Best of 2009

Dvd

Ópera









Recital / Concerto Lírico







Jazz







nota: esta lista comprrende as obras que, pessoalmente, se destacaram em 2009. Parte delas data de anos anteriores.

From the House of the Dead - Met Opera House

(From the House of the Dead - Met Opera House, Dezembro de 2009)

Enfim, a mítica encenação de Chéreau de From the House of the Dead (Janacek) viu a luz do dia no Met. Uma estreia a três níveis: da própria ópera (e respectiva mise-en-scène, claro está) e de Patrice Chéreau, o excelso encenador francês, tão amplamente referenciado neste blog.

O leitor atento terá dado por referências (aqui e aqui) a esta extraordinária encenação, também neste espaço, por ocasião da sua comercialização.

«Mr. Chéreau’s staging is set entirely among three towering concrete walls, the work of Richard Perduzzi (the set designer of the Bondy “Tosca”). It seemed so linked to the arresting musical performance Mr. Salonen drew from the brilliant Met orchestra that it is hard to discuss them separately.

So to start with the opera itself — Janacek’s last, which had its premiere in 1930, two years after his death at 74 — it was a wild idea to make such a version of Dostoyevsky’s unwieldy novel in the first place. The book is a first-person narrative with observations so detailed that the writing reads like reportage. The narrator is a nobleman, Alexander Petrovich Gorianchikov. In the opera he has a small but crucial role. Janacek takes on most of the narrator’s job, using his orchestra to propel and comment on the story.

In composing voice parts for his characters, Janacek obsessively mimicked the rhythms and contours of the Czech language. Much of the vocal writing, sung here in the original Czech, sounds like pitched speech. To provide impetus and continuity, the orchestra churns away constantly beneath the vocal lines. Fragments of melody and rhythmic licks are fashioned into a collagelike orchestral fabric. Ostinato figures are repeated endlessly.

On one level, the repetition conveys the drudgery and routine of prison life. Yet in another way — especially as conducted by Mr. Salonen with such visceral character and pungent textures — the repetitive riffs evoke the thoughts that get stuck in the minds of the prisoners: resentments, violent fantasies, feelings of betrayal, isolation and yearning.

The inhabitants of this house of the dead are anything but comatose. Forced to live together, they form a complex community rife with rivalries and dependencies, fueled by a black market of traded goods. In the opera, as in the novel, the prisoners spend much time telling the stories of their lives. “From the House of the Dead” is the ultimate ensemble opera.

Still, three characters stand out, and each tells a long, involved story of how he wound up in prison. The other inmates pay attention or do not. But the implication is that these stories are recycled again and again.

In Act II, for example, the prisoner Skuratov, a soldier, tells of having fallen for a German washerwoman, who was forced by her family to marry a rich relative. So he murdered his rival. The orchestral music buttressing his story has hints of Slavic folk songs and melodic turns that spin in cyclic patterns. You can almost hear the orchestra, on behalf of the other prisoners, saying, “There he goes again.”

Yet Skuratov’s fellow prisoners mostly listen, except for one drunk, who shouts, incongruously, “Lies, all lies.” The surprising uplift in this bitter opera comes through in pitiable scenes like this.

There is no real plot and not much action. Still, Mr. Chéreau’s production captures the volatile mix of restless tension and crushing boredom within this oppressed environment. That the prisoners wear no uniforms, just ragtag garments, lends humdrum individuality to each member.

Mr. Chéreau has added 20 actors to the roster of vocal soloists and choristers to fill the stage with people and activity. The prisoners even put on entertainments, including a campy Don Juan play in drag. In one scene, prisoners arrive fresh from baths, looking scrubbed and bedraggled, some in underwear, some naked and embarrassed. That even in this prison they cling to a shred of privacy was a poignant touch in the staging.»

Edição disocgráfica e transformação: a Vitalidade

Este artigo do The Guardian constitui uma notável lição, extensível a muitos outros domínios da natureza humana. Contra o pessimismo e catastrofismo – tão mundano e (hélas) tão luso –, Andrew Clements realiza uma cuidada análise da evolução do mercado editorial discográfico, desde finais do século passado, quando Norman Lebrecht – qual profeta da desgraça – previu o final da edição discográfica.

