Customer Reviews

Gods, Kings & Demons (Opera Arias)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rene Pape is gorgeous to look at and to listen to. I've crossed the ocean twice to hear him sing. After years of buying collections and operas so that I could hear one measly aria from him, it's a great treat to have a whole CD of Rene. Many of his iconic arias, like Ella Giamai M'amo from Don Carlo and the great King Marke monologue from Tristan and Isolde are here. But the one I listen to over and over is Act II, Romance: "Na vozdusnom okeane" RUBENSTEIN: Demon. The music is as melodic as Schubert, and the singer as lyrical as the finest tenor. Great emotion pours out through his disciplined voice. If there are any sins in this CD they are ones of omission -- for example, there is no In diesen heil'gen Hallen or O Isis und Osiris, from Magic Flute -- I guess Sarastro isn't a God, King, or Demon. You must own at least one copy of this CD.

Bass-baritones with voices as deep and plush as Rene Pape's rarely become superstars, but he's on the verge, I think. Diehard fans already exist in plenty, and every time his name appears on the bill at the Met for a performance of Tristan, Parsifal, the Magic Flute, or Fidelio, you know that the A-list cast is on. It's nice to see this native Dresdener, now 44, paired with the great Dresden Sttaatskapelle (even if Weigle's conducting is no better than satisfactory).

In keeping with the theme, we start off with three flavors of Mephistopheles by Gounod, Boito, and Berlioz, all of which Pape handles with stylish panache. His voice is so velvety and smoothly produced that he never resorts to barking or melodramatic hamminess. On stage I imagine he would add a few more teeth to his bite, however, and quite a lot more snarl. King Philip's soliloquy from Don Carlo is beautifully sung and touchingly acted.

The one snippet of Pape's noble Wotan taken from Das Rheingold is tantalizing (too bad the conducting is particularly draggy here), but then we get a signature role, King Marke singing the entire Act II monologue. As pure singing and vocal acting, this couldn't be improved on, but once again I msut point out the sagging Weigle, who lets down the orchestral side. The last lengthy extract is Boris's death scene, which Pape keeps on the restrained side -- but how can one complain when such artistry is at work?

Here's the full program:
Berlioz:
Voice des roses (Air de Méphistophélès)

Devant la maison from La Damnation de Faust

Boito:
Ecco il mondo, vuoto e tondo from Mefistofele

Dvorak:
Beda! Beda! - Celý svet nedá ti

Gounod:
Le veau d'or est toujours debout from Faust

Serenade: Vous qui faite l'endormie (Mephistopheles) [from Faust]

Mussorgsky:
Oy, dusno, dusno! - Proscay, moy sïn from Boris Godunov

Offenbach:
Scintille, diamant from Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Rubinstein:
Na vozdushnom okeane

Ne plac', ditya from Demon

Verdi:
Ella giammai m'amò (from Don Carlo)

Wagner:
Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge from Das Rheingold

'Tatest du's wirklich' - King Marke's monologue from Tristan and Isolde

At long last a CD of one of the great voices of our time. I was so thrilled to learn he was finally coming out with this CD and I have been listening to it over and over again since receiving it. I hope he records a Flying Dutchman and Guernamanz in Parsifal. Of course we all eagerly await his Wotan. Thank you Rene for giving us this wonderful recording. We want more.

I wish I could be as impressed as the others who have reviewed this album, but as a fellow bass, I am very critical and this album is fine, but workmanlike and just OK.
The Berlioz doesn't work at all, the Hoffman aria sounds pinched on the final F#, the Don Carlo has great color and suffering only in the soft recit parts, and there is a legato, but no word painting or coloring.I want to be "blown away" and I wasn't .Sorry.And he sounds like a bass-baritone to me as his top blossoms and the bottom is thinner and is not as rich as a true bass should be. Where are the great "true" basses?

Mr. Pape has a great voice. His interpretation's are remarkable. Mr. Pape is a singer's singer!

After seeing many excellent performances of Rene Pape, it was a surprise that we had to wait so long to get his first recital CD. Notice, I am not saying "debut", for he is far too known to be considered a newcomer.
And a great first CD it is.
Conductor Sebastian Weigle has uneven tempos, sometimes way too slow, and it did take away some from the overall enjoyment.
Mr. Pape appears to be a very strong singing actor, never over-emoting, but able to infuse his characters with a healthy doze of passion and style. In particular, his Wotan and King Marke are absolutely wonderful.
As for the voice itself, while smaller and less awe-inspiring than Christoff's, Ghiaurov's, or London's, it's still a capable robust instrument that has a unique ability to soften when needed, producing quite a mesmerizing effect. When playing this CD, I first switch to Wagner, then Verdi, then to Rubinstein and Mussorgsky. Speaking of the latter, the CD does offer a "morsel" - a 1869 version of Boris's Death scene "Proschay, moy syn, umirayu". It's quite a bit different from the well-known Rimsky-Korsakov version both musically and poetically. Alas, whoever sings Fyodor is so awful, she almost ruins it.
An aria from Rusalka is another treat not commonly recorded by bassos and is given a spine-tingling treatment by Pape.
Pape is a young artist, so I look forward to his future releases and performances. But I am also keeping my Ghiaurov and Christoff CD's within easy reach.

I can only add a little story to the other glowing reviews. I haven't become a great Verdi fan so far, though I've heard and watched quite a bit of his work. I love all sorts of other opera, from Monteverdi to Janacek and beyond, but not Verdi...until I heard the Don Carlo track from this new CD. When I first heard it, this singer and this orchestra somehow revealed the music of Verdi to me. I think it's because there's no bombast, no overacting, no wailing or shouting. Pape's power and skill allow him to simply sing, though I'm sure actually doing so is not so simple. I hope I can use the insight provided by Rene Pape to help me unlock more Verdi now.

I have been learning classical singing as a bass for eight years. I bought this CD after seeing Rene Pape being interviewed on television and was interested in adding his voice to my collection of bass singing. I thought the selection of arias was a good selection. It contained some of the standard bass repertoire but a few others not often heard, particularly in Australia, such as ones from Rusalka and the Demon, and I enjoyed the Wotan and King Marke pieces. I felt that the serenade from Faust seemed a little stiff, and wasn't as convincing as say, the recently recorded Erwin Schrott version. I also thought that some of the tempi, particularly that of King Phillip's aria from Don Carlo, and especially the romance from the Demon, were far too slow for my comfort. I far prefer Dmitri Hvorostovsky's version of the Demon arias on his 1994 CD. Rene Pape certainly has a fine singing voice though and the CD is a welcome addition to my collection.

Rene Pape is the preeminent bass baritone of the opera world today. His recent King Marke at the Met was by far the best performance of the night, even with Barenboim's debut. This CD is a good sample of his repertoire.