James Rutherford Sings Wagner – Rutherford

   in Opera Now (Jul, 2014)
Rutherford won the first Seattle Opera international Wagner competition in 2006, aged just 34, and being sensible has spent the time since building a career with a view to protecting and nurturing his instrument. I find this quite surprising, as to me the voice already sounds overly mature and even worn in parts. So for his Wotan excerpts (a role he hasn’t yet essayed live) he fits the bill and Wotan’s Farewell sounds suitably aged; likewise his Meistersinger chunks have a suitable maturity with which one could kindly call a glow – but then does Hans Sachs have to sound elderly? Surely for a singer in his forties this is worrying. …