DD/Kozena - London

London Barbican Centre - last November 26. Exactly, ages ago, but I thought it was high time I wrote something about it, in case I ever want to go back to my own memories (because I happen to be my only reader after all, heh). And I am THAT lazy I am to copy and paste from what I wrote at the time in the two music lists I usually lurk about (and post every million years), the Andreas Scholl Society (SchollSoc for short, never the acronym please!)) and David Daniels Fans (DDF). And I'm going to do what I always resist doing, posting my own piccie online. I don't why, really, it's a sort of odd shyness. But gosh, I do have a piccie with David Daniels!! (I also have piccies with Scholl, should look them up and post them). I would have liked one with Kozena, but the woman was so busy signing, she was positively sieged! XD
So here we go:

I wrote to SchollSoc:

I quite agree in everything Sally said, so I'm only going to add a couple of thoughts. I think someone just expressed my feelings re comparisons between Scholl and DD. John said he was "forever intrigued by how two great singers can be so different and each so thrilling".

Just my thoughts. It is really difficult (if not painful!) for me to compare them - it's like comparing, I don't know, Placido Domingo and Cecilia Bartoli? They are such different voices! I know what characteristics make me like each so much, but it would be unfair to make those the forte of one against the other. Just like Sally, I think Scholl's coloratura is quite unrivalled in its sheer clarity and seemingly effortless deliverance. Then, DD gives me the real goosebumps at times. His voice and his singing are so warm and so intense (his Dove Sei at the Barbican was one of the most amazing renditions of a fav of mine ever, I was left quite breathless), and he's such a superb actor (you didn't even need to listen to the first bars of the music to know the general tone of whatever he was singing, you knew by his facial expression before they even started playing, I'm sure he really felt everything he sang!). But that is not saying I find the one lacking in those qualities I emphasized in the other. Gosh, Daniels' coloratura is still much better than many a reputed singer, and may my lips be sealed forever if I ever suggest I don't find Scholl's singing extraordinarily entrancing and melting!

It was a superb concert. I am a big Kozena fan as well, and it'll be almost impossible for me to forget her thrilling rendition of Dido's Lament. Same for all the brave spite she put into "Scherza Infida". It felt so tragic, so betrayed, so resentful. Just like Daniels, she's an amazing actress who seems to be able to relate so well to the feelings she's conveying with her singing. Indeed I would have wished she would have answered several glances from Daniels - I think he wished to interact a bit more with her while singing duets, she was more for singing to the audience. It would have been quite amazing as they are both such good actors. Their "Pur ti miro" was quite a historical performance in my view - difficult to express how exciting it was. I'm sure even Monteverdi would have been a bit awed at the rendition of his own piece!

And her dress was one of the most awesome bits of clothing I've ever set my eyes on. Quite a dream frock. And as Sally and I were discussing on our way back from the concert, they really should stop making those piccies that make her look like your average soft blonde.
She's very attractive, but she also looks much more intelligent and interesting than in the pictures.

I had a fantastic time, in brief. Worth the exhausting trip to and back. Worth anything twice as exhausting as well. I also took the chance to do some Christmas shopping - though they confiscated my Christmas crackers at the airport. What merciless cruelty, dear dear.

And then to DDF I wrote:

I've already posted a bit on the subject in SchollSoc, and was considering quoting myself, but as a few of you are members of both, it might be a bit boring, so anyway.

Yes, it was my first time seeing Daniels live. All worth the trip to London in its own right. Then as Sue said, I am a Kozena fan as well, maybe not as devoted as I am to Scholl and Daniels, but who else am I that devoted to? So the concert was a wonderful treat. And of course one has listened to the cds so many times one thinks one knows the voices so well, but nothing, not even all your enthusiastic comments on the subject, could have prepared me for the experience. Wow, such super actors both were. I have seen Daniels doing opera in video, so I know he is a good actor, but recital is a different thing, and it might be harder to get the mood right, but he certainly got every single of them just as right as if he were performing in the staged version of the full opera. And it was quite a wide range of moods. Even in "Se in fiorito" wasn't my favourite of the concert (just like Sally I'd like his coloratura a tad clearer - please don't shoot me!), he really looked the part of sudden love and butterflies in one's stomach and the likes. Quite amazing. But my big favourite was "Dove Sei" - slow, passionate grief seems to suit his singing so much. I caught myself trembling, and the place was quite overheated, you know! One of the most deeply felt performances of that pieces I've ever heard, and ever wil for all that.

"Sound the trumpet" was pleasant more as a curiosity, I think. I think I'd rather have two mezzos or two CTs, voices with a similar colour. It was nice though. But "Pur ti miro" was just amazing. Amazing. Absolutely impossible for me to describe. Such a pity Kozena decided not to look at Daniels for the duets, they both being such singers. I saw Daniels turning to her both in "Io t'abraccio" and in that Theodora duet, but by "Pur ti miro" he had desisted. So much the pity for her, she was missing a nice view! I remarked a couple of times I really liked the suit - not the usual ones for recital, but it suit (!) him a lot. A very nice suit indeed. And her dress, or in Sally's words, THE frock. Gosh. It was quite a work of art. I loved it so much.

And I got my piccie with the man (I didn't even need to ask him to pose, he immediately reacted on seeing Sally approach with my camera - quite nice of him, as I was sort of embarrassed!). I look huge :-S (I'm certainly not wearing that outfit in a loooong time!) but he looks great. I have a notion improvised snaps suit him even more than studio ones. It seems to bring that natural charm of his to the surface. Something one can't understand that well either until you see him in the flesh.

I should really treat myself to another chance to see him live again. Certainly in an occasion with a little less instrumental music. However good the orchestra was, it was not for them I was there! And I'm sure I could really have done with a few more jewels from Daniels and Kozena! He has been a great success in Spain, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of opportunities to do so in the near future!

So here it is! Off to work now.