Roberto Alagna

Roberto Alagna

CONCERT IN GSTAADT

 

Programm

ANDRÉ ERNEST MODESTE GRÉTRY - Zémire et Azor - « Du moment qu’on aime »
EDOUARD LALO - Le Roi d'Ys -  « Vainement ma bien-aimée »
FROMENTAL HALEVY - La Juive - « Rachel quand du seigneur »
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËN - Samson et Dalila -« Vois ma misère »
PIOTR ILITCH TCHAÏKOVSKI - Eugène Onéguine - « Kuda, kuda »

SERGUEÏ RACHMANINOV - Prélude pour piano en ré majeur op. 23 n°4
RICHARD WAGNER - Lohengrin - « Mein lieber Schwan »
JULES MASSENET - Le Cid - « Ô Souverain, ô juge au père »
GIACOMO PUCCINI - La Tosca - « E lucevan le stelle »

 

 

BIS

 

Schubert - Ave Maria

Dichiara - La Spagnola

Falvo - Dicitencelle vuje

Drigo - Les millions d'Arlequins

Bovio - Na sera e maggio

Tosca - A vucchella

Leoncavallo - Au clair de la lune

Denza - Funiculi, Funicula

 

 

Performance

Gstaad New Year Music Festival 

Kirche Saanen

Samedi 7 janvier 2023

 

Cast

 

Roberto Alagna - Ténor

Morgane Fauchois-Prado - Piano

 

 

Press Review

Olyrix - Pierre Géraudie - 07 janvier 2023

❝ After Fedora, which marked his successful return to La Scala, and before slipping into the role of Al Capone at the Folies Bergère late January, the charismatic star tenor indulged in a refreshing stop in Switzerland ... A CLEAR AND ABSOLUTE vocal GENEROSITY ... precise and silky SHADES of tones ... A TENDERNESS of the best effect ... A VOLUME of sound on which time seems to have so little effect ... delicious use of a MEZZA VOCE ... a timbre of volcanic BRILLIANCE and ARDOUR ... WARM LIGHT of the intonations ... DELIGHTFUL use of the HALFTONES ... a VITALITY at all times ... always so spry at the end of the program ... then no less than EIGHT ENCORES in what appears to be a real second part of the evening ... the hall rose to its feet to warmly applaud such a GENEROUS and ENERGETIC performance ❞ 
 
 
ENGLISH TRANSLATION (from French) :
« Roberto Alagna in Gstaad, a festival within a festival | On the last weekend of the 17th New Year's Eve Music Festival in Gstaad, which started the day after Christmas, Roberto Alagna was in great shape and offered a concert that ended up being much longer than originally planned. The audience was delighted to have found something that extended the festivities. That's the way it is with charismatic artists with an international career and reputation: they raise the highest expectations, often perform to packed houses, and rarely disappoint their audiences and fans who come to watch and listen to them with admiration. Roberto Alagna certainly belongs in this category and Caroline Murat, the founder and artistic director of the festival, has long dreamed of bringing him to the shores of Sarine to celebrate the New Year. After Fedora, which marked a successful return to La Scala, and before slipping into the role of Al Capone in Folies Bergère at the end of January, the star tenor indulged in a refreshing Swiss stop at a recital in a beautiful little church in Saanen. A place like a temple where many of the artist's faithful come to mingle with an audience no less driven by curiosity to hear this recital with its rich and appealing programme.
And because so many admirers came to express their love for their favorite singer, he began the celebration with a fitting aria: "Du moment qu'on aime" from Grétry's opera Zémire et Azor. An aria as a hymn to tenderness that quickly sets the tone for the evening: here Roberto Alagna already displays a clear and absolute vocal generosity, polishing each phrasing with precise and silky shades of tones expressing tenderness to the best effect. There is, of course, the volume of sound that the singer is in the habit of to use and on which time seems to have so little effect, but above all there is the delightful use of a mezza voce which we found especially in "Vainement ma bien aimée" from Lalo's Roi d'Ys. In this role of Mylio, that he likes, as in Eléazar (Halévy's La Juive) or Samson (Saint-Saëns), the lyrical and poetic expressivity is based on the solidity of the vocal line and the subtle transitions to the mixed voice, to touch the high notes with their soft contours, the timbre of volcanic brilliance and fervor, and the rendering of a painful affliction by the precision of the French language. All this emanates and culminates in a limpid amplitude, its secure projection and in the warm light of its intonation.
The role of Lensky is less familiar to him, yet Roberto Alagna becomes no less this character, walking around the piano like a wandering soul to better embody the tortmented nostalgia that his fiery voice also expresses, up to the subtlety of the halftones. He combines nobility with valour in the aria from Lohengrin (a role that the singer added to his repertoire at the end of 2020 in Berlin), a swan song that evokes here above all an unfailing vitality. When the artist ended the programme with the unmissable "E Lucevan le stelle", spry as ever, he received a warm applause.
The talent of pianist Morgane Fauchois is also an essential component of this evening, as she is the perfect companion for the tenor, whom she knows well and who only needs a few smiling glances to begin or dictate the tempo. The instrumentalist, with her technically proficient and sensitive playing, also gave a lively and melancholic interpretation of Rachmaninov's Prelude in D major.
The audience, which was certainly expecting one encore, got no less than eight of them in the second part of the evening, in this case much more cheerful. Schubert's Ave Maria certainly resonated in the hall with its introspective sensitivity, but then the artist delivered a series of Neapolitan melodies that are like goodies for the singer and his audience. The audience asked for more, and they were treated with a very lyrical interpretation of Les Millions d'Arlequin, which Riccardo Drigo composed for Marius Petipa's ballet of the same name. Au clair de la lune in Leoncavallo's version is as popular as its serenade counterpart.
Finally, such a recital probably could not have ended other than with the ever-popular Funiculì funiculà, which Roberto Alagna invited the audience to sing. Meanwhile, he made his way down the centre aisle and eventually disappeared into the back of the church, a clever way of further interacting with the hall, which suddenly rose to its feet to warmly applaud such a generous and energetic performance. »
 
