Gracias a la información de ChristineLuise, hemos sabido de los videos de Rolando en su intervención de ayer, dia 24, en el programa de televisión alemán "3 nach 9".Me ha llegado la grabación, y he subido las imágenes a Youtube, para que queden registradas cuando la emisora retire el video de su web. Y en el primer video hay imágenes que no estaban en la web de la emisora, por ejemplo, el baile de Barenboim con Rolando.
muchas gracias a la persona que anónimamente nos ha enviado la traducción
Part 1/4
Part 1/4
Amelie Fried (moderator): Sarah Kuttner asked, watching the film, shocked: "Does Anna Netrebko have bad breath?"
Rolando: No!
Sarah: I was not shocked, I am interested in it. You were so near to her.
Amelie: There are rumours that she loves garlic.
Rolando: Garlic? Garlic is delicious. But, when we are on stage, we don´t care about that. It´s about the roles we play, the energy, our technique, singing, the emotions of the moment. I cannot say what happens, it´s so quick, it´s like the sea, wumm, it was like a wave, it was quick, it was wonderful, it was for the audience, it was not for us.
Giovanni di Lorenzo (moderator): The difference between Sarah Kuttner and Sarah Kraus: Sarah Kraus asked: "How is Anna Netrebko kissing?"
Rolando: I already answered the question, I don´t know! I know how Mimi is kissing, I know how Violetta is kissing, I know how Manon is kissing, I know how Juliette is kissing. But I don´t know…
Giovanni: I have the wrong profession!
Rolando: Yes! And I don´t know! Romeo knows it, Rodolfo knows it, Alfredo knows it.
Amelie: Watching the film I thought, that you had fun during the rehearsals. I always thought, opera is a very serious matter. But you really had fun.
Rolando: We do that only for the TV! (laughs). No, we had much fun! Opera can be very dramatic and very funny. One mistake during the performance and it can be very funny. I think we are playing with that during rehearsals. What I think about opera is that it is a stage for our consciousness. That´s why ít is so extreme, so dramatic. When there is a tragedy in life, we don´t make "Ahhhh!", in opera we do that all the time. (In life) we don´t say "I love you! I love you! I love you!" In opera: (sings) "Io t´amo, io t´amo, io t´amo!" But I think that we feel it. The consciousness…one feels these emotions, and therefore I think people come to opera passionately. It speaks directly to us, like we feel every day, in the great world of our life.
Amelie: We have to reveal a mystery. The mystery, why you as a Mexican speak German excellently. Is there a certain reason?
Rolando: Yes! But it is not that good. And I have to say: I apologize, dear audience in Germany, I have much respect for this language, and I hope, that when I´m here the next time I will speak a perfect Humboldt-Deutsch. I say Humboldt-Deutsch because I attended a German school in Mexico, which name was "Alexander von Humboldt". I was there from the age of 4 to the age of 11. The reason is, that my grand grandmother and my grandfather came to Mexico from Austria. My grand grandmother was already in Mexico, and then the war broke out and my grandfather had to flee from the Nazis.
He came to Mexico and he was the best soccer player of his time. That´s why I am an opera singer!
Amelie: But you almost chose a different profession!
Rolando: I had many plans! I wanted to be a priest (I attended the Seminary), I was a clown for a year, but not in circus, for children´s parties, each weekend.
Then I wanted to study psychology and philosophy. But I am a tenor, and that doesn´t harmonize. They say: Stupid like a tenor! I wrote: I want to be a tenor! And the university said: No, that doesn´t harmonize!
Part 2/4
Giovanni: The way you describe a tenor, loud, Ti amo!, stupid, those gestures, one thinks of the composers of the nineteenth century, Puccini, Verdi, …but not of the composer you dedicated a CD to: Händel. What does Händel distinguish from other composers?
Rolando: The voice serves the technique. Later (Verdi, Massenet,..) technique had to serve the voice. And I think with Händel each note is important. With Puccini the high notes or the pianissimi are more important. In the repertoire of the nineteenth century the singer can be a surfer on the wave of the music. But with Händel, the Baroque music, you must not do that, you must be a part of the wave.
Giovanni: On the CD you sing "Ombra mai fu" from "Xerxes". Can you sing it in the style of Händel and in the style of Puccini?
Rolando: Oh! That´s a good example. It is a tradition of tenors to sing "Ombra mai fu". Each great tenor has done this. I don´t know why I did it – great tenors sang it – I´m only 1.80m high - 1.81m is really high! (In German "great" and "high" is the same word: "groß".)
I wanted to respect the style. The style comes from the music. It doesn´t come from tradition, I think, it comes from the orchestra. (Then he demonstrates the two differtent styles.) The second one is like a caricature.
Amelie: Bocelli-like!
