There are few finer baritones with such lyrical propensity on the stage today. Simon Keenlyside gives us a remarkably varied program that hits many of the high points in the baritone repertory, and demonstrates conclusively to all listening his ability to float a lovely pianissimo or a dramatic threat uttered by Don Carlo. In the French world, the dark mysteries of Tchaikovsky, or in the lightness of Mozart, Keenlyside is able to navigate with expert skill the needs and stylistic peculiarities of each composer. The opening Rossini is an attention getter, one of the most famous arias ever written brushed off with aplomb, as if the artist is saying, “Okay, now that that’s over, let’s get on with it.”
And get on he does, breezing through an ethereal Massenet “Vision Fugitive” all the way through one of the most exquisitely sung “Oh, du mein holder Adendstern” from Tannhauser you will ever hear. This is, as you have now surmised, a super album. Ulf Schirmer and the Munich band (sounding a little smaller than a full complement) are supportive and co-partners in the effort, and Sony give them excellent sound, though non-SACD.
But Sony stupidly leaves out all texts and translations for pages of gobbledy-gook by Mr. Keenlyside – not a complete waste of time but pretty close, as he doesn’t write very well. What a shame—a nearly perfect offering!
TrackList:
ROSSINI: Largo al factotum della citta (Barber of Seville)
ROSSINI: Sois Immobile (William Tell)
MASSENET: Vision Fugitive (Herodiade)
VERDI: Per me guinto e il di (Don Carlo)
VERDI: Eri tu che macchiavi quell’anima (Masked Ball)
VERDI: Di Provenza il mar (La Traviata)
THOMAS: O vin, dissipe la tristesse (Hamlet)
BELLINI: Ah! Per sempre io ti perdel (I Puritani)
MOZART: Ein Madchen oder Weibchen (Magic Flute)
LEONCAVALLO: Si puo, si puo (Pagliacci)
CILEA: Come due tizzi accesi (L’Arlesiana)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Ja vas Ljublju (Pique Dame)
MOZART: Dah vieni all finestra (Don Giovanni)
MOZART: Nur mutig, mein Herz, versuche dein Gluck)
WAGNER: Oh, du mein holder Adendstern (Tannhauser)
— Steven Ritter
