Karjalainen 18.07.2006 o The Savonlinna Opera Festival

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Karjalainen newspaper, 18.07.2006

The Savonlinna Opera Festival

Hit cavalcade was well received
Heavyprincess and the old-timer of opera conquered the audience

Tarja Turunen ja Raimo Sirkiä: Concert at Savonlinna Opera Festival 16.7.

Savonlinna Opera Festival takes a long leap in the road over the genre borders in the concert starring Tarja Turunen and Raimo Sirkiä. Followed by decent visibility in media the concert was made up with guaranteed audience-friendly ingredients. Right in the beginning Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" prelude gets a go in Kirmo Lintinen's jazzy arrangement featuring conductor Riku Niemi's brilliance in his vibraphone solo. By the next number "Phantom of the Opera" the soloists enter the stage and the same time the problems of the evening begin to appear.

The orchestra of the night, Kuopio City Orchestra has been added with Riku Niemi electric combo. Turunen and Sirkiä are singing with microphones, and using headsets in their more classical parts of the concert. When the volume increases the singers are overshadowed by the instruments. And even if the singing still can be heard, the lyrics are lost. During the most massive parts of "Phantom Of The Opera" I'm missing ear plugs and the decibel police. It happens so that this combination with the technics they use for the chosen songs cannot be balanced in the stone wall acoustics of Olavinlinna.

Riku Niemi's magic circle

The conductor of the concert, Riku Niemi is known as a productive multi-skilled handyman of lighter music. Seen through classical eyes his conducting technique looks quite wild. But as a thorough musician and knowing his trade he manages to transfer his ideas very well to the orchestra. His own backing combo helps him to keep the swing in the pace.

During the night Niemi appears to be the primus motor of the concert and in addition, a real stage-lion. He is definitely the force keeping track of the marching order and holding everything together. He seems to posess remarkable means of communicating with the audience both verbally and by playing and also by mimicking. As an obviously talented pantomime artist he propably would be able to make the audience applaud and cheer before a single note has been played or sung, not to speak about the moment when the "Freestyler"-show was on it's best. (Edit. "Freestyler" is a million selling techno song by Finnish artist Darude a few years back.)

Thinking about the wide variety of styles ranging from opera favourites to Nightwish-world the conduct work is very professional. It is welcome to see Tuomas Holopainen's appreciated compositions step on new stages. "Moondance", "Two For Tragedy", "Angels Fall First" and "Beauty Of The Beast" arranged by Kalevi Olli work magnificent. It is a pity that the instrument arsenal very much overshadows the lyrics and blurs the entirety. The fine melodies and world of chords are transmitted, but the tender athmospheres of the original Nightwish recordings, the distinguished power, as well as working balances cannot be reached with these acoustic solutions.

The aforementined parts of the program is naturally the best reachable for Tarja Turunen. Her singing is the most relaxed right in her most familiar repertoire and she is at her best in the last number of the concert, "Beauty Of The Beast". If the singer wishes to continue in her most familiar repertoire, there will always be a different team of musicians she has to cope with. For how long this road will take her, time will tell.

Heat of the success melodies

When a heavy metal star and an opera hero who has a background of a large number of gigs in lighter music get singing together, there are signs of public favour readily seen in the air but also questions that bother professionals in the trade. Questions arised by thoughts about the vocals are positively solved by using microphones, which both singers' voice rather eagerly make benefit. Popular program hugs the listeners.

Tarja Turunen has a beautifully colored, luminous voice with a kind of warm and sunny substance. With sound amplification Turunen is able to bring up the best sides of her instrument. The audience is obviously also enchanted by the classical and musical songs. Her one-sided stage performance includes repeated manoeuvres by hands and body, something which will neither serve the interpretation nor the forming of sound. Thinking about the opera roles she wishes to have, Turunen has still a great deal of work to do in studying both singing and stage performance, like I recall the sincer herself in various circumstances have said. But the basic technique is in good shape, the voice is beautiful and the public favour, thinking about the full picture, is big enough to be scaring.

Burdened with the title of the Opera Festival's Artistic Manager the tenor of Raimo Sirkiä belts out his best sides benefitting the microphones. His voice flows glowing in the especially well fitting songs - not remembering the worries in "Tännhäuser". (Edit: He got criticism due his voice troubles while performing "Tannhäuser" last winter at the Finnish National Opera.) Rock and roll runs tight in the festival leader's "Proud Mary". The romantic numbers sung together by Turunen and Sirkiä fire up the audience as awaited.

Crossover for the crossover audience

An entertaining and many-faced concert entirety, somewhat flirting with the audience, deserves the applauds. Measuring by the applauds and cheers, besides the favoured performers and well chosen program, locating the orhcestra on the stage, an alternating lights with fog effects served eye-candy, too. On the minus side have to be marked the balance problems caused by amplified sound.

The sincere wish of the performers seem to have turned reality; to get people who never before visited the Opera Festivals come in and attend the concert. One can only hope to see more co-operation between masters of different music styles. There is a clear demand for occasions like this: It is time to take the challence instead of covering the purity of classical style which feeds only a limited audience.

A musical experience has an instant constructive affect on the listeners' quality of life. An experience does not demand for purity in style. And it seems to make good for the audience when so called calssical music and rhytm music join their forces.

ELINA LAAKSO

Ixion

Ech. mam nadzieje że pojawi się gdzieś bootleg z tego koncertu - chętnie dowiedziałbym się jak to wszystko brzmiało Very Happy