Evidentemente, a edição discográfica prossegue, tendo apenas operado algumas transformações e adaptações à realidade actual, senão vejamos:

«It is 12 years since the music writer Norman Lebrecht first donned his Cassandra costume and predicted the demise of the classical recording industry in the early years of the new century. He has reaffirmed his dire prophesies several times since, but so far they have proved considerably less accurate than those of his Trojan counterpart. Classical CDs are still very much with us and, to judge from the quantity, variety and provenance of the new releases that continue to tumble through my letter box each month, they are more diverse and often more enterprising than ever before.

Yet it's undeniable that the profile of the industry has changed significantly over the last 10 years.

(…)

More and more historical tapes have been finding their way on to disc, too, and while the quality of some of those documentary recordings has sometimes been questionable the best have been truly revelatory. The release on Testament, for instance, of the Ring cycle conducted by Joseph Keilberth and recorded in stereo by Decca engineers at the Bayreuth festival in 1955, was unquestionably one of the most important of the last 10 years, a Wagner document of outstanding importance and arguably the greatest of all Rings to be made available on disc. In Britain both the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Glyndebourne have established their own labels, raiding their own archives and those of other enthusiasts to perpetuate performances that genuinely deserve to be called historic, such as the ROH's Don Carlo from 1958, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini with Jon Vickers in the title role, and the Glyndebourne Pelléas et Mélisande from 1963, with Michel Roux and Denise Duval.

But the establishment of in-house labels hasn't been confined to British opera houses. Right across the world, from the San Francisco Symphony (whose Mahler cycle with their music director Michael Tilson Thomas has been widely admired, particularly for the exceptional quality of the recorded sound) to the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, which launched its own label earlier this year with an outstanding version of Shostakovich's opera The Nose, conducted by Valery Gergiev, orchestras and opera companies have set up their own brands, over which they are able to exert complete artistic control.

Though they have since been followed by others here such as the Hallé, London Philharmonic and Philharmonia, the orchestra that led the way here was the London Symphony, which cannily played to its built-in strengths from the very start, by releasing a whole Berlioz cycle with its principal conductor for much of the decade, Colin Davis, that complemented and in some respects surpassed the series of Berlioz studio recordings that Davis had made for Philips a quarter of a century earlier, including an outstanding set of The Trojans. Compared with making studio recordings, the financial savings in creating a commercial disc from a run of live performances (and maybe one patching session in the same concert hall) are hugely significant, and the inevitable imperfections are a small price to pay alongside the gain in immediacy that a live performance brings.

(…)

All this increased specialism – in the last few years especially, new recordings of the core orchestral repertory have become rarer and rarer – would seem perfectly suited to being made available as downloads. So far, though, serious classical disc buyers have proved remarkably resistant to the digital revolution. While 25 years ago collectors embraced compact discs very quickly, just as soon as their convenience and superiority compared with vinyl LPs had been demonstrated, they have been far more reluctant to abandon their silver discs in favour of MP3 files. Classical releases can be downloaded from sites like ITunes, but it's still only the more popular repertoire and glitzy performers that are made available in that way, though a few labels, notably Chandos in this country, routinely make all their releases available as MP3 files.»

FELIZ ANO NOVO!

Enquanto degusto as minhas últimas pérolas, que serão objecto de crítica, e adio o best of 2009, FAÇO VOTOS DE UM EXCELENTE ANO NOVO DE 2010!

Férias - Em degustação...

«A música é sempre neutra»

(Alex Ross)

Alex Ross dixit.

A não perder a entrevista do autor de The Rest is Noise, o crítico do The New Yorker e editor do blog homónimo.

«Hubo un momento en que la armonía se rompió. La música ya no la necesitaba para definir el mundo. Sonaba mejor el caos…

Aquel viaje comenzó lleno de incertidumbres, como una caída al vacío sin red y sin agua en la que flotar. El público no lo entendía. Todavía hoy muchos se resisten a hacerlo. El placer, la emoción, se transformaban en angustia. Pero ¿qué podía hacer sino el arte? ¿Seguir proporcionando bálsamos o definir una época, como el siglo XX, que atravesó el Holocausto y coqueteó desde Hiroshima hasta hoy con la autodestrucción?

