Review - Kirill Petrenko and the Bavarian State Orchestra, NHK Concert Hall Tokyo, 1 October 2017

Das Knaben Wunderhorn (Mahler)
Act 1 from Die Walküre (Wagner)

Matthias Goerne (Baritone)
Klaus Florian Vogt (Siegmund)
Elena Pankratova (Sieglinde)
Georg Zeppenfeld (Hunding)
Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Kirill Petrenko (Conductor)

This concert marked the end of this year Munich Opera's tour in Tokyo, which staged performances of Tannhaüser and Magic Flute were given the week prior. First half featured Mahler's songs set to poems from the youth's magic horn, which contemplate between melancholy, death and afterlife. A fine selection but not always favourable to Goerne's timbre, and some questionable whether
effective at such lower vocal range. The orchestral playing was fraction behind Petrenko's conducting in the slow danced Rheinlegenchen. It felt rather out of place when the phrasing and coordination did not come together naturally. The second song, Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen, showed the best side of Goerne's singing through the tender and lyrical vocal lines. The strings flowed better than the winds, which still not together under Petrenko's indication. Fanfare from horns and trumpets at the coda was sight reading like and the produced sound felt uncertain.

Though the other way round in the third song, Das irdische Leben, which Goerne dragged behind the dramatic yet melancholy orchestral accompaniment. His tone colour was dense for the majestic and more positive 'Urlicht'. Despite the orchestra gave a warm and sweet playing, Goerne adopted a rather slower tempo than with the forward momentum Petrenko tried to indicate in his conducting. The orchestra became rather restrained during the witty waltz driving 'Verlor'ne Müh', whereas Goerne gave a more humorous rendition in a brighter tone than before. The rather uplifting 'Revelge' in the style of a march was the most symphonic and loudness of the selections. Here both orchestral and vocal had more grip to the performing style. Goerne brightened up his singing to enhance the vocal clarity, whereas the orchestra gave a majestic and lively rendition. Musically the last movement, Der Tamboursg'sell, was the most gloomy of all. Vocal range was rather low, and Goerne changed his timbre into a rather dark and covered tone. The woodwinds instead sustained more warmth in contrast with some beautiful duets from the cor anglais and oboe.

The dramatic orchestral introduction to Die Walküre was played tidily but lacked intensity due to the vast hall acoustic. Intonation of Elena Pankratova's entry at first was on the verge of going flat but as the vocal range climbed her tuning improved. Though she employed a rather covered tone and heavy vibrato on the top notes in compare to Klaus Florian Vogt, who sang much brighter vowels in a relaxed voice. He phrased the music poetically and carried the projection that rang throughout the hall. The cello trios played the affection theme beautifully and gradually drove the emotions forward. Despite not much to sing, Georg Zeppenfeld sang in a ringing bass tone with the clarity in diction. He gave the authoritative impression of Hunding to force Siegmund actual identity. Vogt in turn conveyed the emotions through Siegmund' s recalling the past and developed into a dramatic response. The cello and bass gave a clean and precise attacks to create the climatic tension of the men hunt motive.

Gloominess was lightened by the appearance of Notung motive and the music became more hopeful as it went. The return of Sieglinde saw Pankratova's improvement in her intonation but diction still not clear compare to her two colleagues. As music became more intensive and exciting, she seems far from able to sustain the vocal energy. At Winterstürme, Vogt's singing flowed naturally in the ebb and flow of emotions than the orchestra. As the ecstasy of affection between the Wölsung grew, the orchestra played gloriously along including some majestic horns' passages. Vogt sang with even more confidence and crystal clear on the text compare to Pankratova's worrying Sieglinde. Blazing brass when Siegmund pulled Notung out of the tree and Vogt displayed endlessly vocal power for a resounding finale. As a whole, I felt Petrenko had more grip and thoughts in conducting the Wagner than the Mahler in first half. The orchestra too sounded more focused in shaping the music at the second half. In sum, a very polished performance but far from a dramatic deliverance.