The Gstaad New Year Music Festival could have been disillusioned this weekend with the withdrawal of a young South Tyrolean baritone, Andrè Schuen, eagerly awaited in The Winter Journey by Schubert. But fortunately, artistic director Caroline Murat was able to call on another singer present on site. Tenor Freddie De Tommaso has agreed to replace Andrè Schuen on the deboot at the Lauenen church. It was an opportunity to hear this Anglo-Italian tenor in something completely different: an anthology of Italian opera arias and Neapolitan arias.
Freddie De Tommaso appeared, in fact, more relaxed and natural on Saturday evening, when he occupied the stage alone at the Lauenen church, than on Friday at the Rougemont church, where he shared the stage with the Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen. However, these two know each other having sung together several times on major opera stages, notably in Tosca by Puccini recently at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. But, as the Norwegian singer is very tall and a head taller than the Anglo-Italian tenor, it is a little strange to see them together on stage – let’s say that we could find a better matched couple theatrically.
Lise Davidsen, an eminently Wagnerian soprano
At 37, Lise Davidsen is one of the most sought-after singers of the moment. Its resources are considerable, almost too much for the church of Rougemont with its relatively cramped space. The timbre is opulent, homogeneous, with laser-projected high notes. In the famous air You, dear Halletaken from Tannhäuser, we admire the brilliance of the voice and this timbre so eminently Wagnerian. It showcases a rich range of colors in the magnificent Return victorious! taken fromAida, by Verdi: she constructs the sequences and creates suspended high notes. She is stunning in melodies by Edvard Grieg. In the poignant Art lives of Tosca, the voice unfolds and blossoms in dynamic stages. She also sings the hit I Could Have Danced All Nighttaken from My Fair Lady.
The Norwegian soprano appears at ease in the role of the jealous and capricious singer Tosca, although a bit generic, opposite Freddie De Tommaso as Mario Cavaradossi, a little awkward on stage and with a tendency to push his voice. The tenor touches us more in the Federico’s lament of The Arlesiana by Francesco Cilea, where his dark colors, nostalgic in scope, and his tearful accents, work wonders. It will seem even more inspired to us in this same tune on Saturday evening, with the very sensitive James Baillieu on the piano.
The dark and full-bodied timbre of Freddie De Tommaso
Freddie De Tommaso has a dramatic tenor voice, solidly built, with a dark and full-bodied timbre. The frankness of the broadcast, the slightly “baritone” colors of his voice and the coppery bursts lead him towards Puccini and verismo. His bravura accents still seem a little excessive here and there, but he also knows how to internalize his singing as in three melodies by Francesco Paolo Tosti and a selection of Neapolitan airs. We admire the legato, the conduct of the line and this way of letting the voice die out gently, at the end of certain phrases.
The Anglo-Italian tenor also has scathing high notes, but of a color quite different from those of the Chilean tenor Jonathan Tetelman, with a clear, sunny and ardent voice. The Gstaad New Year Music Festival will once again present the Italian soprano Maria Teresa Leva (January 6) followed by young talents and the jazz pianist Paul Lay to close the festival.
19th Gstaad New Year Music Festival, until 11 January.