La música como lenguaje del mundo es lo que nos cuenta Alex Ross en un libro fundamental, apasionante, titulado El ruido eterno (Seix Barral). Se trata de uno de esos extraños ensayos en principio dirigidos a minorías que conquistan a una gran mayoría. Quien se mete en él descubre rápidamente por qué. El crítico musical de la revista The New Yorker ha recorrido la etapa más convulsa de la historia reciente a través de los compositores que nos han producido escalofríos en la edad contemporánea. Hombres de su tiempo con historias épicas, dramáticas y desesperadas. Artistas en conflicto permanente por sus relaciones con el poder, el amor y la muerte, que aplicaban a la vida un ritmo continuo y fascinante.

Todo empezó con Wagner. En los primeros acordes de Tristán e Isolda, concretamente. Aquel silbido invitó a muchos a transitar por el camino del riesgo y la incertidumbre. Le siguió Richard Strauss asomándose al precipicio con su Salomé, su Electra. Pero fueron después los inquietos y salvajes integradores de la Escuela de Viena, con Arnold Schoenberg a la cabeza, quienes lo llevaron a sus últimas consecuencias.

A partir de ahí, todo resultó válido. Se cerraron varias puertas, pero se abrieron muchas más: los caminos más excitantes de la vanguardia que después se han ampliado con el jazz, el rock o la música electrónica. Lo hicieron en mitad de la incomprensión y el apoyo. Entre la tensión y el peligro de muerte. Sorteando las embestidas de Hitler y Stalin, adaptándose a la guerra fría y a la poderosa irrupción de la música pop. Formando matrimonios fascinantes y alianzas que llevaban a pactar a The Beatles con Stockhausen en canciones como A day in the life del mítico Sgt. Pepper’s, a los músicos de jazz con el dodecafonismo, a la ópera con el musical, a la ultravanguardia con el cine…

Todo era posible en mitad de una gran orgía ecléctica. La que ha servido a Ross para armar un relato global, un estudio, una novela y un gran reportaje al tiempo que nos cuenta los triunfos, incomprensiones y padecimientos de Wagner, Mahler, Schoenberg, Debussy, Strauss, Stravinski, Messiaen, Ligeti, Elliott Carter, Shostakovich, Benjamin Britten… Los arquitectos del sonido que nos hace comprender ahora tantas cosas.»

Anna di Lammermoor

(Anna Netrbko como Lucia - Lucia di Lammermoor, Met 2009)

Sugiro que o fiel leitor avalie a prestação de Anna Netrebko, como protagonista de Lucia di Lammermoor, na récita a que aqui aludi (e aqui) - Met, 2009. Mais: sugiro que substitua o preconceito (para não falar de narcisismo destrutivo) por uma atenta avaliação ;-)

Pessoalmente, creio haver espaço para muitas Lucia's: Callas (a dramática), Sutherland (a pirotécnica), Gruberova (a mais-que-pirotécnica), Dessay (a belcantista) e Netrebko (a fémea, actriz, intérprete, cantora and so on). À côté, há ainda Scotto e Anderson (a excelsa).

Termino com uma sugestão: que se desidealizem as pretéritas! Respeite-mo-las e aprecie-mo-las, sem esquecer que existem outras, actuais, diferentes, mas igualmente magnéticas e brilhantes! Se assim não for, tornar-nos-emos escravos do mundo "pretérito, perfeito e idílico", que apenas existe nas depressivas mentes (doentes).

Agora, é tempo de degustar a cena da Loucura e o seu final (Spargi d'amore pianto).
Bom proveito!

Lucia... Lucia... finalmente siamo insieme

Dramática, elegante, louca e linda - a mais bela boca que a lírica jamais viu. Que mais se quer?

O autêntico Hoffmann (?)

(Joseph Calleja e Kate Lindsey em Les Contes de Hoffmann - Met Opera House, 2009)

Retorno à nova produção de Os Contos de Hoffmann, estreada no Met esta temporada. Desta feita, a polémica (!) centra-se na autenticidade da versão em cena. Polémica relevante e interessante, esta!

