with a lesser known tenor maybe the critics would pay attention to her Isolde. Why did Mr. Lebrecht post this information in the first place, while Sophie Koch is not particularly well known singer outside France? solely because she mentioned Kaufmann – in an enigmatic way – and now Kaufmann’s haters will flock in (I’m looking at you Bloom) and this will generate traffic to the site.
It’s unusual to see mezzos singing Isolde, and I found Koch’s interview interesting in that respect – it’s always interesting to hear about how singers approach roles. Besides, in the last year she’s had engagements in Spain, Italy (Scala, Florence) and France, and she has upcoming engagements in Munich (Festspiele) and Dresden. She’s not ‘only’ known in France. So I’m not sure what your gripe is about a music blog posting interesting interviews with great singers.
As for the comment about Kaufmann, it’s a bit odd as she doesn’t explain it. However, she does mention just before that Schukoff was with her when she sang Parsifal and Wozzeck, so I think she only means that it’s a question of comfort and confidence as they’ve worked together on big new German opera roles before. Also, I’d think, singing with Kaufmann is by nature a much larger and high-profile task – critics will notice, etc. Not necessarily the pressure you want when essaying a new demanding role.
All that to say, tempest in a teacup or whatever the saying is.
Storm. Great post.
She was far better known abroad than in France some years ago. Only Nicolas Joel among the larger theatres was hiring her while she was singing in Munich, Dresden, ROH etc.
Well, it seems that my views on Mr.Tenor Kaufmann are something of an aphrodisiac for SD Kaufmanniac readers. So, let me give you what you need, baby. In my opinion, the recent JK , for whatever reasons, has become a rather self-centered, aloof performer, especially in what concerns his relationship with soprano partners.Some sopranos , for instance Sondra Radvanovsky, adapt themselves very well to this style of his, others cannot bear it . Sophie Koch belongs to the second category ( it is true that they made a fine couple in a Bastille “Werther”, but that happened one decade ago or so.)
P.S.Not only soprano partners. Mrs. Koch is a mezzo. Female stage partners, in general.
There are directors who , luckily, can push him beyond his star comfort zone , throw his aloofness into crisis or bring out interesting stuff from the characteristic distant relating with his mezzo/soprano partners. Something like that takes place in the BSO ” Die Tote Stadt” production ( dir.Simon Stone) or in the unorthodox San Carlo “Otello” ( Michele Mariotti).
Mario Martone directed the
wildly interesting San Carlo “Otello”. Mariotti conducted it.
She’s quite well known throughout Europe not just France – I’ve enjoyed her performances at both the Met and Vienna and has several major recordings, DVD’s etc. Isolde is not right for her voice, however, unlike Venus, Kundry, Frick etc.
Not unusual for a mezzo to take on this role. Waltraud Meier, who has probably sung Isolde as many times as anyone, sang it to great success.
She also sang Leonore and Sieglinde. Wikipedia calls her a dramatic soprano and mezzo-soprano.
Christa Ludwig is another who straddled both. No Isolde though.
Wiki can be sort of weird at times. I don’t think her Leonore was her best role…Sieglinde was very good for her, though. I don’t think Waltraud would have called herself a dramatic soprano.
… leaving the high notes to our imagination.
Actually, no. She sang the role beautifully…bottom to top.
The high notes are spectacular, seriously.
Violeta Urmana is another mezzo-turned-Isolde worth mentioning. To my understanding, she’s now returned to dramatic mezzo repertoire.
She has no business singing Isolde. The discussion about the tenor is a distraction.
I sure am glad I won’t be in the audience… saw Nilsson a dozen times, I can die happy without another mezzo caterwauling through it. Koch won’t even be as good as Waltraud Meier, who was bad.
Why this speculation about why she doesn’t want to sing with Kaufmann? ‘If I had been with Jonas Kaufmann, I would have been less confident. Here we carry each other.’
So here you have it, they don’t ‘carry’ each other, in translation he doesn’t support her (she would hardly complain if the situation would be reversed.) I don’t wonder at this, he has so many vocal problems of his own, he can’t even support himself let alone support his singing partners. What I don’t however understand is why should this be a reason for not performing together? He has vocal problems, she has vocal problems, more reason for the press to sell them as dream cast. Should he come up with the idea of singing Rossini’s Almaviva, the tabloid press would still hail him as the ideal Almaviva, and his Cessa di più resistere as the best rendition ever. Welcome to the opera business of the twenty first century. She still has a bit to go for the press to hail her as the best Armida, but I wouldn’t despair if I were she.
Maybe she wanted some publicity. And got it as an ex Kaufman partner.
Their Werther was the Everest anyway.
We haven’t got Everests for a very long time, even before Kaufmann made his debut. What we get these days is a modest hill, if we are lucky.
Their Werther was more than ten years ago, and anyway Werther isn’t Tristan, Charlotte isn’t Isolde, and Massenet isn’t Wagner. Werther isn’t a baritone role unless the singer’s name is Battistini, and Isolde isn’t a mezzo-soprano role. I should correct my previous statement – we aren’t getting even modest hills these days. We should count ourselves lucky if we can avoid holes…