part of the Rosenblatt Series in St John’s Smith Square last night. Brownlee recently appeared to great acclaim with soprano Renee Fleming in the Met’s first production of Rossini’s Armida. Brownlee is a rare bird: a lyric tenor with a wide range, a burnished dark timbre which is able to scale the highest reaches of its range as well as the lowest with ease. The voice itself is of a medium size but it is stunningly supported, spinning legato with exact intonation. Pianist Iain Burnside proved himself a technically expert accompanist, sensitive to the support that Brownlee needed while also able himself to command full attention during extremely technically demanding solo moments.The opening aria of the concert was Mozart’s uninspired and forgettable concert aria “Misero! O sogno”. Brownlee sang this beautifully, but I felt that this aria – despite the incorrect feminine endings in recitatives – probably received the best reading one is ever likely to hear.
Brownlee followed this with a set of rather well-worn Duparc Lieder: “Chanson triste”; “Extase”; “Le manoir de Rosemonde”; “Soupir” & “Phidylé”. Of these Lieder I found “Chanson triste” and “Extase” – despite their familiarity – still particularly strikingly. I thought that these two would have been enough. Instead of the three Duparc songs that followed, a set of Schubert or Schumann would have been preferable. The only weakness I felt was a similarity of expression and style. Although Brownlee sang with consistent good taste and technique there was nothing different in his stylistic approach from the Mozart to the Duparc. In addition there was also very little word painting to be found.
The first item to find Brownlee completely at home was the Rossini aria for Lindoro from L’italiana in Algeri which brought the first part of the concert to a rousing conclusion. The coloratura and attack of the high notes were precise, exciting and clarion clear. And hearing this I wished that he had sung more opera, which is clearly what he really excels in.
The second part of the recital opened with “The Three Sonnets of Petrarch” of Liszt. These Lieder were written in Italy and reflect the bel canto style and stratospheric range of Bellini, the pathetic style of Chopin mixed with the forward looking, symphonic harmonic use of Wagner combined with the heroic vocal requirements of Mascagni or Puccini. The stunning piano solo in the first Lied “Pace non trovo” was particularly impressively performed by Burnside. This and the following two songs “Benedetta” and “L’ vidi” were sung to the same standard.
The following number - Donizetti’s "Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!" from La fille du regiment - deservedly brought the house down. This aria was performed with such brilliance and superb style that one could not wish for a more perfect reading of this aria. (I’m afraid that compared to Juan Diego Florez, Brownlee’s voice and singing is preferable as the sound is fuller, deeper and capable of more nuance.) "Ah! mes amis” was the first item in which Brownlee seemed totally immersed and this number was fully acted and felt, and the audience reacted very warmly to him. (To give some perspective of the difficulty of this aria for readers unfamiliar with it, “Ah! Mes amis” is often called the "Mount Everest" of tenor arias as it requires nine consecutive high Cs to be performed back to back.)
Next up was a cantata of spirituals by contemporary American composer John Carter. Musically these pieces were very interesting, but the poetry was rather limited in its complexity and variety. I suppose this is not PC to say, but after the Petrarch sonnets I found the text of these spirituals almost too direct and banal. Nonetheless, it was very interesting to hear these pieces and the final “Toccata” brought to a suitably exciting and frenetic end this very expertly performed concert.
The encores were a Spanish song, “Curra me”, which was another virtuoso display of high-flying high notes expertly executed by Brownlee. The evening was brought to a close with a reprieve of the Donizetti. It is obvious that Brownlee is destined for a stratospheric career specialising in bel canto. Although Brownlee sang with great style, technical precision and feeling I just felt that true identification or understanding of the Lieder and Mozart did not happen and I was not moved as I have been in recitals by artists like Bumbry or Mattila. Because there was so little distinction in style he basically sang everything the same way. However, Brownlee has sung in all the top venues in the world and there is no doubt in my mind that he is operatic royalty in the making.
Calvin Wells
Opera Britannia
commissioned to design the booklet cover for this disc of Verdi arias and duets featuring Polish tenor Piotr Beczala, it would feature an image of a Brazil nut, emblazoned with the face of dear old Giuseppe, quivering beneath a sledgehammer. This would give the prospective purchaser an idea as to what to expect from the tenor’s approach and it would, indeed, be as unexpected as it is disappointing. I rate Beczala extremely highly and he would be in my top four tenors performing this sort of repertoire today (Jonas Kaufmann, Joseph Calleja and the underrated Marcelo Álvarez being the others), but this recital disc will do his reputation few favours.
based at the Wigmore Hall, offer a rather unique opportunity to hear some of the world’s most impressive singers to best effect, performing their own chosen repertoire in an intimate concert setting. There is a welcome purity in hearing an artist sing a concentrated programme of music tailored to their voice and taste, and to hear it unembellished by full-scale orchestra, granted only the elegant simplicity of an accompanying piano.
As if to remind us that summer festivals are just around the corner, despite the prevailing frozen conditions over much of Britain, Opus Arte has issued its new production of Janacek’s evergreen opera The Cunning Little Vixen, which opened Glyndebourne’s 2012 season. Although Melly Still’s production didn’t meet with universal acclaim and is clumsily directed at times, the performances here have much to recommend them, not least the feisty Vixen of Lucy Crowe and the weathered Forester of Sergei Leiferkus.