 

Forum-Opera - Charles Sigel - 10 janvier 2023

 
One hour and three quarters at full voice [without intermission]. And eight bis ... It might have been a routine recital, given for a festival with generous patrons. Nothing like that. It was a kind of happening, performed by an artist of a PROBITY, of a COMMITMENT, not only exemplary, but moving. A way of unbridled headlong or valiant heart (...to which nothing is impossible...) ... The voice is of an INSOLENT HEALTH, of a OVERWHELMING PROJECTION. Impeccable silhouette, perfect tuxedo, young man's haircut … TRUE TENOR, ALWAYS, the timbre is not suffering from any baritone haze... CLARITY, brilliance, support of the singing line, HOMOGENEITY, LEGATO supported by an unwavering mastery of the BREATH, HEAT (nothing metallic), SOVEREIGN TECHNIQUE, diction that has become proverbial, apparent ease (concealing a work that one imagines to be constant, secret, assiduous, exhausting) and above all a GENEROSITY, a PLEASURE in offering, a joy in singing, a kind of candor, an overflowing AFFECTIVITY. POWER OF FIRE, GREAT STYLE, a smile in his voice and final treats that Alagna has the elegance to sing with the same care as the great repertoire, completing the melting of the hall in a ravishing effect. ❞
 
READ MORE IN ENGLISH (translated from French) :
« An hour and three quarters in full voice [without intermission]. And eight encores, we really say eight... It might have seemed a routine recital given for a festival with generous patrons, in a Swiss postcard setting, ancient chalets, sugar-coated peaks, luxury hotels. Nothing like that. It was a kind of happening, performed by an artist with a probity and a commitment, that were not only exemplary but also moving. A way of unbridled headlong or valiant heart (...to which nothing is impossible...) […] Is there anything left to prove? You'd better believe it. And first of all, that at fifty-nine years of age (apologies for this rather cheeky reminder), he has a voice of insolent health and an overwhelming projection. Especially when you‘re sitting in the front row of this church in Saanen, […] where the Gstaad New Yer Music Festival and its soul, Caroline Murat had set up their headquarters.
 
A TRUE TENOR, ALWAYS:
An impeccable silhouette and a perfect tuxedo, a young man's haircut (very shaved on the sides, with an almost always slightly rebellious lock of hair), Roberto Alagna, who was first a lyric tenor (and what a one!) seems to be getting closer and closer to a dramatic tenor. His timbre is immediately recognisable and very distinctive, not suffering from any baritone haze like some of his famous and no less admirable colleagues.
Clarity, brilliance, support of the singing line, homogeneity, legato supported by an unwavering mastery of breath, warmth (nothing metallic), sovereign technique, diction that has become proverbial, apparent ease (concealing a work that one imagines to be constant, secret, assiduous, exhausting) and, above all, a generosity, pleasure of giving, joy in singing, a certain kind of sincerity, an overflowing affectivity. […]
 
THE POWER OF FIRE:
It was undoubtedly Eleazar‘s aria by Halévy that proved most suited to his current voice. Previously, it has seemed a little oversized for the aria "Du moment qu'on aime" from Grétry's Zémire et Azor, no matter how bright the high notes were, not to mention an impeccably connected vocal line. Similarly, in Aubade from Le Roi d'Ys it was the opening mezza voce ("Puisqu'on ne peut fléchir ces jalouses gardiennes..."), the charming notes in the mixed voice, the light of the endlessly held A, the final note on "mourir" performed in a half-voice, that really seemed to us to be in the spirit of this elegant aria, once so famous.
But from "Rachel, quand du Seigneur" onwards, the demonstration became truly brilliant: the nobility of phrasing, the embodiment of the character (a father sacrificing his daughter), the solidity of the lower register, the considerable firepower (the decibels, in other words), a descending vocalisation in full voice and the subsequent transition to the mixed voice, the homogeneity of the registers - in short, an impressive technical lesson, but also (and above all!) a sincerity, an honesty that sweeps the listener away, to which is added the maturity that the years have given to this aria, which the tenor included in his repertoire very early on.
 
