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In His Own Words

Alexander Neef, General Director


11/17/2009

Two wonderful singers, a writer and a quiz

At lunchtime today at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, we were very lucky to host the launch of the great Adrianne Pieczonka's latest CD, a program of exquisite Puccini arias of which she sang a few. What a treat to have the reigning Canadian dramatic soprano perform in our Free Concert Series!

Adrianne also gave us a wonderful talk on her love for Puccini's melodies, the challenges of carefully constructing a career and many other things. Being the discreet person she is she prudently didn't reveal her projects with the COC, so it is up to chatty me to tell you that we will be proud to have her back every year as of next season. If you want to guess what her roles will be: so far there are two she is famous for all over the world and two she will sing for the first time at the COC.
 
I owe today's listening recommendation to a friend of mine, one of the world's most esteemed record collectors. It is a short excerpt from act two of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde (starting with "O König, das kann ich Dir nicht sagen") sung by one of the greatest tenors of the 20th century. Although we don't usually associate him with the Wagnerian repertoire these four minutes of singing belong into the treasure box of every Wagnerian.

Our tenor is Irish and in his early days used to compete with one of his fellow countrymen who started out as a singer, but soon was to become one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Can you guess who they are?

Posted by Alexander Neef / in Performances / comments (6) / permalink
Wayne Gooding (11/18/2009 12:00:00 AM)
OK, I'll bite on the first part of the quiz anyway so you can confirm or deny specifically and definitely. I'd guess that the two roles Adrianne Pieczonka is famous for the world over are Richard Strauss's Ariadne and the Marschallin. I'd like to opt for Arabella and the Countess in Capriccio, but suspect that these might be programming stretches right now. The "two she will sing for the first time at the COC"--you mean role debuts, right?--is a bit more challenging. Adrianne talked yesterday about being interested in Isolde, albeit much further down the road (though not that much further on your advanced planning cycles). And I would imagine there's got to be more Puccini and Verdi in her future. So how about Manon Lescaut and a Verdi Leonora? I won't bite on the second part of the challenge because your collector friend played the recording for me, too. But I would be interested to hear, when you divulge the identity of said singer, whether you think he could have sustained the role of Tristan on stage convincingly, and indeed whether the role has to have the heavier helden voices that seem to be the norm today. wayne g.
Alexander Neef (11/19/2009 12:00:00 AM)
Thank you, Wayne. For Adrianne you're right for 1 of 4 roles, but 3 of 4 composers. As far as our tenor is concerned let's wait if there will be more entries here and I will gladly discuss his suitability for the complete role on stage then.
Renaud Loranger (11/19/2009 12:00:00 AM)
Hi Alexander - I take this opportunity to express my appreciation of this blog, of which I remain a discreet but fervent reader. The tenor has to be John McCormack. I don't know the recording but assume the third act would have been a stretch. I wasn't aware of the James Joyce connection, that's an interesting discovery. As for Ms. Pieczonka, this is a fun puzzle. Here is one combination: Cassandre Elsa Tosca Leonora (Forza)
Wayne Gooding (11/19/2009 12:00:00 AM)
Hmm, canny response. In one of your earlier postings, you noted the expense of staging Rosenkavalier, so I'll drop the Marschallin suggestion. I'll stick with Strauss's Ariadne as one of the roles Adrianne is famous for, and shift support to Renaud's suggestion of Elsa for the other one in that category. The "role debuts" is trickier. If the above two are on track, then one of my previous suggestions of Verdi or Puccini must be wrong. Cassandre is a really appealing idea, but it would would be even more expensive than Rosenkavalier. Can we have another clue? If it's Strauss, Wagner and Puccini, do we still have three out of four composers? wayne g.
Alexander Neef (11/20/2009 7:13:24 PM)
First of all, congratulations to Renaud on identifying our great Irish tenor! Wayne and Renaud, together you are making progress on Adrianne. Your combined score now is 2 of 4 roles and still 3 out of 4 composers although one of the two German composers you are talking about is not correct.
Eric Hood (12/7/2009 1:14:09 PM)
Speaking of John McCormack and Wagner, there is a lovely, lyrical Meistersingers "Prize Song" recorded by him. I think it is on a Naxos disc. As for James Joyce, his works have many operatic allusions, and his daughter was named Lucia.

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