Miss Kaas can comfortably walk in the shoes of Juliette Greco, Marlene Dietrich and of course Piaf herself. Her voice is sultry, throaty and silky at the same time. None of the sex appeal, in the best sense of the words, of her voice came through. We might as well have been listening to Soeur Sourire - the "The Singing Nun" from Belgium.
Why should the sheer feminine power of a Diva be caged by "emotionally castrated fingers" on a computer controlled mixing deck? Let the voice and the music flow freely. The artists and the audience deserve nothing less. Kaas is the queen of music not an MP3 starlet.
The performance started with a video clip which included a musical backdrop by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Every note was reproduced with equal volume. The music had no life, spirit or dynamism; it was barely recognisable as an orchestra let alone the RPO. This warm up left me cold. I did not know whether to laugh or cry; let alone clap. The bemused audience was in a similar state. This, for me, was musical desecration.
"24bit/96 KHz Hi Res" sound fidelity had gone out of the window.
The first song should have been met with spontaneous and generous applause but it fell flat. Her impish and fragile portrayal of a youthful Piaf had been trodden on by the jack boots of sound compression. The backing musicians fared no better and it sounded as if they were playing, toy instruments at maximum volume. There is no doubt that Miss Kaas employs excellent musicians but you could not tell whether they were good, bad or indifferent.
Miss Kaas was having difficulty raising any enthusiasm. It was well into the set before the audience warmed up with a powerful rendition of Padam Padam. Paris Paris; the musical backing sounded more like Islington on a wet Sunday afternoon.
The same dire sound reproduction repeated itself throughout the performance. How can the backing musicians create a French atmosphere when the accordionist is humiliated? It is a good job she did not actually sing L'Accordioniste. A poor busker produces better sound.
The importance of hearing the full dynamic range of such a great singer and her backing musicians cannot be emphasised too strongly. Some of the bemused audience were starting to leave early. It was time for a pint and an early train home.
Miss Kaas was managing to generate some enthusiasm towards the end of the set with La Vie En Rose but when she finally finished a substantial number of the audience left before the encore. Her mere presence demands an ovation and the early leavers missed the best and most glamorous piece of the performance with Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. But, Miss Kaas must have rued what happened here on one of the world's most prestigious musical stages.
There was only one good musical note and that was when a clip of the real Piaf was played. Someone had forgotten to push the compress button and at last there was some musical dynamism.
When, I compare this performance with a live Juliette Greco set at the Albert Hall, in the 90's, the contrast is vivid and extreme. Miss Greco's earthy voice was reproduced magnificently. Her backing musicians were portrayed with all of the dynamism that the music and playing deserved. We were in a smokey Parisian club for a little while. The performance brought the house down and the audience refused to let her leave the stage.
Miss Kaas deserved the same sound reproduction treatment and there is no doubting that she could have lifted the roof too; but if only.
Modern sound engineering is in such a dire state that it is now killing music and in this case it almost destroyed Miss Kaas's performance. Only her charisma rescued the set and a slightly lesser artist would have fallen flat her face. Unfortunately the younger generation of audiences have grown up to accept nothing better from live or recorded performances.
My wife left the performance feeling cheated and rather homesick for her native France and its wonderful music and performers. And as for Guy Fawkes night: there were no fireworks in the Albert Hall.
PS
If you play this video clip through a PC with a good sound card you will get some of the feel of what the performance should have sounded like. I hope the CD is better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjaaPY9zrJ8
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