 |
 |
|
|
|
Baritone Quasthoff Triumphant Again By Philip Anson / March 11, 2001 Justus Zeyen, piano Alice Tully Hall, NY March 11, 2001 German baritone Thomas Quasthoff returned to Lincoln Center’s Great Performers’ series in New York on March 11, 2001 to consolidate his previous seasons’ triumphs. In only two years he has become New York’s favorite classical song recitalist. He made his Lincoln Center debut on November 12, 1998, in excerpts from Gustav Mahler's song cycle "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" with the New York Philharmonic. His Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart Festival debut was in 1999 with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. On January 31, 2000 he made his Lincoln Center Great Performers’ debut at ATH singing Schubert’s Die Winterreise with pianist Charles Spencer. Recently, his January 4, 2001, performance of Swiss composer Frank Martin's Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann and Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with the New York Philharmonic was broadcast live from Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. Now New Yorkers are waiting for his opera debut -- but he denies it is imminent. Enough history. In a few short years, Quasthoff has been taken into the heart of American audiences, who have a nice tendency to root for the underdog. In case you don’t know, Thomas Quasthoff is “differently abled.” He was a thalidomide baby, and though he has grown into a intelligent, mobile adult, he still has vestigial hands protruding from his shoulders, and shortened legs. He stands about four feet tall. Yet by the pure power of charisma and art, Quasthoff manages to make the audience forget his unusual appearance. Quasthoff’s vocal range, expressivity and repertoire are equal or superior to the abilities of barihunks such as Thomas Hampson, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Matthias Goerne. Quasthoff has also mastered English, and establishes a warm rapport with his audience through banter and teasing. He dedicates encores to his hosts and their aged mother. He playfully scolds early leavers. His encores are a mix of classicals and tear jerkers. In other words, this guy is a savvy entertainer. But more than that, as he proved once again in his March 11, 2001, program of Schubert’s Schwanengesang and Brahms’s Five Lieder, Op. 94 and Four Serious Songs, Quasthoff is an artist as serious in his devotion to the form and function of Lieder and melodie as the legendary Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau himself. Favorite songs such as Liebesbotchaft, Standchen and Die Taubenpost were sung with the simple elegance of the best Lieder tradition. The Schwanengesang cycle’s highlight was Der Doppelganger, sung in an eerie voice that Quasthoff does so well. He’d be a great narrator for a horror movie. Brahms’s Five Lieder for Low Voice, Op. 94, were less memorable material, overshadowed by the Vier ernste Gesange, Op. 121, which followed. Quasthoff sang these four masterpieces on Biblical texts as if they were a personal credo. They came straight from the heart and went straight to the heart. The masterful O Tod, wie bitter bist du, caused general weeping. I confess I too shed a tear. It was one of those performances that made one long to press the instant replay button. Happily, Quasthoff’s new Deutsche Grammophon CD to be released this spring contains this very same program. For encores, Quasthoff sang Schubert’s An die musik, and a terrifying Erlkonig in which his “physique du role” allowed him to give chilling impersonations of both the doomed child and the evil gnome. The risky finale was the Paul Anka/Frank Sinatra pop hit “My Way.” This was not quite as idiomatic as last year’s encore Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, but the message -- “I faced it all and I stood tall” -- was even more powerful. The standing ovation was the most fervent of any classical music event this year. Quasthoff is well on his was to becoming not just America’s favorite baritone, but a charismatic figure of spiritual inspiration -- like Bryn Terfel and Billy Graham combined. Watch out, world. >Lincoln Center >Unofficial Quasthoff page
|
|