My favourite singer, if I have to pick one, is an easy choice... unlike other matters where I need top ten lists and that sort of thing.
For a start my favourite voice type would have to be bass-baritone. I can't intellectualize it, I just know that when my ears prick up at the sound of a classically-trained singer, it's invariably a bass-baritone. Just as when my ears prick up at the sound of a classically-played instrument, and it turns out to be an oboe - every time.
My favourite singer of all is the Belgian-born, bass-baritone, José van Dam, 67. I first came across him in Joseph Losey's brilliant location-shot film of Mozart's Don Giovanni (1979), my desert island opera if I HAD to choose one. It's a strange film in some ways, but I never got over it and have seen it many times. Van Dam is one of the main reasons I love it. He's a wonderful actor with beautiful blue eyes, and - of course - that expressive voice.
I've never seen him live in opera and have seen him only once in recital. It was a magical day. The George Weston Recital Hall in the north of the city holds just over 1,000 and is acoustically wonderful. It was a matinee performance and when Van Dam walked on stage he was wearing a regular, albeit beautifully-cut, suit. He looked very still and serious and was, in my opinion, more bank manager than artist. And then... he started to sing. Now, in my experience a lot of recitalists start a little more vivacious, with the faster, more shortly-phrased music being kinder to their nerves and their breath. And then they move towards the more profound pieces later. I know I'm generalizing... But Van Dam started with Wolf and Brahms and by the intermission I needed a cognac. I was in heaven. I can't begin to describe his voice. There is just a dark and unmistakeable sound that could only belong to him.
In the second part, he sang songs by Duparc, Ibert and then lightened the tone comically with the bawdy songs by Poulenc, an example of which is "L'Offrande" ("The Offering").
A virgin offered one day a candle
to the god of Love, in order to find a lover.
The god smiled at her request and
said to her: Lovely one, while you are waiting
make use of the candle for yourself.
The Ibert Chansons de Don Quichotte were wonderful... and I left my friends after the concert to rush into a music store to buy up the CD of it. I also picked up a CD of him singing Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, Rückert Lieder and Des Knaben Wunderhorn. It's a joy from beginning to end, and my most-often-listened-to song from it has to be "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen". But more on that in the next post.
He was booked to sing the following year in the same venue, which - unfortunately - seemed to have fallen apart administratively. No marketing was done, few tickets were sold and the recital was cancelled. To this day I can't believe that an artist of his stature couldn't sell out that hall pretty damn quickly.
The picture is from his agent's site.
For a start my favourite voice type would have to be bass-baritone. I can't intellectualize it, I just know that when my ears prick up at the sound of a classically-trained singer, it's invariably a bass-baritone. Just as when my ears prick up at the sound of a classically-played instrument, and it turns out to be an oboe - every time.
My favourite singer of all is the Belgian-born, bass-baritone, José van Dam, 67. I first came across him in Joseph Losey's brilliant location-shot film of Mozart's Don Giovanni (1979), my desert island opera if I HAD to choose one. It's a strange film in some ways, but I never got over it and have seen it many times. Van Dam is one of the main reasons I love it. He's a wonderful actor with beautiful blue eyes, and - of course - that expressive voice.
I've never seen him live in opera and have seen him only once in recital. It was a magical day. The George Weston Recital Hall in the north of the city holds just over 1,000 and is acoustically wonderful. It was a matinee performance and when Van Dam walked on stage he was wearing a regular, albeit beautifully-cut, suit. He looked very still and serious and was, in my opinion, more bank manager than artist. And then... he started to sing. Now, in my experience a lot of recitalists start a little more vivacious, with the faster, more shortly-phrased music being kinder to their nerves and their breath. And then they move towards the more profound pieces later. I know I'm generalizing... But Van Dam started with Wolf and Brahms and by the intermission I needed a cognac. I was in heaven. I can't begin to describe his voice. There is just a dark and unmistakeable sound that could only belong to him.
In the second part, he sang songs by Duparc, Ibert and then lightened the tone comically with the bawdy songs by Poulenc, an example of which is "L'Offrande" ("The Offering").
A virgin offered one day a candle
to the god of Love, in order to find a lover.
The god smiled at her request and
said to her: Lovely one, while you are waiting
make use of the candle for yourself.
The Ibert Chansons de Don Quichotte were wonderful... and I left my friends after the concert to rush into a music store to buy up the CD of it. I also picked up a CD of him singing Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, Rückert Lieder and Des Knaben Wunderhorn. It's a joy from beginning to end, and my most-often-listened-to song from it has to be "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen". But more on that in the next post.
He was booked to sing the following year in the same venue, which - unfortunately - seemed to have fallen apart administratively. No marketing was done, few tickets were sold and the recital was cancelled. To this day I can't believe that an artist of his stature couldn't sell out that hall pretty damn quickly.
The picture is from his agent's site.
4 comments:
Must check out Jose van Dam....could he possibly rank as high as my fave Bryn? I'm partial to bass-baritones, too...love their nice rich sound. Thanks for the tip...I'll be heading off to youtube to search for a sample.
I'd say we were lucky, lucky women that there are two such bass-baritones in the world, and more besides. :)
He is one of my favourites as well. I saw him many years ago at Roy Thomson Hall (before the acoustics were modified). He was brilliant, the acoustics were not. Although his voice has such a wonderful strength, there is an incredible delicacy about it. I also happen to find him very sexy and there was a fair amount of swooning on this side of the footlights.
I hear you sister.
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