Just browse the header and you realize that this programme requires
a soprano with exceptional technique, stamina, height and beauty
of tone. Luonnotar and to some extent the Hamlet
mad scene also need someone with text interpretative abilities.
Where is the rare bird to accomplish all this? Anu Komsi, maybe?
I knew her name and have seen some rave reviews but although
a frequent visitor to Finland I have never heard her in the
flesh - not so strange after all since she has probably been
somewhere else in the world, having a busy international career.
The Glière concerto was a good starting point since it
is wordless and one can concentrate on the voice alone. It is
a large voice, not the nightingale kind like Erna Sack, Rita
Streich or, nearer our own time, Sumi Jo. Komsi’s is more
in the Cheryl Studer mould. The timbre is beautiful, she has
a good trill and, when we reach the second movement of the concerto,
her coloratura technique is plainly stunning with pinpoint articulation
of the staccato notes.
When we come to the two famous French arias she also shows fine
sensitivity to the texts. In Lakmé this is of
less importance, everybody just waits for the bell imitation,
which is almost in the Sutherland class, thought the final high
note is somewhat pinched. As Ophelia in Hamlet she sings
with obvious affection - she is mad but not insane, her madness
is more civilized, if you see what I mean - and the Pale
et blonde section is really beautifully conceived. This,
by the way, is a Swedish folksong, which Thomas incorporated
in the scene as a tribute to the first Ophelia, the Swedish
soprano Kristina Nilsson. It wasn’t just a random tribute.
The folksong is about Näcken, a water-sprite in
old folklore, who entices people down into the water - that’s
where Ophelia is going.
In Alyabyev’s The Nightingale, she lightens the
voice further, while in Der Hölle Rache her power
reserve makes her one of the most demonic and threatening Queens
of the Night.
All this is very impressive, but is there a hang-up? I think
so. Unless my ears deceive me she has a tendency to slide up
to certain notes, leading to a feeling of unstable intonation.
This occurs in several places in the Glière and it happens
also occasionally in the Thomas and Delibes. Different listeners
react differently to such imperfections and there is so much
here that is terribly good.
The two final numbers stand out from the rest of the programme
for several reasons. John Zorn’s monodrama La Machine
de l’être in three movements, premiered as recently
as March 2011 at New York City Opera, is wordless. Its title
is from a drawing by French playwright Antonin Artaud, the creator
of “Theatre of Cruelty”. With no words there is
no plot and the story of this drama is in the voice; rather
the exploration of the possibilities of the soprano voice in
its extremes is the drama. It is a fascinating drama
which gets its dénouement in an uproarious and daring
final act, concluded with a horrible shriek. This isn’t
music for the fainthearted but it is an impressive triumph for
Anu Komsi’s fearless vocalism.
Even greater things will come. As far removed from superficial
vocal display as possible is Sibelius’s Luonnotar.
It is a symphonic poem for soprano and orchestra, dedicated
to the great Finnish singer Aino Ackté, who also premiered
the work at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester in September
1913. The text is from the first part of the Kalevala
and is about the creation of the world. It is by many regarded
as one of Sibelius’s best compositions but it is also
a terribly challenging work for the soprano. The tessitura is
high and takes her up to a C flat, there are difficult leaps
and in the midst of all this she also has to negotiate the verbosity
of the text. I have long admired Mari-Ann Häggander’s
recording of the work (also on BIS), but here is a version that
not only challenges it but even surpasses it. It is not just
a question of technique but of interpretation: so many nuances,
such depth of involvement.
Luonnotar is without doubt the musical masterwork here
and Anu Komsi’s reading of it is alone worth the price
of the disc. The Lahti Symphony Orchestra has for many years
been one of the foremost orchestras in Europe. Sakari Oramo,
Anu Komsi’s husband, gives idiomatic readings of all the
music. In spite of my reservations there is a lot to admire
on this disc.
Göran Forsling
Track Listing
Reinhold GLIÈRE (1875
- 1956)
Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra in F minor, Op.
82 (1943) [14:11]
Ambroise THOMAS (1811
- 1896)
Scène et air d’Ophélie (Mad Scene from Hamlet,
act V) [12:21]
Leo DELIBES (1836 - 1891)
Air des clochettes (The Bell Song from Lakmé, act II)
[8:47]
Alexander ALYABYEV (1787
- 1851)
Solovei (The Nightingale) (orch. Eero Koskimies) [5:13]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
(1756 - 1791)
Der Hölle Rache (Aria of the Queen of the Night from Die
Zauberflöte, act II) [3:06]
John ZORN (b. 1953)
La Machine de l’être - a monodrama [11:36]:-
I. tetème [4:09]
II. le révelé [3:26]
III. entremêlés [4:00]
Jean SIBELIUS (1865 -
1957)
Luonnotar, Op. 70 (1913) [9:09]
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Anu Komsi (soprano) 
BIS-SACD-1962
[66:27] 