Schöffler, Greindl, Ridderbusch, Crass, of recent Pape...all the great singers of the part of Hans Sachs have their merits. But this is special. Terfel s pronunciation is perfect, the tone of his bass-baritone even more articulate and suited in contrast to Pogner and other meistersinger than the typical bass voice. Terfel s specific quality is the combination of vocal power, elegant and matchles legato, beauty of tone and line and recognizable individuality.
Hear! hear! He sang this at the Cardiff Singer of the Year contest years ago where he got the Lieder prize but should have been crowned Absolute No. 1. The musical intelligence which informed his performance then and there, as here, was astounding; and all this realized by ideal technique - and of course having a perfect vocal mechanism genetically (but being Welsh helps account for that!).
Terfel war sehr gut, wie er jung war. Im Alter macht er erstens seltsame Grimassen, was auf eine eher nicht so ganz solide Technik schließen lässt, und zum anderen klingt seine Stimme jetzt etwas angeschnitten, flach, zum Teil etwas zu eingebildet. Manche Klänge sind sehr gut, aber nicht durchgehend. Man höre sich diese Arie mit Hans Hotter oder George London an, andere Welt...
