2016-05-29 featured press

Klassieke Zaken – Stem van de toekomst – Philippe Jaroussky – English Translation

2016-05-29, Klassieke Zaken, by Hein van Eekert

Disclaimer

This is a fan translation – no infringement of copyright is intended. If you are the copyright holder and have any objections to this being online, drop us a line and we will remove it immediately. 

We believe the publication fulfills the conditions of “fair use,” for discussion and study.

Source/View Magazine: [x]

Klassieke Zaken – Voice of the Future – Philippe Jaroussky

With a contemporary piece, he was in our country. He returns with forgotten baroque composers. Also there are going to be DVD releases with Alcina and Theodora. Philippe Jaroussky tells us about the voice of the future.

When you think of the sometimes un-earthly voice of Philippe Jaroussky, you somehow expect him to come floating to the interview. Nothing like that: It’s a happy, friendly man, courteous, with a sociable presénce, and an enthusiasm that could be called child-like – if it wasn’t rooted in an impressive mountain of knowledge about his own work and that of others. Moreover, even if he knows a lot about the past, he is certainly not “retro.” He can’t be, he says, because “The countertenor is a voice of the future.”

We want to know more. The countertenor voice? The one that is often used to sing the Ancient music of the castrati? “The sound evokes the past, but it’s a modern voice type. It really came back en vogue since the sixties. During the past eight years, I got lots of offers to sing modern music. I often have to decline, because studying requires a lot of time for preparation, and I don’t always have that.” Jaroussky participated in Only the sound remains by Kaija Saariaho, because he know she wanted him and not just the ethereal, androgynous sound of any countertenor: “When I was asked, it was also agreed that this production would be taken on tour to different cities, including Amsterdam. She wrote two scenes for me because I wanted to audition. I wanted her to get to know my voice.” In the end, Jaroussky was cast in two roles in the opera, instead of only one he was originally planned for.

Next to the modern repertoire, there are earlier works. We talk about forgotten composers: there might be a reason why they are forgotten. Bach and Händel are great geniuses, but how about lesser-known names? “Geniuses are not always the greatest innovators,” Jaroussky says. “Agostino Steffani didn’t have Händel’s genius, but he has caused big changes. Alessandro Scarlatti is also very notable. They don’t always have the big hits, but they are bolder and more prone to trying out new things than Händel.”

“Geniuses are not always the greatest innovators”

Jaroussky does a concert tour which also takes him to the Netherlands, with a sample of the works by composers we don’t hear performed often enough. The arias he came up with himself: “I research in libraries, for manuscripts of arias that I want to include in the programs and if you’re looking for something, you often end up finding something even better. You read the sheet music of an aria, you turn the page, and there is suddenly a much more interesting piece.” This involves contemporaries of Bach and Händel as well as composers of an earlier time. “There are composers like Jomelli and Traetta that are yet to be discovered. I also like the era of early Baroque a lot; for example, many operas by Cavalli are being staged. His Ercole amante in Amsterdam was set in scene both modern and Baroque.” That’s meant as a compliment, because Jaroussky is fascinated by the combination of contemporary and historic. This is partly because our modern era allowed the sound of the old music to return in its full glory. “Cavalli has many recitativos: It is really dramatic. And think of Niobe by Steffani: A beautiful opera with da capo arias, dances, and comic relief characters. We now don’t only have the voices, but the orchestras as well, and that’s very important. Producing an opera like Vinci’s Artaserse wouldn’t have been possible without the virtuosity and the lightness of the modern Baroque orchestras. With the recording, we set out to prove that not all countertenors have the same colour of voice. I also discovered that there often is a sad, decadent note to the music written for castrati.” Händel, for example, wrote for the castrato Carestini: the title role in Ariodante as well as the role of Ruggiero in Alcina. “Ruggiero is an anti-hero, who is under Alcina’s thumb. It fits my character more than Ariodante, who I would have liked to sing, but it just doesn’t suit me.” There will be a DVD release, directed by Katie Mitchell: “What is great is that the staging is based on the libretto as well as Orlando Furioso by Ariosto. So Alcina and Morgana are old women, pretending to be young. It is modern and Baroque at the same time.” There it is again: modern and Baroque. The combination characterizes Jaroussky as well: the sound of the past, the voice of the future.

