Quasthoff Will No Doubt Be Impressive

What will it be like, Thomas Quasthoff’s Hollywood Bowl debut, when many in the audience will see him for probably the first time? On stage, the German bass baritone makes a first impression unlike any other singer.

Because his mother took the drug Thalidomide, his limbs are not fully developed. You can’t help but notice that as he walks on stage and climbs upon a platform. You won’t forget it once he starts singing, either, because you won’t need to. That Quast- hoff is who he is and that he is a great singer are not a coincidence. His voice is large, full, dramatic and beautiful; it carries with remarkable ease through a large concert hall. And his artistry is the sum total of his experiences.

To hear him sing a Schubert song is to enter into the depth of each word and each sublime tone.

To hear him sing lusty German opera arias (as he does on a new CD) is to sense boisterous rebelliousness. To hear him probe Bach cantatas, looking death in the face, is to understand human frailty and the triumph of the spirit. To hear him sing his favorite encore, “Ol’ Man River,” as I hope he will at the Hollywood Bowl, is to feel the blues as if sung by a Delta original.

At the boundless Bowl on Aug. 13, an amplified Quasthoff will have a new handicap in that he will not be able to make it seem as if he is singing to each of us individually. But he is a magnificent singer who’s prevailed over far worse obstacles.

And he’ll have plenty of help. The songs of Mahler’s “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” are full of humanity, wonder, theater. As for the accompaniment, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program that previews the orchestra’s late-summer European tour, so it will surely be more thoroughly rehearsed than a conventional Bowl concert.