Jonasabend at Théâtre des Champs Élysées

The other day Elina Garanca was ill and had to cancel both her concerts in Baden Baden and at Pleyel, Paris. I can only imagine the mess the organizers at Pleyel had to deal with after that cancellation as she was coming with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra...

We kept our fingers crossed for tonight's liederabend with Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch, and hoped no last minute surprise --like last week  in Barcelona-- would stand on the way to a superb Liederabend. These two exceptional artists gave us a magnificent concert two years ago at Opéra Garnier, and the tonight's concert was just a confirmation that Jonas is at his best in this form of recital.

This was 1 hour and a half of pure beauty, in front of the crowd of 1,920.  They performed the full opus of Die schöne Müllerin in one go. You could hear a pin drop...

In the end, what to say? He really is an exceptional singer.

Have a look at his sched and if these two guys happen to perform somewhere near you, do not miss it. Pure gem!



The story of Die schöne Müllerin:

At the beginning of the cycle, a young journeyman miller wanders happily through the countryside. He comes upon a brook, which he follows to a mill. He falls in love with the beautiful miller's daughter (the "Müllerin" of the title), but who is out of his reach as he is only a journeyman. He tries to impress her, but her response seems tentative. The young man is soon supplanted in her affections by a hunter clad in green, the colour of a ribbon he gave the girl. In his anguish he experiences an obsession with the colour green, then an extravagant death fantasy in which flowers sprout from his grave to express his undying love. In the end, the young man despairs and drowns himself in the brook. The last number is a lullaby sung by the brook. The question remains: is the brook really the miller's friend or is it a friend like Mephistopheles in the Faust legend, who leads the miller to his downfall and destruction?

and all 20 poems with translation are available here.

Helmut Deutsch and Jonas Kaufmann after Die schöne Müllerin at Théâtre des Champs Elysées (October 14, 2010)