Sunday, January 22, 2012

Van Dam Recital

After ten years or so I finally found this CD while going through boxes. I have yet to see it in print anywhere, so I love the fact that I found it. I do not even see it listed on amazon.com. This disk entitled "Recital" is all French arias from "Don Carlos", "Faust", La Jolie Fille de Perth, Carmen, "Lakme", "Penelope", "Herodiade", "Manon", "Don Quichotte" and a few more. Jose Van Dam in French repertoire is almost always a gem, and that is certainly the case with these selections. The first is King Phillip's monologue from "Don Carlos" in French, and it is a gorgeous and passionate performance. Van Dam's lower register is a little weak for the role itself, but in the French version he has enough benefits to bring to the table anyway such as exquisite diction and phrasing. The second selection "Quand la flamme de l'amour" from Bizet's "La Jolie Fille de Perth" is a perfect fit for Van Dam's voice. It is stunning vocally, with thrilling high notes. The famous Toreador song from "Carmen" with the great shifts from F minor to F major was one of Van Dam's trademarks in his glory days. Escamillo is a core bass-baritone role, and therefore, right up Van Dam's alley. The aria from "Lakme" is the highlight of this CD for me. The aria is practically a baritone aria, and Van Dam sings the high F naturals with ease. Most singers transpose this aria down a step because it sits high vocally. I find the high F naturals difficult in that aria, so I am in awe of how Van Dam sings it. In addition to the great high notes, Van Dam's performance has exquisite diction, passion and phrasing. The next selection "Scintille Diamant" from "Les Contes Hoffman" was another one of Van Dam's signatures in his glory days. This aria is sung by one of the four villains. Van Dam was famous for Hoffman's alter-egos in this opera because of his exquisite French, musicality, and mostly because the four villains are core bass-baritone roles. Van Dam's voice was a true bass-baritone with traits of the baritone and the bass voice in his timbre. Next we turn to Massenet, a composer who Van Dam championed for a long time. The roles of Phanuel, and Comte Des Grieux are roles which he recorded to great effect. His rendition of "Epouse quelque brave fille" from "Manon" is breath support galore. It is the slowest tempo I have heard in the aria, but Van Dam makes it interesting as far as Le Comte giving advice to his son. To my knowledge Van Dam never recorded the baritone role of Athanael in "Thais". However, the aria "Voila donc la terrible cite" is presented here, and it is given a magnificent rendition here which I keep listening to over and over again. I am not sure if Van Dam performed the role of Sancho or not in "Don Quichotte." Sancho's Act III aria where he is defending Don Quichotte is on this compilation, and it is sung gloriously. I highly recommend "Don Quichotte" which is Massenet's last opera. I think some of his best music is in it. This aria which Sancho sings is quite amusing because Don Quixote is crazy and Sancho is defending him and taking it extremely seriously. Van Dam did record the title role of Don Quichotte on EMI for Michel Plasson. I am not familiar with the opera Penelope by Faure, although I am certainly pleased with Van Dam's singing in the aria. The serenade from Gounod's "Faust" is the only set back on this disc because Van Dam sounds too baritonal for the role of Mephistopheles in this version of "Faust". Mephistopheles in Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust" is another story. In addition the laughs in the serenade are too fast, and too manufactured to really work well. Overall, this disc is sensational, and I am sure glad I found my copy. If you are a singer learning French, listen to the French on this disc. Sometimes Van Dam leaves out the schwa sound, but that is either his dialect or his taste. Some French diction teachers may frown on that, but the vowels are extremely clear, and the consonants rapid, late and clear.

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