BRYN TERFEL: Live in Concert
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland,
Edo de Waart (conductor)
DGM DVD 073 047-9
The Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel is spending more and more time blending classical and musical comedy traditions. He appears truly at home in neither, but rather in the "opera buffa" numbers that lie somewhere in between. In this concert, which ranges from Wotan's Farewell from Wagner's Die Walkure to numbers from Camelot and Man of La Mancha,the roles he seems easist in are Mozart's Figaro and Verdi's Falstaff. There's extensive interview material linked to every vocal track by XIF (Extended Interactive Feature).
One thought that strikes you while watching this Amsterdam concert is how young the players in Taipei's symphony orchestras are. The average age of the Dutch orchestra looks in the late 40s, whereas the Taipei Symphony Orcestra is crowded with players in their 20s. When people say the future of classical music lies in Asia you begin to understand what they mean.
BRYN
Bryn Terfel Sings Favourites
DGM 474 438-2
Terfel really goes too far on this CD in offering wearily well-worn items, with accompaniment syrupy or brazen as required. This will surely detract from his reputation as a serious singer. Even so, there are ways to engage in this exercise that will satisfy even the most fastidious, as Andrea Bocelli triumphantly demonstrated on his wonderful Sentimento CD [reviewed in Taipei Times 29 November 2002]. Terfel doesn't manage the difficult art of combining quality with popularity anything like as well. Bocelli makes an appearance on this CD (in a famous duet from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers) and with the sound of his voice the whole thing leaps into a different class. For the rest its Danny Boy, Abide With Meand Home Sweet Home. Come on, Bryn, give us a break! Show us what you're really made of!
PREVIN: Violin Concerto
BERNSTEIN: Serenade
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Andre Previn
DGM 474 500-2
Universal Music has invested in a big way in the Previn-Mutter marriage. Last month they gave celebrity treatment to the two playing together in Tango Song & Dance, and now we have Previn's Violin Concerto, a work which, he says, he can only imagine Mutter playing. It doesn't make for easy listening and you can easily understand why Universal has put the two artists' names on the cover in far large print than the titles of the works featured. The Bernstein Serenade, dating from 1954, is boisterous and somewhat more accessible, however.
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