Christine Brewer made grounds of DFP rumble
19 Oct 2008
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Overture and Bacchanale from Tannhauser
Wesendonck Lieder
Siegfried Idyll
Brunhilde's Immolation from Götterdämmerung
Christine Brewer, soprano
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Claus Peter-Flor conductor.
Some few months after I wrote a letter in defence of MPO in The Sun, I was thankful to witness a live Wagner that I would never imagine listening here in Malaysia. We have a maestro strongly rooted in the Teutonic tradition leading a world class ensemble and a soprano worthy of Birgit Nillson's mantle singing the climax and closing finale of the Nibelungen Ring quadrology where the heroine Brunhilde immolates herself into flames followed by fall of Valhalla. One can be forgiven to felt been righ at home in Bayreuth!
Maestro Claus Peter-Flor gave a rousing rendition of the Tannhauser overture followed by bacchanale which is seldom performed compared with the traditional overture standalone. The MPO is virtually untouchable and at their perfect element, from the opening solemn chorale to the frenetic bacchanale episode right until the lush, romantic winding down after the frenzy. it helps also the strings had the weight for the Teutonic sound and not sounding anemic like an American orchestra. Amazingly for the bacchanale maestro Flor manages to sustain the enormous tenson while manages to draw out one climax after another, truly remarkable. My only gripe is the celli could've been a little more audible.
For the Wesendonck Lieder, Christine Brewer gave a heartfelt rendition with great support by MPO and maestro Peter-Flor. Compared with his operas, Wagner's Wesendonck lieder is more intimate and personal work and also a study in preperation for Tristan and Isolde as some of the movements mirrors some moments in the opera such as the Act 2 Love Duet. Ms Brewer's mellow and convincing adaptibility of contralto tone helps to deliver the text poems while occasionally highlighting some part of the text with emotional utterency. The otherwise moving performance was marred by inconsidered DFP patrons who had a cellphone ringing once and I swear at one moment I even heard someone mutter "Hello" as if into a mobile. The hall needs an Etiquette Police for god's sake.
After the interval unfortunately I had to endure Siegfried Idyll for some 20 minutes before the spine-tingling Immolation later. No offense to maestro Peter but I thought even though there are wonderful moments in the Idyll, it is one of the most boring work that Wagner had wrote only because it has tendency to linger on forever, or maybe he meant to wrote it to lull audiences to sleep =P
Finally the MPO came out full force for the Immolation scene from Gotterdamarung. The orchestra was a thumping Teutonic force and when the trumpets blared the Magic Fire theme I had one hell of goosebumps. Ms Brewer has no problems holding out on her own, belting out a performance that was akin to listening to Birgit Nillson singing. She had many similarities resembling the great Wagnerian queen after Kirsten Flagstad - an effortless penetrating, powerful voice and even remarkable stamina control. When I gave her the compliment after the performance, she commented Birgit herself was her teacher. Wrapping up for encore, Ms Brewer gave a luscious Richard Strauss lieder.
Malaysian audiences who attended this performance are a lucky lot. Ms Christine Brewer maybe the greatest living Brunhilde soprano who graced this earth. And here's hoping she will return, and a performance of Strauss' Four Last Songs maybe an ideal one.
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Overture and Bacchanale from Tannhauser
Wesendonck Lieder
Siegfried Idyll
Brunhilde's Immolation from Götterdämmerung
Christine Brewer, soprano
Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra
Claus Peter-Flor conductor.
Some few months after I wrote a letter in defence of MPO in The Sun, I was thankful to witness a live Wagner that I would never imagine listening here in Malaysia. We have a maestro strongly rooted in the Teutonic tradition leading a world class ensemble and a soprano worthy of Birgit Nillson's mantle singing the climax and closing finale of the Nibelungen Ring quadrology where the heroine Brunhilde immolates herself into flames followed by fall of Valhalla. One can be forgiven to felt been righ at home in Bayreuth!
Maestro Claus Peter-Flor gave a rousing rendition of the Tannhauser overture followed by bacchanale which is seldom performed compared with the traditional overture standalone. The MPO is virtually untouchable and at their perfect element, from the opening solemn chorale to the frenetic bacchanale episode right until the lush, romantic winding down after the frenzy. it helps also the strings had the weight for the Teutonic sound and not sounding anemic like an American orchestra. Amazingly for the bacchanale maestro Flor manages to sustain the enormous tenson while manages to draw out one climax after another, truly remarkable. My only gripe is the celli could've been a little more audible.
For the Wesendonck Lieder, Christine Brewer gave a heartfelt rendition with great support by MPO and maestro Peter-Flor. Compared with his operas, Wagner's Wesendonck lieder is more intimate and personal work and also a study in preperation for Tristan and Isolde as some of the movements mirrors some moments in the opera such as the Act 2 Love Duet. Ms Brewer's mellow and convincing adaptibility of contralto tone helps to deliver the text poems while occasionally highlighting some part of the text with emotional utterency. The otherwise moving performance was marred by inconsidered DFP patrons who had a cellphone ringing once and I swear at one moment I even heard someone mutter "Hello" as if into a mobile. The hall needs an Etiquette Police for god's sake.
After the interval unfortunately I had to endure Siegfried Idyll for some 20 minutes before the spine-tingling Immolation later. No offense to maestro Peter but I thought even though there are wonderful moments in the Idyll, it is one of the most boring work that Wagner had wrote only because it has tendency to linger on forever, or maybe he meant to wrote it to lull audiences to sleep =P
Finally the MPO came out full force for the Immolation scene from Gotterdamarung. The orchestra was a thumping Teutonic force and when the trumpets blared the Magic Fire theme I had one hell of goosebumps. Ms Brewer has no problems holding out on her own, belting out a performance that was akin to listening to Birgit Nillson singing. She had many similarities resembling the great Wagnerian queen after Kirsten Flagstad - an effortless penetrating, powerful voice and even remarkable stamina control. When I gave her the compliment after the performance, she commented Birgit herself was her teacher. Wrapping up for encore, Ms Brewer gave a luscious Richard Strauss lieder.
Malaysian audiences who attended this performance are a lucky lot. Ms Christine Brewer maybe the greatest living Brunhilde soprano who graced this earth. And here's hoping she will return, and a performance of Strauss' Four Last Songs maybe an ideal one.
posted by Corgan Sow at 8:20 pm
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