THE GREAT STYLE:
French grand opera now seems to be Alagna's chosen land. His Samson, like his Eleazar, has appeared on stage, notably in Orange in 2021, as we all remember. We admire the sobriety in the pathos, the impeccable declamatory taste, the dignity and the great style in the aria "Vois ma misère", written for a dramatic tenor who converses with the chorus in the wings. The hero, blinded, chained, alone in his prison, speaks to the God who has abandoned him.
We have not forgotten the image of Alagna lying on the ground, singing the end of the aria with his face pressed to the floor in the centre of the Théâtre antique. Of course, there is no chorus here (in Gstaad). The only things that remain are the sovereign diction, the breath, the timbre, the long phrases, the grandeur of the plea "D’Israël détourne tes coups et je proclame ta justice!“ („Turn away thy wounds from Israel, and I proclaim Thy righteousness!“)
This nobility is heard again in Lensky's aria "Kuda, Kuda...". During the long introduction, played on the piano by Morgane Fauchois, Alagna meditatively observes the huge choir of the Saanen church before launching into the famous "Kuda, kuda", first in a mixed voice, then moving into a chest voice. The whole aria will be conducted in this way, between one and the other, between confidence and despair, between interiority and great romantic lyricism, in a constant variety of registers, feelings, dynamics between the half-tones and piena voce (full voice), which Tchaikovsky demands, without ever being sentimental, but with, to return to these words, a nobility and grandeur and a technique so sure that it can be forgotten for "Akh, Olga, ya tebya lyubil! " („Oh, Olga, I have loved you!“) with heartbreaking sincerity.
 
THE WAGNER OF THE LATINS:
In Lohengrin's farewell, of course, his Latin voice works wonders, whether it's "O Elsa! Nur ein Jahr an deiner Seite" with its Italian-style lyricism, the fullness of "Kommt er dann heim" or the perfect flavour of "Leb wohl, mein süsses Weib", but we have to admit, even knowing that Alagna sang this role on the stage of the Berlin State Opera in December 2020, that we would love to hear him sing the French version of "Mein lieber Schwan", "Mon cygne aimé...", previously made famous by Georges Thill.
Roberto Alagna included the aria from Le Cid " Ô souverain, ô juge, ô père", much-loved by lirico spinto tenors, among his bravura pieces. Here we admire the a cappella introduction with its impeccable precision, the sovereign diction (these nasal diphthongs which he handles without problem), this subtle interweaving of virtuosic diminuendos, the twisted notes, then overwhelming fortissimos, but above all the way of never cheating, of being entirely present, of singing every bar as if his life depended on it.
Mario sings his farewell to life in the third act of Tosca. Roberto Alagna in his "E lucevan le stelle", the only Italian sheet of the evening, gave a great lesson in legato, lyricism, meticulous respect for the score and also in melancholy, which inevitably led to the first of many standing ovations.
 
THE SMILE IN HIS VOICE:
We've learned that he has prepared at least five encores with his pianist, the accomplished Morgane Fauchois. So from the sixth one, we were going to start being surprised...
The first was Ave Maria by Schubert, sung with sincerity, real fervour and, it seemed to us, deep melancholy.
Then, as if liberated, joyful, he launched into an anthology of Neapolitan songs, sung at the top of his lungs, with cheeky ease, with a smile in his voice, all interspersed with the words "Do you want more? ", "Tell me, when you're tired" or " I take advantage of it, because from tomorrow, I switch to Al Capone" (a musical written for him by Jean Felix Lalanne and soon to be staged at the Folies-Bergère).
 
TREATS:
These delights include Leoncavallo's "Au clair de la lune, mon gentil Pierrot" or Les Millions d’Arlequin, deliciously quaint ("Mais ce n’était qu’un songe d’amour / Oh le divin mensonge d’un jour, trop court…“ / "But it was only a dream of love / Oh divine lie of a day too short..."), which Alagna sings with the same elegance as the great repertoire...
The final “Funiculì, funiculà” which he had the audience take over (and which proved to be relatively approximate), completed the melting of the hall and especially of his female fans, all those young women on whom tenor voices, especially this one, still seems to have an astounding effect. »

 

Gallery

 



10/01/2023