Friday, August 17, 2012

Erwin Schrott Impresses In Latest CD Release

I walked into Princeton Record Exchange and started browsing the classical cd section, and found this latest cd release from bass-baritone Erwin Schrott.  After seeing him and hearing him in "Don Giovanni" at the Metropolitan Opera in 2008, I was wondering what happened to this handsome guy with tremendous potential.  Fortunately this latest recital of arias from the bass-baritone repertoire represents Schrott living up to his potential.   Schrott opens with "Scintille Diamant" from "Les Contes des Hoffman." Vocally, he is very impressive, singing both optional high G sharps.  This aria is even high for a lyric baritone, so it is quite impressive that Schrott recorded it in the original key.  However, his French is not good at all.   He stresses wrong syllables and songs e instead of schwa sounds.  The Toreador song which follows is solid from bottom to top, but also has bad French.  Schrott is well cut out for the bull fighter Escamillo in voice and stature.  Like most singers who record Don Quichotte's death scene from Massenet's score, Schrott sings both Sancho and Don Quichotte in the recording.  It is a very moving performance with a nice contribution from Rinat Shaham.  Schrott's performance of "The Song of the Golden Calf" from Gounod's "Faust" is good vocally, but I found myself looking for a darker voice like Samuel Ramey.       Recording early Verdi on this recital was a wise choice for Schrott.  He fits the excerpts from "I Lombardi" and "Atilla" very well.  Both of these early Verdi operas represent Verdi continuing in the style of Bellini and Donizetti, but increasing the size of the orchestra and raising the tessitura in the vocal line.  Schrott's voice has traces of the baritone and bass voices, which is the definition of the bass-baritone fach.  Schrott sounds very at home in this repertoire because of his impressive vocalism and legato in Italian.  There are some bizarre key modulations in the excerpts from "I Lombardi" from A major to C major.  The role of Atilla works surprisingly well in Schrott's voice. My surprise is based on the fact that although, Atilla is high, usually true basses sing the role. Bass-baritones and lyric basses are slightly different.  Great dark color at the beginning of the aria, representing the fear behind it.  I also enjoyed all the excerpts from Boito's "Mefistofele", including the chorus "Ave Signor." Schrott's voice is very powerful in these excerpts, but I am looking for more of a real bass voice for this role.  There is no such thing as a bass-baritone in Italy, but some of the repertoire fits the bass-baritone voice quite well.  The early Verdi excerpts fit Schrott's instrument extremely well, whereas, he sounds a little too much like a baritone in the "Mefistophele" excerpts.       The best performance on this CD is "Di Sposo di Padre" from "Salvator Rosa." I am not familiar with this work by Gomez at all, but love this aria, and the passion Schrott puts into his rendition.  Schrott sounds like he would be a convincing Scarpia based on his performance of the "Te Deum" here.  Certain people at the Met need to retire the role of Scarpia, and let younger people take over.  I think Schrott could do it, if he sings to his potential, like he does on this CD.  I have seen other excepts of Schrott on YouTube which do not impress me very much at all, but this CD is quite impressive indeed.  I recommend it. The complete track listing is as follows:  1 Scintille, diamant (from Les contes d'Hoffmann)  2 Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre (from Carmen)  3 Le veau d'or (from Faust)  4 2nd Interlude (from Don Quichotte)  5 O mon maître, o mon grand! (from Don Quichotte)  6 A te nell'ora infausta (from I Lombardi)  7 Sciagurata (from I Lombardi)  8 Mentre gonfiarsi l'anima (from Attila)  9 Ave Signor (Chorus) (from Mefistofele)  10 Ave Signor (from Mefistofele)  11 Son lo spirito che nega (from Mefistofele)  12 Ecco il mondo (from Mefistofele)  13 Di sposo, di padre (from Salvator Rosa)  14 No te acerques no me persigas (from La Tabernera del Puerto)  15 Despierta negro (from La Tabernera del Puerto)  16 Tre sbirri, una carozza... (Te Deum) (from Tosca)

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