Thomas Quasthoff’s voice is one of remarkable agility, color, and emotional range, and on this CD, which primarily contains music from operas very few people are interested in, he gets to show off all of his gifts. From Zar und Zimmermann, Wildschutz, and Tannhäuser he sings arias (one is a duet–from Wildschutz) allotted to two characters. From Zar he plays a somewhat arrogant, foolish, and boastful Burgomeister as well as the Tsar himself, and the change in tone and attitude is impressive. Similarly, in Wildschutz he’s a schoolmaster and a count, and each is vividly differentiated. Quasthoff sings the patter music of the lighter characters impeccably, always in the center of each tone (his pitch is eerily unfailing) and never in an exaggerated, “buffo” style.
From Tannhäuser he’s the Landgraf greeting the minstrels in Act 2 and Wolfram singing to the evening star in Act 3. He’s more successful (and phrases very beautifully) as Wolfram, but he lacks the weight for the Landgraf. He’s also a bit light for the evil Count in Weber’s overblown Euryanthe, but he manages to convey malice nonetheless. The recital ends with four minutes of Morosus’ last monologue from Strauss’ Die schweigsame Frau–exquisitely serene.
Christian Thielemann obviously has a similar affinity for this music, leading the lighter scenes with grace and weighing in more heavily for the serious moments, and his orchestra plays handsomely (the bassoonist in the Zar excerpts is a star). DG supplies a chorus and soprano for the numbers that require them–this is a classy package. In the past, German baritones (Hermann Prey comes to mind) have assayed this repertoire, but Quasthoff actually manages to sell it here. A fine disc.
