Review by Ira Siff – Opera News – November 2008
A few summers ago, when I was taking a boat tour on the Yangtze River to see the Three Gorges before they were mostly drowned by the huge ongoing dam project, I was awakened every morning at 6:30 by instrumental versions of traditional Chinese songs being piped into the cabins. My traveling companion, a friend from Beijing who is not an opera singer, would supply the missing voice and text in a sweet, unaffected voice, making the seductive melodies almost lovely enough to turn the ungodly hour bearable, as would the ravishing views of the amazing gorges. With that in mind, I was looking forward to this CD of Chinese songs assembled and sung by tenor Jingma Fan, a participant in some very prestigious singing contests — he was a finalist in both the 1987 Cardiff Singer of the World and the 1995 Pavarotti Competition — and now veteran of a fifteen-year opera career.
Fan has worked hard on this project, to which he is obviously dedicated. He has not only chosen all of the material that he sings here but has himself translated the texts into English for the accompanying booklet and even recorded bonus tracks of four of the songs in English. In his notes, Fan expresses a desire to elevate the songs in some way by presenting them with piano accompaniment, rather than with “the accustomed primitive and naïve aspects of Chinese musical traditions.” For this reason, Fan borrows the term “lieder” to frame the material. In no way does the singer intend to suggest any disrespect — quite the contrary: his love for the songs and the poetry comprising their lyrics is apparent. But until the four selections repeated in English, the repertoire sounds a bit musically transplanted, if not apologized for, and perhaps the overall effect is diluted rather than enhanced by Fan’s effort to “dignify” it.
Nonetheless, there is pleasure to be had here. Fan states his intent to slenderize his operatic voice to make it more appropriate to the demands of the music. He does so to a degree but retains the lovely spinning legato inherent in his instrument. In spite of the effort to pull back, ironically, the most satisfying moments come when his voice opens up. Also lovely are his floated head tones, employed but not overused in several of the songs.
The project was inspired by the tenor’s nostalgia for his homeland during travels abroad as an opera singer. Perhaps this is why the texts of many of the choices reflect a longing for home. Surely, this is a universal theme expressed in the songs of many cultures, but there is a sameness that occurs here in the musical and vocal feel that diminishes the effect of individual numbers. The pieces are largely from the Song and Tang Dynasties (618 A.D. to 1279 A.D.) and from folk material, including Yunnan, Xinjiang and Kazak songs. Of course, lost love plays a part in this repertoire, as it does in many lieder, but there is also a wonderful Kazak song by, about and named for Mayeela, a famous poetess, singer and songwriter who literally sings her own praises. Fan delivers the very sentimental “Mama in the Candlelight” twice; the second time in English certainly could have been a major contender for the American Hit Parade of the 1950s. One thinks of Mario Lanza — and you could do a lot worse!
Sensitive and discreet piano accompaniments are performed by the gifted Reinild Mees, one of Holland’s foremost coach/accompanists and founder of the adventurous 20th Century Song Foundation.