«In a news release for the Met’s new production, Mr. Levine stated that in the absence of an “authentic, fully realized original version,” companies must make their own choices. The score he has assembled for the Met, though loosely based on the old Choudens version, uses “a great deal of the information that has come to light over the years,” Mr. Levine wrote.

“Balderdash,” Mr. Kaye responded in an open e-mail message sent to numerous music critics. He wrote that he greatly regretted that Met audiences were not hearing some of the most recently discovered original music. Further, he reported that a new edition of the opera that he had completed with Jean-Christophe Keck, with the latest sources and discoveries, was soon to be published.

I am no expert on the conflicting versions of “Hoffmann,” which present the work variously with different arias, dialogue, orchestrations and even story twists.

Still, it is hard to dispute Mr. Levine’s observation that there will never be a definitive score for the work. Offenbach lovers who object to the Met’s choices regarding editions have to understand the world in which the composer, a savvy man of the theater, operated.

Were he to rise from the dead and learn that the Met was eager to put on “Hoffmann,” Offenbach would probably never say, “Ah, at last, a chance to hear my opera as I intended it!”

He would almost surely pose a list of questions to Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, and Mr. Levine: “Great. So, who is the tenor in the title role? How big will the orchestra be? Should we spruce up the orchestration? Do you need other changes? Are you going to perform it in English? I would assume so. It makes sense for a New York audience.”

It is hard to imagine that Offenbach would have conceived of a definitive version of one of his works, even an opera that meant as much to him as “Hoffmann.” This was not the way things occurred in the professional opera world of his time.»

O Pai Natal...

Entre muitos outros agradáveis presentes, trouxe-me uma admirável caixa...

Entretanto... FELIZ NATAL!

São os votos deste blogger a todos os queridos leitores e colaboradores deste espaço!

Férias - Em degustação...

... sem grande entusiasmo...

Férias - Em degustação...

Planar no céu...

Por via desta relíquia, pairo, no mais longínquo dos céus...

O virtuosismo mais extraordinário de Genaux, a suprema agilidade, a infalibilidade técnica, colocam-na, justamente, no Olimpo, ladeando as grandes mezzo coloratura, dos últimos 50 anos: Berganza, Horne, Bartoli e Didonato.

Junte-se-lhe um timbre absolutamente andrógino...

Às vezes, o virtuosismo barroco exacerbado – que, por regra, me enfada – conquista os cépticos!


Caso o leitor não seja avesso a condutas menos conformes – uma vez não são vezes -, passe por aqui... faça download... e que se delicie ;-)D)D)

Em degustação...

Balanços líricos

Eis um discutível e controverso (é britânico, está bem de ver...) - mas interessante - balanço operático da primeira década do século XXI:

«Pavarotti died in the twilight of his career, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Susan Chilcott were cruelly cut down in their prime. Domingo soldiered on magnificently, the great survivor.

Some prodigious new tenor talents also emerged: Rolando Villazón, Jonas Kaufmann, Juan Diego Flórez. Among the women, Anna Netrebko’s glamour hit the headlines, but it was Joyce di Donato, Nina Stemme and Natalie Dessay who gave evidence that the art of great singing was far from dead. Renée Fleming and Cecilia Bartoli stayed at the top of the game, too.

Flying the flag for Britain were Bryn Terfel, Sarah Connolly, Alice Coote, Simon Keenlyside and Gerald Finley, as well as a clutch of superb young conductors (Richard Farnes, Edward Gardner, Robin Ticciati) plus an octogenarian who could give any of them a run for their money – Charles Mackerras.

Directors continued to delight and enrage in equal measure with productions that sometimes threatened to hijack the score and libretto. Among the agents provocateurs, Calixto Bieito mercifully seems to have vanished, but David Alden and Graham Vick have come back, older and wiser. Mature talents, matching thoughtfulness and originality with musicality, included David McVicar and Deborah Warner and, above all, the prodigious Richard Jones.

The search for new opera continued. There were many premières, but little took root. Thomas Adès and Harrison Birtwistle impressed the coteries rather than the wider public, Jonathan Dove vice versa. For my money, the era’s one masterpiece was George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill, a perfect miniature which haunts, chills and thrills.»

