Terfel

[amateur51]

Sorry - I've been silently holding Mandryka's coat for the last 18 hours whilst other things have distracted me....

Am 51, didn't the Faenol Festival depend on a roster of international artistes being prepared to put out for it - Georghiu and the like - when some of Bryn's stardust might rub off on them, but they seemed to drop away when Bryn stepped back from the world stage?
http://www.caernarfonherald.co.uk/ca...8817-27511960/ - 160 tickets sold for Al Murray, 1600 for Westlife, festival cancelled, says it all really.....

I don't know the details obviously, or how the finger is now, but is there a possibility that it was a Person from Porlock - that Bryn hadn't learnt his lines, and simply bottled it?

The widow of Hans Hotter gave Bryn her husband's marked scores, before he cancelled

Mrs T was quoted at the time as saying Bryn would be doing more concerts from now on, as it was easier to get home afterwards. One can't help suspecting a lack of understanding of what it is he does, or quite what a sacred calling being a Wagnerian bass-baritone actually is.

I must say, I didn't read the newspaper report in the way you did, Richard.

I don't want to second guess Bryn's appreciation of how important singing in Wagner is to him but you obviously have closer access to his thought processes. You could of course be right about his bottling it - but Michelangeli played from the same relatively small repertoire all his life and still used to cancel. A complex subject, no doubt.

There is no Mrs T. Her surname, like her husband's, is Jones: Terfel is Bryn's middle- and stage-name.

[Mandryka]

It could be that Terfel is a natural populist, out of kilter with the arcane world of Wagnerian music-drama.

Or it could be that he started out with every intention of pursuing a 'serious' career (interviews from the early 1990s suggest that he was) but then got distracted by the easy money on offer from open air concerts, etc, and how easily the latter fitted in with his family life.

Or it could be a combination of both, as well as other factors.

A BBC Imagine docu on Terfel was broadcast in around 2003. During the course of a lot of irresponsible nonsense being talked (one idiot critic stating that BT was 'a vaster talent' than Hans Hotter), someone suggested that Terfel would never become a great Wagnerian bass-baritone, 'because his heart isn't in it'. Or words to that effect. Prophetic.

[Mr Pee]

It could be that Terfel is a natural populist, out of kilter with the arcane world of Wagnerian music-drama.

Or it could be that he started out with every intention of pursuing a 'serious' career (interviews from the early 1990s suggest that he was) but then got distracted by the easy money on offer from open air concerts, etc, and how easily the latter fitted in with his family life.

Or it could be a combination of both, as well as other factors.

A BBC Imagine docu on Terfel was broadcast in around 2003. During the course of a lot of irresponsible nonsense being talked (one idiot critic stating that BT was 'a vaster talent' than Hans Hotter), someone suggested that Terfel would never become a great Wagnerian bass-baritone, 'because his heart isn't in it'. Or words to that effect. Prophetic.

Easy money? Hans Sachs? Wotan? Balstrode? Scarpia? Jochanaan?

Really, Mandryka. These cheap shots at Terfel do you no favours. Why shouldn't he do the odd open air concert? Domingo does them, Te Kanawa does them, in fact the list of great Opera singers who have taken such "easy money" -as you so patronisingly describe it- is long and glorious.

As for Terfel being a vaster talent than Hans Hotter, and whether he will become a great Wagnerian Bass-Baritone, let's wait until you gleefully inform us of his death, and then judge his career in its entirety, shall we? That seems only fair.

[Mandryka]

Easy money? Hans Sachs? Wotan? Balstrode? Scarpia? Jochanaan?

Really, Mandryka. These cheap shots at Terfel do you no favours. Why shouldn't he do the odd open air concert? Domingo does them, Te Kanawa does them, in fact the list of great Opera singers who have taken such "easy money" -as you so patronisingly describe it- is long and glorious.

As for Terfel being a vaster talent than Hans Hotter, and whether he will become a great Wagnerian Bass-Baritone, let's wait until you gleefully inform us of his death, and then judge his career in its entirety, shall we? That seems only fair.

Does your inability to COMPREHEND what someone has written spring from wilfulness or feeble-mindedness?

Being a fair-minded person, I'll assume it's the latter; it would certainly be consonant with your other postings.

[Mr Pee]

Does your inability to COMPREHEND what someone has written spring from wilfulness or feeble-mindedness?

Being a fair-minded person, I'll assume it's the latter; it would certainly be consonant with your other postings.

Really, Mandryka. Not good enough. I quoted your post, and then responded to a number of the points within it. Your response was nothing more than childish name-calling.

Read the exchange again, have a little think about, and then have another try.

