Dissing Renee Fleming

I was amused by Sieglinde's very bitchy take on Renee.

If I had read it a few weeks ago, I would have been outraged at the bitchiness.

Then I went to her recital at the Barbican. Very disappointing. So disappointing, I walked out at the interval, fearing that otherwise I might have lost the will to live.

At the time I didn't review it here, leaving my sore words to rmo.

But why not stick it in here:

Quite frankly, I think I would have preferred to have heard a Cheryl Studer recital.

The first half consisted of some Purcell. (The Blessed Virgin's
Expostulation; Sweeter than Roses, from /Pausanias; /I Take No Pleasure
in the Sun's Bright Beams;
I Attempt From Love's Sickness to Fly, from Indian Queen; Oh, Let Me
Weep. from The Fairy Queen).

What would the headline be: "Fleming Comes to London and Murders
Purcell". Actually, it wasn't bad, it's just that it was no better than
one would expect to hear on the provincial semi-pro circuit.

Then there was Apparition by George Crumb. I have tremendous respect
intellectually for someone who decides to perform such banal pretentious
unmusical drivel. Walking through the bar I heard a fragment of
conversation "It was *performed* beautifully". Steady on, I thought:
yes, her voice sounded better in this than in the Purcell, but by then I
decided I wasn't going to sit through unfamiliar Previn and Berg on the
off-chance that the Schumann might sound nice. Or, in the words of
another overheard fragment "The first half of the first half was okay. Ish."

And as I was leaving the PA announced "Ladies and gentleman, please
take your seats in the Barbican Theatre, the second half of Michael
Clarke is about to begin."

Michael Clarke! I thought. Bad call. I did wonder if I could swap my
Renee Fleming ticket for a Michael Clarke ticket. But by then, I was
disengaged and uninterested. Oh well, some you win, some you lose.

and later:

There were a number of factors that added up to dismal. There's a particular quality I really like in Baroque singing, especially on the trills and ornamentations, which has a certain effortless sound to it (even though, no doubt, the singers have worked hard at achieving that), a sort of floatiness. Ms Fleming's sounded effortful and forced. From the middle of the range down the voice sounded very thick and too heavy with overtones. Her diction was absolutely appalling, with indistinct to non-existent consonants coupled with mangled vowels. The top sounded almost screechy, when it was audible, because most of the higher notes seemed to be taken sotto voce. And it did cross my mind that she seemed to be parodying a sort of Purcell-gospel crossover. Frankly, I did not hear one note that I could say was beautiful. And I felt that she was attempting to project a sense of drama that just came over as rather am-drams OTT. I didn't feel that any of it was coming from within. Lack of an Inner Voice perhaps.

The Crump was just a gimmicky mess, I'm afraid. Lack of anything that
resembled a melody, and when it includes whispering into the body of an
amplified piano, well, I'm not really sure what that was about.

I will freely concede that one's concert-going experience can be
affected by a whole range of factors such as the environment of the hall
or indeed how one is generally feeling. But there were no obvious
factors I can identify - the temperature of the hall was just fine, it's
a hall I know well, I'd had a good day at work and a decent journey, I
was feeling physically fine and was quite mellow and had been looking
forward to the concert. I've heard her before doing arias and liked her,
and I have a CD of her arias that I often play and definitely enjoy, and
I have a couple of performances on DVD or video which I find satisfactory.

But last week I was heard a gorgeous performance by a gorgeous soprano,
with a crystal-like effortless voice with shimmering coloratura and
immense musicality, and Renee Fleming, in contrast, just came over as
third rate. There are plenty of third rate sopranos around who turn in
creditable performances on the concert circuit, but when someone is
billed in a "Great Performers" series, I expect them to be something a
little bit special. I'm afraid I was just left with the feeling of
someone who is over-hyped. And I shrugged.