Wednesday 8 December 2010

Andreas Scholl and Philippe Jaroussky

Last night (Tuesday 7th December) was one of the much anticipated concerts in the Barbican's Great Performers season, two of the world's star counter-tenors, Andreas Scholl and Philippe Jaroussky, in concert together with Jaroussky's Ensemble Artaserse.

Following their rather skittish interview in the Guardian I did rather wonder what to expect. In the event, we had an attractive sequence of airs, songs and duets by Purcell, with only 1 duet which had any hint of gender bending. The programme was enthusiastically received by the capacity audience and we were treated to 3 encores. But I was left a little unsatisfied and after the concert was puzzling over quite what was lacking.

Ensemble Artaserse is a small group and their line up last night was heavily continuo based (harpsichord/organ, viola da gamba, basse de viol, theorbo and guitar) with just 2 violins, viola, 2 recorders and 2 oboes. In all of the dance based pieces they gave the music significant rhythmic impulse which was exciting, but wearing after a time. The group are conductorless and I did wonder whether that was the problem.

Turning to the singers I realised that, far more than in Handel, it is the words which are important, not just their declamation but the way that they link with Purcell's music. His English word setting is some of the greatest ever written, but it is also pretty idiosyncratic. Scholl's English diction, whilst not faultless, was amazingly good. But even he seemed to struggle. In the shorter numbers like Sweeter than Roses or Music for a while he was elegantly beautiful, but didn't quite touch the heart strings the way Deller did (or more recently Iestyn Davies at this year's Proms in Cadogan Hall). In a longer number like O Solitude Scholl seemed to lose his way a bit. It might have been the frog in his throat, or possibly the way the piece sat in his voice, going a bit low, but though there were lovely phrases, the whole was less than the sum of its parts.

Jaroussky's diction was impressive, considering his franco-phone background, but it still has some way to go. Part of the problem seemed to be that his pronunciation was a little wayward; it was inconsistent, sometimes a word was produced fine and sometimes not. With his high, focussed voice, Jaroussky was loveliest in the long lyrical items like Fairest Isle and The Evening Hymn.

On balance, the evening seemed to be slightly less than the sum of its parts. Purcell's distinctive qualities seemed to not be quite captured. I think that what we lacked was the strong guiding presence of someone like William Christie, someone who could bring stylistic discipline and coherency.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:50 pm

    That's a rather crabby account of an excellent evening which manifestly thrilled a large audience few of whom would have been such a recherche recital on a cold night had they not known a bit about Purcell and counter-tenor singing beforehand. Both singers produced some BEAUTIFUL music (Scholl's O solitude was wonderful and Jaroussky's Fairest Isle very, very moving , for example) And the band was no less excellent; theorbo and lute playing of that quality is rare and both viol players were impressive. But above all how good it is to go to a concert where the sheer fun of making and hearing music is imparted with sincerity and innocence.

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  2. AlisonC1:00 am

    I thought it was a fair account rather than a crabby one, although I agree that there was some beautiful music.

    The thing I personally missed most was flow from one piece to the next, even though the programme was thoughtfully put together: I would rather hear a complete Purcell work such as "Come ye sons of art away" in sequence, although obviously that wouldn't work with two countertenors. But evidently most of the audience loved it as it was.

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  3. Anonymous9:08 am

    The point about the (lack of a) conductor is well made. Think back to the Spinosi/Jaroussky Prom or - more recently - the Minkowski Alcina at the Barbican. The bands were really bouncing, maybe Purcell is less cut out for this sort of enjooyment - though PJ doing his dance moves in the encorge begs to disagree.

    Anway, I think baroque bands need conductors ( a much maligned breed) who does not need to wave a stick in front. A violin and bow does very nicely

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  4. I'd say that it might have worked if the continuo player had taken more lead. But I also meant that having someone listening outside of the performance who had the authority to tell (suggest) the singers what to do would have been useful. Performance by fraternal committee is good when it works, but it doesn't always.

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  5. I'm with AlisonC and Robert on this one: fans are fans, reviewers should not be. This was NOT the concert it should have been: this was not their ideal rep, and their English was an intrusive factor throughout. Scholl clearly had a throat thing going on, and Jaroussky can't sing a legato line for toffee. Yes some highlights. A highlight of the musical year? Not.

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  7. Turning to the singers I realised that, far more than in Handel, it is the words which are important, not just their declamation but the way that they link with Purcell's music.

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