HEIN VAN EEKERT

 

NATURAL HIGH – PHILIPPE JAROUSSKY

The term countertenor has become common knowledge. Yet there are people who yet have to get used to the sometimes apparently unnatural high male voice. For these people, there is but one advice: Listen to Philippe Jaroussky. His voice, tone, and diction are so immediate and natural [vanzelfsprekend en natuurlijk] that they only invite to be surprised and delighted to hear so much beauty. On this compilation CD with some highlights from his oeuvre, every track is a hit. Of course, the French countertenor excels in the Baroque repertoire from Monteverdi to Vivaldi, but he equally feels at home in the early classical works by Johann Christian Bach or a nineteenth-century song by Reynaldo Hahn. And of course, he is surrounded by the best musicians and ensembles such as the Ensemble Matheus and L’Arpeggiata. An introduction for less than ten euros that will prove worth at least double the price. Jaroussky lovers should just buy a few as a gift when they visit friends to bring instead of flowers. Success is guaranteed.

Source/View Magazine: [x]

2016-03-29 featured press

Cultural Resuena – Only the sound remains: el estreno de la nueva ópera de Kaija Saariaho

2016-03-29, Cultural Resuena, by Albert Fernández Chafer

Los protagonistas vocales (Davone Tines, barítono, en el papel de Gyokei y del pescador, y Philippe Jaroussky, contratenor, en el de Tsunemasa y voz de la Tennin, interpretada por Nora Kimball-Mentzos) hacen una interpretación correcta, pero sin ningún lucimiento (acaso Jaroussky en alguno de los lamentos de Tsunamis), aunque tampoco es el propósito de la obra.
La conclusión general es que, desde un punto de vista holístico, la obra es original, sin que ninguno de sus elementos por separado lo sea, quizá con la excepción de la música de Saariaho, quien ha sabido interpretar la canción nhô con un grupo instrumental diferente del clásico y creando una policromía tonal que, especialmente en Hagaromo, se acerca a lo que podría verse como melodía, sin acabar de desarrollarla del todo, y que queda por lo tanto más cerca del sonido, y aquí es donde veo el segundo significado del título y de la obra en general: ‘the Sound’.

Source/Read more: [x]

2016-03-23 featured press

Financial Times – Only the Sound Remains, De Nationale Opera, Amsterdam — ‘Sensual and evocative’

2016-03-23, Financial Times, by Shirley Apthorp

Baritone Davone Tines and countertenor Philippe Jaroussky are perfect as the earth/spirit counterparts of the two pieces (ghost and priest for the first opera, fisherman and angel for the second), Tines with his earthy, virile warmth, Jaroussky with his ethereal purity, the music tailored for these two exceptional voices.

[…]

Since this production goes on to Helsinki, Paris, Madrid and Toronto, its success was a foregone conclusion and transcends the petty judgment of irritable individuals. It is meticulously crafted and superbly performed; Saariaho is in fine form. Perhaps that is enough.

Source/Read more: [x]

2016-03-24_02 featured press

Place de l’Opera – Only the Sound Remains: hemels én aards

2016-03-23, Place de l’Operam by Kenza Koutchoukali

De voorstelling was in mijn ogen wel degelijk spannend, misschien zelfs een beetje eng. Magisch ook en bovendien waanzinnig goed uitgevoerd. Wat een spel en wat een stemmen! De stem van Philippe Jaroussky (Geest van de jongeman/Engel) was zo helder als je van een engel zou verwachten. En dan de kantele, bespeeld door Eija Kankaanranta: ik zou zweren dat ik de muziek soms bijna zag. Zelden werd ik meer verrast door een onbekend instrument.

~

In my eyes, the idea was exciting indeed, maybe even a little scary. It was also magic and additionally incredibly well executed. The playing and the voices! The voice of Philippe Jaroussky (Spirit of the young man/Angel) was as clear as you would expect of an angel. And then the kantele, played by Eija Kankaanranta: I could swear I sometimes almost saw the music. Rarely I was more surprised by an unknown instrument.