Rolando: No, no! I don´t know if he did sing it. I have to say, he sings very good.
Giovanni: Bocelli is a classic belcanto voice.
Was it a result of this style of singing, which you presented as caricature, that a singer had to produce the effect, that he had to sing loudly. They prefered singers without musical training, only because they could sing loudly.
Rolando: For me, the fantastic of this (Baroque) repertoire is, that the music is most important. It is not the singer, it is Händel. And I think it is very modern.
Rhythm is very important in some arias. And "Ombra mai fu" is….What was the question? (laughs)
Giovanni: You did answer the question already, three times and very good!
Rolando: Now the answer! It´s a pity! In the opera world many people are very passionate, and some see it in an "athletic" way. Like in sports. Who sings higher, who sings louder, who sings without breathing? But: Where is art? Where is what music has to give to us? Music is the possibility to find a world for the subjectivity. The problem is, if someone only goes to the opera to see if a singer sings high, or loud, or enough, he only gets to a certain limit (shows it with his arms).
Giovanni: Is there an aria you cannot hear anymore? Do you still like "Nessun dorma"?
Rolando: Oh yes, especially with the great, marvellous Pavarotti!
That is also fantastic in opera. We hear it again and again, and it feels always new. Each artist is an individual, gives a personal interpretation. The same music is different, if it comes from a Mexican or a German heart. Not only that, each of us is an instrument which never existed in history before – it is similar in pop music.
(The guitar player of "Silbermond" agrees, that music is about emotions.)
Abraham (Box champion): To be a tenor - can one train for, or has one to be born as a tenor? An honest answer, please!
Rolando: Today I asked someone: Someone becomes a philosopher or someone is a philosopher? OK, a tenor?
I think: We all are singers! We all sing! (The others disagree! Rolando jumps up and says: "Sorry, camera man!") I promise, everyone sings, maybe under the shower! (Someone says: "But how? But how?) That´s no problem! What does the dictionary say: What is a singer? A singer is someone who sings. (Someone says: "One can sing well or badly!") No! A singer is not someone who sings well, a singer is someone who sings.
Abraham: But if I sing you will be shocked!
Rolando: And if I fight, I will be in the hospital!
Part 3/4
Giovanni asks Abraham, if someone is a boxer or becomes a boxer. He answers, that one becomes a boxer, and that boxing is a dangerous sport.
Amelie: The training for a singer can also be dangerous. I heard that you had strict teachers, who sometimes hit you!
Rolando: Yes, sometimes, pow, pow! Not at the German school! A singing teacher! One day I sang the aria of Edgardo (Lucia). I thought it was good, the technique, all notes were there. But that old man said, it was – I cannot say this word, it is a four-letter word, it begins with s h – He said: It was big ….
I said: Why...?
He answered: Yes, but I did not feel anything! You did not say anything! You did not tell the story of that moment! No emotion! I don´t see the role! You are not Edgardo, you are only a tenor, who sings notes! And then he became furious
and "bumm" ! And now you sing with emotion!
And I sang, and at the end I cracked! I had put so much emotion in it! He said: Yes! Now it is really good! I answered: Why? I did not get the last note! He said: It doesn´t matter! Now I felt something! Now I believe in Edgardo! Later we will work on the technique!
But he didn´t beat me the whole day!
Silbermond agrees, that music is not about perfection but about emotion.
Rolando: This is the most difficult, to find the freedom as an artist. One has to work hard on the technique, but there is the moment in the recording studio or on stage, when I have simply to sing, to tell the poetry of the music, and I have to reach the hearts of the people.
Giovanni: Although you are young, there are many legends about you.
One tells, that you decided to become a singer, after you noticed that you conquered the heart of your girlfriend, now your wife, with your serenade under the balcony.
Rolando: Yes! But that is Mexican! I know my wife for 20 years. She was 3 and I….no, no, she was 15 and I was 16.
Giovanni: Like Amelie and I!
Rolando: Did you go with the Mariachi to the window?
Giovanni: Everything! But it did not work!
Amelie to Rolando: To conquer my heart with romance, someone had to sing like you!
Rolando: We are coming back! We are all singers! We all can sing! (To Giovanni:) Next time we go together!
In Mexico, if you are on a "party", and you wonder what to do, you maybe decide to give a serenade. You go to Garibaldi, where all the Mariachi bands are. 5 or 6 musicians. Let´s go! 1 o´clock! (sings) One has to sing 2,3 songs. After the fourth song the light goes on! Or after the sixth song, because she put some makeup on.
(The piano player plays a mariachi song.)
Giovanni: We saw that you have many talents. Incredible! You also can draw beautifully.
For now you are released, but we hope that you will often join the conversation.
Would you like to draw some caricatures of us?
Rolando: OK! 500 Euro!
Giovanni: Thank you for this wonderful conversation!
