reviews

Jedinečný Messiaen Ireny Troupové

Neviem si predstaviť mnoho speváčok, ktoré by sa Messiaenovho cyklu ujali tak uhrančivo, ako Irena Troupová. Už z popisu tohto cyklu totiž musí byť jasné, že „krásny spev“ v tomto prípade nebude stačiť a že takmer kľúčovou je schopnosť sprostredkovať poslucháčom určitú mystickosť cyklu. Hlas sa tu naviac ocitá v rôznych polohách – interpretka sa napríklad dostávala do rovín, ktoré pripomínali zvukovosť takzvanej etnickej hudby. Zveriť opus Troupovej, ktorá patrí k veľmi všestranným a originálnym speváčkam, tak bolo v tomto zmysle skvelým nápadom. Divákov si podmaňovala v každom momente: od chvejivého pianissima La ville qui dormait, toi; až po vzdialené, záverečné brumendo v Dans le noir, spievanom takmer v úplnej tme. Krásne zneli melodické, repetované frázy Bonjour toi, colombe verte (tie sa opakujú aj v ďalších častiach), naturalisticky pôsobilo dramatické Montagnes, v ktorom Troupová predviedla bezchybnú deklamáciu, priestor na niekoľkých miestach ostro preťali odzbrojujúce výkriky „Ahi!“. Pre mňa – určite nezabudnuteľný zážitok.

Lucia Maloveská, www.klasikaplus.cz, 10. 5. 2022. Plné znění recenze najdete zde.

Pod mamutem o čase i bezčasí s Brno Contemporary Orchestra

V pořadí druhý koncert slavnostní desáté sezóny hudebního tělesa Brno Contemporary Orchestra nazvaný Kamenné mantry představil v pondělí 22. listopadu v brněnském pavilonu Anthropos skladby Fausta Romitelliho, Michala Rataje, Miloslava Ištvana a nedávno zesnulého (brněnským posluchačům dobře známého) litevského skladatele Bronia Kutavičiuse. Vedle samotného orchestru vystoupili také sopranistka Irena Troupová, hráč na marimbu Martin Opršál a recitátor Pavel Zajíc, který nahradil v programu původně uvedeného Otakara Blahu. Koncert pořádaný ve spolupráci s Moravským zemským muzeem řídil umělecký vedoucí tělesa Pavel Šnajdr. (…) Irena Troupová předvedla skvělou práci s hlasem, kterému ve vypjatých okamžicích dodala patřičnou naléhavost, obzvláště působivé pak byly především křišťálově jasné výšky. (…)

Lukáš Pavlica, www.mestohudby.cz, 24. 11. 2021. Plné znění recenze najdete zde.

Troupová Sings Ullmann

Quite aside from the subtlety of her phrasing and interpretation, Troupová’s voice has that rare quality that makes it sound as if the top were limitless. Although she does no go into alt, her high range is so pure, clean and open that it sounds as if she could easily soar into the soprano stratosphere any time she wanted to, and this is her greatest asset as a singer.

Lynn René Bayley, THE ART MUSIC LOUNGE, An Online Journal of Jazz and Classical Music, 14. 10. 2021. Celou recenzi najdete zde.

Kerzen in der Nacht – Festival junger Künstler Bayreuth

Obwohl von der Interpretation Alter Musik kommend findet sich Irena Troupowá im Kunstlied der Modernen wunderbar zurecht. Mit einem ebenso klaren wie ausdrucksstarken Stimmvolumen meisterte sie diesen anspruchsvollen und nahezu zweistündigen Konzertabend bravourös. Das Zusammenspiel mit dem erstklassigen Pianisten Jan Dušek gelang über die gesamte Konzertdauer hervorragend.

Editors, Der Neue Wiesentbote, 21. 8. 2017. The whole review find here.

Kerzen in der Nacht – Festival junger Künstler Bayreuth

Eine Auswahl lieblicher Volkslieder und Tänze aus Schlesisch-Tschechien beschloss die Programmvielfalt. Heimatgefühle als Inspirationsquelle verbanden sich mit einer einzigartigen Folkloresammlung des Komponisten Erwin Schulhoff. Irena Troupová verstand es, diese Klangwelten mit emotionaler Tiefe wirkungsvoll im Rahmen eines faszinierenden Gesamtwerkes zu vereinen. “Drei jiddische Lieder – Brezulinka Op. 53” des Komponisten Viktor Ullmann verliehen der lyrischen Atmosphäre zusätzlichen Glanz. Bei solch famoser Gesangs- und Musizierkunst waren die stürmisch geforderten Zugaben Pflicht. PHDr. Magdalena Zivná hatte die Besucher zu Beginn des Konzertes in das Thema des stillen Widerstandes eingeführt.

