It must have been an awesome experience!
Absolutely. And the fantastic thing with Gustav Mahler is that with each conductor it's the feeling of having a completely new work. Everybody has different dynamics, different tempi, different kinds of interpretation, so it's always like doing it again for the first time.

But Mahler did not compose much for the soprano voice.
No, absolutely not, just a little little thing at the end with the choir. But this is really and definitely hard to sing because you are sitting all the time and then you have to get up with the choir and start in this absolutely pianissimo. Mahler wrote it with only four or five p's, and you have to start out of nothing. And then you have to throw, sing your voice over the choir and over the orchestra - it's not much but it's really hard to sing.

Mahler didn't write much for the soprano voice, but he did use it here and there, for example in the last movement of the Fourth Symphony.
Yes, this is fantastic. It's also not very much, but it's fantastic.

Have you sung it before?
Yes. (laughs) I sang it once, in Würzbug. You know, after the first concert, there was a short interview on stage and Maestro Lan Shui asked me what I sang of Mahler and I told him that in one of my student concerts, I decided, and everybody was really surprised that I decided, to sing the Kindertotenlieder.

And in fact many sopranos, such as the great Wagnerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad also sang the Kindertotenlieder.
And I'm also going to sing my first Isolde, in Russia. (laughs)

(left) Brigitte Wohlfarth as Die schöne Helena

Congratulations.
Thank you! I'm also singing a lot of Wagner and Strauss, and I can also sing mezzo parts. A lot of sopranos who sing Wagner and Strauss can also sing mezzo. And there is something so special with the music of Mahler - there's something really, really special - it always brings out a very special mood when you listen to it, doesn't it?

And even if it's hard to sing you just forget it. You just flow when you're singing Mahler. He wrote so intelligently, and for me as a German, he's fantastic with the text. And even here with the text in the Mahler, my most favourite part was "Don't be afraid to live, just live". I love the text. And especially as a German, all the German repertoire for me, it's such a pleasure to sing, because I can use my language, my pronunciation - there are so many possibilities, to make the interpretation.

Do you think you need to be a German to fully interpret German text?
No, absolutely not, music is always international. But I will say there is a key pronunciation that can bring a little more into the singing. I was reading a biography of his wife Alma Mahler-Werfel, because she had a very interesting life, married three times, to three very important men. And in her biography she also writes about when he composed a symphony or song. And he already lost two children, you know? The whole story around them.

But he composed the Kindertotenlieder before he lost his children.
Yes, absolutely. That's why it was so … cruel.

I think that if he had lost his children first he wouldn't have been able to write those songs.
Absolutely. I think so too.

You're a soprano but you can sing the mezzo parts. What kind of Fach do you have actually?
Oh, I sing the lyrical to the dramatic.

That's quite rare isn't it?
Yes, it is absolutely. I have a very spread voice. I sing all the concert repertoire, even the oratorio, Lieder-Recital, and two years ago I started my first Walküre, Sieglinde? And Götterdämmerung, and since that time now I'm developing more and more into the German repertoire. I'm singing my first Leonore, in a new production in Munich, and also in contact with Bayreuth. And I'm never forced, you know. That's why I have such a broad repertoire. I've sung all the Italian repertoire. I've sung Aida, Il Trovatore, Armina… Well - I sang Rossini, during the seminar, of course. These are roles sometimes for the high mezzo or the soprano.

So would you say that your voice is a bit like, let's say Christa Ludwig?
Oh no, she was a real mezzo.

But she nearly sang Isolde.
Never on stage. She made some recordings. A conductor in Munich once said I would sound like the young Ingrid Bjorner. She was also very famous as a Wagner or Strauss singer, more in this direction. But the good thing is that I never forced myself this way. You know, a lot of singers just say I want to sing the dramatic repertoire, and then they force their voices and kill it.

Who is your favourite Wagner singer?
Birgit Nilsson. And she was in my first competition, the only one I took part in, and she was the one who took me into the finals. And Astrid Varnay. She was in Munich when I started, and she said "You will be a Wagner soprano one day! And don't push the high tone!" She was so fantastic!

She sang Brünnhilde with Knappertsbusch.
Exactly. I think she was about 25 or 26 when she sang.

But she never made it very big as let's say Birgit Nilsson, did she?
She was very famous in Bayreuth, and especially as a special Wagner singer, she was.

You're a soprano but you can sing the mezzo parts. What kind of Fach do you have actually?
Oh, I sing the lyrical to the dramatic.

With Knappertsbusch.
And Martha Mödl. But Birgitt Nilsson is my favourite. You know, when she sang, and at her first audition for the Wagner repertoire, the jury said "She sounds like a Mozart soprano." And in her biography, she says, even when she sang Brünnhilde or Isolde, she always sang Mozart. Just look at her technique, and her voice. And this is the reason also why I always sing Mozart, as long as I can. It has nothing to do with what you sing, if you can sing Mozart; you can be very sure that your voice is okay. Singing soft and piano is much harder than always singing louder, something that I've always known. She went away with technique, and it was fantastic. I think it was Rudolf Bing who said that she was like a jukebox: if you threw enough money in there, good music comes out. (laughs) There were so many jokes about her. She was a very funny lady.

She sang so much repertoire, she sang Turandot…
...and Aida at La Scala. She was my idol, and probably because of her… no, not because of her, but I always have so many interests. I couldn't just sing only Wagner, I couldn't. There is so much fantastic music!

