Search - Juha Uusitalo, Richard [Classical] Wagner, Leif Segerstam :: The Wagner Album

Juha Uusitalo, Richard [Classical] Wagner, Leif Segerstam
The Wagner Album
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (7) - Disc #1
1. Der fliegende Holländer: Overture
2. "Die Frist ist um"
3. Parsifal: "Nein! Laβt ihn unenthüllt" - "Wehvolles Erbe, dem ich verfallen"
4. "Ja, Wehe! Wehe! Weh' über mich!"
5. Tannhäuser: "Wie Todesahnung Dämmrung deckt die Lande - O du, mein holder Abendstern"
6. Siegfried: "Dir Unweisen ruf' ich's ins Ohr"
7. Die Walküre: "Leb' wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind!"

CD Details

All Artists: Juha Uusitalo, Richard [Classical] Wagner, Leif Segerstam, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Title: The Wagner Album
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Ondine
Original Release Date: 1/1/2008
Re-Release Date: 9/23/2008
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera & Classical Vocal
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 761195112120

Synopsis

Album Description

Finnish bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo's first aria album features the best-known arias for male voice from Wagner's operas, including the popular "Song to the Evening Star" from Tannhäuser. Described by the Financial Times in July 2007 as "a titan (...), with a huge yet cultivated sound and truck-loads of charisma set to conquer the opera world," Uusitalo has quickly established himself as the leading Wagnerian bassbaritone of his generation. In autumn 2007, he sang Wotan at the Vienna Staatsoper in several acclaimed performances, and, under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst, he will star in the complete Ring cycle through 2009. In September 2008, Juha Uusitalo will make his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera as John the Baptist in Richard Strauss's Salome, opposite Karita Mattila in the title role. On his debut album, Juha Uusitalo is accompanied by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of its Emeritus Chief Conductor Leif Segerstam.

CD Reviews

Is this the next Wotan?

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 10/05/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the opera world it's expected that Finland will keep producing one giant, commanding bass after another, in the tradition of Martti Talvela and Matti Salminen. The latest candidate is Juha Uusitalo, by all reports a charmismatic figure on stage. He sings with a charismatic voice, too, full of intensity. It's not a true Slavic bass, more a dark-hued baritone, and I'm not sure the timbre fits noble roles like Wotan -- Uusitalo sounds more like a natural Alberich or Fafner. He suffers convincingly as the Dutchman, though, and the grain in his voice, which has some of Talvela's resin, makes it soulful.

At this point the main lack is individuality. Amfortas sounds just like Wotan, Wolfram, and the Dutchman. Uusitalo becomes more lyrical in the 'Ode to the Evening Star' form Tannhauser but retains the same sobs and nasal twang as elsewhere. The voice's most prominent asset is sheer power and raw emotionality -- those should serve him well on the world's major opera stages. Leif Segerstam, whom I greatly admire in Sibelius, proves a spotty Wanger conductor, but this CD is all about a rising Wotan. On that score, it was intriguing in its future promise.

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