Interview with Chandos Records

upon the release of Gerry’s CD of Great Opera Arias.

16 February 2010

Click cover for CD details

Could you write some words on the process of choosing repertoire for your solo arias disc?

It was a joy to look at what would be suitable repertoire for this disc. Sir Peter Moores gave me great support in the final choices since it is part of the series that he supports with his Foundation. I was keen to do arias that I have been associated within the English repertoire and offer some direction for listeners who are interested in what I still have yet to perform. John Adam’s Batter My Heart from Dr. Atomic was an obvious choice. There is no recording of it as yet and I wanted to include it since it was fresh in memory and voice, and J. Robert Oppenheimer is a signature role of mine… Mark Anthony Turnage’s Silver Tassie has been a treasure of mine for many years, and I wanted certainly to include that. My joy at singing past repertoire is also influencing my choice for future repertoire, and although my performing has not as yet included Sachs and Wolfram, they are very much to be part of my future. Iago and Scarpia seem a perfect fit for my growing voice, both in size and colour and from Weber’s Euryanthe, Lysiart’s aria allows the dramatic element of my performing to be presented. Escamillo and Don Giovanni I have known for my whole career, and the pleasure for me of including Some Enchanted Evening could not be ignored. Robert’s aria from Iolanta seemed a natural start to the CD – it was wonderful to sing! There were other arias that we could not include due to time, including more Mozart and Handel, but maybe there might be a further chance to sing them….

Secondly, why it is important to have recorded an album in the English language, and what challenges does this bring to the artist?

The essential element of the performer’s art is communication, and I have always wanted to share the emotion of the character with the audience through the music. For English speaking audiences, in whose theatres I perform most often, there is always a greater sense of understanding when sung in English, and the vernacular is very important to their experience of the music and drama. When offered in good and sensitive translation, the singing can only enhance the music’s power. When learning arias it is usual for the singer to prepare them first in the original language so as to understand the composer’s motivation for lyrical response and dramatic highlight. Singing in English does have its challenges, particularly in Italian repertoire which is mostly vowel orientated. Rhymes can be a little clunky, and the English dipthong needs to be carefully handled. German grammar is tough to sort out since many verbs wait til the end of the sentence. When singing in translation, it is important to try to respect key moments in the music, adjust vowels and consonants so that they sound beautiful. I found all the translations on this CD to be sensitive, and I hope that they seem natural and sensitively delivered. Of course, when English is the language set by the composer, it makes the singer’s job that much easier!

And finally, how is preparing for an album different from preparing for a live performance?

Recording over 70 minutes of music in five three-hour sessions back to back is a big challenge! You have to be on excellent singing form, and choose the order of recording very carefully. Of course you have to do the chorus bits on one day, so that is fixed. One sings for up to 6 hours each day at full power. Normally, in a performance, spaced every few days, that would be at most only an hour and a half, even in the bigger roles. So a bit like a marathon, you have to put in the training, do a big run a few days before, and on the third and fourth day of recording, find resources that you didn’t think you had! Ed Gardner, the LPO and the Chandos recording team were wonderful supports along the way, giving encouragement and water to keep me going! You know that you will listen to these tracks many years away so the effort at getting them just right can be very demanding. However, it was certainly worth the effort, and it was so wonderful to sing all this gorgeous music. A dream!

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