Source/Read more: [x]

2016-03-24 featured press

The Guardian – Only the Sound Remains review – almost perversely unengaging

2016-03-23, The Guardian, by Andrew Clements

[…] the presence of a dancer (Nora Kimball-Mentzos) does give one more layer to Peter Sellars’ otherwise inert staging, but emotionally and dramatically both halves of the opera remain almost perversely unengaging, despite the excellence of the performances from countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and bass Davone Tines under conductor André de Ridder.

Source/Read more: [x]

2016-03-22 featured press

OperaJournal – Saariaho – Only the Sound Remains (DNO, 2016 – Amsterdam)

2016-03-22, OperaJournal.blogspot.de, by Keris Nine

Here alone the desired sound is fully realised with Davone Tines integrating with the earthier sounds of the physical world and Philippe Jaroussky’s countertenor soaring to reach that otherworldly level. […]

If they leave any trace behind in the world, only the sound that remains and, when expressed like this in music, in poetry and dance, it’s the closest thing we have to heaven on earth.

Source/Read more: [x]

2016-03-19 featured press

8weekly – Alleen het geluid blijft

2016-03-19, 8weekly, by Ewa Maria Wagner

De ster van de avond: Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor, schittert samen met de jonge basbariton Davone Tines in wisselende rollen. Zelfs de geliefde stem van Jaroussky is echter machteloos tegenover de overkill aan mooie klanken zonder dramatiek.

~

The star of the evening: Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor, glittering along with the young bass-baritone Davone Tines in varying roles. However, even the beloved voice of Jaroussky is powerless against the overkill of beautiful sounds without drama.

Source/Read more: [x]

2016-03-18_02 featured press

Volkskrant – Only the Sound Remains doet een groot beroep op de concentratie – Translation to English

2016-03-18, Volkskrant, by Biëlla Luttmer

Disclaimer

This is a fan translation – no infringement of copyright is intended. If you are the copyright holder and have any objections to this being online, drop us a line and we will remove it immediately. 

We believe the publication fulfills the conditions of “fair use,” for discussion and study.

Source/Read original: [x]

 

[caption:] Fisherman Davone Tines and dancer Nora Kimball-Mentzos in Only the Sound Remains.

Only The Sound Remains makes great demands concerning concentration

Conductor André de Ridder admirably ensures that the orchestra sound, and the singers’ voices take off from the stage. Yet it is immobility that is dominating, sometimes making great demands on the concentration of the Western opera fan.

By Biella Luttmer, March 18, 2016


A fisherman finds a feather mantle, which seems to belong to an angel. “I’ll give you back your cloak, but only if you dance for me,” the fisherman says. The angel agrees, but wants the mantle back first. “How can I trust you?” The fisherman replies. The angel says, “Doubt is for mortals. We have no deceit.”

In Only the Sound Remains, the brand-new opera diptych by composer Kaija Saariaho, big themes such as mortality and desire are sliding past in an unassuming way. Sssss-sounds from a small choir, soft glissandi of a string quartet, and bowed [or brushed? Orig: aangestreken toetsen] bars of a vibraphone can heard. They have been mixed with the earthly jingling of a kantele, an old stringed instrument from Saariaho’s native Finland.

Untheatrical Topic

The pieces are based on two texts from the secular Japanese Nôh-theater. Both deal with the living and the dead, and a mysterious contact between the two worlds. Or, perceived from a more personal view: the ones you lost, who are elusive but which you always carry with you.

It is an introvert, untheatrical topic suitable for a book by Murakami; however, it was lost in the immense opera house at the Waterloo. Saariaho, famous for her magical richness of sound, is devoid of any drama or rhetoric. She gives her audience a spirit and a monk. Or, in the second work, a fisherman with the voice and appearance of a monk, and an angel surprisingly similar to the ghost before.

Director Peter Sellars adds a painting by the Ethiopian artist Julie Mehretu, with abstract, dark lines on a white canvas.