Genaux vs Bartoli - II

As comparações não cessam... mas o Barroco, na sua expressão mais ousada e pirotécnica, parece-me melhor servido por La Bartoli. Pelo menos, a avaliar por este magnífico artigo, tão criativo e literário, a propósito da actuação de Cecilia Bartoli, no Palau de Valência:

«Respira este espectáculo que la mezzosoprano Cecilia Bartoli lleva de gira para promocionar su nuevo disco (Sacrificium, Decca) y que el jueves recaló en el Palau de la Música. Respira por todos sus poros, que son muchos poros. El barroco es poroso.

Respira arrojo y valentía. Hay que estar muy seguro de uno mismo para salir vestido de mosquetero e irse despojando hasta quedar en mangas de camisa (con chorreras), conforme las arias que vas cantando pasan del ardor guerrero al lamento pastoril. Si alguien tiene el temperamento dramático para afrontar semejante envite es Cecilia Bartoli. En la segunda parte viste de mujer, pero sin haberse apeado de las botas de montar. El barroco es ambiguo.

Respira el programa, la manera milimétrica en que está organizado. Bartoli ofrece una antología personal del repertorio barroco napolitano para contralto, con una incursión a Venecia (Antonio Caldara) y otra, sorprendente, a Berlín (Carl Heinrich Graun). ¿Qué muestra en este viaje? Pues una completa tipología de arias dramáticas para contralto: arias heroicas, de furor o de caza; arias en stile imitativo, donde aparecen por sorpresa el ruiseñor y la mariposa; arias de lamento, de partida, de piedad, etcétera. Variedad sazonada de joyas como Parto, ti lascio, o cara, de Niccolò Porpora, o Cadrò, ma qual si mira, de Francesco Araia. Para cada una encuentra Bartoli el registro más ajustado. El barroco es contraste.

Respira, y mucho, Il Giardino Armonico, una veintena de músicos con instrumentos originales -sensacionales trompas sin pistones- a las órdenes de Giovanni Antonini, quien también asume funciones de flautista solista. Un punto histriónico, es cierto, pero ¿puede exigírsele que reprima el impulso cuando Bartoli ha desatado el tifón?

Y desde luego respira la voz de Cecilia Bartoli, prodigio de agilidades, de fuerza, de expresión arrolladora. Trinos en pianissimo, saltos interválicos de vértigo, tiempos llevados al límite del paroxismo, notas de adorno torrenciales, cambios de registro teatralmente forzados, apoyos extraordinariamente medidos. Ése era el show-businness de los castrados en la Italia del siglo XVIII, hombres de circo que sorteaban todo tipo de obstáculos con la voz y que gozaron de una enorme reputación hasta que la dolorosa práctica se fue extinguiendo a lo largo del XIX y acabó con la prohibición vaticana de principios del XX. Pero la mirada de Cecilia Bartoli sobre ellos no sólo es amena, sino también crítica: ha investigado en la vida de esos personajes y llega a sus propias conclusiones. El barroco es un estilo de matices, se precisa una técnica muy amplia para afrontarlo.

Y finalmente respiró, entusiasmado, el público que llenó el Palau. Fuera de programa, cantó Cecilia Bartoli Lascia la spina, de Händel, y los alientos quedaron en suspenso hasta que llegó otra aria de fuegos artificiales de Riccardo Broschi y fue el delirio. En ese tramo final del concierto Bartoli incorporó incluso plumas de marabú: sin ellas, en efecto, no se entiende el mundo de los castrados. El barroco es así de deslumbrante.»

Contudo, manda a prudência, aguardemos pela chegada do registo vivaldiano de Vivica Genaux, Pyrotechnics. Então, veremos se a minha impressão se confirma, ou não!

«Ne serait Mozart qu'elle a très peu chanté - "Je n'y serais pas meilleure que bien d'autres, alors pourquoi ?" -, la carrière de Vivica Genaux ressemble à celle de son illustre aînée, Cecilia Bartoli. Même goût pour les grands rôles de mezzos rossiniens (Le Barbier de Séville, Cendrillon, L'Italienne à Alger), pour les travestis de l'opéra baroque (Haendel, Vivaldi). Même volupté à chanter le répertoire pyrotechnique des castrats (Broschi, Porpora, Giacomelli). Même envie de ramener à l'air libre des musiques oubliées (Hasse). "J'ai toujours eu une grande facilité pour les vocalises, confie-t-elle. Pour moi, c'est très proche de l'improvisation en jazz et de la haute couture. Et puis il y a le côté virtuose, qui est grisant. C'est comme conduire une voiture de course à toute vitesse sur l'autoroute en se disant qu'il ne faudra pas rater la sortie !"»

