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Concert (operetta)
11 October 2007
Philharmonie, Cologne
Angelika Kirchschlager
Simon Keenlyside
Neue Philharmonie Westfalen
Heiko Förster, conductor
Programme
Franz von Suppé:
Overture from Boccaccio.
Franz von Suppé:
“Hab’ ich nur deine Liebe” from Boccaccio. [AK & SK]
Franz von Suppé:
“Mia bella fiorentina” from Boccaccio. [AK & SK]
Johann Strauß:
Roses from the South (Waltz) op. 388
Emmerich Kálmán:
“Heut’ nacht hab’ ich geträumt von dir” from Das Veilchen vom Montmartre. [SK]
Johann Strauß:
“Draußen in Sievering” from Die Tänzerin Fanny Elssler. [AK]
Johann Strauß:
Thunder and Lighting Polka, op. 324
Franz Lehár:
Overture from Das Land des Lächelns
Franz Lehár:
“ Meine Lippen, die küssen so heiß” from Giuditta [AK]
Emmerich Kálmán:
“Wieder hinaus ins strahlende Licht” from Die Zirkusprinzessin [SK]
Franz Lehár:
Zwanzinette from Eva [orchestral]
Franz Lehár:
“Nur die Liebe macht uns jung” from Ziguenerliebe [AK & SK]
Franz Lehár:
Gold and Silver (Waltz) op. 79
Emmerich Kálmán:
“Weißt du es noch” from Die Csardasfürstin. [AK & SK]
Encores
Robert Stolz:
“Du sollst der Kaiser meiner Seele sein” from Der Favorit [AK]
Franz Lehár:
“Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” from Das Land des Lächelns [SK]
Emmerich Kálmán:
“Tanzen möcht' ich” from Die Csardasfürstin. [AK & SK]
Photo Gallery
What the critics say
Kölner Stadtanzeiger, October 2007 (Gerhard Bauer)
Artificial flowers
“Operetta’s perfect couple” offers beautiful voices
Artificial flowers may be more beautiful than real ones – but they cannot change, they cannot grow, blossom, or only bud tenderly, their glory is rigid. At the operetta concert that Angelika Kirchschlager (mezzo soprano) and Simon Keenlyside (baritone) gave at the Philharmonie Cologne in the course of a tour through Germany, it was a whole bouquet of such artificial flowers that was presented. And little in this music was emotionally honest, true, speaking to the heart. An agile method of promotion has elevated the two to “operetta’s perfect couple”, maybe without knowing that their type of voice is more or less not even found in operetta: Soprano and tenor are triumphant there. But never mind, not even bad promotion can do harm to a good product in the long run.
What harms the performances more is the fact that this pair, outstanding in the interpretation of opera and song, wants to elevate operetta to an operatic level: The poor relative shall be smartened and ennobled, if not even consecrated. But the result is the sublime art that lacks warm-heartedness, tears, sumptuousness, also a tender irony and tangible eroticism and simply everything that sums up man in his humanity. This we have a fundamental misunderstanding between the demands of a work and the performance of this work.
Of course Angelika Kirchschlager and Simon Keenlyside are singers with beautiful voices and a good technique, the Cologne concert made one be astonished at many a refinement in vocal colouring and dynamics. They develop good aria-profiles, complete each other optimally in duos, never tend to simply demonstrate their resources and reserve – completely unpretentious in this too – the genres’ great showpiece numbers (“Kaiser meiner Seele”, “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz”) for the encores.
Merry catchy tunes
In even parity there were four duets and respectively two arias from operettas by Franz von Suppé, Emmerich Kálmán, Johann Strauß fils and Franz Lehár, the best known possibly only “Draußen in Sievering” (Strauß), “Meine Lippen, die küssen so heiß” (Lehár) and “Zwei Märchenaugen” (Kálmán). It was the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen (conductor Heiko Mathias Förster) that held popularity’s flag high that evening, dwelling on six catchy tunes (among them Lehár’s waltz “Gold und Silber” and Strauß’ polka “Unter Donner und Blitz”), bawdy, saucy and merry way. The audience in the sparsely occupied Philharmonie followed attentively, but needed some time to thaw out.