Robert Dotzauer, www.onetz.de, 20. 8. 2017. The whole review find here.

ULLMANN: Schwer ist’s, das Schöne zu Lassen

Czech soprano Irena Troupová, who began her career as an early-music specialist, is a gratifyingly clear exponent of these challenging, grippingly individual songs. They demand complete musical and intonational assurance, which she provides in abundance. She’s comfortable with the angular intervallic leaps of “Aus dem Häuschen in den Garten,” another Steffen verse, and a song such as “Sonnenuntergang,” with its treacherously high middle section, could easily have sounded shrill in the hands of an artist with less vocal control. Troupová even sounds right at home with the Drei Jiddische Lieder, the standout of which is “A Mejdel in die Johren,” with its mix of tragedy, reproach and humor.

Joshua Rosenblum, www.operanews.com, March 2016. Click here for the original Czech full text.

ArcoDiva releases a two-CD album of the songs of Viktor Ullmann

Troupová-Wilke is entirely at ease with the demands of all of the songs on this recording. One clearly cannot escape those wide leaps and chromatic intervals, but she sings them with a rhetoric than makes them sound perfectly natural. Dušek is, for the most part, a supporting accompanist; but every now and then Ullmann provides him with a passage that advances into the foreground. Hopefully this album will encourage more soprano vocalists to explore this highly engaging repertoire.

Examine.com. Click here for the original Czech full text.

Brno Contemporary Orchestra: Virtues and vices

I applaud Irena Troupova, whose performance completely captivated me. This Mysterium of death was put into the general awareness by unbelievable performance of Barbara Hannigan. This is no place for comparison, however, the very charismaticly treated part of the secret police chief Gepopo bewitched me. Both the audiance and performers were enjoying themselves, which definitely didn’t hurt as it rather gave the piece momentum. At times it moved maybe a bit too fast and loudly, yet in the eyes of the cheeky fingers in ears are always a sign of good fun. Brno Contemporary Orchestra concluded a very entertaining evening with a big stylish bang of the door.

Šimon Kořený, Opera plus, 20 November 2014. Click here for the original Czech full text.

M. Kopelent: Musica

(…) I must highlight the incredible performance of the main soloist Irena Troupová, who swept through her extremely demanding task without the slightest falter in intonation. Her voice showed no audible signs of tiring, despite the extraordinary strain it was put under. It shows a thorough mastery of voice technique.

Jan Fila, A tempo revue, 26 October 2010. Click here for the original Czech full text.

Festival komorní hudby Český Krumlov 2012 (Chamber Music Festival Český Krumlov 2012)

The event was unequivocally dominated by the eminently creative performance of Irena Troupová. The immensely difficult part was graced by her technical precision and her enlightened insight into the demands of the historicised musical style (in fact, the same may be said of her insightful rendition of contemporary music). Supported by her spectacular technique, this exceptionally talented and endowed singer infused each of her phrases with a unique vigour which permeated even the coloratura details, thus actually co-defining the hidden dynamism of an otherwise static piece that relies precisely on music and poetry.

Julius Hůlek, Hudební rozhledy (translated from Czech).

Večer s Erikem Satiem (A night out with Eric Satie)

At the aforementioned concert, the soprano Irena Troupová lent her light, pleasant voice to a number of Satie’s songs, accompanied by Monika Knoblochová on the piano (though usually she plays the harpsichord or the fortepiano). The songs were mostly lyrical miniatures, but she also showed her talent for comedy: in one of the Chansons which she performed with a bottle of wine in her hand in “a vinous mood”, or to a greater extent in Chez le docteur, about a gentleman who visits the doctor because he has “stomach gas”. The doctor begins to operate and tells the patient about the objects he finds inside and about the state of the man’s organs. The only number not by Satie was La courte pille, a cycle by Francis Poulenc, in which Irena Troupová once again captured the changing moods of the separate songs: the gentle Sleep, the grotesque What An Adventure, Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu and Carafon, or the lyrical Queen of Hearts.

Pavel Šimáček, 23 March 2010, Opera plus (translated from Czech)

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