I mistrust popularity pretty much automatically. Bandwagons don't appeal. Even when, despite excessive hype, they're bandwagons worth hopping aboard. Harry Potter, Gillian Welch, Magdalena Kozena and — perhaps most notably — Natalie Dessay were all parties I was both late and reluctant to join. But once I got there, and got over myself and my silly biases, I had an absolutely wonderful time and even fell in love, or at least in deep like.
It has happened again and it's all terribly predictable. I have found — excuse the delay — Diana Damrau. Welcome! choruses the rest of the world. I'm late, but at least I'm here. Now that I've heard her, it's patently obvious she was the next logical step in my adventures among contemporary sopranos. If you love, as I do, Natalie, Sandrine Piau and Carolyn Sampson, you love Diana.
Her Arie di bravura is a programme of showpieces by Mozart, Salieri and Righini. She's terrifying. I mean that as a totally bowled over compliment. I don't know when I've heard so many notes in so little time. She takes "Parto, m'affretto" at an even more rattling pace than Sandrine, which really, if you think about it, shouldn't be possible. I mean, who in the world hears that, and thinks — oh, it's a bit slow, let's do it faster. Yet it works. It's fabulous. There's probably a better word. (I checked. Diana's is 56 seconds shorter. Madness.)
Salieri is Salieri, run after run after run. In the liner notes, she mentions that the idea for the CD came to her as early as 1998. This perhaps translates as: I'm not copying Cecilia, honest I'm not! They did share a musicologist of course, the one and only Claudio Osele. However there's zero overlap in their respective programmes, not to mention entirely different approaches to the repertoire. Righini is, well, Righini I suppose, not that that actually means anything, since I'd never heard of him until this CD. The two arias from his Il natal d'Apollo are sort of pretty and kooky, not so much of the fiercely florid writing.
These lesser known contemporaries of Mozart are all very well, and it's nice to hear something different, but still, all they really do is point out once again why Mozart is Mozart and they are not. Coloratura for me is like calorie-free candy and I will eat it up endlessly, so I love all the virtuosity and fireworks of the other two; but they fade away a bit once she launches into the Queen of the Night's two arias. Dio mio, no wonder she's lauded so incessantly as the Queen of the Night of her generation. "O zittre nicht" actually brought a tear to my eye; "Der Hölle Rache" caused me to swear at one point, and then I just wanted to run away and hide before the bad lady killed me. Again, this is all praise. And while I have nothing but the greatest, most undying love for my Natalie (you might have noticed), having a native German speaker in this role really does make quite a big difference.
So as always, having overcome my irrational aversion, the unanimously praised Diana Damrau turns out to deserve all her hype. And also turns out to be just my kind of singer. This is good news; the more the merrier.
I trust you've found the Entführung on Youtube? It is bone chilling and exultant!
Just in case:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ek1w7ZIc_I0
Posted by: Gregory: or, manprano | Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 09:22 AM
I hadn't. I have now. Revelatory. Thank you.
Of course now that I see how much of her there is on YouTube I'm never going to get any sleep.
Posted by: Sarah | Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 11:20 PM
Oh, she's sublime!!! So funny you missed her until now! The very cute "Lilith89ibz" on youtube is her BIGGEST fan and has a mass of videos of Damrau. I was an instant fan last year when I saw her Covent Garden Queen of the Night on youtube. She also was a superb Rosina with Juan Diego at the Met last year. She and Joyce di Donato shared the Rosina stage...as you do at the Met!!!
Posted by: Hamish (Youtube: "Operaphile") | Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 06:59 AM
Oh god help us all.. Magdalena! I saw her in Cenerentola recently at the ROH and she was ghastly, just absolutely AWFUL. Especially when i'd just heard Cecilia sing Non piu mesta a couple of weeks earlier which was utterly sublime. I have a vid, i should compress it and send it to you. She looked gorgeous too! :)
Posted by: Nicole | Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 07:20 PM
Well honestly, the question is what was she doing singing Cenerentola in the first place. Rossini is not her territory and I don't think even she would claim it was. However, elsewhere she is magnificent. And I'm still jealous you got to see her; frankly I'd rather see Magdalena on a bad day than many other people at their best.
Posted by: Sarah | Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 11:51 PM
Magdalena singing Cenerentola?!?!? Now that's wierd!!!!
Posted by: Hamish (Youtube: "Operaphile") | Friday, February 29, 2008 at 09:06 AM