When last October Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlos was shown in the Alexander Theater, Timo Riihonen was supposed to sing the role of King Philip, but he had caught a flu, so that he only acted to role. Therefore I could not hear the duet between Ryhänen’s Grand Inquisitor and Riihonen’s King Philip. Frustrated by this, I immediately bought a ticket their joint January concert (Two basses – generations meet) in Tapiola Hall. And it was a good thing that I bought the ticket.
You could notice the excellent teamwork between these two basses already in their first number - Vestmanviikin balladi (the Ballad of Vestmanvik) from Aulis Sallinen’s opera The Red Line. The whole performance was humorously circling around the concept of an old master (Ryhänen) and a young apprentice (Riihonen). The first part of the concert contained Finnish songs (mostly from Toivo Kuula and Oskar Merikanto) and between the two parts the pianist Marko Hilpo played Brahms. Very nice, but felt also a bit redundant.
The second part of the concert was dedicated to opera. Two numbers were on my wish list above others. First, Gremin’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin sung by Riihonen. I was a bit disappointed, since I had hoped the aria would have been performed by Ryhänen. This aria, in my opinion, requires depth and maturity, which I thought Ryhänen would have had plenty. Riihonen’s Gremin was perhaps a little bit light, even though he has a fine voice. I am looking forward to his Gremin in 15-20 years.
The second number I was eagerly waiting for was the above mentioned Don Carlos (well, actually Don Carlo, since it was in Italian). First Riihonen sang Philip’s monologue. So beautiful! And after that came the duet we had all looked forward to. To finally hear Ryhänen as the Grand Inquisitor and Riihonen as King Philip was erasing some of the disappointment from October, though I have to say that Ryhänen was even better in the duet in October compared to now.
The basses sang one encore “Elämälle” (To life) by Oskar Merikanto. At their best the bass masters were when they sang together. Both are excellent performers and they have good voices. Ryhänen’s voice is in astounding condition taking into account his age, even though it seemed that he had a bit of a flu on Sunday. Riihonen, on the other hand, is continuing the honourable path of great Finnish basses on international stages. I hope I will have a chance to see him regularly in future, too. It would be great to hear the further development of his voice.
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti