tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87213803948545201892024-03-18T16:21:02.052+00:00OperaJournalOpera on Blu-ray, DVD, Live and StreamingNoel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comBlogger966125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-74947674355791237992024-03-18T16:13:00.002+00:002024-03-18T16:15:41.035+00:00Raskatov - Animal Farm (Vienna, 2024)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIET03buS2ibBODskzqH71F-XsRwDFIvWpEAByNBTKnKF8bXC_ciqEOygAeX614tVk0O_fqFQduPPwZW39GMw7ycUSfm8_KVs1bUa_tKHFLyTU1du3xh2cKazxadDi4V7xqw8PrIKPvfhEN35PPX3VIGPRnDWie8rNIcCJMMr9t6FjiOUwDOHuJbmr9eM/s728/animal%20farm%2006.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="728" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIET03buS2ibBODskzqH71F-XsRwDFIvWpEAByNBTKnKF8bXC_ciqEOygAeX614tVk0O_fqFQduPPwZW39GMw7ycUSfm8_KVs1bUa_tKHFLyTU1du3xh2cKazxadDi4V7xqw8PrIKPvfhEN35PPX3VIGPRnDWie8rNIcCJMMr9t6FjiOUwDOHuJbmr9eM/w400-h176/animal%20farm%2006.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Alexander Raskatov - Animal Farm</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Wiener Staatsoper, 2024</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Alexander Soddy, Damiano Michieletto, Gennady Bezzubenkov, Wolfgang Bankl, Michael Gniffke, Andrei Popov, Stefan Astakov, Karl Laquit, Artem Krutko, Margaret Plummer, Isabel Signoret, Elena Vassilieva, Holly Flack, Daniel Jenz, Aurora Marthens, Clemens Unterreiner</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Wiener Staatsoper Streaming - 5th March 2024</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is no question that George Orwell's writing has provided to be a fundamental and premonitory outlook on power, politics and society that stands up today. <i>1984</i> continues to have relevance beyond its "sell by date" and may be even more relevant now, but can the same be said for <i>Animal Farm</i>? Has this short but well crafted work really stood the test of time or does it remain an allegory about events around the Russian revolution and the horrors of Stalinism? Some of the aphorisms and observations of course continue to have relevance and remain in daily use, not least the sinister implications of the truth that "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others". We can still see that there are underlying behaviours that remain true today, that reflect the animal side of human nature, or just human nature as we know it.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNefdOFOdLJIqycx_xZJKRqbOOTTepXbrI2-zIUlY0tHSNrQSICOvlcdrqR7QVetczA5tzaAPlFg9wRuhyTVuX0H8i_-oyFmLga1uD1L-ZRfwCWnQGe4EtK3h94Lpi3ndyaRhGJVrrwyTzHVYtazDL1-BlXP0EwoUrfPc-xcrJq4lnM9SkjQObLG4HAfo/s900/animal%20farm%2001.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="900" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNefdOFOdLJIqycx_xZJKRqbOOTTepXbrI2-zIUlY0tHSNrQSICOvlcdrqR7QVetczA5tzaAPlFg9wRuhyTVuX0H8i_-oyFmLga1uD1L-ZRfwCWnQGe4EtK3h94Lpi3ndyaRhGJVrrwyTzHVYtazDL1-BlXP0EwoUrfPc-xcrJq4lnM9SkjQObLG4HAfo/w400-h284/animal%20farm%2001.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>There is good reason then for a Russian-born composer to try to make something of <i>Animal Farm</i>, something that brings out the contemporary relevance of the work and its application to the world of today. While the idea of a totalitarianism Communist regime posing a threat to the stability of the world and oppression of its people through the kind of language and means employed is by no means far-fetched or indeed unknown even now, there is a danger that even in the "enlightened" western democracies we can be complacent about the messages that are keenly delivered in <i>Animal Farm</i>, or indeed fail to see that they also apply to many aspects of the society many blindly accept or find acceptable.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander Raskatov certainly isn't someone to see this from a detached perspective or as an academic exercise. Born into a Jewish family in Moscow on the day of Stalin's funeral, Raskatov has direct experience of his family being targeted and suffering under Stalin's regime. Never having read <i>Animal Farm</i> before - understandably it was banned in Russia - there would need to be something that resonated with the composer today, something that would speak about abuses of power in our post-Stalin, post-truth world. Looking around the world today, never mind just Russia, there is no shortage of application and relevance in <i>Animal Farm</i>, without the stage director needing to make any specific reference.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ldbcWWuP5JtZ4ZH87sStUbn7s6a10ZdkI6JkCO9GRqkFe1NDiOw3KYiIhpjx042gSrgT1Q21FJlsyMQ3cFe9Y0O9lcnTjA2IwwoJtU_D00IGVabYT4ZNl1XA-31H-1mv0pyI5mwxBAZMvuFPDQ3DmKWAr-3urcc4lYxZ00L4O001Ii7hmRULeHCZTUU/s720/animal%20farm%2005.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ldbcWWuP5JtZ4ZH87sStUbn7s6a10ZdkI6JkCO9GRqkFe1NDiOw3KYiIhpjx042gSrgT1Q21FJlsyMQ3cFe9Y0O9lcnTjA2IwwoJtU_D00IGVabYT4ZNl1XA-31H-1mv0pyI5mwxBAZMvuFPDQ3DmKWAr-3urcc4lYxZ00L4O001Ii7hmRULeHCZTUU/w400-h266/animal%20farm%2005.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Perhaps then because there is no need to specifically target any one regime or political ideology, the Italian director <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Damiano Michieletto">Damiano Michieletto</a> - who was one of the instigators of the project - retains the abstract, allegorical quality of the animal farm setting, but shifts it onto another level entirely. As if to ensure that there is no danger of anthromorphised animals making it seem like a cute fairy-tale, the production emphasises the horror of the real world application of the allegory by setting it not in a farm, but in an abattoir. Likewise the situations, the rebellion of the animals, the setting of seven commandments of the new regime, the building of the windmill and the inevitable corruption of any ideals remain in line with the themes of the book, but are given a much darker complexion by the choice of setting.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And, of course, Raskatov's music also plays a large part in contributing to the darkness of the work's operatic treatment. The libretto by Raskatov and Ian Burton updates the language to be a little more direct and crude, but only in a way that is befitting of the grimness of the situation. That is matched by the aggressive musical attack. Raskatov's closest musical influences are Schnittke and Weinberg with the importance on drawing from Russian folk music, but <i>Animal Farm</i> also reminds me of Shostakovich, maybe because of the subject the horror of <i>Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk</i> (and possibly because the <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2019/04/shostakovich-lady-macbeth-of-mtsensk.html">Krzysztof Warlikowski production</a> of it was also set in a slaughterhouse), with the surreal satire of the animals and the pushed vocalisation of language that takes on some of the characteristics of the animal noises giving it something of the slightly disturbing apocalyptic outlook of Ligeti’s <i>Le grand macabre</i>.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Zmt8T5q4mionHny0F6uE8BX2RA9yoLW1V8Xh8i4AK4jytVhWX4Ss16wy_oklce82zJtGzq9jY8HoqAsGUJLRQeWwswVhdTTw9X6rvIc1KL0-YelqwAkaGxIHnLIgocHaYdBAXI3Ttlh5EwrAG3GvYvzJI9OuEG4Bd2PYMrTcpeB_gH0eU6G4lLeqoDs/s720/animal%20farm%2004.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Zmt8T5q4mionHny0F6uE8BX2RA9yoLW1V8Xh8i4AK4jytVhWX4Ss16wy_oklce82zJtGzq9jY8HoqAsGUJLRQeWwswVhdTTw9X6rvIc1KL0-YelqwAkaGxIHnLIgocHaYdBAXI3Ttlh5EwrAG3GvYvzJI9OuEG4Bd2PYMrTcpeB_gH0eU6G4lLeqoDs/w400-h266/animal%20farm%2004.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>Somehow however the purpose of the work and any real point it might want to make about the world around us today fails to hit home. Part of the problem seems to be that the opera treatment just adds another level of abstraction on top of an already abstract allegorical satire. The setting of the animal farm as a slaughterhouse certainly adds darkness with the suggestion that they are all likely to meet the same fate sooner or later, but the work doesn't really gain any great nuance or detail in translation to opera. Rastakov's score doesn't succeed either in grabbing and holding your attention in order to engage with it fully. It feels detached, an exercise, remaining a fairy-tale fable, despite the best efforts of the composer to invest it with personal and universal significance. As an opera, it also feels episodic, with little opportunity to gain narrative momentum or character development, the ending or moral not at all clear or in line with the original novella.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although it's intentional of course and part of the whole point of the work, it's also difficult to distinguish the humans from the animals. Or perhaps that's not so much the issue as finding a reason to comprehend the actions of each of them. Despite having distinct vocal ranges written for them they are thinly characterised, which is part of the problem of them being allegorical figures given animal characteristics rather than fleshed out people. It's though no fault of the singing performances, which are exceptional in an opera with a lot of principal roles. All roles are equal of course but some are more equal than others and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Isabel Signoret">Isabel Signoret</a> stands out as a character as well as in her delivery of the challenging range of Muriel. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Michael Gniffke">Michael Gniffke</a> also makes a strong impression as Snowball. The orchestra of the Vienna State Opera conducted by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Alexander Soddy">Alexander Soddy</a> deserve credit for their handling of what is clearly a challenging score.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoWAXAq21ixeG411sasvB72t1hiR8WsV2sgOtb0kRV8aiKExIUvQ9MUwpxUbtpGIlDDWE6ydVaTKsF4vGfxH8s5HMFP7Ld5DGVxMeHoEsXDOdJ0IjV323v_UEEXNi7i3r9qs1oYWnNYfW6CFDY2Y0PXcXK8_b-9eyr0Gh9BGfsRvNbUWKgVcJYCGuCc3Y/s720/animal%20farm%2003.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoWAXAq21ixeG411sasvB72t1hiR8WsV2sgOtb0kRV8aiKExIUvQ9MUwpxUbtpGIlDDWE6ydVaTKsF4vGfxH8s5HMFP7Ld5DGVxMeHoEsXDOdJ0IjV323v_UEEXNi7i3r9qs1oYWnNYfW6CFDY2Y0PXcXK8_b-9eyr0Gh9BGfsRvNbUWKgVcJYCGuCc3Y/w400-h266/animal%20farm%2003.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Despite reservations about the continuing relevance of Orwell's <i>Animal Farm</i> and whether it successfully translates to the stage as an opera with another level of abstraction, I suspect that the opera might have more of an impact in a live environment (I viewed it on the <a href="https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/?from=www.staatsoperlive.com">Vienna State Opera streaming service</a>) and more meaningful depending on your experience of living under an oppressive political regime. I daresay, considering the current political climate and the troubling direction of elections and wars in the world today that we might find that <i>Animal Farm</i> still has lessons for us all.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: <a href="https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/calendar-tickets/premieres/animal-farm/" target="_blank">Wiener Staatsoper</a>, <a href="https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/?from=www.staatsoperlive.com" target="_blank">Staatsoper Live</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-57013678500092833362024-03-14T12:55:00.002+00:002024-03-14T12:59:38.782+00:00Strauss - Salome (Dublin, 2023)<p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJjbOlbe9KzRy7AqqHTmVbN1Y3sRuchO2t8oZksfcWgSx7nzrLThqalRJsqpDfznyPHzF-gGs9IbcIheR6kdqS-pJQ28UeABRP6vk18n8Maj54uFnREk_P9fMAmCM3oK8Z0XlXzIxCyEY8TpQN8ojV33NnjW1vuO1ePRp5f61GFrcLUjjshpqSyH25o58/s1733/salome01.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="1733" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJjbOlbe9KzRy7AqqHTmVbN1Y3sRuchO2t8oZksfcWgSx7nzrLThqalRJsqpDfznyPHzF-gGs9IbcIheR6kdqS-pJQ28UeABRP6vk18n8Maj54uFnREk_P9fMAmCM3oK8Z0XlXzIxCyEY8TpQN8ojV33NnjW1vuO1ePRp5f61GFrcLUjjshpqSyH25o58/w400-h116/salome01.png" width="400" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Richard Strauss - Salome</span></b><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Irish National Opera, 2024</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fergus Sheil, Bruno Ravella, Sinéad Campbell Wallace, Vincent Wolfsteiner, Imelda Drumm, Tómas Tómasson, Alex McKissick, Doreen Curran, Julian Close, Lukas Jakobski, Christopher Bowen, Andrew Masterson, William Pearson, Aaron O'Hare, Eoghan Desmond, Wyn Pencarreg, Eoin Foran, Kevin Neville, Leanne Fitzgerald</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin - 12th March 2024</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although the musical and performance standards remained very high, I was left with the feeling that of late the Irish National Opera productions and musical choices were playing a little on the safe side in recent years. As I noted at the end of my review of <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/12/puccini-la-boheme-dublin-2023.html">La bohème</a></i> however, the promise of <i>Salome</i> however - one of the most controversial and groundbreaking operas of the 20th century - suggested that they were ready to take up the challenge of their adventurous earlier years and challenge the audience at the same time. There isn't much more challenging than a blood soaked woman making love to a decapitated head to the discordant notes of Strauss's thunderous finale of <i>Salome</i>. You should be left semi stunned at that conclusion, and sure enough, soprano <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Sinéad Campbell-Wallace">Sinéad Campbell Wallace</a> and the INO's chief musical director <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Fergus Sheil">Fergus Sheil</a> made sure on that account.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thankfully however, the INO at least avoided the advance promotional material's tenuous and opportunistic attempt to portray the opera as "a royal, Succession-like power struggle". There are certainly strong opposing individual positions in Oscar Wilde's Victorian-era drama, and much that can be left open to interpretation, but drenched in decadent poetic imagery of the Symbolists, the principle power struggle in <i>Salome</i> is between the spiritual side of humanity and the physical, sensual side. That's indeed how it is played out in this production, the focus and attention of that internal battle played out in the exchanged between Salome and Jochanaan/John the Baptist, but Herod's intervention and position is also essential to the dynamic and that is also given due attention in the drama, the music and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Bruno Ravella">Bruno Ravella</a>'s direction of this production.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYhOpjQn8VgF_tyuiZVKCeuC0KTeRYjap16r52rCSx7qTzIn4y9gA-k3zvdSwgfPoVvNBXHYhgzYyfmY1-CGRo-XcSjcI8gy0eCKK1sperQPCp9TczjqKDn2v3yvsU5ZNyeGbUhKp1kf7Cv4TmTWLTXQoHhlMdn7G7DLxdTEGv6cNn9JUKJqmcp_nwXT0/s1115/salome01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="1115" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYhOpjQn8VgF_tyuiZVKCeuC0KTeRYjap16r52rCSx7qTzIn4y9gA-k3zvdSwgfPoVvNBXHYhgzYyfmY1-CGRo-XcSjcI8gy0eCKK1sperQPCp9TczjqKDn2v3yvsU5ZNyeGbUhKp1kf7Cv4TmTWLTXQoHhlMdn7G7DLxdTEGv6cNn9JUKJqmcp_nwXT0/w400-h271/salome01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The struggle as it is then does not need a biblical context, and indeed the entire description of the story amounts to little more than a couple of lines in the Bible. So other than the names of the principal figures there is no visual indication that this take place in biblical Judea. The terrace of Herod's palace designed by Leslie Travers is an impressive semi dome of concrete with a semi circular array of steps leading down to a tree at the front and centre of the stage, the tree in full glorious bloom surrounded by a small circular verdant garden. Herod's guards all wear contemporary grey camouflage military uniforms and carry guns. It's a beautifully abstract set, one designed to draw focus, using bold symbolist imagery in the style of the work without being slavish to the stage directions. The whole mood that it evokes is enhanced with superb lighting and use of shadows.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some productions of this work tend nowadays to focus on the corruption of Herod's court as a way of understanding or justifying the corrupting influence it would exert on the young woman Salome. She is clearly indulged by her stepfather/uncle and lusted after incestuously by Herod, the drama making no bones about. There is little shown of the excesses of Herod's party, which remains firmly behind a locked door (unlike the <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2024/01/strauss-salome-paris-2022.html">recent French production</a> for example). In this production you have to take Salome on her own terms. She is foremost a spoilt child, bored with what conventional privileges the family's riches have to offer. She longs for forbidden fruit - one of the images used in Wilde's wild extravagant and florid writing - and like Wilde himself - the writing almost premonitory of what would come - she is willing to pay the price for stepping outside the boundaries of what is acceptable in this religious and superstitious society detached from or denying certain human impulses.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xz8Rmc9qvQkQvwTuiato6Mkq_b3NSu0JDNmXebnwLevK0cazjtmmKg43XkTjdFmJnUVRAFGyNgrwgvZa5seWvVsb1vm9grDd547Lrf9sKCHPYA3g7KnezmZQQKtIS5SBJMi-Y9QehaUdRIQ54Mr-2SdwOTMXZk2psmx969DNz7vxJEI1lYcGXJUZDyY/s1123/salome03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1123" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xz8Rmc9qvQkQvwTuiato6Mkq_b3NSu0JDNmXebnwLevK0cazjtmmKg43XkTjdFmJnUVRAFGyNgrwgvZa5seWvVsb1vm9grDd547Lrf9sKCHPYA3g7KnezmZQQKtIS5SBJMi-Y9QehaUdRIQ54Mr-2SdwOTMXZk2psmx969DNz7vxJEI1lYcGXJUZDyY/w400-h253/salome03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>That of course is in the erotic lust that transforms into a bloodlust for the prophet Jochanaan. The production highlights the battle that rages between them, the battle between his call for her spiritual salvation from the sinful family she is part of and her struggle with her dark sexual desires. Those are amply demonstrated in their exchanges, in Salome's petulant turns between pleading and rejection, but Bruno Ravello finds other visual ways to express this and enhance it. The blossoming tree that covers the pit raised above the stage to reveal a circular platform with shallow water. More water rains down from its roots on Salome and Jochanaan, which the prophet tries to use it as a baptism, but Salome is just drenched in lust.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Dance of the Seven Veils can and should be used to further enhance expression of sexual desire and how it can be employed, but too often it tends to be underplayed. Not so here. What is even more unusual about how this production makes use of the dance is that it is a rare occasion where Salome actually dances provocatively for Herod. Sinéad Campbell Wallace's movements feel natural and sinuous, using the whole of the stage, drawing close to and away from Herod who attempts to remove her drenched clothing. The use of shadows are also effectively used to draw and hold attention to those moves. Salome reaches the climax of the dance again splashing in the shallow water, spraying it around with her hair. It's a well-choreographed dance that makes its point at this critical juncture in the opera.