BY BRIDGET O’BRIEN
Mad for Love
Sumi Jo and José Carbó with Guy Noble
QPAC, 21 July
The decadence was guaranteed the minute I took a seat: a softly lit Steinway sat beneath a cascading garland of wisteria and bluebells. To vigorous applause, Sumi Jo emerged in her first of four dresses, an elegant crimson – frivolous frills elevated a notch with each costume change. (Check out her photoblog to see why she loves these dresses.)
The program opened with Benedict’s La Capinera, Purcell’s Music for a while and Auber’s C’est l’histoire amoureuse. Jo’s coloratura and presentation of vocal mastery blossomed, like the flowers overhead, from an enthralling pianissimo that glistened and grew into something as earthy as it was otherworldly.
The entirety of QPAC’s Concert Hall audience was showered in a fresh and cosy awe, and was welcomed by pianist Guy Noble’s eloquence and candour. In announcing José Carbó performing Rossini’s Largo al Factotum, Noble described Figaro’s pesky nosiness as like an 18th Century Elon Musk!
Even though Carbó began the aria off stage, his gusto and fullness of tone echoed grandly, in rattling contrast to the soprano. In the absence of an orchestra, sets, and costumes, Carbó’s Figaro was generously theatrical, punctuated with class and comedy. The romantic and dramatic yearning in his tone found hearteningly diverse colours through each piece.
Jo’s infinitesimal squillo married pleasantly with Carbó’s charisma in their first duet, a comical piece from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, showcasing a rendered and coquettish charm in Jo. The cuteness peaked at the final cadence, the two high-fiving before a bow – the audience was surely endeared by this point, had they not been already. Jo performed a handful of Korean folksongs with heart-wrenching passion, and indulged so gloriously in the ornate and ethereal a cappella melismas of Alabiev’s Nightingale.
A highlight of Carbó’s performance was his tantalising decision to enjoy the high notes in Korngold’s Mein Sehnen, Mein Wehnen, in full voice, until the final poignant phrase which he delivered in a gracious falsetto. Having been recently addicted to a Klaus Florian Vogt recording of this piece, my expectations stood high, and Carbó’s rendition disintegrated me into full-body goosebumps.
Thanks to a standing ovation, we were gifted with a throng of encores, among them some favourites that mightn’t have flattered as well as earlier pieces did (like Jo’s performance of O mio babbino caro). But she reminded us of her winning magnetism in a pairing of champagne-like coloratura with seductive and hilarious facial stroking in a Lehar duet.
The median age of ‘classical’ audience members dropped in this performance by about 15 years. The notion of Jo’s celebrity is encouraging, with hoards of consumers in ardent attendance for a voice of truly incandescent calibre.
Images supplied.
