SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Wagner, Richard Strauss, Beethoven ... and Lerner and Loewe: Deborah Voigt (soprano), London Symphony Orchestra, Asher Fisch (conductor).Barbican Hall, London 12.6.2009 (JPr)


After London was recovering from the gridlock and stress caused by the 48-hour strike caused by the underground train drivers, this Barbican concert provided the perfect therapy. It was an unashamedly old-fashioned evening of ‘bleeding chunks’ from big moments hacked out of operas by Beethoven and the two Richards, Wagner and Strauss. The closing scene from Salome concluded the official part of the evening and so never has ‘bleeding chunks’ seemed so appropriate a description as when John the Baptist’s head was being sung to (thankfully unseen)! The American soprano Deborah Voigt, was making a rare London appearance and, as the evening turned out, another very welcome visitor was her Israeli conductor, Asher Fisch.

A few years ago Ms Voigt produced a CD called ‘Obsessions’ which also included some of the extracts she performed in this concert. There was an excellent essay by Christopher Cook in the programme ‘From Breeches to Seven Veils’ which attempted to give a theme to the concert as he surveyed the history of female characters in opera over the years. While his first paragraph does not encompass his entire thesis it does set the tone of his argument and is worth repeating here: ‘If opera is a song of love and death then for most of the German nineteenth century it’s the women who die, throwing themselves off the cliffs as their mysterious lovers sail for the horizon, singing themselves ecstatically into eternity over the corpse of their beloved, or riding into funeral pyres. It’s the women who sing, too. Huge tracts of music that demand concentration and stamina. It was the great Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson who, when asked what was essential for the role of Isolde, replied, ‘a comfortable pair of shoes’. And there was a British Elektra who, when she briefly left the stage in search of an axe with which her brother was to dismember their mother, supposedly swigged on a bottle of stout parked behind the scenery to keep up her strength.’

Strangely there was no Isolde from Deborah Voigt yet this is a role that she had recently performed on stage for the first time; and no Elektra herself though she did sing Chrysothemis’s bravura monologue from the same opera - which seemed something likely to be better when heard in context. Nevertheless, as well as this we had Elisabeth’s greeting to the hall of song from Tannhäuser, Sieglinde’s outpouring of love for her twin brother from Die Walküre, Helen’s extended soliloquy about her second wedding night with her prince from Die Aegyptische Helena, Leonora’s impassioned ‘Abscheulicher’ from Fidelio, and finally Salome lusting over that severed head.

Christopher Cook reminded us that Salome’s ‘closing scene is a challenge for any dramatic soprano. Strauss said that the role of Salome should be sung by “a sixteen-year-old princess with the voice of an Isolde!” The world is still looking for that singer.’ Obviously when Deborah Voigt’s name is mentioned the topic of ‘looks’ cannot be left off the agenda completely but that discussion should be certainly consigned to the past. It not relevant now and suffice to say that she looked stunning in the gold and turquoise dress she wore most of the evening. And while this is not the place to debate the ‘size does or doesn’t matter’ issue for female singers, I must add the personal comment that I much prefer a whatever-size Ms Voigt singing difficult music with a generally well supported rich sound and care for accurate pitch, to a dress size 0 soprano squalling the high notes.

But I should not ignore the part played by Asher Fisch in the eventual success of this evening. The London Symphony Orchestra is rarely heard playing either Strauss or Wagner yet like most great ensembles they can excel in any music with the right conductor. How easily they went with only the addition of a few percussionists from Beethoven’s Mozart-inspired Fidelio to a ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’ was the orchestral highlight of the evening and caused me a palpable frisson: they built up the erotic tension almost unbearably prior to the orgasmic conclusion under Asher Fisch’s direction. Maestro Fisch is principal guest conductor of Seattle Opera, has worked at the Vienna Volksoper and as assistant to Daniel Barenboim in Berlin as well, and all this experience in the opera house was important to this successful concert. The LSO were on top form and seemed perfectly balanced from where I sat in the stalls. Usually the brass blare out in the Barbican Hall, but Asher Fisch seemed keen that they soften their sound and the results he achieved were all the better for it. Strings, woodwind and horns all played their full part in the accompaniments to Ms Voigt as well as the non-vocal moments such as ‘Siegfried’s Rhine Journey’, the Fidelio Overture and the ‘Dance’ previously mentioned.

Deborah Voigt clearly relishes singing and being the spotlight (literally here) on the platform. She came on after the introduction to ‘Dich, teure Halle’ began and displayed a voice just right for the first of the vocal showpieces that would thrill her many fans. They were out in force, many giving her a standing ovation at the end. She produced an even, radiant tone that was totally appropriate for Elisabeth. There were however, some minor niggles that would remain for me throughout the evening, such as the lack of German consonants in the words she sang and her rather bland interpretation of some of the extracts. Elisabeth’s love is for the hall, not a person, for instance but Ms Voigt made it more of a routine ‘love song’. She was also overdramatic as Sieglinde and ‘Du bist der Lenz’ was not very well sung.

Egyptian Helen’s honeymoon fantasy is a challenge for any soprano and Ms Voigt breathed deeply after a hard-won high C at ‘leuchtenden Welt’ near the end. Wiping away imaginary sweat from her brow and with a sigh she said ‘tough one … so thank you’ as the audience applauded enthusiastically. Chrysosthemis was a strange choice but she sang it potently and if the top of her voice was occasionally rather steely, this music did show that her chest voice was in fine fettle and there were no gear changes across the registers. She did not find ‘Abscheulicher’ easy either and Maestro Fisch followed her considerately during her final run to a top B at ‘Gattenliebe’ aalthough sadly she did not give us any of Leonora’s strength or faith.

After a change of dress to scarlet for Salome, Ms Voigt gave us the vocal highlight of the evening. It was also the biggest surprise because I never expected her to give as genuine an insight into Oscar Wilde’s princess of Judaea as she did. She never let herself go entirely of course or reveal all the aspects of her character’s psychoses - we could not expect that on the concert platform - but it was ravishingly sung and completely compelling.

Two bonus items followed as encores, firstly, Strauss’s ‘Zueignung’ sung with freedom and in a wonderfully heartfelt fashion. Ms Voigt then told us and showed with her fingers how little voice and energy she thought she had left and how ‘I wanted to sing something light as it has not been a terribly light evening!’ And since there was ‘dancing’ in the Salome, she decided to finish with ‘I could have danced all night’ from My Fair Lady.

Deborah Voigt had a remarkably cheery, unshowy stage persona throughout this concert and had revealed an impressive dramatic soprano voice with great stamina and attack alongside moments of burnished tone. It had not been a perfect evening but as she sang her Broadway number with a beaming smile on her face you just had to love her.

Jim Pritchard 


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