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQIJs07NHXRJBL2GvV0E9WKAvMiMPh5dl0S6gbCyzwekRE9_wdmqHXkcEaQ-L2_Q2JF29lwWgVhri_z7ng5J_KvMe439ezJW3TdSNdTP9l8ZpHcDozAAAs2Sxlep165Qux1QoYXD5Ifj7CNXCQxu8ZrALeR0AbPleRAECTFMsh_7TW5vDCMV5LkDSeQk/s1116/salome02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="1116" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGQIJs07NHXRJBL2GvV0E9WKAvMiMPh5dl0S6gbCyzwekRE9_wdmqHXkcEaQ-L2_Q2JF29lwWgVhri_z7ng5J_KvMe439ezJW3TdSNdTP9l8ZpHcDozAAAs2Sxlep165Qux1QoYXD5Ifj7CNXCQxu8ZrALeR0AbPleRAECTFMsh_7TW5vDCMV5LkDSeQk/w400-h271/salome02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>There is perhaps no deep analysis of the themes or the character of Salome that others have explored, and the work is certainly open to interesting interpretations, but leaving the work to speak for largely for itself is another option and it can be just as effective. The focus here is on the essential and the essential is the exceptionally good singing performance of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Sinéad Campbell-Wallace">Sinéad Campbell Wallace</a> and the musical direction of Fergus Sheil conducting the INO orchestra. Campbell Wallace is every bit as impressive as should be, commanding attention in every movement, gesture and note, embodying Salome's unapologetic lust, unflinching corruption and blindness to all else but her object of desire. It is indeed a love that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Tómas Tómasson">Tómas Tómasson</a> is an excellent Jochanaan, but there is a strong case for Herod being the true opposition that Salome is rebelling and testing her power against, and that is very much down to a superb performance from <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Vincent Wolfsteiner">Vincent Wolfsteiner</a>. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Alex McKissick">Alex McKissick</a> also made a strong impression as the young Syrian captain, Narraboth.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For me personally, the greatest pleasure was in hearing Strauss's remarkable score performed by INO orchestra under <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Fergus Sheil">Fergus Sheil</a> at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin. This is how you want to hear what for me is the greatest opera work of the 20th century performed. There are other many other great works, but inspired by the extraordinary subject matter, Richard Strauss was the first to push music in a new direction that permitted further breaking of conventions and taboos in music. Sheil's attention to the detail is impressive, the music by turns seductive and brutal, dark and discordant, the conductor making full use of the thunderous dynamic that Strauss employs with an orchestra of this size. Combined with the singing performances and the stage production, this <i>Salome</i> had all the nuance and drama that this outrageous and shocking opera demands. The INO are back on full form.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs_OTmgYxlmHFpym1Ql50XZ6BDAsvdN6m2lNc0_UVJLT_Uxs_kR7eX_bqjPjxdLaywQSWqcE66yUzItmGEFGc49Vaj4MyQuXIN1ElmHe-1kXN2Jf4PMARNMEINeFfo97CrRttzSpJOUhrlgoLkOaRJ6mOx6DktDlL4fmTPViCrKeGicPqXEHpyvXIw2ZI/s992/dublin-salome01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="992" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs_OTmgYxlmHFpym1Ql50XZ6BDAsvdN6m2lNc0_UVJLT_Uxs_kR7eX_bqjPjxdLaywQSWqcE66yUzItmGEFGc49Vaj4MyQuXIN1ElmHe-1kXN2Jf4PMARNMEINeFfo97CrRttzSpJOUhrlgoLkOaRJ6mOx6DktDlL4fmTPViCrKeGicPqXEHpyvXIw2ZI/w400-h236/dublin-salome01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHUu0IJwlpZnRZPOgV1n6z11V73gjqMGUFmryYJzQ_1j-LVmeGEmEe12IEh11L_8cqzMDqElGDjArDhhFjDtIkXZOh8Rtfai8u1YTxcXta-ldbpl-NxtoDwAQ4QrUzRNMwFUrI726L2dLqsgOwtj3iG5tJAGY-4F-isZosknuc6-Utt7Dvt94J1an7Ud8/s1000/dublin-salome02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="1000" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHUu0IJwlpZnRZPOgV1n6z11V73gjqMGUFmryYJzQ_1j-LVmeGEmEe12IEh11L_8cqzMDqElGDjArDhhFjDtIkXZOh8Rtfai8u1YTxcXta-ldbpl-NxtoDwAQ4QrUzRNMwFUrI726L2dLqsgOwtj3iG5tJAGY-4F-isZosknuc6-Utt7Dvt94J1an7Ud8/w400-h243/dublin-salome02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>External links: <a href="https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/">Irish National Opera</a></p></span><p></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-27072953458489649342024-03-06T10:57:00.002+00:002024-03-14T10:13:33.312+00:00Schreker - Der singende Teufel (Bonn, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPtuowS25g7zHoijMc9nBAYWPzHm87J3_Dwo8sUL0_hlLrgw5bWr05KDtwmVSD82RZEjJu-VZWgBk6EPDWwGyKQVEXXKz9vR_d3tTNZCRTVm45PjBrhnXpz5LbQaTmtNzhjJdK7otR2H46DbHEpk6cETlq7kA51v23F-9zYmVBYhGpPdY8hIwvmYgpuo/s1992/Singender-Teufel-10596.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1992" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIPtuowS25g7zHoijMc9nBAYWPzHm87J3_Dwo8sUL0_hlLrgw5bWr05KDtwmVSD82RZEjJu-VZWgBk6EPDWwGyKQVEXXKz9vR_d3tTNZCRTVm45PjBrhnXpz5LbQaTmtNzhjJdK7otR2H46DbHEpk6cETlq7kA51v23F-9zYmVBYhGpPdY8hIwvmYgpuo/w400-h153/Singender-Teufel-10596.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Der singende Teufel - Franz Schreker</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Theater Bonn, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Dirk Kaftan, Julia Burbach, Mirko Roschkowski, Anne-Fleur Werner, Tobias Schabel, Dshamilja Kaiser, Pavel Kudinov, Carl Rumstadt, Tae Hwan Yun, Boris Beletskiy, Ava Gesell, Alicia Grünwald, Wooseok Shim, Hyoungjoo Yun</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>OperaVision - recorded 19th May 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The early twentieth century operas of Franz Schreker tend to be drenched in gothic horror and symbolism, heightened with lush beguiling orchestration that does tend to date them somewhat, aligning them with the likes of Marschner's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2022/04/marschner-der-vampyr-hannover-2022.html">Der Vampyr</a></i> than with the more experimental direction music was to take under Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School around that time. Although there is a lot of silliness and dubious psychology in the self-penned libretti of Schreker's operas, there are nonetheless deeper issues that can be found underlying the melodrama, the folk tale treatment no less a valid means of touching on fundamental human questions than Wagner's explorations of legend and mythology.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That's not to say that Schreker comes close to what Wagner achieved in his works, but there is nothing inherently wrong with the method, and it can provide interesting insights when directed with attention to the subtext. Not that you get many opportunities to see Schreker's work performed. Two major works <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2015/03/schreker-die-gezeichneten-lyon-2015-lyon.html">Die Gezeichneten</a></i> and <i>Der Schatzgräber</i> are occasionally revived, others rarely, some almost never. Schreker's legacy has been affected of course to a large extent with him being a Jewish composer banned by the Nazis as well as the changing face of music at the turn of the 20th century, but some recent revivals of those rarer works have proved the value of his work sitting alongside other largely neglected German and Austrian operas from this period, where only Richard Strauss seems to have survived beyond the shadow of Wagner and the War.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuq2RyS-buvZ434t0GFcMZGvfPOd3ishshNAdWcais0nSKIfkuHiTtgZ2arnf98sXxSi9Md_q8onDC39zSMETJejRRJK_I_0Ciu0DvOIUwa8JHrma12uWdGMYeo1QKymTy-6PuuK9epZvPWs49UnTpAJx9AfLFBshMliFX-nHKQYlAsNZEAXnas9vn_g/s2000/Singender-Teufel-10827.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuq2RyS-buvZ434t0GFcMZGvfPOd3ishshNAdWcais0nSKIfkuHiTtgZ2arnf98sXxSi9Md_q8onDC39zSMETJejRRJK_I_0Ciu0DvOIUwa8JHrma12uWdGMYeo1QKymTy-6PuuK9epZvPWs49UnTpAJx9AfLFBshMliFX-nHKQYlAsNZEAXnas9vn_g/w400-h266/Singender-Teufel-10827.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Der singende Teufel</i>, 'The Singing Devil', is a real rarity, one of those 'almost never' works, with not even a full recorded version of the opera out there. From the opening scene, portentous in his high drama and ominous in its symbolism, the familiar characteristics of a Schreker opera from <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Der ferne Klang">Der ferne Klang</a></i> up to <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Irrelohe">Irrelohe</a></i> which preceded it are all there to see. In some kind of fantasy Middle Ages setting, Amandus, an organ builder, is proud of the completion of work on his latest piece. The local priest Father Kaleidos however warns him that the magic organ that was father's legacy still needs to be addressed. Created to produce heavenly music, instead the monster organ emits only unearthly demonic sounds. His father went mad, but the organ remains and must be fixed to inspire others towards God.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile in the cave of the Priestess Alardis, a pagan gathering chooses Lilian as their emissary to challenge the authority of the church. They want her to seduce Amandus, who they consider a fool and call "the monk". Somewhat deliriously, Amandus gets caught up in the pagan parade, seeing it all as some kind of mad dream brought on by proximity to the organ, but Alardis, Lilian and a drunken knight Sir Sinbrand pose a very real threat. In the ensuing struggle, Amandus is challenged by Sinbrand to a duel as he attempts to protect Lilian. The priest rescues Amandus and urges him to use the organ to repeal the pagan attack.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZgltA-DkLElQoMBj8jZSQgAV-lhyphenhyphenoQeKmxY1MGK3foxcv6pkc0GU13qFwMtSj9IeYndjyvihcpRReB6LDypWsKx7Hhr5wUPmi9uaFYaxt7bFPDRcIaz5j5pleqU4nopAGOI7_snVaFZZo_K0MZyRA4cAcsEsHRtNrLL5lyUPzf4CGTG9Y5bP9Fse3z4/s2000/Singender-Teufel-0850.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZgltA-DkLElQoMBj8jZSQgAV-lhyphenhyphenoQeKmxY1MGK3foxcv6pkc0GU13qFwMtSj9IeYndjyvihcpRReB6LDypWsKx7Hhr5wUPmi9uaFYaxt7bFPDRcIaz5j5pleqU4nopAGOI7_snVaFZZo_K0MZyRA4cAcsEsHRtNrLL5lyUPzf4CGTG9Y5bP9Fse3z4/w400-h266/Singender-Teufel-0850.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Schreker's previous opera <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Irrelohe">Irrelohe</a></i> seemed to mark a conclusion to the composer's neo-Romantic period, <i>Der singende Teufel</i> moving into the post-Romantic, but although there is less extravagant orchestration, musically as well as in terms of subject matter it remains very much in the individual idiom of the composer. The Theater Bonn production emphasises the personal themes in the work with a subtle change of Amadus from an organ maker to a musician who is striving to perfect his art. Decadence being a characteristic of Schreker's work, there seems - again like <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Der ferne Klang">Der ferne Klang</a></i> - to be special pleading in the tradition of <i>Tannhäuser</i> for the artist being unrestricted by traditional laws and morality. The symbolism of the organ is evident and even explained at the start of Act III. "The organ is like a person fulfilling tasks, controlled and guided by the soul. The bellows correspond to the lungs, the pipes the throat ...the soul the wind that sweeps through the bellows ..." It's about the battle for the soul of man, which competing religions thinks is their preserve, but it is the artist who reflects the better nature of man, or the fullness of nature, his art created under the spell of his own suffering.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although it is somewhat overheated and dubious in its philosophy, it's not the subject or the music that present difficulties with <i>Der singende Teufel</i> as much as the often impenetrable and nonsensical utterances of the characters in the libretto. Aside from the theme outlined above, it doesn't really have a great deal else to say. It's easily reducible to 'good versus evil', not unlike his rather more entertaining final opera <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Der Schmied von Gent">Der Schmied Von Gent</a></i>. What this one amounts to, with the arrival of a pilgrim at the conclusion, is a round dismissal of all religions, where a belief in God is shown to be predicated upon the furthering of their own interests. Schreker, not unlike in <i>Irrelohe</i>, sees only one way out, which is destroying of such dangerous and inhibiting beliefs, an eradication of the old ways. The burning of the monster organ by Lilian brings a beauteous sound.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDgeGusA6Nl3nF9kZxy6yD98f_L1KFO13H7Y1VHsFxXOEHy0MJc9HwTAFRuiJ-tkiHFkesr0MGE4NbKIORngV9JDHSus6Ul4z7tnVvVRPOD8om9WSUU27bsDYCmK2U-bLFdT90VKXmrJpgjn8R_2lPx_1KxDNrAo_Br0my0PicohIv3i9a20c936rWRc/s2000/Singender-Teufel-0876.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDgeGusA6Nl3nF9kZxy6yD98f_L1KFO13H7Y1VHsFxXOEHy0MJc9HwTAFRuiJ-tkiHFkesr0MGE4NbKIORngV9JDHSus6Ul4z7tnVvVRPOD8om9WSUU27bsDYCmK2U-bLFdT90VKXmrJpgjn8R_2lPx_1KxDNrAo_Br0my0PicohIv3i9a20c936rWRc/w400-h266/Singender-Teufel-0876.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Evidently a great deal of the success of putting on a Franz Schreker opera and dealing with its more problematic questions and ideas rests with the production and the performances. The director <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Julia Burbach">Julia Burbach</a> plays to the strengths of the work, such as they are, as a colourful entertainment with dramatic conflicts in the contrasting and opposing forces of good and evil. There is still plenty of symbolism there for you to pick apart or you can just enjoy the beauty of Schreker's score and choral arrangements. The transforming of Amandus as a musician helps bring Schreker's own personal experiences into the production, making it perhaps a little more meaningful, and Burbach introduces her own symbolism with 500 empty seats forming a cage and pages of music score scattered around to reflect Schreker’s preoccupations as the artist protagonist. Dancers also bring the conflict within the music to life.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The singing is good or at least adequate for the most part. The roles of Lilian and Amadus have their challenges in terms of the size of the roles and the dramatic expression of their individual torments, but both tough central roles are performed well. <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Mirko Roschkowski">Mirko Roschkowski</a> has that high light lyrical tenor role with a little bit of steely strength that is needed for this kind of role and convinces entirely as Amandus. <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Anne-Fleur Werner">Anne-Fleur Werner</a> is a little light in places but brings committment and intensity to the role of Lilian. <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Tobias Schabel">Tobias Schabel</a> sings the Priest well, <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Pavel Kudinov">Pavel Kudinov</a> is good as Sir Sinbrand, <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Dshamilja Kaiser">Dshamilja Kaiser</a> a little on the weak side as Alardis, but is often set against choral singing which can be hard to rise above. It looks like Theater Bonn used stage microphones rather than radio mics for this streamed recording on OperaVision, so it would be difficult to give an accurate account of the singing, but this is definitely a good overall production of a rare Schreker work.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: <a href="https://www.theater-bonn.de/de/programm/der-singende-teufel/184997" target="_blank">Theater Bonn</a>, <a href="https://operavision.eu/performance/singing-devil" target="_blank">OperaVision</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-5991790695346911102024-02-26T20:57:00.002+00:002024-02-26T21:01:53.249+00:00Bellini - Beatrice di Tenda (Paris, 2024)<p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRA-IPMIZG__UkBG9ZriwkHdqPNOpwoGP65gpSty3oMLrHIwvKQ_3g3XV8W-H2hlnvG2pEj5y0nNNfd6DhsyoDlP4OOJ3dtRMSyqoSvfPQCPA79fNz9ZzdKiA8vxO6o_XSVgsy8phGqh1wiGMQhDWtuuUTXi3Y2cmSgf1i-G077kexyekor4-dYltdC5Q/s1920/beatrice%20di%20tenda.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="867" data-original-width="1920" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRA-IPMIZG__UkBG9ZriwkHdqPNOpwoGP65gpSty3oMLrHIwvKQ_3g3XV8W-H2hlnvG2pEj5y0nNNfd6DhsyoDlP4OOJ3dtRMSyqoSvfPQCPA79fNz9ZzdKiA8vxO6o_XSVgsy8phGqh1wiGMQhDWtuuUTXi3Y2cmSgf1i-G077kexyekor4-dYltdC5Q/w400-h181/beatrice%20di%20tenda.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Vincenzo Bellini - Beatrice di Tenda</span></b><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Opéra National de Paris, 2024</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mark Wigglesworth, Peter Sellars, Tamara Wilson, Quinn Kelsey, Theresa Kronthaler, Pene Pati, Amitai Pati, Taesung Lee</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Paris Opera Play - 15th February 2024</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It surprises me that <i>Beatrice di Tenda</i> isn't a better known opera. Most of Bellini's works are revived on a semi-regular basis and his significance is hardly underestimated as an important figure in the development of Italian opera, but his works don't seem to get the attention they deserve and this one in particular is largely neglected. Why? Perhaps it's a little old fashioned for modern tastes, or perhaps the challenge of this opera is that it needs skilled singers in all the key soprano, tenor and baritone roles. It's telling the title role is defined by recordings made by the likes of Joan Sutherland, Mirella Freni and Edita Gruberova. If it's a case of needing it to be modernised a little or waiting for the right singers to come along, well, then the Paris Opera get it right with this 2024 production directed by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Peter%20Sellars">Peter Sellars</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That's not all they get right. There's a lot more to successfully producing an opera like this and it really needs commitment, belief and passion on every level, but it also needs to be carefully pitched. Passion is at the core of the opera, but it is also surrounded in coldness and that is identified and brilliantly reflected in how the production design here contrasts with the delicacy of the playing of the exquisite melodies. It's not that the plot has a lot to offer other than romantic drama, as Italian opera thrives on that, but it's how those passions conflict with power that drive the musical drama. Bellini is masterful in his treatment of such material, no less than Verdi, Donizetti or the opera seria of Rossini, but for me the characteristic that sets Bellini apart is not just the passion, not just the sophistication of the writing, but a sense of refinement. That's fully in evidence in this lovely opera, and I think that's what the director Peter Sellars attempts to retain and reflect it in a modern light.