American soprano Christine Brewer.
No doubt about it, Christine Brewer is a trouper. Replacing an indisposed Deborah Voigt at extremely short notice, the American soprano sang Richard Strauss and Wagner in Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Diva concert.
Four Strauss lieder offered the sort of repertoire with which Brewer feels extremely comfortable, even though the voice
has not quite the lustre of a singer in her prime. The opening Befreit had a rhythmic looseness that might have fazed a less experienced conductor than Tadaaki Otaka, but smaller forces, including a delicately lyrical violin solo from Dimitri Atanassov, ensured that suitable rapture was dispensed in the following Morgen!
The passion that Brewer brought to the second verse of Wiegenlied was in keeping with a song the singer feels is more than just a mother-and-child lullaby.
Closing the evening, Brewer took on the great Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, waiting on stage while the orchestra gave a stirring account of the Prelude to Wagner's opera.
In concert, with playing of this stature, one was even more aware of the finesse of the scoring and, thanks to the piece's extensive use on the soundtrack of Lars von Trier's recent film Melancholia, it provided an effectively ominous introduction to Isolde's leavetaking, and Brewer gave us a magisterial farewell, only slightly marred by the occasional blowsy top notes.