Domingo e os filhos-da-puta

(Plácido Domingo, Teatro alla Scala - 1969 - como protagonista de Ernani, de Verdi)

Que o alla Scala é um teatro de excepção, todos o sabemos. Trata-se de uma casa ancestral, sóbria - most of the time... - e muito exigente, por onde passa a nata do canto lírico mundial. Há, contudo, uma fatia do público, dito difícil, que dá pela graça de loggionisti. Trata-se de uma variante do filho-da-puta. Sádicos, invejosos e ressabiados, a pretexto da extrema exigência, masturbam-se a humilhar os intérpretes.

Nos demais teatros líricos, recorre-se à pateada, legítima e saudável. No alla Scala, a corja dos loggionisti achincalha - vide Lucrezia Borgia, com Fleming, nos idos 1990, e Aïda, com Alagna, há duas temporadas atrás.

Parece, todavia, que os filhos-da-puta estavam ausentes deste maravilhoso concerto, que comemorou os 40 anos de carreira do tenor espanhol no teatro milanês - Ernani que catapultou Domingo para a glória, em 1969. Ou, quem sabe, Domingo encheu-lhes as medidas!

«Forty years ago almost to the day, Placido Domingo, then a young Spanish opera singer with sideburns like Elvis Presley, set foot on the stage of the legendary Milan opera house for his first starring role there, in Verdi's Ernani. This week he returned to mark the anniversary, with a valedictory performance that had the opera buffs weeping in delight.

But this was no cruise into the sunset with the hood down. Despite the advancing years (he is 68, if you believe the official account), he tore into Wagner with Argentinian-born conductor Daniel Barenboim at the reins. The Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde went down well, but more breathtaking still – "spectacular" said the critics – was his rendition of the role of Siegmund from the first act of Wagner's Die Walküre.

One critic noted that there were moments of tiredness or prudence, where in the past the tenor might have floored the throttle. But he added that Domingo, who has done more than 3,000 performances, "still had a voice stronger than most 30-somethings".

Backstage, reliving his triumph, the great man told the correspondent of La Stampa: "Yes, it went well. But it's also thanks to this theatre. To sing at La Scala is something else. It's the quintessence of opera. This public has given me so much and I believe I've given them much as well."

The mood was nostalgic, but this was no swansong. Domingo has 45 singing and 15 conducting engagements lined up for the 2009/10 season. His friends at La Scala have not seen the last of him by any means.»

Bartoli dixit

«Una vez preguntaron a Riccardo Muti acerca de esto y contestó que un ejemplo de castrato en nuestros días es Michael Jackson. Yo creo que es así, que él ha sido el auténtico castrato posmoderno. Se le ve en la cara. La nariz la tenía, el resto... ¿quién sabe?»

Genaux vs Bartoli

Genaux e Bartoli, duas das mais famosas mezzo da actualidade - não esquecer a fabulosa Didonato -, cruzar-se-ão, em breve, em solo francês. A esse propósito, o Le Figaro compara-as, como segue:

«Vivica Genaux défie Cecilia Bartoli, la plus célèbre mezzo du monde, sur son propre terrain : le bel canto. Portraits croisés de deux artistes que réunit au moins le désir de ressusciter l'art vocal des castrats baroques.

Parcours Il y a sept ans, personne n'imaginait comparer l'Américaine d'Alaska Vivica Genaux à la Bartoli, tant la Romaine dominait de la voix et des chiffres de ventes toutes ses rivales. Pourtant, leur parcours comme leur ambition les rapprochent : début avec Mozart et Rossini, puis révélation du répertoire baroque. Pour investir ces champs en jachère, elles se sont appuyées sur les meilleurs experts et ensembles, dont Harnoncourt, qui les a coachées toutes les deux. Selon leur tessiture, elles s'épanouissent dans les virtuosités de Haendel ou de Vivaldi. Chacune à sa façon recrée les sortilèges irrémédiablement perdus du chant des castrats, ces chimères vocales mi-hommes, mi-anges, tout en libérant sur scène un tempérament explosif.