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_0yd_UhUwTX4AeREWhyr946sA1iu5R6lEjS0b4vfFdtU3VHXxCy7B5FcTB6_IZtQeK9NzlNYs7_-VgZprhrnCiqCUrcBKqFP4IGdfmj7IQisRh-kbe_Re2D2syTp_pWertKWREXh0yotvgtzEAQgLz6tse7FHs7g-rEzwj5fomIzkL6f9WzE65lnzQ4/s768/beatrice%20di%20tenda%2001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="768" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_0yd_UhUwTX4AeREWhyr946sA1iu5R6lEjS0b4vfFdtU3VHXxCy7B5FcTB6_IZtQeK9NzlNYs7_-VgZprhrnCiqCUrcBKqFP4IGdfmj7IQisRh-kbe_Re2D2syTp_pWertKWREXh0yotvgtzEAQgLz6tse7FHs7g-rEzwj5fomIzkL6f9WzE65lnzQ4/w400-h264/beatrice%20di%20tenda%2001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the face of it the drama has little to distinguish it from many other Italian operas. Based on a historical figure, Beatrice, the Duchess of Milan, is now married to her second husband Filippo Visconti, a union that has given him great power and influence, but they now have very different ideas about how to use their position. Beatrice wishes to support social programmes, while Filippo wields his authority ruthlessly over the people. Beatrice is horrified at the impact that their marriage has inflicted on the people of the nation and considers ending the marriage, which is not easy for a woman to do. Filippo too is being advised to end the marriage, but in order to cling to the power he finds an excuse to have her reputation destroyed by accusing her of conducting an affair with the minstrel Orombello, and tortures the man into a confession.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are a lot of familiar elements here that can be found in the historical operas of Donizetti, in <i>Anna Bolena</i> and <i>Roberto Devereaux</i>, but Bellini's opera here has a distinct character and it's the duty of director to bring that out. There is an edge to <i>Beatrice di Tenda </i>in a libretto doesn't hold back on the details of the violence inflicted on the people on Orombello or the cruelty of Filippo's regime, and Sellars strives to make that as hard-hitting as possible. The music might sound beautiful but it doesn't soften the darkness at the heart of the work. There is a nobility in confronting such horrors head on, never bowing, and that's what Bellini's music counters. Even Filippo in the end recognises where real power lies. Well, almost. The second concluding act of the opera consequently is extraordinary and enormously powerful. Evidently however, it's how the subject is sung by the performers is perhaps the most vital element contributing to that impact.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vWsMiZIkKTS5CppmTo0rzLeh2WUKQh77LvGS9PPk9-iRTvs8bMEBqOL52WDwwt6rDwlVD3SDnx7j0zSFGQuaRZX_SzQRNCIsunB_GmdHkvdFki_jQaQa4bMMcDwjLgkzV0kBO2zg2t6mM1_k22Fub5F02iVXwntT3u8vhGXHEXZFjeWoKlUoGD_vtzE/s768/beatrice%20di%20tenda%2003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="768" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vWsMiZIkKTS5CppmTo0rzLeh2WUKQh77LvGS9PPk9-iRTvs8bMEBqOL52WDwwt6rDwlVD3SDnx7j0zSFGQuaRZX_SzQRNCIsunB_GmdHkvdFki_jQaQa4bMMcDwjLgkzV0kBO2zg2t6mM1_k22Fub5F02iVXwntT3u8vhGXHEXZFjeWoKlUoGD_vtzE/w400-h264/beatrice%20di%20tenda%2003.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Bel canto is all about the singing. It's in the name and it needs to be done well or not done at all. Italian bel canto opera is not a repertoire that I have been following lately however, so few of these performers are familiar to me, but even so I can't remember hearing bel canto sung so well as it's done here. Singers and performers like this are not just there to show off the beauty of their voices, but also bring out the qualities of the music and the form, and in that respect, this is singing of the highest calibre. It's interesting too that it is American singers who shine in the main roles. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Tamara%20Wilson">Tamara Wilson</a>'s Beatrice is just phenomenal, her range impressive, her delivery and performance perfectly judged. Hawaiian born baritone <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Quinn%20Kelsey">Quinn Kelsey</a> is a strong counterweight that makes Filippo a formidable opponent. No less impressive here are <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Theresa%20Kronthaler">Theresa Kronthaler</a> as Agnese and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Pene%20Pati">Pene Pati</a> as Orombello. </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Act I consequently is impressive and immersive despite the conventionality of the plotting, while Act II is just off-the-scale brilliant, the increased intensity and emotional drama between the principal characters and their conflicting worldviews reaching almost fever pitch as they hold firmly to their beliefs and inner nature - for good and for ill. As it's Bellini, the chorus also play a large part in the swaying between these opposing positions. Like <i>La Sonnambula</i>, like <i>La Straniera</i>, they provide commentary and reaction, reflecting confusion and the horror of the people observing the troubles of high society - "<i>Nothing escapes our eyes</i>" - but they have a participatory role here as well, influencing as well as being affected by what occurs. All of this not only underlines the intensity of the operatic drama, but it gives the plot considerably more weight beyond it being merely a historical royal intrigue.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_4umnx8f78K2XmGFe3GXX1auQDisjgHWh1SXw6WvsA2KQ5nA5RsUYaoUGVxAACaMNpq7-sbQjzA810_SFbnAJnSf7kLTUdPX8_q67v8NOnC7a5lBSJk77xOsbVnfe-Fu0gAYtI2rYYCY3hjvU1qDjTImLVI1JTueoNYsU96y2R3Ecp9pm1vER0IW2JdU/s768/beatrice%20di%20tenda%2002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="768" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_4umnx8f78K2XmGFe3GXX1auQDisjgHWh1SXw6WvsA2KQ5nA5RsUYaoUGVxAACaMNpq7-sbQjzA810_SFbnAJnSf7kLTUdPX8_q67v8NOnC7a5lBSJk77xOsbVnfe-Fu0gAYtI2rYYCY3hjvU1qDjTImLVI1JTueoNYsU96y2R3Ecp9pm1vER0IW2JdU/w400-h264/beatrice%20di%20tenda%2002.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Director <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Peter%20Sellars">Peter Sellars</a> introduces a clean grand set designed by George Tsypin for La Bastille. All of the action and intrigue takes place in the palace gardens, within a low maze of hedges made of mesh steel and tall conical trees. It has a cool elegance, elegant and cool. Costumes are modern, smart, elegant befitting the high society. Evidently there is no need to distance the drama by setting it in the original time period of 1418, but I'm not convinced that introducing laptops and mobile phones is really necessary either. When Filippo confronts Beatrice with evidence of what he sees as plotting to Beatrice's outrage as the violation of her personal secrets, he presents her with a laptop computer as evidence. Agnese can be seen later scrolling on her mobile phone doubtlessly checking how many likes she is getting on social media for her actions. It feels a little heavy-handed and doesn't really make any commentary that is worth making a point about. Window cleaners and hedge trimmers are also a distraction that add nothing to the production design.</span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sellers, who incredibly has never directed an Italian opera, not even Verdi, does much more than update the production with modern technological devices. He also has some interesting things to say about the opera in an interview shown during the interval of the Paris Opera Play live broadcast of the opera. He makes a strong case for the effectiveness of the work to really touch on the horror of living under a dictatorship, about the fragility of human beings within such a regime and the possibility of them being broken. It's clearly all laid out in the libretto and in how Bellini scores it, making <i>Beatrice di Tenda</i> really quite revolutionary in terms of Italian opera up to that point in 1833, and unquestionably still relevant as a subject today.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bellin's penultimate opera, I find this a much more interesting work than his more famous final opera <i>I Puritani</i>, but evidently a lot depends on how well individual productions are directed and sung. Sellars direction makes a strong case for the relevance in the work, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Mark%20Wigglesworth">Mark Wigglesworth</a> conducts the Paris Opera orchestra with fervour, but it's the quality of the singing performances in this Paris Opera production that truly raise <i>Beatrice di Tenda</i> to a level of greatness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-23-24/opera/beatrice-di-tenda" target="_blank">Opéra National de Paris</a>,</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><a href="https://play.operadeparis.fr/" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">Paris Opera Play</a>, </p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Photos : © Franck Ferville/OnP</span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-47937138056681796452024-02-04T15:22:00.001+00:002024-02-04T15:22:31.262+00:00Eötvös - Valuska (Budapest, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAimozWP02miQJirABNHR0A2HKqQgyN0zd8xHh84xj6M9OrxBIN0pGfF9D_bPJ_nbNx-mJoNzeXKhBlmhqDky8TX-sq-HuGxuxeunfTLwUzZ9tqZ0KuO4s4vrgRL0blyLcjq7sBshx51ovne9WVIm2OiDppSEZbJN-R5Lf43i4Ow-Pv1Witk-kFBcayXs/s1789/valuska-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="1789" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAimozWP02miQJirABNHR0A2HKqQgyN0zd8xHh84xj6M9OrxBIN0pGfF9D_bPJ_nbNx-mJoNzeXKhBlmhqDky8TX-sq-HuGxuxeunfTLwUzZ9tqZ0KuO4s4vrgRL0blyLcjq7sBshx51ovne9WVIm2OiDppSEZbJN-R5Lf43i4Ow-Pv1Witk-kFBcayXs/w400-h165/valuska-image.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Péter Eötvös - Valuska</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Hungarian State Opera, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Kálmán Szennai, </i></span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Bence Varga, Zsolt Haja, Tünde Szalontay, Adrienn Miksch, Tünde Szabóki, Mária Farkasréti, András Hábetler, Krisztián Cser, István Horváth, Balázs Papp, Lőrinc Kósa, András Kiss, János Szerekován, Zoltán Bátki Fazekas, Attila Erdős</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>OperaVision - 17th December 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I haven't read the Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, but know of his work through the films of Béla Tarr, the Hungarian director who has adapted three of his works as <i>Damnation</i> (1988), <i>Sátántangó</i> (1995) and <i>Werckmeister Harmonies</i> (2000), all of them remarkable. The latter is based on the 1989 work by Krasznahorkai <i>The Melancholy of Resistance</i>. It's a powerful piece of allegorical cinema, almost abstract and surreal, but at the same time finding a way to touch on the everyday experience of people in society in decline or indeed living in fear under a totalitarian regime.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As the preeminent Hungarian composer of the present day and now 80 year old veteran of contemporary music, it falls to Peter Eötvös to bring an opera adaptation of <i>The Melancholy of Resistance</i> to the stage as the opera, <i>Valuska</i>. Although he has composed 12 operas, this is his first in Hungarian. Anyone familiar with the composer will know that it is not likely to be a rich musical opera in the traditional style, but what it should be and what it is, like Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies, is a fresh perspective on an enigmatic work that brings a new perspective and insight into what this extraordinary work is all about. And, in the process, lift it out of any specific time period and make it a work that can be endlessly revisited and reconsidered.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMCAERgNyG89MP4aFX8CUwhoxxLz2W7W1vr1aP8XHxuP_blEv_VE-aPSy7qKSGHBd5z_3JYFTOEtynVLqUaEr7Skl_64f41EjoskIQTKahqfQ_G62PQu821AOQoNRpraURnPTM3k_nzvFxJBwR2fGwUA8eZCcn2v277YQGhb9ItD6GVA60LNq87ZE3yDU/s2000/valuska.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMCAERgNyG89MP4aFX8CUwhoxxLz2W7W1vr1aP8XHxuP_blEv_VE-aPSy7qKSGHBd5z_3JYFTOEtynVLqUaEr7Skl_64f41EjoskIQTKahqfQ_G62PQu821AOQoNRpraURnPTM3k_nzvFxJBwR2fGwUA8eZCcn2v277YQGhb9ItD6GVA60LNq87ZE3yDU/w400-h266/valuska.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Certainly, the themes in the film adaptation and the opera are similar, both evidently connecting with the original work's themes. There are differences of approach of course, and whereas <i>Werckmeister Harmonies</i> centred on the perspective of the learning impaired János Valuska, Eötvös - despite the opera's title - at least initially foregrounds the experience of his mother Piroshka Pflaum. Catching a train, she is appalled by the behaviour of those around her, feeling threatened by the uncouth behaviour particularly of men, but women also appear to behave in strange ways. She keeps hearing about and reading leaflet and posters advertising a travelling circus that is exhibiting the largest whale in the world and also promises a guest appearance from "the Prince", a mysterious enigmatic figure, who clearly demands respect even if his powers are unknown.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Piroska's friend Tünde has been appointed mayor of the town. One of her first actions is to engage circus as part of her campaign to win over the people, but she feels that her “Well-Groomed Garden, Tidy House” movement is in trouble and needs the help of a learned gentleman. That person is her husband the Professor but he cannot be convinced. Tünde will have to rely on Piroska’s son János to convince him, even though the young man is regarded as a half-wit in the town. Even his mother considers her son a degenerate, presumably for spending so much time drinking in the local pub.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhi5HfSGAdNy8ncD5nT3Fwkdx2Z4SowEfusas8cBUv9orP4ec9emTzpkKUmdOaERUAHhdO9V7_9ogXe4oWBJNbstjTrw88DJ1-u3nHVPjf7WQnTibA9GrN-zkS8isCSzdE9oZM5yS0Nqz6sj9a47S_wOeiDcpzeOIou4tLFQUttCmZTe7wVSdul52mMEQ/s1333/valuska1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="783" data-original-width="1333" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhi5HfSGAdNy8ncD5nT3Fwkdx2Z4SowEfusas8cBUv9orP4ec9emTzpkKUmdOaERUAHhdO9V7_9ogXe4oWBJNbstjTrw88DJ1-u3nHVPjf7WQnTibA9GrN-zkS8isCSzdE9oZM5yS0Nqz6sj9a47S_wOeiDcpzeOIou4tLFQUttCmZTe7wVSdul52mMEQ/w400-h235/valuska1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>He may be considered an idiot but János has a particular talent for astronomy and a seemingly unique awareness of the position of man within the cosmos. He often demonstrates the movements of heavenly bodies into the phenomenon of a solar eclipse on demand for the drunken revelers in the pub as his party piece. By the same token, János is entranced at the circus by the majesty of the whale, this magnificent creature from nature, while the other townsfolk are all in thrall to the mystery of the Prince, a circus freak who has taken on a dangerous cult of personality, his presence is rumoured to cause unrest wherever he appears.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In contrast to Béla Tarr's stark monochrome realism, the staging of <i>Valuska</i> by director Bence Varga emphasises a more comic-absurd perspective of the work, with grotesque cartoonish figures with extra padding added. Tarr's film version of the story famously runs to just 39 long entrancing shots, while Eötvös's opera condenses this down to just 12 scenes. The librettist Kinga Keszthelyi introduces a narrator to preserve significant lines from Krasznahorkai's text, but Tarr manages to do just as effectively without. What is common to both works is the emphasis on a world running down, disappearing into absurdity, triviality and imbalance or disregard for what is important. Who needs a Judgement Day, the Professor observes when the world is in terminal decline and order will break down eventually of its own accord? That day may not be far away.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9x7Zy8vmacdr-68lfQKEdb9C3R5X7zsR78md2mVD6Iz3JYzmODlkSALTeFq4vmi0iTRYAIVfjueVhYFJTKmeca3DhPLQ5TrK7l4GKveHouTeUL5DDTAXIj0abfuQuoPaIfoHlYXaitwifDLM8uQz6I04pE23LW9l35_qMlq2zW9K_1ozxiFGRVYsOyQ/s2000/valuska2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1132" data-original-width="2000" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb9x7Zy8vmacdr-68lfQKEdb9C3R5X7zsR78md2mVD6Iz3JYzmODlkSALTeFq4vmi0iTRYAIVfjueVhYFJTKmeca3DhPLQ5TrK7l4GKveHouTeUL5DDTAXIj0abfuQuoPaIfoHlYXaitwifDLM8uQz6I04pE23LW9l35_qMlq2zW9K_1ozxiFGRVYsOyQ/w400-h226/valuska2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The decline into disorder might be less grandly cinematic in Eötvös's opera, there might have more of an edge of absurd dark humour but Valuska nonetheless captures other qualities of what is clearly a significant work. You can see it as a meditation of our place in an entropic universe or a depiction of people living in fear in Hungarian society during the Communist years, watching everything fall into ruin, being afraid to walk the streets, expecting danger on every corner, waiting for the regime of power to crumble and the next totalitarian leader to take over. Or you take it at face value as the disturbed perspective of a lunatic or an innocent who sees the world around him differently from everyone else and becomes a danger for not fitting in.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As the title of the film adaptation suggested, the idea of order in harmonic principles and the question of conforming to those principles or breaking them down and establishing a new order can be seen as central to the themes of the work, and that is presumably of interest to Péter Eötvös in his composition. The music here feels theatrical music rather than grand opera. It sounds like a medium chamber ensemble, but although Eötvös providing textures of a wide range of sounds, he rarely makes use of all the instruments at once. The music mostly consists of short phrases of mainly woodwind and percussion, but there are long sinuous lines and string accompaniment for monologues. When combined with the dark absurdity of a corrupt world and a victimised innocent among it, the textural qualities of <i>Valuska</i> combine to have a quality not unlike Berg's <i>Wozzeck</i>. <i>Valuska</i> however has its own disturbing logic and view of the world, the music contributing to a sense of underlying menace. The vocal writing for the opera is wonderful and the singing performances at the world premiere performances here are magnificent.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: <a href="https://operavision.eu/performance/valuska" target="_blank">OperaVision</a>, <a href="https://www.opera.hu/en/programme/megtekint/valuska-2023/" target="_blank">Hungarian State Opera</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Photos: © Nagy Attila</span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-22755759985457361012024-01-30T17:13:00.004+00:002024-01-30T17:13:46.921+00:00Tchaikovsky - The Maid of Orleans (Düsseldorf, 2023)<p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSEevMUlWxTSNlO1gBz9VuiBBzsdtWU1TUtOuKjrFy5u84Gs78It9iehp7v37tDoDMACoDk5tW2a6hZJB0QsBGl1Sutp9vTDs0QShyq2n1AMs5kSGyPaRSwcUbK3m7XTJCiC9mcgIW5B5d3sBGPVWXZm9VaTqskab6GFi3TKtHDcz3e0-yiI57mYoBY8/s1861/maid%20of%20orleans.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1861" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSEevMUlWxTSNlO1gBz9VuiBBzsdtWU1TUtOuKjrFy5u84Gs78It9iehp7v37tDoDMACoDk5tW2a6hZJB0QsBGl1Sutp9vTDs0QShyq2n1AMs5kSGyPaRSwcUbK3m7XTJCiC9mcgIW5B5d3sBGPVWXZm9VaTqskab6GFi3TKtHDcz3e0-yiI57mYoBY8/w400-h143/maid%20of%20orleans.png" width="400" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - The Maid of Orleans</span></b><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Deutsche Oper am Rhein, 2023</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Vitali Alekseenok, Elisabeth Stöppler, Maria Kataeva, Sami Luttinen, Aleksandr Nesterenko, Sergej Khomov, Luiza Fatyol, Thorsten Grümbel, Evez Abdulla, Richard Šveda, Beniamin Pop, Johannes Preißinger, Žilvinas Miškinis, Mara Guseynova</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">OperaVision - 20th August 2023</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cinema has shown us that there can be a number of ways of presenting the Joan of Arc story. On the one side you have Carl Theodore Dryer's silent masterpiece of spiritual interiorised conflict <i>The Passion of Joan of Arc</i> and Bresson's austere recounting of the court records of the <i>Trial of Joan of Arc. </i>On the other side you have Luc Besson's actioner <i>The Messenger</i> with Jacques Rivette’s two-partner <i>Jeanne la pucelle</i> divided between 'The Battles' and 'The Prisons' seeking somewhere in-between. The question that all of the films grapple with to one extent or another, or fall to one side or the other on, is whether Joan is a warrior or saint.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When it comes to opera however it's a different story. Although this warrior/saint dichotomy presents great material for an opera, it represents different things to Verdi and Tchaikovsky in their versions of the story. Using Schiller as the source material for both, each find their own particular way into the story which also appeals to the operatic tradition, even if it perhaps takes it a little further off course. For Verdi's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2016/01/verdi-giovanna-darco-la-scala-2015.html">Giovanna d'Arco</a></i>, the father/daughter relationship is emphasised and Joan's ignited passions give expression to the idea of a nation and a people struggling oppressed under wartime conditions and given dramatic force through huge stirring choruses. Tchaikovsky makes use of these musical elements also but with greater focus on the spiritual drive, giving that additional emphasis through the romantic melodrama of a love story.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtV7yhXGX4Z-Vv2PrNdmsALIC3c0Yk47IZrLwn4fZboTHhui_IaG8ot67ZMhy3rumZDT4Lly0QX-rnMdP5aHjBw7-6YknfDAaLB5GnNczrjCv7v5gowhNSfT7aSuSEGOhVcwE8rYd0nkAf34ZMu2kzKnApHDuwMCu3GzaQAODc_Rsj7Ed5ORMtise_u8/s1080/jungfrau_02_foto_sandra_then.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMtV7yhXGX4Z-Vv2PrNdmsALIC3c0Yk47IZrLwn4fZboTHhui_IaG8ot67ZMhy3rumZDT4Lly0QX-rnMdP5aHjBw7-6YknfDAaLB5GnNczrjCv7v5gowhNSfT7aSuSEGOhVcwE8rYd0nkAf34ZMu2kzKnApHDuwMCu3GzaQAODc_Rsj7Ed5ORMtise_u8/w400-h266/jungfrau_02_foto_sandra_then.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The force of these feelings of spiritual and emotional conflict can't be ignored in any staging and director Elisabeth Stöppler's 2023 production of <i>The Maid of Orleans</i> for Deutsche Oper am Rhein draws on that right from the dramatic overture. The Virgin/angel appears to Joan as a mirror image of herself in white shift and chainmail dress. At this stage it's just an awareness that she has a calling, but Joan is not yet ready and conflict rages within her (if Tchaikovsky's stirring music is anything to go by). To be fair, she's not getting a lot of support from her father who wants her to be a nice little housewife and arrange a husband for her protection, but the advancing forces on Orléans and Joan's prediction of Salisbury's fall means that this idea is resisted and the urgency of war takes precedence. It at the end of Act 1 that the angel gives voice to her calling to take to the sword and the battlefield.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's only really then that the urgency of Tchaikovsky music takes flight. Not that it's been anything less than intense up to now, but it's finally given revelation and purpose. Much like Tatiana's ecstatic letter to Onegin, there is a sense of fatalism in this, Joan throwing herself fully and irrevocably into the service of her inner passion and voice. If that perhaps doesn't seem quite as convincing as an expression of whatever it is that drives Joan, it's perhaps less to do with Tchaikovsky's handling of the material than the opera libretto's reliance on rather old-fashioned overly-earnest and solemn declamatory expression. There's a danger that the passion can be subsumed by nationalistic fervour but Tchaikovsky's opera does manage to give expression to the drama and what is at stake at a human level. Verdi faced the same problem with the same mixed results until he found a librettist like Boito who could give him better material to work with.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVeCqAZwqqm5J48i-UUXEcApl41WFo68BlhkKE676neW_cxQ3oFIQ_w0BEd-8bUvhc97gbGnwsHqPThXBdBhJE-e7gI1O-0ozhkbhuTRN3LrHQOs2UMl9hi7c4XOu-4VXP_Q7AjyuyloHEIjEw1JWN2yPfkTabQLuBgkV3ae7ITRXzfw-I5nVLPd1SwdM/s1080/jungfrau_03_foto_sandra_then.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVeCqAZwqqm5J48i-UUXEcApl41WFo68BlhkKE676neW_cxQ3oFIQ_w0BEd-8bUvhc97gbGnwsHqPThXBdBhJE-e7gI1O-0ozhkbhuTRN3LrHQOs2UMl9hi7c4XOu-4VXP_Q7AjyuyloHEIjEw1JWN2yPfkTabQLuBgkV3ae7ITRXzfw-I5nVLPd1SwdM/w400-h266/jungfrau_03_foto_sandra_then.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>It still means that a lot of this is declamatory of feelings and conflict and little to support all this fervour in dramatic terms. There's no real action other than reports from the battlefield which are reflected and commented upon in arch terms like "he sleeps the eternal sleep". The libretto is a horror to work with and if it is to succeed on the stage, it's going to need something more than the rather unconvincing passion that is ignited in Joan's impossible love for an enemy soldier, Lionel. The director and singers here try their best to make that work with the rather bombastic expressions, but it just leads to an extraordinary amount of grasping and grappling with each other on the part of Joan and Lionel. It looks ridiculous in the middle of a war, but in terms of giving expression to those inner feelings through the singing, it's given full voice and commitment.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">All of the singers are fully committed and impressive - as is the chorus (some members a little more overly enthusiastic than others) - but Maria Kataeva's Joan and Richard Šveda's Lionel in particular have to rise up to the over-the-top demands of Tchaikovsky score. We're on the heavier side of the Tchaikovsky of the 1812 Overture variety, and then some. Lionel's love for Joan truly feels life or death here, but that only leaves the director Stöppler with a challenge to bring a little more realism and humanism to the situation. There's a need to recognise at the same time that Joan of Arc is an uncommon character in a modern age, driven indeed by an internal fire, inspired by god, heaven and the angels as well as nationalistic pride. Playing it as period won't cut it, so Stöppler chooses to give it a more modern-day look and feel. And, considering it's Tchaikovsky, the current situation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine can't be ignored.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfdso4_kjDx9_5NAa76OrZnctj2LVlzFBahPnRXico8idq058EDXTpxyD48uiBvOQ3QyWHjXTDQmRXeCBqARGvIprKhtPgNFEH7PmjNntUdtzxKjiyW9rz5H1-9puBBbBXHb1MZEuuP3MA4bfZ8XHkIkQkiA13phwI3S5k1MYDPaZX_BU7HAMEznE130/s1080/jungfrau_08_foto_sandra_then.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfdso4_kjDx9_5NAa76OrZnctj2LVlzFBahPnRXico8idq058EDXTpxyD48uiBvOQ3QyWHjXTDQmRXeCBqARGvIprKhtPgNFEH7PmjNntUdtzxKjiyW9rz5H1-9puBBbBXHb1MZEuuP3MA4bfZ8XHkIkQkiA13phwI3S5k1MYDPaZX_BU7HAMEznE130/w400-h266/jungfrau_08_foto_sandra_then.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The choice of setting all four acts of the opera in the same location of a church serves to at once rein in the excessive elements of the opera, while at the same time attempting to focus it on Joan's experience being an internal transcendental spiritual experience. The same idea perhaps applies to contrasting of the modern day East European dress of the people and their experience of war with the heroic declamation of the choruses and the libretto. The reality of the situation and the reality as we know it from images from present-day Ukraine are there to see without any need to overstate the case or the parallel. King Charles VII here is more like an extravagant wealthy man with Dunois his bodyguard, both Sergej Khomov and Evez Abdulla succeeding also in giving strong performances that support both the work and the stage presentation. </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Updating the work to underplay any nationalistic expression or heroic glorification of war as being a God-given command is perhaps a necessary condition for a director, but the question is whether it doesn't end up undermining what Joan of Arc represents. Can <i>The Maid of Orleans</i> really work without the period Joan of Arc or does it have any more universal quality that allows us to see the same passions and sentiments in the present day? Is it still relatable? Of course it may be possible, but I didn't get too great a sense of it here. The plot too never really adds up to anything meaningful. Joan's crime in this version appears to be falling in love with an enemy and thereby losing the approval of heaven and the people. She is no longer <i>la pucelle</i>.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKiXSdXOKiIunaH9HB1ZuZGx3dbXsRqiR-X4rnRFj5B87FbOxyT0lVNv2G83i8Yy7ZIEx3yc1GCOMRxru4rFUyIGcNCgB0V-otLDSkleEbqkR8ylRTYX1Xkhw5OauemhLcQ5de2GBglPixUFORly8LYp1QOO2xUu_1ebqb50niiC3MdJCiSl6tMCEe4E/s1080/jungfrau_web_11_foto_sandra_then.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKiXSdXOKiIunaH9HB1ZuZGx3dbXsRqiR-X4rnRFj5B87FbOxyT0lVNv2G83i8Yy7ZIEx3yc1GCOMRxru4rFUyIGcNCgB0V-otLDSkleEbqkR8ylRTYX1Xkhw5OauemhLcQ5de2GBglPixUFORly8LYp1QOO2xUu_1ebqb50niiC3MdJCiSl6tMCEe4E/w400-h266/jungfrau_web_11_foto_sandra_then.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rather than being burned at the stake for this, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein production uses the single location of the church finally being destroyed as a symbol for the fire of Joan's passion burning out and becoming an object of pity to the </span>the confused populace. Or something like that. It doesn't really make a lot of sense in the original stage directions or in the stage production here. The single location of the church also reminds me of Tcherniakov recent take on <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/09/prokofiev-war-and-peace-munich-2023.html">War and Peace</a></i>, but that was more towards distancing from the militaristic and nationalistic side of Prokofiev’s version of the drama, while here it seems to be harder to put any such distance from the work's romantic heroism, religious and sentimental fervour.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Under Vitali Alekseenok, the conducting and musical performance of the opera is however clearly exceptional. The passion on stage is replicated in the music which works hand-in-hand with the drama. It's a little bombastic with the huge choruses on top, but it's meant to be, Tchaikovsky giving early Verdi a run for his money in the lack of subtlety stakes. All the passion is there however in the music and there too unquestionably in the efforts of the director to get it across somehow on the stage, reaching a conclusion of a kind of ecstatic transcendence. The point of it escapes me, the worthiness of the work remains in question, but it is still marvellous to hear this work and this side of Tchaikovsky given such a full blooded performance.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.operamrhein.de/spielplan/entdecken/die-jungfrau-von-orleans/" target="_blank">Deutsche Oper am Rhein</a>, <a href="https://operavision.eu/performance/maid-orleans" target="_blank">OperaVision</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Photos : © Sandra Then</span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-71929982605115146712024-01-14T14:51:00.001+00:002024-01-14T14:51:25.501+00:00Strauss - Salome (Paris, 2022)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_S2Zlhh0gUCFHRtn2O1y4GUO5wO4G6c3BxqTedOFdcYGYqL_1-SaT0_vXmSu003s057GzZReTCyPrevcXHkPIuEbenYxcqodEXczDmbDBCKlfOYAi57cRhpOnxYukU4eZRC4XFyvhrluuJjC12bjIXjWQaHVZQ_KO8e_2xqemkBzPWfYMTl72qMXM5BY/s317/salome00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="229" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_S2Zlhh0gUCFHRtn2O1y4GUO5wO4G6c3BxqTedOFdcYGYqL_1-SaT0_vXmSu003s057GzZReTCyPrevcXHkPIuEbenYxcqodEXczDmbDBCKlfOYAi57cRhpOnxYukU4eZRC4XFyvhrluuJjC12bjIXjWQaHVZQ_KO8e_2xqemkBzPWfYMTl72qMXM5BY/s1600/salome00.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>Richard Strauss - Salome</b></div></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Opéra National de Paris, 2022</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Simone Young, Lydia Steier, Elza van den Heever, Iain Paterson, John Daszak, Karita Mattila, Tansel Akzeybek, Katharina Magiera, Matthäus Schmidlechner, Éric Huchet, Maciej Kwaśnikowski, Mathias Vidal, Sava Vemić, Luke Stoker, Yiorgo Ioannou, Dominic Barberi, Bastian Thomas Kohl, Alejandro Baliñas Vieites, Marion Grange</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Paris Opera Play - 27th October 2022</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There's not a lot of point in comparing one production of an opera with another, or indeed weighing one against another. There are always going to be differences of musical interpretation and evidently different people singing are going to make it sound and play out differently from one production to the next. Depending on the numerous factors involved in live performance, even the same production can differ from one revival to the next, even from one night to the next. It all comes down to personal preferences, and opinions will always vary. When you view two productions of <i>Salome</i> side by side however - one of the most intriguing of all opera works - it's hard not to make direct comparisons. As far as the Paris 2022 production stands against the recent <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2024/01/strauss-salome-hamburg-2023.html">Tcherniakov one at Hamburg</a>, all it confirms is that this extraordinary work is infinitely open to radical ideas and interpretations.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When I reviewed the Hamburg production earlier this month, I suggested that if you go back to the original Oscar Wilde play, the pre-eminent theme of the work is how the darkest human lusts and behaviours can be tolerated as long as they are kept hidden and not spoken about in polite society. Wilde was of course satirising Victorian society and the underlying moral corruption more than retelling a biblical story, but you could certainly see an interpretation of hypocrisy in religion as well. That idea was largely adhered to in the Tcherniakov production, which managed to draw on the dark power of the work while remaining largely bloodless in explicitness. Not so much here in director <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Lydia%20Steier">Lydia Steier</a>'s production for the Paris Opera.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLcR6SnexYGqiAL8Jm6AwzmDbPunvrRO-LliuQlgoZIAKzCnibDUKuQra_l_1sFzwEdUSB3EMd5lwInEMMBwjsPp_WeDfW2-Y5C3GBOzcT2iOCcuRHI3f729vqs0YNIyzIhu8kQxqCZwX6zQ_3iyOwX-GdIpsLkokegC3jvbrW6WA_EtsybZOJgvH7yI/s768/salome02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQLcR6SnexYGqiAL8Jm6AwzmDbPunvrRO-LliuQlgoZIAKzCnibDUKuQra_l_1sFzwEdUSB3EMd5lwInEMMBwjsPp_WeDfW2-Y5C3GBOzcT2iOCcuRHI3f729vqs0YNIyzIhu8kQxqCZwX6zQ_3iyOwX-GdIpsLkokegC3jvbrW6WA_EtsybZOJgvH7yI/w400-h266/salome02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>One other vital element of <i>Salome</i> is that it it was written with the intention of being shocking, provocative and taboo breaking, and the genius of Richard Strauss is such that he was capable of pushing the accepted conventions of musical language to similarly provide shock and outrage. This is the beauty of the work, or the ugly beauty of the work, if you like. Steier's Paris production definitely tends towards the character of the work to shock and thereby reveal more of the hidden nature of mankind's inherent selfishness and cruelty, rather than dress it up in flowery Symbolist poetry. As far as it applies to Salome in this production, she is not actively involved in the orgy of sex and violence at Herod's party but bored with it, which perhaps suggests a deeper pathology, but I'm not sure this production really gets to what it might be. </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course if you have shown Herod indulging in such activities, you can hardly expect him to be shocked when his stepdaughter shows the same tendencies pushed in another direction and thinking of it as 'love'. Herod's hedonistic party is viewed in a high room with wide glass window, showing a slow motion wild drunken orgy where cruel lusts and desires are freely indulged in the beating, murdering and mutilating of slaves. Semi-naked men and women prisoners are brought up from the dungeons, their bloody brutalised and mutilated bodies later carried down the stairs by men in bio-hazard suits to be dumped off into a pit at the side of the stage only to be replaced from the dungeons with a continuous supply of victims.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjMm4bsWzTc2HF9L7MxFzkafpDcmbwXh_VPC1VQgdYU4E6pBJe3dTVXiKln-udFTjsDjgygmBhmQ4l7GTUtxUqV8ldp_RmMU_UMaHWDvadu5jYxQWNX4x3kWwIbLq-ZYjaLMr4wE7M9PbcYhrWtaSDtW5_ViWUhb7UpyCZbdrtB-vxPA6GCVCRSlUzAM/s768/salome03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjMm4bsWzTc2HF9L7MxFzkafpDcmbwXh_VPC1VQgdYU4E6pBJe3dTVXiKln-udFTjsDjgygmBhmQ4l7GTUtxUqV8ldp_RmMU_UMaHWDvadu5jYxQWNX4x3kWwIbLq-ZYjaLMr4wE7M9PbcYhrWtaSDtW5_ViWUhb7UpyCZbdrtB-vxPA6GCVCRSlUzAM/w400-h266/salome03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Very much tending towards darkness, the production uses lighting to soften and darken during Salome's poetic eulogising of the wild beauty of the tortured emaciated caged Jokanaan. It explodes into light when he rejects her advances, although here he seems to be leading her on somewhat (or maybe only in her fevered imagination) before delivering his imprecations, leading her to strike him with a cattle prod. What is critical in the depiction of this scene is capturing its extraordinary dynamic, here more so since the singing of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Elza van den Heever">Elza van den Heever</a> and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Iain Paterson">Iain Paterson</a> delivers it so well. It's intense and compelling on every level. Every perversion is permitted, even as far as Salome masturbating over the cover of the cistern as Jokanaan is triumphantly lowered to the climatic music that Strauss composed for this scene.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The production manages to introduce a little lightness or further dynamic into the opera with the outrageous appearance and dress of Herod and Herodias. It does this without altering the grotesque overblown quality of the work, and crucially the quality of the singing is maintained. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/John Daszak">John Daszak</a>'s Herod enters with a feathered headdress, wearing a silk cloak over a see-through top. Sporting a blonde mullet, he looks like a New Romantic video star from the 80s. Herodias is similarly attired, with a dress supported by nipple hooks (<a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Karita Mattila">Karita Mattila</a> wearing a false boob set). There is something of a blend of '<i>Girls on Film</i>', '<i>Wild Boys</i>' and '<i>Total Eclipse of the Heart</i>' about the look only taken to nightmarish lengths, with plenty of Pete Burns-like characters among the party entourage. Mattila plays up to the part of Herodias marvellously, flirting with the guard, both she and Herod making suggestive use of fruit in a way that Barrie Kosky would be proud of, but it fits with the florid metaphors used by Wilde to such great effect.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In terms of performance, this is one of the most impressive and impactful I can remember, but then it needs to be in order to rise to the challenges set by the production design, stage direction and musical direction. Simone Young's conducting of the Paris orchestra in particular is just outstanding here. It helps that the sound quality on the </span><a href="https://play.operadeparis.fr/" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">Paris Opera Play</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> platform is so good. Using headphones, you can hear every little detail and sweep of dynamic orchestration. All of the cast have sufficient force matched with lyricism to deliver the decadent phrases of Lachmann's translation of Wilde's play. It feels like this play was written to be performed in the heightened state of opera, as effective here in Strauss's version as in Antoine Mariotte's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2014/05/mariotte-salome-munich-2014-webcast.html">Salomé</a></i> using the original French text. As with Maeterlinck and Debussy in <i>Pelléas et Mélisande</i>, there is something about Symbolist works that seems well-suited to lyrical interpretation.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhopnQboY8vamGTstDW1uzjTmp4Oz0zaSuEU5aL6yAgd9upFe46NqMAbiP8y_C0n09ribi3Trk4_dvNNnvBVfzwP2zSISbHqFI8E0C8COYhUlNTeLWa0tx6mP2QrXG-clnPmQpp7qGYdBEknesX1HD4sTd__vw1BeOOR1mcqWWBwFQfp9LWiwv5DJna7-c/s768/salome04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="768" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhopnQboY8vamGTstDW1uzjTmp4Oz0zaSuEU5aL6yAgd9upFe46NqMAbiP8y_C0n09ribi3Trk4_dvNNnvBVfzwP2zSISbHqFI8E0C8COYhUlNTeLWa0tx6mP2QrXG-clnPmQpp7qGYdBEknesX1HD4sTd__vw1BeOOR1mcqWWBwFQfp9LWiwv5DJna7-c/w400-h256/salome04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Whether or not you find the look of the production distasteful - it certainly pushes all the buttons to shock - this is a very well-directed <i>Salome</i>. The characters, their qualities, their flaws are all laid out to see and the singers are given space to express it. There is no confusion about what is going on, the focus is maintained where it needs to be in the marking and choreography. Whether <a href="Lydia Steier">Lydia Steier</a> manages to probe any deeper into the dark psychology of the character of Salome could depend more on how the viewer responds to it. Having watched another <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2024/01/strauss-salome-hamburg-2023.html"><i>Salome</i></a> recently and found new elements to consider, it might not be fresh enough for me personally this time, but the singing is outstanding and under the musical direction of Simone Young this wonder of the opera repertoire remains as impressive as ever.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">They key to how you might respond to the work lies, as it often does, in the depiction and outcome of the Dance of the Seven Veils. There is no oriental exoticism here whatsoever, the 'dance' shown for what it really is. Herod strips, sexually abuses and pleasures himself over a disgusted Salome, who nonetheless allows this to be taken to its brutal conclusion before she is subsequently gang-raped by the rest of the guests stirred up by the night's revelry of violence. Salome here is not gorily glorious (except in her own mind) but reduced to something pitiful, crawling across the floor, while Herod's page takes a gun to the whole rotten lot of them. It's all pretty revolting, but undeniably as dark and brutal as any conventionally staged conclusion of this magnificent opera.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: <a href="https://www.operadeparis.fr/saison-22-23/opera/salome" target="_blank">Opéra National de Paris</a>, <a href="https://play.operadeparis.fr/" target="_blank">Paris Opera Play</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-22020827373451513172024-01-01T15:31:00.004+00:002024-01-01T15:31:49.061+00:00Strauss - Salome (Hamburg, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaze0YFQ1NOid4nli7cXYjmLr8niKttM2HVUM73n7CuckKYhZ6YwStpJnrYY-UdsopDVV0iPeBc4WUT48vH4KFZc_vkBsnyQAKj5dsGCpvdC8gSXK-fg_gBp6sp1rjj549xCPB11lHnXObQELeUGLz9t_MY-AjRF6zoyAJIaYHN1V6XPgB5dbPoiD1Ndc/s567/salome00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="567" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaze0YFQ1NOid4nli7cXYjmLr8niKttM2HVUM73n7CuckKYhZ6YwStpJnrYY-UdsopDVV0iPeBc4WUT48vH4KFZc_vkBsnyQAKj5dsGCpvdC8gSXK-fg_gBp6sp1rjj549xCPB11lHnXObQELeUGLz9t_MY-AjRF6zoyAJIaYHN1V6XPgB5dbPoiD1Ndc/w400-h225/salome00.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Richard Strauss - Salome</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Staatsoper Hamburg, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Kent Nagano, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Asmik Grigorian, Kyle Ketelsen, John Daszak, Violeta Urmana, Oleksiy Palchykov, Jana Kurucová</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>ARTE Concert - 29th October 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Dmitri%20Tcherniakov">Dimitri Tcherniakov</a>'s opera productions have tended to look very much alike in recent times, all tending towards contemporary upper middle-class settings, looking rather brown and dull. The interpretation or reinterpretation of the works in question has however never been dull. They may rarely accord accurately with the original stage directions but the director's approach at least finds new ways to consider the meaning of the works and what they say about contemporary society and the place of the individual within it, often from a psychoanalytical perspective. So while Tcherniakov's production of Strauss's <i>Salome</i> for Hamburg looks similar to his recent stage productions, you can imagine he will nonetheless find considerable riches in the psychology or psychopathy of this particular work.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It doesn't take too long to identify the little twists to the stage directions in this production and find them intriguing enough to see where he will take them. It's a dinner party for Herod's birthday and the assembled well-to-do guests are arranged around the table, some slightly outlandishly dressed. Narraboth observing the pale beauty of the princess Salome in the moonlight is not one of the waiters standing around the walls as you might expect, but one of the guests. The princess has made a late sullen appearance at the table in a white puffa jacket and Ren & Stimpy T-shirt, rejecting the welcome of her mother Herodias.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmvTXT2xwd441g647Pgyo40WpfqjmtdRONxjd2IiLIp3CH6mWYRAevOBdIPk82-GW9DeDxDHdk-NkVy8kj-g7-WskezCKkac9Cq5AQ_z9UJ7VZe8V74y7W4qgcYHxpebZBRSrFvcsMVJl57Xoy_xvebZqg175haC0Ex1rOkl1u57ccKzj41xir2E00cnk/s1024/salome01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmvTXT2xwd441g647Pgyo40WpfqjmtdRONxjd2IiLIp3CH6mWYRAevOBdIPk82-GW9DeDxDHdk-NkVy8kj-g7-WskezCKkac9Cq5AQ_z9UJ7VZe8V74y7W4qgcYHxpebZBRSrFvcsMVJl57Xoy_xvebZqg175haC0Ex1rOkl1u57ccKzj41xir2E00cnk/w400-h266/salome01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The initial proclamation from Jokanaan then does not come from a deep cistern but from the other end of the table, from man in a brown jacket and jeans, sporting glasses and comb-over (his hair definitely not like clusters of black grapes), smoking a cigar and intoning his grave pronouncements from a book he is reading. He seems out of place here, lost in his own world, bearing perhaps an air of disdain or self-righteousness, but possibly just oblivious to the frivolity of the dinner party. This Jokanaan is not a prisoner, but a guest, respected for his wisdom, but evidently seen as a bit eccentric.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">You could also describe Tcherniakov's take on this opening scene as eccentric, but bearing in mind what we already know about how this party is going to play out, it's intriguing enough to wonder how this idea is going to be developed. Well, one aspect of Oscar Wilde's play is about social decadence and illicit lusts that are acceptable as long as they remain hidden under a mask of outward respectability, and this suggested openness of those behaviours provides a good opportunity to expose that. Not that any further enticement is needed as the work itself is still for me one of the most daring, provocative and hauntingly beautiful works of opera ever written. With <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Kent%20Nagano">Kent Nagano</a> conducting, it enthralls from the first notes here, drawing you into a unique and very specific mood that never lets up as it progresses unbroken on a real-time path towards its shocking conclusion. Some fine singing from <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search?q=Oleksiy+Palchykov">Oleksiy Palchykov</a> as Narraboth certainly invites you to remain into the fascinating sound world of dark psychopathology.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48dEDN4iz6v6COvTcbygrhVbi3QbFT3WcZz9WmFiUdzoZxEbJL47aXIXGycVZqJ4uiNKI1UB47MLgYTCfZ-w2hCdd-aVjqEocMu9owK5cXmrJs8QSkgPwaA6u5VXfgPnprPDHAUAqWaZsGHHLmex7zkv_BKSMfGQqxz35NXv2ez9A0hIupJ8XuA52GG4/s1024/salome03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48dEDN4iz6v6COvTcbygrhVbi3QbFT3WcZz9WmFiUdzoZxEbJL47aXIXGycVZqJ4uiNKI1UB47MLgYTCfZ-w2hCdd-aVjqEocMu9owK5cXmrJs8QSkgPwaA6u5VXfgPnprPDHAUAqWaZsGHHLmex7zkv_BKSMfGQqxz35NXv2ez9A0hIupJ8XuA52GG4/w400-h266/salome03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>As powerful as the work remains, what is still a challenge is finding a way to bring out is the shock nature of the work's subversive element of Wilde’s marriage of Symbolist poetic imagery with Biblical subject matter and a decadent high society. Removing the mystical status of Jokanaan, and presumably removing the removing of the head is going to make that harder, even if the conclusion might have lost some shock value now (but not much). One way is how the setting of this production attempts to bring what people really think about each other is brought much more into the open. When Salome complains about the lascivious looks of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/John%20Daszak">John Daszak</a>'s Herod and her mother's tolerance of his attentions, she does it in front of them and the guests, while they try to laugh it off as Salome just being Salome. It really heightens the sense of murderous intent.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Again however, Tcherniakov seems determined at every stage to undercut the familiar set pieces and find other means of bringing out ...well, whatever it is he is attempting to bring out. The failure of Narraboth to kill himself is neither here nor there, the Tetrarch slipping in blood only figuratively as a joke for the uproar that has developed at his party should dissipate the dark Symbolist imagery, but the tension somehow still remains. Salome's reaction and outburst at Jokanaan's rejection of her advances that plays out alongside this and the theological dispute of the Jews is however very strange. Delving through her old suitcase that her outraged mother - an excellent <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Violeta%20Urmana">Violeta Urmana</a> - throws at her feet, she dresses up with white face paint as a kind of a mime artist or Pierrot figure and sinks into shocked silence.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj2ES5u7OkQZQ00kfv_AomnqdhFtH8lqHUZ4VMaS3jtsd9YrHcsWHArtYH2Y8YoCTkvPuAHPBVXg8E2LFrQi9rlzBfiRBXMz3W_zU7IEmQdxYsAAbaMc4AVJFMI-WERShKA34Zn_FLpvJQVyr9EcnGSg5tW0XHFANpVA_6q5xOKLWaiv03_Q3-SCQvJVo/s1024/salome02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj2ES5u7OkQZQ00kfv_AomnqdhFtH8lqHUZ4VMaS3jtsd9YrHcsWHArtYH2Y8YoCTkvPuAHPBVXg8E2LFrQi9rlzBfiRBXMz3W_zU7IEmQdxYsAAbaMc4AVJFMI-WERShKA34Zn_FLpvJQVyr9EcnGSg5tW0XHFANpVA_6q5xOKLWaiv03_Q3-SCQvJVo/w400-h266/salome02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Similarly, Tcherniakov refuses to rely on the familiar explicit eroticism of the Dance of the Seven Veils, but tries to move past that and find another way of bringing out the uncomfortable nature of the relationship between Herod and Salome. Rather than strip off layers of clothing, Salome is almost naked already as Herod lasciviously dresses the drained, disconnected, semi-comatose Salome in a bizarre clown-like outfit. The whole scene remains static as the dance winds up to an anti-climatic conclusion. Salome remains impassive up until the moment that Herod refuses her wish, when she smashes a glass and threatens to take it to her throat. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Kyle%20Ketelsen">Kyle Ketelsen</a>'s Jokanaan it has to be said, also remains impassive, observing dispassionately as she calls for his head.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">She may not be permitted to express anything to feed the lascivious illicit desires of Herod during her dance, but elsewhere the singing role is more than expressive enough to bring out everything that needs to be said/unsaid, and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Asmik%20Grigorian">Asmik Grigorian</a> is expressive enough in her singing and acting performance at the call for execution and the aftermath for this to remain as charged as it can possibly be. I'm not sure anyone can fully explore the madness of Salome's obsession and her corruption, but it's there in the libretto and the writing for the voice waiting to be brought to life in performance. Grigorian is lyrical and forceful in her delivery, not particularly loud or strong to carry over the massed forces of the orchestra, but it's an impressive and compelling performance nonetheless that really brings out the complexity of this character, her nature, her emotions and reactions.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2AFsuHNDIgF43fEVUT5c3TrfpKjQzMJevz8YQ0TFqOp8SEEerX9mhg9XWhVcW86Nplko-PyslWHN7Ibt00yaBFkWl7SkwL09GOpzm6sD6XTuzfOCh4WzKPFJHfcUliwnGfEfsELiiFel08OOnh2UwzNdvNCDc2CDgHOxQWuoQIZPeKWrbc6bBWCgMM-0/s1024/salome04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2AFsuHNDIgF43fEVUT5c3TrfpKjQzMJevz8YQ0TFqOp8SEEerX9mhg9XWhVcW86Nplko-PyslWHN7Ibt00yaBFkWl7SkwL09GOpzm6sD6XTuzfOCh4WzKPFJHfcUliwnGfEfsELiiFel08OOnh2UwzNdvNCDc2CDgHOxQWuoQIZPeKWrbc6bBWCgMM-0/w400-h266/salome04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Tcherniakov and Grigorian take this as far as it can go, although with this director you always have to wonder if he doesn't take it so far into absurdity that he sometimes undoes the good that has been established. There is no moon, no blood, no headless corpse, so you have to look elsewhere to find out what drives these characters. What is it that Salome wants that Jokanaan’s existence denies her? Respect? Attention? Love? Death? Self worth? Whatever you think it is, whether Jokanaan lives or dies, it's beyond a spoiled, over-indulged rich girl to understand or obtain. The seed of a sick brood, she is only capable of wreaking destruction. Much as you miss Wilde's haunting imagery, Grigorian's performance is enough to ensure that the power of this extraordinary work - still one of the finest in the whole opera repertoire - still comes through in the Hamburg production.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: <a href="https://www.staatsoper-hamburg.de/de/spielplan/stueck.php?AuffNr=187775" target="_blank">Staatsoper Hamburg</a>, <a href="https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/115598-000-A/richard-strauss-salome/" target="_blank">ARTE Concert</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-62657320006463710722023-12-11T15:57:00.003+00:002023-12-11T16:02:23.608+00:00Catán - Florencia en el Amazonas (New York, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNM7EDVEZ3x7wv49aVPYHHbaZ_Ti0cV6eUW4qVvNtZHLn-dDNRPSBhjdu-Su3YO7OP4_KbefycD0-vMj1-Kob-9j9t4pVMnfXwiScem7EKkq1RH3EzZ6CjLuqMAGeru618bNlFt49wwQ5I3mXM6bOUfkPz4sFrjuvpUffHdvcRM_za1WMeFzWslTqxcnQ/s1730/florencia%20en%20el%20amazonas%2001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="1730" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNM7EDVEZ3x7wv49aVPYHHbaZ_Ti0cV6eUW4qVvNtZHLn-dDNRPSBhjdu-Su3YO7OP4_KbefycD0-vMj1-Kob-9j9t4pVMnfXwiScem7EKkq1RH3EzZ6CjLuqMAGeru618bNlFt49wwQ5I3mXM6bOUfkPz4sFrjuvpUffHdvcRM_za1WMeFzWslTqxcnQ/w400-h164/florencia%20en%20el%20amazonas%2001.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Daniel Catán - Florencia en el Amazonas</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Metropolitan Opera, New York, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Mary Zimmerman, Ailyn Pérez, Gabriella Reyes, Mario Chang, Mattia Olivieri, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Michael Chioldi, Greer Grimsley</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Met Live in HD - 9th December 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Regardless of what you think about the artistic merits of the opening productions of the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD Season, there is a clear intent to extend the range of opera and the opera audience and an important part of that is bringing new works to the stage, new works at least as far as being presented at the Met is concerned. Opera deserves this kind of progressive renewal, its means of expression through music and drama meaning that it can be many things, with each composer free to express their own character, culture and ideals. Spanish language composers don't however have much of a tradition of opera, certainly not in comparison with Italian and German language opera. Daniel Catán's 2016 opera <i>Florencia en el Amazonas</i> is therefore a vital work to be put on at the Met, a work that has the opportunity to fully express Latin American passions. It certainly has that, but is passion all opera is about? Does it not need some depth as well? Some truth?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well, that would be for the individual to determine how successful the opera and the production is at finding and presenting those qualities that the work has to share. Passion is certainly a defining characteristic of Mexican art and drama in my experience, to the extent that it can be a little overwhelming and come at the expense of subtlety and genuine feeling. You only need to see the expression of Rolando Villazón presenting the Met Live in HD presentation of the opera, and the enthusiasm of the singers being interviewed during the interval to get that impression. I realise that this is a broad generalisation informed on my part only by limited experience mainly of Mexican cinema, but it's a view that isn't changed after seeing Catán's <i>Florencia en el Amazonas</i>.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKqBB6H4wBt4RIFoTbLpSbbMvfWQbsd2hZq9n_vDLvKspBJP1_X97iGmQHbou7JHVInKAS9_9U2RC-7Y1FXLZYyfH6VYGGZxJKmZHoXZLoOi6iPXi-r-psw62mMRnu_jo5pdpWCwlGYGLbJ5rikIpvK3zGw9tbr8-SyKQAqBiuzQD-o1CWHn-cn_xOYj8/s720/florencia01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKqBB6H4wBt4RIFoTbLpSbbMvfWQbsd2hZq9n_vDLvKspBJP1_X97iGmQHbou7JHVInKAS9_9U2RC-7Y1FXLZYyfH6VYGGZxJKmZHoXZLoOi6iPXi-r-psw62mMRnu_jo5pdpWCwlGYGLbJ5rikIpvK3zGw9tbr8-SyKQAqBiuzQD-o1CWHn-cn_xOYj8/w400-h266/florencia01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Without wishing to undervalue the skill and beauty of the composition - one thing that is undeniable is that <i>Florencia en el Amazonas</i> is a truly beautiful opera of Straussian musical richness - the impression is that it verges on being a parody of an opera. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, and Strauss and Hofmannsthal flirted with that idea in many of their operas (<i>Capriccio</i>, <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, even <i>Der Rosenkavalier</i>). In some way however <i>Florencia</i> feels like it's more of an opera about opera, or about the power of opera, and not just because the main character of the work is an opera diva, although that is telling in itself.