Led by chef Anja Bihlmaier, the Residentie Orkest played a creditable Requiem from Verdi. Nice: the ‘Dies irae’, after all the piece of ultimate classical music thunder that you look forward to in the foyer and which comes soon, sounds delicious. Tight, at an evenly predictable tempo so you can safely fantasize yourself behind the bass drum for that booming syncope beat. The cold light that illuminates the stage in the Amare concert hall sharpens everything. Bihlmaier maintains that steady and predictable character throughout the evening. Solid, sturdy, with (sometimes just a little too) little room for elegance.
In the new hall, a choir has to sing from the first balcony above the stage, which sounds extra ‘honest’ in the already direct hall acoustics (the reverberation dampens remarkably quickly to a simmering level and then lingers for a short time); the choir Laurens Symfonisch can handle this very well. Their piece a cappella in the ‘Libera me’, for example, sounds beautifully carried and exciting.
Also read this interview with Anja Bihlmaier: ‘I’m the type who thinks you should do everything, and do it right’
But the orchestra and choir can still play, sing and play creditably, if there are four singers in front of them whose voices do not match and who also hardly want to listen to each other in duets and quartets, then it is difficult for the audience to pay attention. to hold on. Guanqun Yu has a beautiful, clear soprano, but her erratic vibrato often slips up and down. Oksana Volkova is also an extremely dramatic mezzo-soprano, whose voice breaks into a raw growl in the low range and who, most annoyingly, does not articulate. She hardly distinguishes between vowels, she simply skips consonants. Her ‘Liber scriptus’ looks like a warm-up exercise.
Tenor Matteo Lippi is still the best, although he only knows two colours: either softly pleading with false air or hard with a pinched throat. Bass-baritone Milan Siljanov has a nice mild sound, but sings apologetically. In his ‘Confutatis’ you expect a parenthesis like ‘provided it suits you’ at any moment. It entertains, but not in the most desirable way.