But he writes so well for the voice isn't it? It's never really, really tiring?
Exactly. No, it's always in a good range, not all at the top, or at the bottom. The most pleasant opera part I ever sang was Sieglinde.

My favourite part of that part is "Du bist der Lenz"
Of course! (sings) "Du bist der Lenz …." (laughs) I sang that in concert, at some Wagner Gala. Actually, do you know how I came here?

(left) Brigitte Wohlfarth as Arabella

How?
Well, I got a phone call last year, from Italy, just before I left for Berlin for an opera production, and she said "The Singapore Orchestra called and wants to invite you for a concert. And I said that's fantastic, how did you make it? And she said "No, I didn't, how did you make it?" And I said I didn't. And so I said "There's only one possibility, they heard me sing somewhere." But who and where? So this was all around a mystery.

And so when I arrived the first thing I wanted to do was to ask Maestro Lan Shui where he had heard me. But because my colleague was ill and Ning Liang was coming, and because of this we changed the rehearsals, and everything was a bit confused at the beginning, and this was not the time to have a private talk. But after the first concert, we're sitting on the stage and we had to do the interview, with all the people who were in the concert, and Maestro Lan Shui suddenly looked at me, smiled and said "Do you actually know why you are here?" And I said, and this in front of the audience, "Oh my God! No! Where have you heard me?"

And he said, he and his wife were in Berlin sitting in a performance of Turandot, and they listened to my singing, and they so enjoyed it that they decided to invite me for this concert. And I didn't know it! I was always thinking "Where could they have heard me?" but I didn't know it was in the Turandot at Berlin. And everybody in the Esplanade Hall laughed, of course, and I most of all. And then he said, because I was laughing so much, "You see, you never know who is sitting in the audience!" (laughs) Such a fantastic conductor!

This, and I must really say this part, it was a pleasure. The atmosphere he brought out with the choir, it was a real, real joy. It's an honour, a pleasure and a joy being here and singing these two concerts, and I'm also looking forward to the next one. And now I know why I am here! Always during the rehearsals he was smiling and I never knew he was in the audience!

And this is your first time in Singapore.
No, it's my first time singing here, but about one and a half years ago, I was flying to Australia because I was singing for the benefits concert for the Leukemia Foundation, and I had a stop-over in Singapore, and I walked out and I walked through the airport, and I said "My God! Smells so fantastic here! All these flowers… My God would I love to sing in Singapore!" That's what I said, and now I'm sitting here (laughs) And I thank God about this. That's why I'm lucky - I never need to run after things, things always come to me. And I'm thankful for that.

How do you find the acoustics of the concert hall here?
Oh! Overwhelming! Fantastic! When you're sitting on the stage in the concert hall and you're singing, it sounds nearly like a church, with all these echoes. The acoustics are fantastic! The hall is incredible.

(right) Brigitte Wohlfarth after the opening concert of the Nuovo Teatro in Udine.

Maybe you can sing Sieglinde - Act One of Die Walküre or something.
Yes, that would be fantastic. You know, one week before I was offered the role of Isolde, I was picking up the score, and I said to my fiancee, I think this is about the time I should study Isolde, about one year. One week after that, I got the offer, and I'm so thankful! And it's a concert! I don't want to sing it right now on stage. I got the offer to sing it on stage, but I said no, I want to sing it in a concert, on stage with the orchestra, just standing and singing just like the Mahler, so I can concentrate, not moving and doing all the stuff that would make stress to my voice. After I sang the Isolde in practice, I always feel so pleasant - but only after I have done the concert can I tell you if I'm ready to do it on stage. You know it's like if you put on clothes, and it feels right, not too wide, not too tight, it must be … in German we say it's "wie ein Handschuh."

"Like a glove."
Yes, like a glove. I must say that everyone in Singapore is so kindly and friendly all around. Everyone asks how are you, how's your voice, and in the concert hall… Everybody, even the taxi-driver, they are so kind and friendly, and I must tell you it's an honour and a pleasure to be here. And especially to be a German singing here, and with German repertoire, Gustav Mahler.

Do you listen to recordings when preparing for a piece of music?
Yes, of course, I do. I listen to certain parts of a recording, but I develop my own style from it and I don't imitate the singer in the interpretation of the role.

Which recordings did you listen to to prepare for the Mahler?
I listened to the recording of Ileana Cortrubas with Zubin Mehta, and Christa Ludwig's.

And the Vienna Philharmonic. That's a really good performance! Cortrubas's voice is quite different from yours though, don't you think?
Yes, but it doesn't really matter. I listen for points of interpretation. And you don't have to have the same type of voice for this.

Of course. Tell us something about the concert you're singing next.
For this concert, I decided to sing three concert arias by Mozart I've never sung before. These are three brand new studies, and brand new interpretations, completely open, so that I can look at this music and interpret it for this concert hall, so we can use the acoustics. And the music is of course about tragedy, and love, and misunderstood love, and running and wanting to die! The second aria is the Anhangsarie (appendix aria). So beautiful! I hope you will enjoy the music as much as I am!

All pictures were obtained from the Brigitte Wohlfarth Homepage.

Derek Lim is currently enjoying an unscheduled holiday due to silly anti-resphigi sonorities.

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SSO 29 March 2003 | SSO 5 April 2003

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