Panache Enfant de la balle, née de parents chanteurs, Cecilia a gagné ses galons de star très jeune ; Karajan l'invite à Salzbourg à 23 ans et la firme Decca devient très vite sa maison de disques et de conquêtes. Puis Daniel Barenboïm l'intègre dans sa trilogie Mozart-Da Ponte. En 1993, Claudio Abbado enregistre avec elle Rossini. Mais c'est à 33 ans, avec l'Album Vivaldi, qu'elle trouve sa voie et sa marque de fabrique. Moins précoce, Vivica Genaux trouve sa vocation au sein d'une famille mélomane à Fairbanks (Alaska). Son potentiel de mezzo se révèle tardivement, au cours de ses études de sciences. Claudia Pinza l'aide à progresser et, en 1997, la chance surgit avec un remplacement au pied levé au Met de New York pour le rôle de Rosine dans le Barbier de Rossini.

Voix Elles ont chacune dans la voix quelque chose de flamboyant, de profond et d'immédiatement fraternel. Un sourire projeté. La Bartoli démontre à chaque « disque concept » (CD + livre) l'étendue illimitée de ses capacités. «Elle tire le meilleur parti de la voix qu'on lui a donnée, s'extasie son partenaire, Bryn Terfel. C'est l'art vocal même.» De Vivica Genaux, son mentor baroque, Fabio Biondi, le violoniste chef de l'ensemble Europa Galante, dit qu'«elle réussit à se couler parfaitement dans l'extravagance vivaldienne, c'est-à-dire chanter comme un violon».

Métier Le ressort de leur dynamique : la gourmandise de vivre, une voix saine et une vie sentimentale apaisée, doublée d'un instinct musical très sûr. Et une vision carrée du métier de chanteuse. Ces anti-divas ont une vie tranquille, sans artifice, familiale et gaie, dopée par une curiosité sans limite. La connivence immédiate qu'elles installent avec leur public et leurs partenaires se fait jour à chacune de leurs apparitions.

Succès Déjà, il y a dix ans, son Album Vivaldi vendu à plus de un million d'exemplaires avait révélé le potentiel lyrique jusqu'alors méconnu du Prêtre roux. Le succès de son dernier opus, Sacrificium (Universal/Decca), hommage à l'école de Naples et à ses célèbres castrats, confirme que Cecilia Bartoli reste la plus populaire des mezzos. Sa réhabilitation historique de ces martyrs sacrifiés au nom de la musique et de l'interdiction des femmes dans les églises est aussi poignante que ses invraisemblables trilles. Sa discrétion sur les scènes lyriques (quelques représentations à Zurich, sa résidence, quelques apparitions prévues début 2010, entre autres, Salle Pleyel) ouvre le champ à des tempéraments comme celui de Vivica, qui n'aime rien tant que la scène pour s'y épanouir. En studio, après son premier coup d'éclat en 2001 avec une anthologie d'airs du célèbre castrat Farinelli, elle récidive aujourd'hui avec un bouquet de Pyrotechnics signés... Vivaldi (EMI).

Jardin secret Celui de Bartoli est bien réel : un potager aménagé dans sa résidence suisse ! Elle avoue s'y ressourcer au milieu des plans de tomates et de basilic, avant de plonger dans les bibliothèques pour concocter les programmes dont elle garde le secret. Dans un autre registre, sa passion pour la Malibran ne sera pas restée longtemps discrète avec un récent hommage aussi somptueux qu'exubérant, n'hésitant pas à montrer dans un bus-musée itinérant la collection personnelle d'objets lui ayant appartenu. De son côté, c'est à Pauline Viardot, la sœur de la Malibran, l'égérie de Tourgueniev, de Bizet et de tant d'autres, que Genaux rêve de rendre justice en révélant la beauté de ses compositions. En attendant, cette Italienne (tiens, tiens...) d'adoption - elle a épousé en 2001 un hydrologue vénitien - savoure les voluptés du bel canto, qu'elle va bientôt chanter en France.»