Uruguayan bass-baritone Erwin Schrott has won praise from both audiences and critics for his powerful and versatile singing as well as his captivating performances, especially in roles by Mozart. On his latest release, Rojotango, Schrott focuses his incredible talent on the tango genre. Schrott speaks with Ariama.com about the inspiration behind recording the album, and the musicians that have influenced him most.
Where did the idea for “Rojotango” originally come from? What was the impulse behind making your Sony Masterworks debut an album of popular Latin songs rather than, say, an aria recital?
It felt like it was the right moment for me to explore music of my origins. Tango music is full of passion, just like opera. At some point I realized it could be regarded as Rio de la Plata's own opera -- all the themes that have ever been put in opera music have been put in tango music as well. A tango song is like an opera aria, it's aching and moving, and despite the different vocal technique, in both cases the voice becomes an instrument among orchestra instruments.
What was your first musical love?
I can't really remember my first musical love. As a child I used to listen to what my parents played -- my father switched the radio on when he woke up and off when he went to sleep, so we were basically listening to music all day at home. Lots of classical music, lots of opera and lots of tango music, too, of course. So most probably that's why tango is so well rooted in me. Growing up I began listening to other music, too, of course, like any teenager, and I still like listening to various genres. I listen to pretty much anything from jazz to pop to, well, anything, really, as if I like a song, a tune, the voice of a singer, the sound of a band or of an orchestra, I don't care what kind of music they're playing, I just listen to it and enjoy it.
The repertoire on this album encompasses tango classics (Astor Piazzolla) to new tango music by your collaborator, Pablo Ziegler, to music by such Brazilian icons as Tom Jobim, Caetano Veloso, Egberto Gismonti, and Dori Caymmi. Was this all music you’d already known and loved, or was there a process of discovery alongside Pablo Ziegler? Can you tell us a bit about your repertoire selection process?
Some of those songs have been long time favorites, and, above all, have a personal meaning to me -- I love them all, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen them to be on the album, but probably Gracias a la vida is my favourite one, in a personal, special way: it's my way to try and say thank you for all those beautiful things I've received from life, and I have been blessed with generous rewards from life, so I've got a lot to be thankful for. It's especially dedicated to my children, who are the light of my life, to my parents, to all the people that are dear to me, each one of them has granted me something special that helped me become what I am, so this is my way to say thank you to them all. I'm grateful I've had the privilege to work with Pablo Ziegler, a great artist who was the pianist in Astor Piazzolla’s quintet for many years, he's arranged songs for the album, adding jazz and modern popular music flavor to them, he's contributed his own composition to the album, and has played the piano on it. It's always a pleasure to collaborate with artists like him, he's a master with a lot of experience and knowledge of tango music, yet he's open to discussion and to develop new ideas, he listened to my suggestions when I had some to make. We bounded and found we have a lot in common, above all the passion for music, of course.
A lush, rich operatic bass-baritone isn’t necessarily the first vocal type we associate with tango or Brazilian music…but the intensity and passion are indeed a terrific match. If you had to match an operatic character with a classic Latin tune, who and which would it be, and why?
This is an interesting question! I think one of the most "Latin" characters of opera is Donna Elvira -- she's passionate and has a fire burning inside, I could imagine her, scowling, singing a tango song like Ilusión azul -- that's a tango about betrayal, illusion and cruelty that could be perfectly addressed to Don Giovanni.
What musicians, repertoire, and recordings were especially important to you when you were first coming up as a young singer? Who were your idols?
Apart from Maria Callas, of course, I have always had a penchant for Cesare Siepi and Nicolai Ghiaurov... also, there are people whom I greatly admire and regard as "idols", as you call them, who've been and still are very dear and important to me, people like Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni and Leo Nucci, from whom I've learnt a lot. At the very beginning of my career I've had the luck and privilege to work with Mirella Freni, we were doing Boheme at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and every single note she sung was a masterclass to me. And I'll always remember one thing she told me, she said "learn to say no, and then no again, as they'll shower you with roles, learn and pick the right ones for you, don't rush things.". Ever since she told me so, I've tried to follow her advice, as I know she was perfectly right.
Sample and buy Erwin Schrott's Rojotango, and receive an exclusive digital bonus digital track "Année de Solitude" by Astor Piazzolla when you purchase the album for MP3 and Lossless digital download.
Browse more editorial features here
by Anastasia Tsioulcas
