ROLANDO VILLAZÓN EN EL MUSIIKKITALO DE HELSINKI

foto: Willeke

Los pasados días 7 y 9 Rolando ha ofrecido sendos conciertos en el Musiikkitalo, moderno y acogedor auditorio recientemente inaugurado en Helsinki.

Pido disculpas a todas las personas que desde el primer día me han ido enviando informaciones, pues por razones de índole personal-laboral, no he podido reflejarlo en el Blog con inmediatez. Gracias a Anne, Anneli, Barbara, Collette, Eleonore, Ingrid, Marion y Willeke, por lo que me han hecho llegar, aunque no he podido recogerlo todo en este post.

Os relaciono algunos fragmentos de lo recibido, así como unas cuantas imágenes. Parece ser que Rolando estaba muy resfriado, el primer día hizo entera la primera parte y tres arias de la segunda, y el segundo día (dos días después) cantó el concierto entero, pero sin ningún bis. Por lo que me ha llegado por los allí presentes y por la prensa, el público se mostró entusiasmado por el canto y por la entrega de Rolando, que quiso cantar a pesar de su situación, para no defraudar al público finlandés, que agradeció enormemente esa consideración. También han destacado los medios la dirección del maestro Guerassim Voronkov, que ya había coincidido con Rolando en el Concierto del 3 de abril de 2011 en el Liceu de Barcelona.

DÍA 7
Molto applauso, giaccia nera con bordo blu, pantaloni grigi stretti. Bene le prime due arie, bello i tuoni bassi, magnifico il resto. Molto delicata acustica. Meta' del pubblico e' dietro la scena.  Nella seconda parte ha cambiato il programma! Due pezzi corti, poi instrumentale intermezzo cavalleria, poi si e' scusato, poi ha cantato ancora di tutto il cuore un pezzo. Siamo davanti alla sala 6 gradi sotto zero e lo aspettiamo! Fa freddddddo  - Ingrid

DÍA 9
Des le premier instant, le public entier etait le sien... Il faisait avec nous ce qu il voulait, et il voulait nous donner TOUT!!!!! Avant et pendant son chant, le silence etait ABSOLU... le public etait completement ravi. Apres chaque air, il y avait des bravos, des hurlements, de grands applaudissements. Rolando a chante presque tout le programme, mais avant Luisa Miller, il a dit un petit discours au public, en lui racontant son refroidissement, et a declare un petit changement: il ne chante pas Luisa Miller, mais chante uniquement L alba.... Et le public etait heureux et content. Comme je te l ai ecrit dans mon sms. le succes a ete vraiment fou. 
L´Ambassadeur de France en Finland a participe au concert, et il est venu saluer et remercier Rolando au backstage. Avec sa femme il a ete juste devant nous. Rolando a ete supris et emu de les voir!!!!!!   
Eleonore

Anneli me ha envíado el siguiente artículo traducido al inglés

http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/konsertti/artikkeli/Ilo+muuttui+j%C3%A4nnitykseksi/HS20120109SI1KU02gmf

Helsingin Sanomat 9.1.2012,  written by Hannu-Ilari Lampila:

Concert Rolando Villazón in Musiikkitalo

JOY TURNED TO TENSION

Rolando Villazón had caught a cold. In the concert you had to fear the voice would break.

Friends of opera were overjoyed as they noticed that mexican stat tenor Rolando Villazón will have two concerts in Musiikkitalo. The exceptionally expensive tickets sold very well.  The joy was great as the rascal-like lively Villazón showed on the stage in Musiikkitalo. Although one could not set one´s expectations too high. Before the concert it was announced that the Finnish weather did not suit Villazón´s voice. Signs of the cold were audible, and joy was turning to painful tension.

Everybody hoped that the evening would succeed. Villazón won the sympathy of the audience as he told in articulate Finnish how he enjoyed performing in our new Concert Hall. Few foreign musicians have learned by heart such a long Finnish sentence.

Villazón had an operation made on a cyst in the throat 2009. No singing for a year. After coming back on stage Villazón had to cancel some performations for the disappointment of his audience. It was not easy to heal the voice. After the operation Villazón has begun to sing Mozart´s music, which is a new field for him. Mozart´s arias don´t go as high as those romantic roles of young lovers that made Villazón famous and admired. Mozart must be sung lighter and narrower than Verdi and Puccini, but on the other hand Mozart requires its  unique sophisticated technic.

The first part of the concert Villazón had dedicated to Mozart. The first two numbers, an aria from Il re pastore and Il mio tesoro from Don Giovanni, flowed quite adorably. Villazón´s tenor had a beautiful, softly smiling timbre, and his strongly gesturing full-body technique worked well. Here we have a singer who apparently has difficulties just to stand still and sing. Maybe you cannot possibly make fuzzy-haired and boyish Villazón to look like a noble aristocrat, but in Mozart´s arias his voice told that there is no lack of nobility in his artistic character. Even surprisingly well he has learned to sing long coloratura lines, and he is able to control his breath to rather long phrases and figure lines.

When a star tenor sings, the expectation of course is that he dazzles his audience with sparkling high notes. During the evening Villazón although had more and more difficulties to sing his high notes. They soon began to crack. There seemed to be functional trouble in the vocal cords. To be careful, Villazón left out a note or two.

Villazon´s enormous energy, his spontaneous ability to throw himself into something and his sparkling emotions helped him just to make it till the end, although there was even a risk that the voice would break.

In the first half he sang four arias of Mozart, of which three were very long. In the second half the heaviest numbers, Donizetti´s and Verdi´s arias, were left out. Villazón sang Francesco Cilea´s two arias from Adriane Lecouvreur and Paolo Tosti´s aria.

When Villazón, looking unhappy, in the second half told about his condition, the cold had already broke his speaking voice worse than his singing voice. Astonishing enough, he could perform Tosti´s aria with passion and grandeur.

The flu affected the range of Villazón´s tenor, and in the upper rows of the hall it sounded like from behind a veil. Villazón´s tenor, rather dark and with a velvet timbre, has not a big volume, but knowing his great succes you can conclude that at its best the voice sings brilliantly even in the biggest opera houses. Lohja orchester obviously had not had enough rehearsals, but in the flexible hold of Guerassim Voronkov it managed properly.

foto: Ingrid

foto: Suomi Kuvalehti.fi

foto: hs.fi

foto: hs.fi

foto: Ingrid

foto: Ingrid

foto: Ingrid

foto: Willeke

foto: Willeke 

foto: Willeke 

foto: Anne

foto: Anne

foto: Anne

foto: Marion

foto: Marion

foto: Marion

foto: Marion

foto: Marion

.