[Curalach]

Gosh! This increasingly ill-tempered thread reminds me so much of the regrettable "ecuadorian" on the old Beeb boards who got so upset about Netrebko's cancellations during her pregnancy.

[kuligin]

For interest I have checked on Operabase the number of performances given in the year October 2010/ 11 by Terfel.

He has been involved in 3 productions of Tosca as Scarpia, Operabase does not break down how many he or others gave, but 12 performances were in La Scala, 10 at Covent Garden and he sang all 6 in Valencia

Apart from that it has been Wotan in Rheingold 6 times at the Met, 7 Wotan's in Die Walkure and 1 Wanderer in Siegfried, more to come

Out of interest in the same period John Tomlinson sang 8 Hagen, 7 Hunding 8 Gurnemanz and 8 Thomas a Beckett in Pizzetti's Assassination in the Cathedral.

My own view having heard his Wotan in the Pappano Ring, is that Bryn seemed to be trying very hard to be expressive but the overall affect was very bland but may be his interpretation may have deepened in the meantime, I am just suspicious as said above his heart really is not in it

[Mandryka]

Somewhat sidebar to this, a friend of mine was a contemporary of BT's at the Guildhall. He recalls going to receive his tutorials just after BT had preceded him: the tutor was in no mood to deliver with an 'average baritone', after having just worked with Terfel!

The quality of his voice isn't in dispute, as I've said: though I don't care for his 'crooning' mannerisms.

[Biffo]

As for Terfel being a vaster talent than Hans Hotter, and whether he will become a great Wagnerian Bass-Baritone, let's wait until you gleefully inform us of his death, and then judge his career in its entirety, shall we? That seems only fair.

We don't need to wait until Terfel is dead, he will be 46 next month. For a comparison with Hotter, aged 46, listen to the Keilberth Ring. Hotter was a great Wagnerian by then.

I have never heard Terfel live but have enjoyed his recordings - except Wagner. Almost as soon as he came to prominence there seems to have been pressure on him to sing Wagner. Perhaps his heart isn't really in it, as others have said.

[Princess Hello]

He's always struck me as rather lightweight. I have no views on his voice as I don't like that sort of thing. Wearing a Welsh flag for a curtain call after Walkure is however unspeakable on all sorts of levels.

I met an opera singer once. He was very irritating; he wouldn't let us smoke. He was very famous; forgotten his name.

Actually we have one staying in the house, a student. She had to warm up this morning as she was going to an audition. What a huge and unnatural sound they make. Don't they know we have microphones now?

[french frank]

He's always struck me as rather lightweight. I have no views on his voice as I don't like that sort of thing. Wearing a Welsh flag for a curtain call after Walkure is however unspeakable on all sorts of levels.

I met an opera singer once. He was very irritating; he wouldn't let us smoke. He was very famous; forgotten his name.

Actually we have one staying in the house, a student. She had to warm up this morning as she was going to an audition. What a huge and unnatural sound they make. Don't they know we have microphones now?

Shame on you, Princess . Do you like any sort of classical vocalism?

I've heard Terfel live twice - once as Nick Shadow, a quiet enough part where the beauty of the voice was evident; and once as the Dutchman when his own 'takeover' dropped out and he sang what would have been his first rest day. Voice fine, but very wooden in appearance.

And I really don't like his Shropshire Lad. The acting ain't right for me.

[Nick Armstrong]

And I really don't like his Shropshire Lad. The acting ain't right for me.

Absolutely right, FF. Benjamin Luxon's the man (see the thread about him). I think Mr Terfel Jones was one of the ones we compared, he sounds most uncomfortable, like a Harley-Davidson being ridden around a small garden.

[Flosshilde]

Mrs T was quoted at the time as saying Bryn would be doing more concerts from now on,

Is there a risk that he will become a Katherine Jenkins - an 'opera singer' who doesn't sing in operas?

[Mandryka]

Is there a risk that he will become a Katherine Jenkins - an 'opera singer' who doesn't sing in opeTras?

That would seem to be the way things are pointing: concerts are 'easy money', as they tend to be one-off gigs, where the singer gets plenty of time to rest his voice between numbers. They are big events, too, so BT can clean up with his agreed fee and a share of the gate. From a purely financial viewpoint, this makes a lot more sense than serving in the comparatively poorly-paid and very labour intensive world of opera.

Then again, he may just decide to retire and watch rugby for the rest of his life.


Btw, I note that there is no 'Brynless' option for next year's Covent Garden Ring: if you don't like Terfel, then tough - you're stuck with him. Or his stand-in.

[french frank]

You can say all that, Mandryka, but even so - it is a beautiful voice. He has become so much lauded as the international superstar that the only way to go in terms of reputation is down. Pedestals and all that.