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The setting at least is one that is given to the rich extravagance with which it is treated. It takes place in the early 1900s on a steamboat, El Dorado, that is making its way though the Amazon rainforest on the way to Manaus, where the legendary opera singer Florencia Grimaldo is appearing at the reopening of the famous jungle theatre. Among the passengers are a couple whose marriage has cooled down, Rosalba, a journalist who is writing a biography of Florencia Grimaldi, and - unknown to all on board - the great diva herself, returning to the place where she started out on her career before becoming famous in Europe. She is also harbouring a desire to see Cristóbal, a former lover who was an inspiration to her.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjXfVjnxm0MD9CFCz6Mq9IuM7QxBKfrCHEDP_kj6lTDLIdaYCn6W5-bTUgLTUJPh3EiJIJEdziCz2fuprJRYeVwR77IDXSS7Dy7WTgUrzptSFwX47ZxrreN_IUB3ollHQ1XiXpGHnx2z51GF6kLXpZWmZUC89AZUgcgmorXd_VY94D3Bd0xld87Fp3pQ/s720/florencia02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjXfVjnxm0MD9CFCz6Mq9IuM7QxBKfrCHEDP_kj6lTDLIdaYCn6W5-bTUgLTUJPh3EiJIJEdziCz2fuprJRYeVwR77IDXSS7Dy7WTgUrzptSFwX47ZxrreN_IUB3ollHQ1XiXpGHnx2z51GF6kLXpZWmZUC89AZUgcgmorXd_VY94D3Bd0xld87Fp3pQ/w400-h266/florencia02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>That's the setting. In terms of plot, there really isn't much to talk about other than what transpires between the characters and within them, but that doesn't stop the on-board romance that develops between Rosalba and the captain's nephew Arcadio or the quarrels between the married couple Paula and Alvaro from being pitched at a very high emotional level. As if that is not enough there is also a mystical figure, Riolobo, acting as a commentator and in some way an influence over what transpires between the passengers; a spirit of the river if you like, although there are plenty of other exotic creatures seen as the steamship progresses through the overheated atmosphere of the Amazonian rainforest.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Directed by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Mary%20Zimmerman">Mary Zimmerman</a>, the Met's production matches the colourful nature of, well ...nature in the Amazon region, recognising that at heart the work is a celebration of life and nature. There's not too much realism here (none whatsoever in fact), Riccardo Hernández's sets absolutely beautiful to look at, the costumes of the creatures worn by dancers colourful and inventive, with the dancers dressed as waves even spilling over onto the deck of the steamboat a lovely touch, but it's all a little bit kitsch. That's traditionally Mary Zimmerman and the Met for you, but you'd have to extend that description to Daniel Catán, as this suits his opera perfectly. Musically it flows - overflows really - with expression, the heightened pitch constant and rising to such an extent that you would think there is little room for it to go anywhere after the first act. Well hold on to your opera glasses because it continues to soar higher in Act II.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is nonetheless much to admire in this. The music is exquisite, Straussian in its rich orchestration and melodies, Puccinian in its romanticism, giving the singers some wonderful parts to sing, challenging too since they rarely vary in pitch or intensity. It's like you get one '<i>un bel dì vedremo</i>' after another. If this sounds like it could become tiring on the listener, imagine how it must be for the singer. Having said that it is clear that the cast relish such an opportunity and the quality of the singing is extraordinarily good. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ailyn%20P%C3%A9rez">Ailyn Pérez</a> is a revelation singing in her native Spanish language with the arias that Catán has written for the role of Florencia, but <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Gabriella%20Reyes">Gabriella Reyes</a>’s Rosalba is no less prone to soaring emotions, or indeed <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search?q=Mario+Chang">Mario Chang</a> as Arcadio. All are hugely impressive in sustaining this and attempting to give it meaning, but it still feels a little hollow and performative, lacking in any real depth.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEMMziFFxHcxW0isrOC_xlUXhYvSn-EydvMl2jGa88ugxypmDwawh8H7DCe_E-AZQ3skEl-o6ZMfvfEMVzvIzg70KuEfsQo_v7jsn_tLNoOdrfmjxFliActkbU5u_WCTOWanqcyrg41PO5Tmw7c-07Ym0rH06QbAXttpRIHrMI7DDUF0TnvrthMsFlkQU/s720/florencia03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEMMziFFxHcxW0isrOC_xlUXhYvSn-EydvMl2jGa88ugxypmDwawh8H7DCe_E-AZQ3skEl-o6ZMfvfEMVzvIzg70KuEfsQo_v7jsn_tLNoOdrfmjxFliActkbU5u_WCTOWanqcyrg41PO5Tmw7c-07Ym0rH06QbAXttpRIHrMI7DDUF0TnvrthMsFlkQU/w400-h266/florencia03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>A great deal was made of the fact that the librettist, Marcela Fuentes-Berain studied under the Nobel Prize winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, but I felt that the connection was overstated as a reason for the opera and the production to indulge in magical realism. Here the opera puts forward the idea that life itself is beautiful, magic, and that the experiences and pains we endure are transformative and find expression in art. There is however not a single moment in the opera that feels like it has any connection with truth or reality. One thing I do admire however is its optimism, something that is rare in traditionally tragic opera of this kind. Florencia’s epiphany at the conclusion, finding the meaning of love in the time of cholera is like a validation of '<i>un bel di vedremo</i>' (or '<i>un día precioso veremos</i>' here maybe), where she somewhat appropriately becomes a Señora Mariposa. Sadly, that's not a sentiment greatly in accordance with our current troubled times.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It would be unfair to describe such beautiful music and the optimistic outlook in <i>Florencia en el Amazonas</i> as a weakness, since it's not easy to determine whether it's the opera that is at fault or the production which perhaps over-indulges it. Like many 'flawed' opera works I'm sure it could be 'redeemed' by the right kind of production, one that really seeks to explore it and put it through its paces, one that takes the opportunity to examine it in more depth than Zimmerman and the magical realism trappings to see whether there is a germ of truth and realism in there that can be brought out. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Perhaps at this stage however it's more important that this is even being put on at the Met as a true representative voice for Spanish language or Latin American opera. I recall however that I might have said something similar about Catán's <i><a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Daniel Catán">Il Postino</a> </i>over a decade ago, that it was a work that also has the potential to cross-over, to reach and touch a new audience for opera. Opera trends don't move at a great pace, so it might take another generation for that to happen, but while <i>Florencia en el Amazonas</i> might not have made a great impression on me, I have no doubt that is capable of inspiring others.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: <a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2023-24-season/florencia-en-el-amazonas/" target="_blank">Metropolitan Opera</a>, </span><a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">The Met Live in HD</a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Photos: Ken Howard / Met Opera</i></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-67185478700414631302023-12-02T12:17:00.004+00:002023-12-02T12:20:52.711+00:00Puccini - La Bohème (Dublin, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthZmU4NQkVQqKuYjyWGbQqHSyuzrJgYT0-_7AJeJdhLuoxKZfL0skphVPL4vkQD7MphhVZNKUKc8cHkR8E6mX-JhJVN7LLh-A_tGwEY8OFetyaKQvtUOhPP0y1Pq432px6sAPiAZrcLGdtAsu-SPjVqYjIBeipyIbmfdcRVjOLIJb0d9r-n1pBF0Vu6o/s2025/la%20boheme1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="2025" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthZmU4NQkVQqKuYjyWGbQqHSyuzrJgYT0-_7AJeJdhLuoxKZfL0skphVPL4vkQD7MphhVZNKUKc8cHkR8E6mX-JhJVN7LLh-A_tGwEY8OFetyaKQvtUOhPP0y1Pq432px6sAPiAZrcLGdtAsu-SPjVqYjIBeipyIbmfdcRVjOLIJb0d9r-n1pBF0Vu6o/w400-h191/la%20boheme1.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Giacomo Puccini - La bohème</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Irish National Opera, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Sergio Alapont, Orpha Phelan, Celine Byrne, Sarah Brady, Merūnas Vitulskis, Iurii Samoilov, Gyula Nagy, Lukas Jakobski, Eddie Wade, Fearghal Curtis, David Scott, Kevin Neville</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin - 26th November 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you think there is nothing radical you can do to enhance Puccini's <i>La bohème</i>, then you've probably only seen variations of John Copley's Royal Opera House warhorse or the classic <a href=" https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2014/11/puccini-la-boheme-wiener-staatsoper.html">Franco Zeffirelli stage production</a> and haven't seen the extraordinary versions over the last decade by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2012/11/puccini-la-boheme.html">Stefan Herheim</a> and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2018/01/puccini-la-boheme-paris-2017.html">Claus Guth</a>. Whether that is strictly necessary, whether it adds anything to what is already there and more than sufficient on its own in Puccini's score is another matter. Updated to a different time period but not contemporary (or in outer space) you get the feeling that this is the direction taken by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Orpha%20Phelan">Orpha Phelan</a> for the Irish National Opera production. Why risk spoiling what is already perfect by trying to impose a contemporary situation upon it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's arguable in any case that Henry Murger's original 1851 novel '<i>Scènes de la vie de bohème</i>' is very much about a specific time and place, but there is clearly much that can be read in the interrelated story collection that says much about society, poverty and artists. That however is not the main concern of Puccini's <i>La bohème</i>, or perhaps it is but with a shift of emphasis onto the romantic relationships that are also present in Murger. Puccini's <i>La bohème</i> is at heart a love story, two love stories even, supported by some of the most soaring romantic and tragic music composed for an opera. The best thing about Phelan's INO production is that it doesn't get in the way of this, but supports it almost exactly the way an audience expects. The worse thing about is that it gives you exactly what you expect.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOzIigEAnXOI1-Do_jQLnWsqEHRUcesUrzD_QkGznBiYywDt0ifp8HZVJsoFGNJQBwPEpk-FDnWwVr4ebBunVZkR8H9CXSrrxfdk6inf34s2KMIW6_tPrjjOm0TCvzvFKGMO49ZGBp06bukC7UfQIdKn7qiuYOt6ElC588Bg7488XaDK0nEk2zm1XKCM/s960/la%20boheme2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiOzIigEAnXOI1-Do_jQLnWsqEHRUcesUrzD_QkGznBiYywDt0ifp8HZVJsoFGNJQBwPEpk-FDnWwVr4ebBunVZkR8H9CXSrrxfdk6inf34s2KMIW6_tPrjjOm0TCvzvFKGMO49ZGBp06bukC7UfQIdKn7qiuYOt6ElC588Bg7488XaDK0nEk2zm1XKCM/w400-h266/la%20boheme2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Indeed, as the other (extreme) versions mentioned above indicate, since they make such a huge impression, it's a long time since I've seen a <i>La bohème</i> so lacking in surprises or inspiration. Even the current <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2018/12/puccini-la-boheme-london-2018.html">Royal Opera House production</a> from 2018 had a freshness to it. The danger of this is that with familiarity the opera comes across as little more than a series of set pieces, and when it adds up to set pieces there's little sense of true emotion or drama. Well, that's a risk in the first half at least, and no matter what the production does (even in the hands of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2018/01/puccini-la-boheme-paris-2017.html">Guth</a>), it would be hard not to feel almost devastated by the progression of the final two acts as scored by Puccini.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>La bohème</i>'s enduring appeal as a tragic romantic opera drama needs little critical support or analysis on that front. The balance of the work is masterful, its contrasting of Rodolfo and Mimi's spark of love on a downward trajectory from its moment of ignition contrasted by Musetta and Marcello's relationship heading in the opposite direction. Puccini plays these two troubled relationships out simultaneously to the same music, with superb use of motifs and repeated refrains that play out in contrasting contexts. As familiar as it has become, there is no question that it's still a masterwork.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH86HsG0kEv5aH-gy0dNUQsKFjG7hybWLr_19gWI5EDBSSMfyQMgZgj035deJWRIKqenW5Bk0JzGQkYfUik4lj5sN_wTJiT6ARaubb9ZoWiVsmZ8og-4Si0hwe39uu39S-cik9bDFWbotS8rNmZIaeH1_KmCsDgPvmdufW1kGykk6LUFTYtj4iWjuYTE/s720/la%20boheme3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH86HsG0kEv5aH-gy0dNUQsKFjG7hybWLr_19gWI5EDBSSMfyQMgZgj035deJWRIKqenW5Bk0JzGQkYfUik4lj5sN_wTJiT6ARaubb9ZoWiVsmZ8og-4Si0hwe39uu39S-cik9bDFWbotS8rNmZIaeH1_KmCsDgPvmdufW1kGykk6LUFTYtj4iWjuYTE/w400-h266/la%20boheme3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Whether it has anything deep or important to say depends on the experience of the individual listener. Certainly I've seen little in opera that comes close to the ecstatic experience of discovering love and the agonising pain of losing it (only Shakespeare can match this in <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> and in <i>Othello</i>). More specifically, it's how Puccini's music captures the rush of young love, the sensation of wanting to have it all and have it now, only later having to deal with the realities of life and relationships. And it has to be said that the realities of poverty and its impact on relationships is not underplayed, even if it's often shown in the context of the brevity of happiness grasped by the bohemian artists in Paris in a specific historical period.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Poverty, illness and death impacting on love and relationships is of course not something that only relates to a distant past. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Orpha%20Phelan">Orpha Phelan</a> however is not too ambitious in her setting of this between WWI and WWII apparently, although like the last INO production, the Jack Furness directed <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/gounod-faust-dublin-2023.html">Faust</a></i>, it's somewhat random and non-specific. There are few twists in each of the scenes in the four acts of this <i>La bohème</i>, although they do flow together well, creating the necessary climate, light and conditions you would expect to find in each of those scenes. It all feels rather perfunctory, trying not to impose on it anything beyond what is necessary for those scenes to work, but in consequence, not really inviting you to consider them in a new light. It has a tendency to just wash over.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRcnwcG1VX0hUOOCfpH8vhhhEPRqhwA1asAgsGcmiVIDOb9nGARI9lL2iJiE1lxEmLq4lvnYa-fWUkTdiXtbX6JnYVqSM8JcrtbrBdzHWkX2V264jRlMZfUzVOA2W4V7Z8sSaBZ9Kc_hyphenhyphenZ1O2t7jzQ6VfCpoNtgQCY_WLypwJsUlcmnkxQ16wZUFsKCno/s1989/la%20boheme4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1989" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRcnwcG1VX0hUOOCfpH8vhhhEPRqhwA1asAgsGcmiVIDOb9nGARI9lL2iJiE1lxEmLq4lvnYa-fWUkTdiXtbX6JnYVqSM8JcrtbrBdzHWkX2V264jRlMZfUzVOA2W4V7Z8sSaBZ9Kc_hyphenhyphenZ1O2t7jzQ6VfCpoNtgQCY_WLypwJsUlcmnkxQ16wZUFsKCno/w400-h271/la%20boheme4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Indifference to the situation of the bohemians is the last thing you want from this opera, but there is one considerable factor that prevents this from happening (aside from Puccini's score conducted well here by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Sergio%20Alapont">Sergio Alapont</a>) and it's the fact that you have you have everything you expect from a Rodolfo and a Mimi in the casting of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Mer%C5%ABnas%20Vitulskis">Merūnas Vitulskis</a> and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Celine%20Byrne">Celine Byrne</a>. In fact, you'd be hard pushed to find any better today, not just in terms of their ability to meet the technical challenges, but also in terms of the necessary passion that goes into performing these roles. Unfortunately, that's more down to the professionalism of the singers and their familiarity with the roles, as the stage direction didn't really add a great deal of conviction to dilemma that Rodolfo and Mimi find themselves in. The same can be said for all the main roles, especially the fabulous performances of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Sarah%20Brady">Sarah Brady</a> as Musetta and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Iurii%20Samoilov">Iurii Samoilov</a> as Marcello.</p></span><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Irish%20National%20Opera">Irish National Opera</a> were I feel a little more adventurous in their first few seasons since they were formed in 2018, even in their approach to the big operatic standards. Orpha Phelan has also been much more adventurous in the past with beautiful interpretations for the INO's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2019/11/rossini-la-cenerentola-dublin-2019.html">La Cenerentola</a></i> and <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2022/11/david-lalla-roukh-wexford-2022.html">Lalla Roukh</a></i> for Wexford. Following the first opera this season <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/gounod-faust-dublin-2023.html">Faust</a></i>, it feels like post-pandemic they are focussing on bringing an audience back and taking them along with them. It might not appeal to those who like their opera productions a little more avant-garde but I'll say this for their <i>La bohème</i>; playing out to full houses at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin with an opera like this, performed to this kind of standard, there are a lot of people who will be back for the next one. And the next one is <i><a href="https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/whats-on/current-upcoming/salome">Salome</a></i>, and there's no playing safe with that one. