Storytelling Andreas Scholl Has Rheingau Audience Spellbound
© Ansgar Klostermann
What a return! Andreas Scholl, the most admired performing artist from Germany’s Rheingau region, gave a recital at the Rheingau Music Festival together with his wife, Israeli pianist Tamar Halperin. At the Unionskirche of Idstein, they presented a programme of English folksongs and related works, with Andreas Scholl leading the mesmerized audience through the programme with comments about the works they presented, and the life of a singer whose priority has always been the words that had been set to music.
“A star who questions his profession” was the headline for the critic from the Wiesbadener Kurier: In all this, “Scholl still remains a countertenor, but rejecting all vocal acrobatics in the high register, he gave the songs a lyrical, intimate character that fits well with the traditions of Anglo-Saxon folklore,” he wrote.
“One wants to touch one’s own nose (or ear): We often admire the voice of a singer, rave about the coloratura, lose ourselves in bel canto – but do we always know what he or she is singing about? And isn’t that just as important? Yes, says Andreas Scholl.”