Reviewed Sunday 18th May 2014
The Adelaide Festival Theatre was packed with music lovers for
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's 70th Birthday Gala Tour concert performance. One of the all time favourites with opera enthusiasts, Te Kanawa more than fulfilled the expectations of her many admirers. Looking and sounding much less than her seventy years, and the very epitome of style and elegance, she treated the audience to a thrilling collection of her favourite pieces of music, ranging from the Baroque to the present. Terence Dennis, her long time accompanist and also a New Zealander, could not have been more empathetic, perfectly complementing her singing.
There were plenty of well known pieces and composers on the programme, as well as a few rarer works that added to the fascination of the concert. In effect, we were treated to a potted history of vocal music, with a collection of some of the finest examples, all performed as superbly as anybody could wish. We were lucky in Adelaide, as she explained that she had just managed to shake off the tail end of a cold that had also been affecting her hearing.
Te Kanawa, of course, offers more than just that wonderful voice, because behind it is a deep understanding of each piece that she sings, and this comes through in each piece. She doesn't merely sing, she performs, filling the songs with emotion, giving meaning to the words, playing the characters in the operatic arias, and adding appropriate movements and facial expressions. This is what earns an artist titles such as Prima Donna and Diva, rarely awarded in the world of fine music, even if they are scattered freely in the world of pop music.
From the first notes of Scarlatti's
Caldo Sangue (The warmth of blood), she had the audience in the palm of her hand, captivated by that gloriously clear tone, great expressiveness, and exquisite control. That first high note, soft at the start then opening out, is no easy way to begin a concert, and few would attempt it. She dealt equally well with works by Vivaldi,
Io Son Quel Gelsomino (I am that jasmine flower), and Handel, a sensitive reading of
Se Pieta (If you feel pity), then taking a few moments break before moving on to the Classical period and two pieces by Mozart. Chi Sà, Chi Sà, Quel Sia (Who knows, who can tell), and Vado, Ma Dove (I am going, but I know not where), were written by Mozart, but used in an opera by Martin Soler, both arias tinged with sadness, and Te Kanawa captured that, and he uncertainty of which the character is singing.
Another brief pause to separate this section from the Romantic period, with Puccini as the featured composer, and four pieces of his competed the first half. These four arias are to be found in La Rondine, Manon Lescaut, La Boheme, and Turandot, respectively. The vast contrasts between these arias afforded us an opportunity to appreciate just how remarkably versatile she is. It also reinforced the technical skill of Terence Dennis, as he fluently played these difficult piano reductions from the full orchestral scores, as well as showing how much alike in their understanding and interpretation of each piece, are the two performers.
After the interval we moved on to the twentieth century and, eventually, right up to date, beginning with Spanish music by Granados, from his only opera, inspired by the painter, Goya, the and more music from Spain by the less well known composer, Fernando Obradors and, at last, switching to provincial French for three of Canteloube's huge collection of beautiful folk songs of the Auvergne.
Another short pause and we were treated to works by two of my favourite composers, Debussy, and Poulenc, separated by a piece by
Reynaldo Hahn. Debussy's
Romance seems to float in the air around you, and Te Kanawa captures that ethereal sound wonderfully. Hahn's delicate À Chloris (to Chloe) is a subtle blend of happiness and sadness that she brings out so well, before Poulenc's
Hotel and
Les Chemins De L'Amour develop a more sombre mood.
Two traditional pieces,
Scarborough Fair, and
Danny Boy, were given a very different treatment to the versions normally heard, and this led us, inevitably, towards the end of the concert.
Jake Heggie's marvellous opera,
Moby Dick, had its Australian premiere in Adelaide, and so I was particularly interested to hear the last work on the advertised programme,
Final Monologue from 'Master Class', his setting of the final speech from the play,
Master Class, by
Terence McNally, which the State Theatre Company of South Australia staged here not too long ago. I was captivated by the setting and the interpretation. The play is about a master class given by a singer contemplating her career and whether or not it is time to stop. The play is based on master classes that
Maria Callas gave, and so it was inevitable that somebody would either turn it into an opera, or set some of it to music, at some time. Te Kanawa fills this song with mixed emotions, befitting the stage at which Callas had found herself.
The audience then demanded, and received, three encores, each divided by huge applause. From
William Bolcom's
Cabaret Songs, settings of
Arnold Weinstein's lyrics, the humorous number,
George, gave a light hearted start to the encores. Extra loud applause greeted the familiar opening from the piano to Puccini's
O Mio Babbino Caro from his opera,
Gianni Schicchi, an obvious winner with the patrons and, I suspect, one that would have greatly disappointed if it had not appeared.
Luther Vandross's and
Richard Marx's poignant,
Dance With My Father, finally closed the evening, although I am sure many would have had it continue all night.
It was both a privilege and a pleasure to have been at this concert, and certainly one that I would have hated to have missed, a sentiment that I am certain was shared by everybody who was there.
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