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8wRraBu_SlOhW0UXt_4tzGmxygoR8IjkFIzH2ionEtHeXEIhCsngatCyU4ZWEK7btCYTb7sXFPG81KIJ9044Joq3nBhk5wzI5d_Ok2AMI6441xGxGeg-vUATLMi6CqbGEMgzSaO8Pguuwck72yr52rwM-KUyQb1qane_EpZ3xMPbOmxTFurT0tTFoPKU/s1000/la%20boheme-dublin1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="1000" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8wRraBu_SlOhW0UXt_4tzGmxygoR8IjkFIzH2ionEtHeXEIhCsngatCyU4ZWEK7btCYTb7sXFPG81KIJ9044Joq3nBhk5wzI5d_Ok2AMI6441xGxGeg-vUATLMi6CqbGEMgzSaO8Pguuwck72yr52rwM-KUyQb1qane_EpZ3xMPbOmxTFurT0tTFoPKU/w400-h211/la%20boheme-dublin1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoB0JI84RE7mPbh35tkTiWIsh2hDQnDgci1POoigpIhgg-5I7bI5Pelx-FONg9ir51UOhhyv5H0kkGyHe-IDn27rCC8z6T3VXth_tdDuZghVZoO2vo1d2dCptMzlJLsUC2s-lqQ3udqsu7C_cFoy3kLuI4UOrsOQ1OPItZILRQC_HuMCtK-2PJP3i72IU/s3980/la%20boheme-dublin2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2208" data-original-width="3980" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoB0JI84RE7mPbh35tkTiWIsh2hDQnDgci1POoigpIhgg-5I7bI5Pelx-FONg9ir51UOhhyv5H0kkGyHe-IDn27rCC8z6T3VXth_tdDuZghVZoO2vo1d2dCptMzlJLsUC2s-lqQ3udqsu7C_cFoy3kLuI4UOrsOQ1OPItZILRQC_HuMCtK-2PJP3i72IU/w400-h223/la%20boheme-dublin2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Links: <a href="https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/" target="_blank">Irish National Opera</a></p></span><p></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-44833649251654332422023-11-25T11:08:00.000+00:002023-11-25T11:08:04.786+00:00Puccini - Turandot (Paris, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwu8Tj5EABEG_fLSG7gu4ry-05E54Xq7i2PuXNolUQ1q4MfozxKD6k8nqAzMWrHefZMxEACVnr-vreW6Ws0i4NKvdqlrSguqJTdBbRC-7a5W-BgUy-2KfrY_cCid1_lOvk7HRMzLsmxW15-vpkoKfioTfeuhiNE9_CgTaCXN5WMAYv4RzRuPhE7ND7yVQ/s1197/turandot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="1197" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwu8Tj5EABEG_fLSG7gu4ry-05E54Xq7i2PuXNolUQ1q4MfozxKD6k8nqAzMWrHefZMxEACVnr-vreW6Ws0i4NKvdqlrSguqJTdBbRC-7a5W-BgUy-2KfrY_cCid1_lOvk7HRMzLsmxW15-vpkoKfioTfeuhiNE9_CgTaCXN5WMAYv4RzRuPhE7ND7yVQ/w400-h193/turandot.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Giacomo Puccini - Turandot</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Opéra National de Paris, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Marco Armiliato, Robert Wilson, Iréne Theorin, Brian Jagde, Ermonela Jaho, Carlo Bosi, Mika Kares, Florent Mbia, Maciej Kwaśnikowski, Nicholas Jones, Guilhem Worms, Hyun-Jong Roh, Pranvera Lehnert, Izabella Wnorowska-Pluchart</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Paris Opera Play - 13th November 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such is the very distinct character and experience of a <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Robert%20Wilson">Robert Wilson</a> production that you imagine that it can't be suitable for every kind of opera, but it's not such an easy thing to fit that into clear dividing lines, and where the line does fall is of course going to be be subjective. You would think that it would be better suited to more abstract work like <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2014/01/glass-einstein-on-beach.html">Einstein on the Beach</a></i>, where he first made his mark in the world of opera as co-creator with Philip Glass, or <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2012/03/debussy-pelleas-et-melisande.html">Pelléas et Mélisande</a></i> and the spiritual content of Arvo Pärt's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2015/10/part-adams-passion-tallinn-2015-webcast.html">Adam's Passion</a></i> but his style also seems to chime with baroque very well (Gluck and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2020/08/handel-mozart-der-messias-salzburg-2020.html">Handel</a>), except when it doesn't (<a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2011/02/monteverdi-lorfeo.html">Monteverdi</a>). You couldn't see his coolness work with the beautiful warm humanity of Mozart, but who knows? I would love to see him direct a <i>Die Zauberflöte</i>, and could someone commission a Robert Wilson Ring Cycle please?...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I wasn't convinced either by his work on Verdi's <i>Aida</i>, even though it looked stunning on the stage, and I was surprisingly impressed with his take on the high drama of the French version of <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2019/10/verdi-le-trouvere-parma-2018.html">Il Trovatore</a></i>, so it's not so clear cut. Puccini is another that it's hard to imagine Robert Wilson being suited, but we have already seen <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2011/02/puccini-madama-butterfly.html">Madama Butterfly</a></i> and this <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2020/01/puccini-turandot-madrid-2018.html">Turandot</a></i> (seen previously in Madrid) prove otherwise. In the case of <i>Turandot</i>, now playing in Paris and available to view in a brief window though their Paris Opera Play service, the reasons are worth exploring again, although Puccini's opera, the cast here and the spectacle of a Wilson production are reason enough to watch this again.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdmeoK3UeSxBIIfuHkVezTCg1GBX3gMJRO_T2pG2yA6h96LBL6SfUH7vq0N3KrFJVUUgIvNlmfeLy-jvUwq5cSljMo8ZnBU25i3VlxwX7A_TndBsgBIl-NGgGuRB2m_FWaPxgavTHgy0itCcX1_56A18j6bC7BvZOYNsEWK5pHy74JoGiGMKXIqtSwjaE/s720/turandot03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdmeoK3UeSxBIIfuHkVezTCg1GBX3gMJRO_T2pG2yA6h96LBL6SfUH7vq0N3KrFJVUUgIvNlmfeLy-jvUwq5cSljMo8ZnBU25i3VlxwX7A_TndBsgBIl-NGgGuRB2m_FWaPxgavTHgy0itCcX1_56A18j6bC7BvZOYNsEWK5pHy74JoGiGMKXIqtSwjaE/w400-h266/turandot03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Like any good opera production its success relies on how well it works with the score and the intent of the opera. That doesn't necessarily mean that the direction has to be sympathetic towards the original intentions of the work (few if any productions match to the letter or even closely adhere to stage directions nowadays), nor even in matching or working with the tone of the music score. There can be as much of interest in contrasting the heat and passion of a music score with a coolness in the direction as a means to examine the potential of a work and perhaps illustrate an hitherto unexplored aspect of a work. I'm not saying that Wilson does this in the case of <i>Turandot</i>, but he certainly brings an uncommon and you would think counterintuitive approach to Puccini's final unfinished masterpiece.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There actually is a cold menace at the heart of this dark fairytale with its authoritarian regime ruled with cruel laws, and that is reflected in the sinister undercurrents of Puccini's score. Calixto Bieito showed one way of bringing that aspect out in <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2015/11/puccini-turandot-ni-opera-2015-belfast.html">his production</a>, but Wilson shows that there is more than one way, and it is if course in his own very distinctive way. The restricted highly controlled movements of the cast, the darkness of moving black panels blotting out the light at the back of the stage instead of thunderclouds. The situation is not natural, so Wilson doesn't resort to natural phenomena for this. When something of nature does appear, such as a bird a stork making a flight across the sky during the mourning of the latest victim to lose his pale bloodless head, it's in response to the sorrowful warmth of the score. Even the bird's movements however are Wilson stylised.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM_iF-W-UNYoyy8W5urAEXb3iOu8rKuju2vC9C23DPpUTj2cNbNvUqd9aoXWfKeVj-TWFoteHg2WmmC6w-wBYziUHeKmSA337z6KFx-1o6fqH-3-AztssiJZxY36RRaJU940SCpCuozgc9qBkM1M7O5YYgiv6bRWgs11dGYbG92OTZQa_uJHGSJcyaLus/s768/turandot01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM_iF-W-UNYoyy8W5urAEXb3iOu8rKuju2vC9C23DPpUTj2cNbNvUqd9aoXWfKeVj-TWFoteHg2WmmC6w-wBYziUHeKmSA337z6KFx-1o6fqH-3-AztssiJZxY36RRaJU940SCpCuozgc9qBkM1M7O5YYgiv6bRWgs11dGYbG92OTZQa_uJHGSJcyaLus/w400-h266/turandot01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Where Wilson best serves <i>Turandot</i> is in the epic fantasy of the fairytale, not making it a colourful exotic drama (like <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2014/03/puccini-turandot.html">Andrei Serban at the ROH</a>), but a colourful spectacle of a different hue nonetheless, working primarily with light. It's a superb match for the huge orchestration, the limited movements providing counterpoint rather than a conventional illustrative decoration. It also has the effect of simply gluing you the visuals, really connecting with them, even if they seem occasionally jarring and disruptive to the tone at times with bizarre comedy characters (not just Ping, Pang and Pong). It's visually stunning and despite the impression of it being static there is always something happening, even if it's just the fading and brightening of the light adjusting the whole appearance of a scene.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Credit to conductor <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Marco%20Armiliato">Marco Armiliato</a> for matching the lushness of the score with the intent of stage production, rather than feeling a need to present a cold and clinical reading, which would be a disservice to Wilson and Puccini. It's majestic. There are serious singing challenges in this Puccini opera without having to adopt unnatural posture and deliver gestures in the Robert Wilson fashion. Although rightly celebrated for her Puccini roles as <i>Madama Butterfly</i> and <i>Suor Angelica</i>, Liù appears to be less comfortable range for <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ermonela%20Jaho">Ermonela Jaho</a>. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ir%C3%A9ne%20Theorin">Iréne Theorin</a> is also a little bit strained here. She's an excellent powerhouse Wagnerian, somewhat inconsistent, but is gloriously imperious in the final scene confronting Liù and Calaf. Turandot is not a large role but it is a very challenging one. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Brian%20Jagde">Brian Jagde</a> is a fine Decent Calaf, and soars through '<i>Nessun dorma</i>'. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Carlo%20Bosi">Carlo Bosi</a> is very capable for the role of the old man Altoum.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirHqmMStZbPExAXfmAc6JmM23jMMQzLTWxRtYQXpYlaD6VAvUrw-FPLeaH51q58IZRa3aZJzOww4SHWEMaAid16hxku2PtYgKBWI9HisOHPrxl6FiaX702oGyrGBWGBmgGDg9YbCWfIprhGNFI-hTedTs5gPCQtQyq9W4Ft7NJRx2OGqyGM9U_DI-smkk/s720/turandot02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirHqmMStZbPExAXfmAc6JmM23jMMQzLTWxRtYQXpYlaD6VAvUrw-FPLeaH51q58IZRa3aZJzOww4SHWEMaAid16hxku2PtYgKBWI9HisOHPrxl6FiaX702oGyrGBWGBmgGDg9YbCWfIprhGNFI-hTedTs5gPCQtQyq9W4Ft7NJRx2OGqyGM9U_DI-smkk/w400-h266/turandot02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Whether <i>Turandot</i> has something deeper political to say about love being the answer that will topple a totalitarian regime is debatable, although in its unfinished form without resolution Calixto Bieito certainly made a convincing case for it being a powerful critique of the crushing boot of fascism, but the inherent power of the work, whether for its depiction of a reign of terror or its belief in the healing power of love, is undeniable. His mannerisms will irritate some but the power of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Robert%20Wilson">Robert Wilson</a>'s distinctive vision for this and for the world of opera can't be denied. His <i>Turandot</i> is spectacular, unlike anything else, capturing the otherworldly quality of Puccini’s fairy tale opera, its power, its majesty, and its beauty as a final unfinished testament from this composer.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-23-24/opera/turandot" target="_blank">Opéra National de Paris</a>, <a href="https://play.operadeparis.fr/catalogue/live" target="_blank">Paris Opera Play</a></span></p><p>Photo credits: Agathe Poupeney / Opéra national de Paris</p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-87362996828614819052023-11-22T16:53:00.002+00:002023-11-22T16:58:04.533+00:00Davis - X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (New York, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47kxBl8gBAlZZP7itP0pysVO6zrB7MeoMfi97Im5NJvORnHyQwTzDgmDVJ6q_d-j8WIDXElMKbXAdFw4bTMQZ3zhngALKNo4SdApnFM8bUpRkJdhZ6PJ8uDUvfvacIwdMyM9qFjA2n6xOTEcM9E6NlOBB687QSkDOt0a2TDrnGV5YOTFXMnHPwf4U8wI/s1539/malcolmx.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1539" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47kxBl8gBAlZZP7itP0pysVO6zrB7MeoMfi97Im5NJvORnHyQwTzDgmDVJ6q_d-j8WIDXElMKbXAdFw4bTMQZ3zhngALKNo4SdApnFM8bUpRkJdhZ6PJ8uDUvfvacIwdMyM9qFjA2n6xOTEcM9E6NlOBB687QSkDOt0a2TDrnGV5YOTFXMnHPwf4U8wI/w400-h173/malcolmx.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Anthony Davis - X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Metropolitan Opera, New York, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Kazem Abdullah, Robert O'Hara, Leah Hawkins, Raehann Bryce-Davis, Victor Ryan Robertson, Will Liverman, Michael Sumuel, Edwin Jhamaal Davis, Jasmine Muhammad, Elliott Paige, Adam Richardson, Tracy Cox, Bryce Christian Thompson, Gregory Warren, Marco Jordão, Ross Benoliel, Tshombe Selby</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Met Live in HD - 18th November 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I praised the Metropolitan Opera two years ago for the initiative of bringing the first opera by a black composer to the Met stage, Terence Blanchard's incendiary <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2021/11/blanchard-fire-shut-up-in-my-bones-new.html">Fire Shut Up In My Bones</a></i>, an opera that tackled race issues that still persist in America head-on. It was a significant moment and a great success, showing that opera could be relevant modern and progressive. What was even more important was that it wouldn't be just a token gesture and that it would be followed up, which it was by going back to Blanchard's other neglected opera, <i>Champion</i>. This year, the Met have continued to support not just works by black composers but contemporary works by other composers never before performed there. With <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/heggie-dead-man-walking-new-york-2023.html">Dead Man Walking</a></i> opening the 2023-24 season, it was clear that not only did these neglected works by contemporary American composers deserve to be seen on the biggest opera platform in the US, but they could also be hugely successful.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Written and first performed in 1986 by a composer better known for his work in jazz (much like Terence Blanchard), it would have it would have been inconceivable that Anthony Davis's <i>X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X</i> would have been performed back then at the Met, but here we are now with it even being live-streamed live across the world via their Live in HD cinema broadcasts. It's a bold initiative for a bold opera that takes on a challenging subject, a controversial figure from recent history and approaches its subject with an uncommon blend of contemporary opera with arias and an orchestra that includes a jazz ensemble. There would have been more chance of an alien spaceship crashing onto the stage of the Met than <i>X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X</i> being performed there.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkJJDewCLb0C0qKskx9s3m59JJcjf1PVIY7hLojS2gkmRRA2ZV8sGJO-XKxZ-s2MzX3gQPOPxeMb21zknM0IXqbOn9nhf15xfNnUZZu0DvcKwjw4SdG40Zwfgc44HROBdjX0cmboGAJXtI1kRyIpKefYWdLVhFj75R8ZL3lz9oOkVf8YPOX6_r0XxeNo/s1600/malcolmx-01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1600" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkJJDewCLb0C0qKskx9s3m59JJcjf1PVIY7hLojS2gkmRRA2ZV8sGJO-XKxZ-s2MzX3gQPOPxeMb21zknM0IXqbOn9nhf15xfNnUZZu0DvcKwjw4SdG40Zwfgc44HROBdjX0cmboGAJXtI1kRyIpKefYWdLVhFj75R8ZL3lz9oOkVf8YPOX6_r0XxeNo/w400-h171/malcolmx-01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>That's the image that the director <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Robert%20O%27Hara">Robert O'Hara</a> chooses as a symbol or emblem that hangs over the stage of the newly revised and expanded version of the opera for the 2023 Met production. We are back to the future, or more specifically, thrown into Afrofuturism, an idea that was first envisioned by Marcus Garvey and has since been taken up by many black jazz musicians supporting the idea of an alternative future where black culture, technology and science are progressive and dominant force in society. Here, they have come back in a spaceship to the Met, no less, to celebrate the life of one of the movement's earliest proponents and indeed activist, Malcolm X advocating not only justice and equality that had been denied to his race, but for separatism "a nation within a nation" that would allow black culture to flourish apart from white society.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is a clear arc to follow in <i>X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X</i>, the opera divided up into three acts that cover Malcolm's early life as Malcolm Little, the years when he threw off his 'slave name' for an 'X' under the influence of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, and in the third part where he visits Mecca and converts to Sunni Islam and the civil rights movement as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz. The composer also sees this narrative arc of a character arc being one of transformation that can be defined across those three parts as "Fear, hate and love". It's a serious subject but not one that should come across as a dry docu-drama. There's no danger of the opera being that, but at the same time, it doesn't engage the way it should and it does indeed suffer from trying to be too close and literal to the subject matter.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigYwN3f-JghaRDV_6MWxRAdSrHWcvFBgMdiTPJPtRSPZm7dFJx426MSutk5OC6c40ZWSCd_o3K3yjzoXXu86tIlojNf2-KKzw5I3R-Tc9VAxrOTjgiyPgbFtgH2ws0AHX9EuJ5H6FtKte4ctorbImY0rvH0usBy5U_nh6eyGC1EGVApGEe5PIkvOwFAOs/s720/malcolmx-04.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigYwN3f-JghaRDV_6MWxRAdSrHWcvFBgMdiTPJPtRSPZm7dFJx426MSutk5OC6c40ZWSCd_o3K3yjzoXXu86tIlojNf2-KKzw5I3R-Tc9VAxrOTjgiyPgbFtgH2ws0AHX9EuJ5H6FtKte4ctorbImY0rvH0usBy5U_nh6eyGC1EGVApGEe5PIkvOwFAOs/w400-h266/malcolmx-04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>It shouldn't be like that. Every effort is put into the production design and direction to ensure that this is a varied and colourful production that fills the stage with life, movement and passion. O'Hara's direction attempts to add a larger dimension to the subject with his Afrofuturist sets, elaborate colourful costume designs and groups of dancers while history comes forward from a little amateur dramatics stage at the back. It does help to make the staging a little more interesting from a visual perspective, even if it doesn't really hold to the documentary tone of the work. It looks unfortunately more like a circus and seems at odds even with the austere image of the slim, neat fitted, close cropped, bespectacled and deadly serious Malcolm X we see in black-and-white documentary footage. This is opera however and can't compete with naturalistic realism, and considering the lack of dramatic action, it helps fill the large stage of the Met. Perhaps more importantly it needs to keep up with the times and remain relevant. Thematically there is no problem with that, the race issues raised still largely unchanged, the fact that this is now on the Met stage notwithstanding.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Probably the greatest challenge the opera faces and fails to overcome is the same one that is a challenge for biopics in the cinema; time is compressed and you don't really get a sense of all the elements that feed into the life of the subject and inspire them to transform into the famous person they become known for. We get a sense of the impact of his father's death when he is a child, but it is made to sound like an accident. The sense of fear that the creators strive for in Act 1 however is progressed well, fear turning into anger by the end of the act. Dramatically it doesn't have a whole lot to offer, but it shows how deep-rooted prejudice is in American society. At every turn the young Malcolm takes, he runs up against a wall of racism, of being told this is not for black people and that he needs to know your place, boxed into a life of criminality. The aria "<i>You want the story, but you don’t want to know</i>" hits at the right point at end of Act 1. Even though his arrest in Charleston in 1945 looks like a small matter, it's clear that anger has been building up to this breaking point.