Contrast

The text and the music by Saariaho connect with the painting. Over the lines of the light fabric fall the massive shadows of a monk, a spirit, an angel. The result is an imagery of unreal beauty. Light and dark, distance and proximity, the earthly and the celestial are entering a bond.

Conductor André de Ridder admirably ensures that the orchestra sound, and the singers’ voices take off from the stage. Carefully distorted electronically, they encircle the audience like a wreath.

The first part of the diptych is dark, with a bass flute and the drone of a drum. What is beautiful is the contrast between the dark baritone voice of the American Davone Tines and the ethereal voice of countertenor Philippe Jaroussky.

Immobility

The second part is lighter. The bass flute is replaced by a piccolo, and the static male figures are accompanied by a transcendent graceful dancer: Nora Kimball-Mentzos, the alter ego of the angel.

Still, what prevails here is the the immobility. Mehretu’s artwork is greatly enlarged and discoloured to an intense golden yellow, yet it never succeeds in creating the feeling of witnessing a theatrical performance. Rather you feel like looking at the sublime installation of a visual artist. At the end of the evening, there is suddenly a second fabric, a clone of Mehretu’s work. Both cloths are lowered and raised again – the weakest part of the evening.

With her latest opera, Saariaho puts high demands on the concentration of the Western opera lover, who will, in addition to profoundly magical sounds, also at times be taken into a compelling theatrical development – if only briefly.

Ten days to enjoy the opera anniversary

The Opera Forward Festival gives space to new music and different performance practices.

The Dutch National Opera celebrates its fiftiest anniversary. They are not only putting themselves into the spotlight, but rather involve others to join the festivities. Only The Sound Remains kicks off the new Opera Forward Festival, where opera connoisseurs and musicians, directors and artists alike examine the future of the genre.

For ten days, they gather at three locations in Amsterdam: the Nationale Opera & Ballet, the Muziekgebouw and the IJ en de Stadsschouwburg.

There are performances that are innovative, as the one described above, Only The Sound Remains and Blank Out, an opera for soprano and 3D-movie by the Dutchman Michel van Aa. However, there is also the “old” opera “Il matrimonio segreto” by Cimarosa that can be approached in a new way, shown in a production by the Opera Zuid and the Nederlandse Reisopera.

Finally, the opera of the future is already taking shape in five mini-operas, created by students.

 

 

2016-03-18 featured press

Philippe Jaroussky on Facebook – “Vous êtes Plus de 70000 à me suivre! …”

2016-03-18, Philippe Jaroussky on Facebook

“Vous êtes Plus de 70000 à me suivre! …”

Source/View image/Read more: [x]

2016-03-18_04 featured press

nrc – Zelfverzekerde opening van operafestival

2016-03-18, nrc, by Mischa Spel

Dankzij Pierre Audi heeft Amsterdam een rijke traditie op het gebied van ritueel muziektheater. De luisterrijke tover van Messiaens St. Francois d’Asisse, de speelse originaliteit van Tea van Tan Dun en de imposante schoonheid van Claude Viviers Rêves d’un Marco Polo (om er een paar te noemen) stelden een maat die Only the sound remains niet steeds haalt, voornamelijk doordat de intimiteit van de operaatjes wringt met de grote zaal.

Ook de rol van elektronica is niet overal even effectief. De stem van Jaroussky wordt ‘hemels’ vervormd – maar juist in natuurgedaante weet hij vaak een treffender gevoel van onthechting op te roepen.

~

Thanks to Pierre Audi Amsterdam has a rich tradition of ritual music theatre. The lustrous magic of Messiaen’s St. Francois d’Asisse, the playful originality of Tea by Tan Dun and the impressive beauty of Claude Vivier’s Rêves d’un Marco Polo (to name a few) set a standard that Only The Sound Remains doesn’t always live up to, mainly because the intimacy of the opera conflicts with the spacious hall.

Also, the role of the electronics is not always effective. Jaroussky’s voice is ‘heavenly’ distorted – however, in its natural form, he often manages to evoke a more effective sense of detachment.

Source/Read more: [x]