IAN BOSTRIDGE ARTIST OBSESSION
IDEAS STILL IN PROCESS (fragments)
Ian Bostridge is an idiosyncratic artist. His work is unique. Even within the Anglotenor vocal aesthetic, he has a remarkably distinctive timbre.
you know how the Beatles always sound like the Beatles. He’s got that kind of thing. Timbral thumbprint.
Sometimes I really love his recordings, often I am just meh. I always respect the thought he puts into a project.
Bostridge demostrates that limitation provides a route to compelling personal expression.
However his technique is constructed, it seems to have serious integrity.
I love that he is a “tenor”, but not really. He is neither tenor nor baritone in the operatic sense. He mostly sings in the high key, except when low key sounds better. He invites the listener to stop worrying about traditional markers that define voices. (#Fach is fake)
The ideal expression of his voice may be in recorded format. He breaks the myth that the specialness of classical music has to do with its steadfast dedication to the #acousticlife.
His recitals are weird. His stage presence is weird. His body posture is weird. But together it is completely coherent. He is a performer / artist that authors his own language of existence. He has a grammer and a syntax and it adds up to meaningfulness.
Beauty of tone is a byproduct of his artistry. He is digging at something simultaneously subtextual and metatextual.
Young singers probably shouldn’t try to sound like him. He is an adult-only person to imitate, and even then, it is at your own risk.
