Bryn Terfel / Anne Sofie von Otter / Balcarras Crafoord / Swedish Radio Choir and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paul Daniel (conductor)
1. Mefistofele: Son lo spirito che nega - Arrigo Boito
2. Tosca: Tre sbirri, una carrozza...Te Deum by Giacomo Puccini
3. L'Elisir d'Amore: Udite, o rustici by Gaetano Donizetti
4. Otello: Credo in un Dio crudel by Giuseppe Verdi
5. Der Freischütz, J 277: Schweig, damit dich niemand warnt by Carl Maria von Weber
6. Porgy and Bess: It ain't necessarily so by George Gershwin
7. Die Dreigroschenoper: Die Moritat von Mackie Messer "Mack the knife" by Kurt Weill
8. Ruddigore: When the night wind howls by Arthur Sullivan
9. Sweeney Todd: Epiphany by Stephen Sondheim
10. Les Misérables: Stars by Claude-Michel Schonberg
11. La Gioconda: O monumento! Regia e bolgia dogale by Amilcare Ponchielli
12. Il barbiere di Siviglia: La calunnia è un venticello by Gioachino Rossini
13. Fidelio, Op. 72: Ha! Welch ein Augenblick by Ludwig van Beethoven
14. Faust: Le veau d'or est toujours debout by Charles Gounod
15. Don Giovanni, K 527: Don Giovanni, a cenar t'eco m'invinasti by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wholenote Discoveries - April 2010
Tenors may win winsome hearts playing the romantic lead, but, as we often see, the “bad” bass-baritone elicits a strange yet much more compelling attraction. Perhaps it's raw brute force that turns our heads and makes us quiver with excitement, or maybe it's the element of danger that we find fascinating: the kind of thrill that even the noble Donna Elviras of this world can't possibly resist. With this recording and a tour of the same name, Bryn Terfel offers highlights from villains of the opera house and musical theatre in all their various forms, ranging from gossips, swindlers and cads to the ruinous, murderous and satanic. He is menacing as Sweeney Todd, cruel and calculating as Iago (Otello) and Scarpia (Tosca), pure evil as Mephistopheles (Faust) and Kaspar (Der Freischutz). As Sportin' Life (Porgy & Bess) “It ain't Necessarily So” transposed to the baritone range gives him the opportunity for a carefree, devil-may-care attitude. The final scene of Don Giovanni provides the best showcase of all as Terfel sings all three roles: The Commendatore, Leporello and Don Giovanni. Bryn Terfel is a consummate showman; he brings these characters driven by lust, revenge and greed to life with sheer power and range of emotion few are capable of. And, at the same time, he seems to be having an awfully good time giving us a good scare with a fierce growl. Dianne Wells
Bryn Terfel, a gentle man in real life, recruits a gang of “bad boy” characters from opera and musicals to serenade us with tunes from the sinister side of the bass clef.
Thoroughly convincing as villains you would not want to meet alone in the dark, Terfel wields a full, wide ranging bass-baritone ever in service to dramatic instincts rare in any era.
Bad Boys delivers an original concept sure to seduce the media, wow the classical crowd and exert powerful mass appeal. No singer morphs from Don Giovanni to Mack the Knife to Sweeney Todd with Terfel’s devilish ease – Bad Boys is a delightful box of mixed (dark) musical bonbons.