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Charles Aznavour, Royal Albert Hall, review
Charles Aznavour - almost 90 - conjured up a performance of
devastating pathos at the Royal Albert Hall, says Neil McCormick
Charisma: Charles Aznavour Photo: PR
By Neil McCormick
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/10406495/Charles-Aznavour-Royal-Albert-Hall-review.html
2:01PM BST 26 Oct 2013
On stage at the Royal Albert Hall, Charles Aznavour had a confession
to make: he was using a teleprompter to remind him of the lyrics. He
has, he points out, better excuses than most performers: `It is
difficult sometimes to come from a concert in Italy and remember to
sing in English.'
This, his mock modest gesture suggests, is a joke: the Armenian-born
French chanson star has been deftly switching between five languages
without prompting for his entire career. His real excuse, he reveals
with a shrug, is that in `two months, I'm going to be 90 years old'.
Small, dapper, with fluid movements and a rich, expressive voice, it
almost seems condescending to say that Aznavour looks and sounds
amazing for his age. Particularly since he has always seemed old. He
wrote his first song in 1941 and by the time his fame spread from the
Continent to Britain in the 1970s, his sets were filled with elegant
lyrical ballads grappling with nostalgia, regret and the relentless
passage of time.
You could say he has grown into the songs, and the conclusion of
Yesterday When I Was Young is delivered with such devastating, wistful
pathos it is faintly mind-boggling to consider that it was written in
1964, when Aznavour was just 40.
Something has been lost along the way, but not too much. With a
trembling hand and a lack of suppleness in the lower timbre that sees
him flattening out some of those beautiful melodies, he no longer has
the commanding vigour that once made What Makes A Man A Man such an
electrifying showstopper.
He rose to the occasion with a beautiful higher register, but rushed
through She, and for a moment seemed bored with his biggest hit. The
performance was hampered by the flatness of the sound, clattering
drums and a bland mush of keyboards at times overwhelming the nuance
of his vocal. I know the Albert Hall's unusual proportions present
acoustic challenges, but the venue has been around even longer than
Aznavour and you would think professional sound engineers would have
worked it out by now.
The fantastic quality of Aznavour's songs and the sheer charisma of
his presence hold the centre. His audience proved as devoted as teens
at a One Direction concert. When he threw a cloth into the front rows
at the end of La Bohème, there was an unbecoming scrum, with a bearded
white-haired gent scrabbling on the floor in a tug of war with a
bountiful woman in a red dress. Further proof, perhaps, that music
keeps you young.
From: A. Papazian
Charles Aznavour - almost 90 - conjured up a performance of
devastating pathos at the Royal Albert Hall, says Neil McCormick
Charisma: Charles Aznavour Photo: PR
By Neil McCormick
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/10406495/Charles-Aznavour-Royal-Albert-Hall-review.html
2:01PM BST 26 Oct 2013
On stage at the Royal Albert Hall, Charles Aznavour had a confession
to make: he was using a teleprompter to remind him of the lyrics. He
has, he points out, better excuses than most performers: `It is
difficult sometimes to come from a concert in Italy and remember to
sing in English.'
This, his mock modest gesture suggests, is a joke: the Armenian-born
French chanson star has been deftly switching between five languages
without prompting for his entire career. His real excuse, he reveals
with a shrug, is that in `two months, I'm going to be 90 years old'.
Small, dapper, with fluid movements and a rich, expressive voice, it
almost seems condescending to say that Aznavour looks and sounds
amazing for his age. Particularly since he has always seemed old. He
wrote his first song in 1941 and by the time his fame spread from the
Continent to Britain in the 1970s, his sets were filled with elegant
lyrical ballads grappling with nostalgia, regret and the relentless
passage of time.
You could say he has grown into the songs, and the conclusion of
Yesterday When I Was Young is delivered with such devastating, wistful
pathos it is faintly mind-boggling to consider that it was written in
1964, when Aznavour was just 40.
Something has been lost along the way, but not too much. With a
trembling hand and a lack of suppleness in the lower timbre that sees
him flattening out some of those beautiful melodies, he no longer has
the commanding vigour that once made What Makes A Man A Man such an
electrifying showstopper.
He rose to the occasion with a beautiful higher register, but rushed
through She, and for a moment seemed bored with his biggest hit. The
performance was hampered by the flatness of the sound, clattering
drums and a bland mush of keyboards at times overwhelming the nuance
of his vocal. I know the Albert Hall's unusual proportions present
acoustic challenges, but the venue has been around even longer than
Aznavour and you would think professional sound engineers would have
worked it out by now.
The fantastic quality of Aznavour's songs and the sheer charisma of
his presence hold the centre. His audience proved as devoted as teens
at a One Direction concert. When he threw a cloth into the front rows
at the end of La Bohème, there was an unbecoming scrum, with a bearded
white-haired gent scrabbling on the floor in a tug of war with a
bountiful woman in a red dress. Further proof, perhaps, that music
keeps you young.
From: A. Papazian