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyHqeyJwp7JMSezC-u0kQOIAnqvV4FXM1lYosPBioRQw7OT4LOAmyry0P_pUmVFKGJ4QQCVd0ju0LS1UyhPQr09VkpfJIKUhd98xGyOWqf3derIdhUFEuHOVp5xQJ7qHRULRgPuZEX0s7ib4dsT_bUlFMGd4lA5ELMrw8Ueyz_6UHEVzEcpA98g9IBKYw/s720/malcolmx-02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyHqeyJwp7JMSezC-u0kQOIAnqvV4FXM1lYosPBioRQw7OT4LOAmyry0P_pUmVFKGJ4QQCVd0ju0LS1UyhPQr09VkpfJIKUhd98xGyOWqf3derIdhUFEuHOVp5xQJ7qHRULRgPuZEX0s7ib4dsT_bUlFMGd4lA5ELMrw8Ueyz_6UHEVzEcpA98g9IBKYw/w400-h266/malcolmx-02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The second act has its strengths but suffers from those biopic issues, compressing the lived experience and failing to adequately show on the stage all the elements and conflicts that feed into the various stages of transformation that Malcolm undergoes. His conversion to the cause of the Nation of Islam and to Sunni Islam on a visit to Mecca seems precipitous, and for all its invention Davis's score doesn't fill in the blanks. You could certainly do that for yourself by imagining the experience of injustice and racism experienced by any black person in America during the 1950s and early 1960s, but it doesn't feature strongly in the opera. The action is limited and more focussed on capturing the speeches and sayings of Malcolm X than showing any real world impact that inspires them or that they might inspire. For large parts this is reduced to sloganeering, which although the feelings expressed remain relevant, it's not what great opera is made of. That said, the chorus work is very strong.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Created 40 years ago and revised for this production, Anthony Davis's score is still ahead of the game, certainly more challenging than Heggie's more conventional <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/heggie-dead-man-walking-new-york-2023.html">Dead Man Walking</a></i>. Not being constrained to any style other than what is required for the purposes of the story, <i>X</i> draws from a whole range of influences and styles, from classical to Wagner and Berg and more contemporary styles, but also incorporates various periods of jazz that reflect the time Malcolm X lived through. That's important as the black origins of jazz come from the same source that is reflected in the feelings that are expressed by Malcolm X in the opera. Davis's music engages with the complexities of the subject, the historical context of the period and the issues with those unconventional musical forms and African rhythms. The main arias hit home effectively and indeed impressively here, but the greater operatic quality or perspective doesn't succeed in lifting this into another dimension.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">None of this takes away from the significance of this particular opera being performed on the Met stage. It's a huge advancement for black artists and the vindication of the ideas of Malcolm X. Much like Malcolm X himself, it's the legacy that is important, with a greater proportion of black artists finding their rightful place in the opera world. There can be no denying either that the singing performances are outstanding and truly inspired by the subject and the work. For me, the tenor <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Victor%20Ryan%20Robertson">Victor Ryan Robertson</a> playing two roles as 'Street' and Elijah Muhammad was the most impressive, working in an incredibly high range and sounding just amazing. He might not look at all like Malcolm X, but <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Will%20Liverman">Will Livermore</a>'s grave impassioned and authoritative performance, also in a very challenging range, was utterly convincing. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Leah%20Hawkins">Leah Hawkins</a> playing Malcolm's mother in the first act and his wife thereafter, was also hugely impressive. Her aria "<i>When a man is lost</i>" in Act II before Malcolm's visit to Mecca was breathtaking. There is an incredible talent base of new black American singers filling out the ranks of the Met.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggY4W-s47hpLQPvbMlOBBv1IcDNYo2bvmpzClC6YCrRUlqD37hNrP18CS73_DAPmLAs00Yzq2ipuwF2ZuCOQA6N8RhSR_mcsOFihpYtJWVSnRezLWzmYK89gFbRrN1PvTX0d6Ewcwk7lspAvdwCeq7iKPeStLauZYSyJNPJZbDw4wzw1kUnpj6w5XwmCg/s720/malcolmx-03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggY4W-s47hpLQPvbMlOBBv1IcDNYo2bvmpzClC6YCrRUlqD37hNrP18CS73_DAPmLAs00Yzq2ipuwF2ZuCOQA6N8RhSR_mcsOFihpYtJWVSnRezLWzmYK89gFbRrN1PvTX0d6Ewcwk7lspAvdwCeq7iKPeStLauZYSyJNPJZbDw4wzw1kUnpj6w5XwmCg/w400-h266/malcolmx-03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Bringing this together musically would have been quite a challenge for conductor <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Kazem%20Abdullah">Kazem Abdullah</a>, the jazz elements and drums blended in with the contemporary music creating odd rhythms, but it came across effectively and powerfully in the Met Live in HD screening. There's no question that the subject is also an interesting and a challenging one, and it's to the credit of the Met that they were willing to take it on. If the stage production didn't entirely succeed in enhancing the qualities of the work, it certainly showed that the talent is there in abundance, and that there is a new audience out there for more work like this. </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: <a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2023-24-season/x-the-life-and-times-of-malcolm-x/" target="_blank">The Metropolitan Opera</a>, <a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/" target="_blank">The Met Live in HD</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-39634110514784699772023-11-18T12:18:00.006+00:002023-11-18T13:09:35.398+00:00Stano - In Between Silence<p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></b></p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5dUOw8oOTx9Qkl14GcIhGIE3EGOhEGvYyLAwl4NO-JAWj2C7l9al6MBm4SxcsCgcPCIRgkSnsR5OYhe3veJCOA73zObDonXyETphLxSPdTNUIzEZBJS5_3bnAiWyodzJ9YiO9IaL0SRLybh3zDNMuJvH7GxaU7sdVsURwQKoySdWB6zJCWM624dprfs/s1300/in%20between%20silence.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="1300" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5dUOw8oOTx9Qkl14GcIhGIE3EGOhEGvYyLAwl4NO-JAWj2C7l9al6MBm4SxcsCgcPCIRgkSnsR5OYhe3veJCOA73zObDonXyETphLxSPdTNUIzEZBJS5_3bnAiWyodzJ9YiO9IaL0SRLybh3zDNMuJvH7GxaU7sdVsURwQKoySdWB6zJCWM624dprfs/w400-h181/in%20between%20silence.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Stano - In Between Silence where we really exist</span></b><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Stano, John Minihan, Aidan Gillen, Paula Meehan, Theo Dorgan, Robert Ballagh, Mary Stokes, Melissa Nolan, Johnny Burke, Marie Howe, Ron Carter, Elizabeth Johnson, Wilson Moran, Brian Keenan</span></i></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Stano is an avant-garde musician who has been working in the Dublin music scene since the 1980s, but he has never really been a part of any collective genre or scene. His work is not easy to categorise, seeming to incorporate post-punk, post-rock, alternative, indie, but - to generalise somewhat - in the main he works with electronic sonic textures and drones which permits great creative freedom to work across many contemporary music disciplines. Stano discovered a new form of musical expression by accident that has been his main project every since, setting music that had been recorded to a story that was being told by one of his fellow musicians and finding that the two elements supported and enhanced each other. This led to the recording of <i>In Between Silence where we really exist</i>, where he invited other artist and friends to describe "a moment in your life that is significant to you" with no other instructions on theme, subject or length of the story, subsequently adding music to the pieces. So far, that idea has led to a collection of almost 100 stories, 13 of which are presented on this CD.</span></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Many artists have worked with setting poetry to musical backing and song. Philip Glass worked with Allen Ginsburg on making <i>Hydrogen Jukebox</i> into a chamber opera, Robert Ashley's hypnotic operas are almost entirely spoken word, Sinikka Langeland has recently set Jon Fosse's poetry to ambient folk-jazz for the ECM label on <i>Wind and Sun</i> and David Sylvian provided music for the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Franz Wright’s <i>There's a Light That Enters Houses With No Other House In Sight</i>. It's Sylvian’s musical and collaborative improvisations with lyrics and poetry there and on his album <i>Manafon</i> that is perhaps the closest example of what Stano does, but Stano also applies the improvisational approach to the words, taking no control over what is spoken by his guests - with no editing and no second takes - and sets them to musical textures of piano, electric guitar and electronic patterns. It's not backing music or purely drone soundtrack, and in most cases it barely even seems to correlate with the speech patterns or context, but there is no reason why it should. The spoken texts don't need music to emphasise what is being recounted, but they can enhance it in non-specific ways, giving the work another dimension. It's this other dimension, the cross pollination of disciplines, that is the hallmark of opera.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Opera has always been one of the most progressive and experimental of art forms throughout its history. By definition it's a very broad and inclusive artform, taking in music, drama, singing, theatrical production and performance, all of which and none of which are essential. Some operas have no music, just voices singing (<a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2015/10/sokolovic-svadba-aix-en-provence-2015.html">Ana Sokolović's <i>Svadba</i></a>), some have no traditional musical instruments (</span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2018/08/adamek-seven-stones-aix-2018.html" style="font-family: verdana;">Ondřej Adámek's <i>Seven Stones</i></a>) <span style="font-family: verdana;">and some people even listen to music on CD detached from its visual and dramatic presentation and still call it opera. If there is one element that can be thought the essence of opera, it's that it has something to communicate to an audience. If this page can bring together work as diverse, unconventional and rule breaking as Philip Glass’s </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Einstein on the Beach">Einstein on the Beach</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, Mahler's Second Symphony (</span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2022/08/mahler-resurrection-aix-en-provence-2022.html">Resurrection</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;">), Mozart's </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2019/09/mozart-requiem-aix-2019.html">Requiem</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, Marina Abramović's </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2020/09/nikodijevic-abramovic-7-deaths-of-maria.html">7 Deaths of Maria Callas</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, Jennifer Walshe's </span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2020/09/walshe-ireland-dataset-dublin-2020.html" style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;">Ireland: A Dataset</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> and Stockhausen’s </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/11/stockhausen-freitag-aus-licht-lille-2022.html">Freitag aus Licht</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, it can cope with an artist working on a new contemporary form of working with words and music.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The most significant aspect of the approach Stano takes to this project that sets it apart from other music/spoken word or poetry artists Kae Tempest, something that gives it a degree of originality and expands the range of what is is capable of, it's the use of multiple voices. The stories and experiences are expressed from a wide range of contributors, some of them are famous writers, artists, musicians, poets probably used to holding forth monologues, others less so. Here however, they are called upon to express themselves in a way that is outside their comfort zone, and yet finds a way into a deeper personal space (where we really exist). The recordings they each make are the inspiration for an appropriate tone and personal response on the part of the composer and musicians. It's not a true collaboration as we know it, but something more experimental. There is an instinctive approach here involving improvisation on the part of the speaker and the musician, many of the talks clearly not scripted, but spoken freeform.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEiTTD77erKs-T5wfc7Bv2io8fz6vQELCsBGqFF32Qn4r02NjRUW9dlEhlHiCNpmi1r5qsBhQn9Hvg7BeVpLZ6ZIoOiBZ9KY1bjFlD7ZOpH3PNpAtGe6FMjLeP5upoHxLP17rnWcmuSHxtHlEwwJS8eGtcgez3KE1CiVLNi6NtxNRHwI-rJ9O4gUI_j8/s1391/in%20between%20silence01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="1391" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEiTTD77erKs-T5wfc7Bv2io8fz6vQELCsBGqFF32Qn4r02NjRUW9dlEhlHiCNpmi1r5qsBhQn9Hvg7BeVpLZ6ZIoOiBZ9KY1bjFlD7ZOpH3PNpAtGe6FMjLeP5upoHxLP17rnWcmuSHxtHlEwwJS8eGtcgez3KE1CiVLNi6NtxNRHwI-rJ9O4gUI_j8/w400-h216/in%20between%20silence01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That's the other beauty of <i>In Between Silence</i>; there appears to be no strict formula applied. The music could be written first and fitted to the spoken story, or it could be done the other way around. The story could be related over a recording of the music or it could be brought together in post-production. There are no rules here. Several of the storytellers stumble over words, momentarily can't remember a name, but then move on back to the story and correcting themselves along the way. Others are more comfortable with a prepared script, but even then you get the impression that there is no rehearsal, no second takes, the aim to get something fresh, something told as if almost reliving an experience. The stories are consequently of varied lengths, with no guideline or restrictions imposed. It's about whatever contributors feel like sharing, large or small. Together it adds up to a multiplicity of human experiences, and yet at the dame time a common human experience that we can all share.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's this unselfconscious and openness that allows the listener to feel like the storyteller is speaking directly to them, and you suspect that it's also what provokes such a personal response on the part of Stano and his musicians. Improvisation is undoubtedly a part of the method of the speaker, and I suspect that there is no music score sitting in front of the musicians. It's the response of the musicians that is important as a contributing factor, but so too is the response of the listener. There is no right or wrong way to listen to this, no meaning you are meant to take away from it. The words are obviously the primary focus but the music behind it is not random and it invites the listener to consider what it is adding to the piece, why such an approach was chosen. It's experimental, which means it's trying out ideas, so the response to the musicians to each piece is entirely different, as it will be to the audience. Choices are important in any creative art form, but a work shouldn't be directing with emphasis to what it believes is important for you to think, and at different times different things will jump out at you.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The instruction to describe "a moment in your life that is significant to you” is all the direction that is given and the reflections are all personal to the storyteller, so it may or may not be surprising that some common themes arise out of them. There's the fact that many of the contributors are Irish-born - the photographer John Minivan, the actor Aidan Gillen, the poets Paula Meehan and Theo Dorgan, the Belfast-born writer Brian Keenan - and it's possible to find their stories connected in one way or another to roots and Irishness. Each of them however seems to want to recognise those roots, but also express a desire to break away from those origins and find some deeper truth that lies inside and through that connect with other people and their experiences, whether though visiting other places, reading books or listening to music. It captures a developing concept of Irishness through the 20th century, breaking away from the past and embracing a newfound sense of freedom, kinship, companionship and liberation. Healing too is an important part of this. In that multiplicity of voices there is an echo of James Joyce's <i>Dubliners</i>, and <i>In Between Silence</i> could be a <i>Dubliners</i> for the 21st century, but the project seeks to find similar experiences in a wider context of time and place.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is indeed a common subject of interest to explore one's roots and where they take you, so it's unsurprising that similar experiences are important also to Johnny Burke, an American with Irish family origins, to the legendary double-bass jazz musician Ron Carter and his 96-year old aunt Elizabeth Johnson, and Wilson Moran who describes his mother's reconnection with her family history in Sierra Leone, moving from slavery to the freedom to rediscover and reconnect with her roots. Music is a theme that arises in several stories, from Moran's mother's ancient burial song to Robert Ballagh's discovery of rock 'n' roll through Bill Hailey and the Comets, heralding musical and personal change and "revolution". Throughout all these Stano and his musicians provide an appropriate sense of setting, a flicker of Jimi Hendrix in Dorgan's story, a rising beat to the vital ambition of Ballagh's awareness of the expanding “new musical horizons”. Needless to say, some of those stories and the personal experiences related are deeply, deeply touching, filled with poetry and insight, heightened but not altered by the musical element.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As such, applying a label to <i>In Between Silence</i> would fail to do it justice. It's not opera, it's not poetry, it's not spoken word performance; it's all of these, but essentially it's Stano. By refusing to conform to the expectations that being placed within a label or genre would bring, Stano is able to allow explore the unlimited scope that the project offers. These pieces have indeed been presented in a cinema to a blank screen Derek Jarman <i>Blue</i>-like, so it could have a visual element that would invite a different response. Or choose your own colour and you can experience this CD with a visual stimulus of your own choosing. It could certainly be staged by a director, if someone chose to do so. It's with this outlook, and a trust in other people - maybe not just fellow artists, friends, writers and poets but other 'ordinary' people too - that contribute to the unlimited potential of how this remarkable work can be presented and how it can be absorbed by an audience. And when you hear it, you'll want to share it with everyone else you know.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External Links: <a href="https://stanoarts.com/">https://stanoarts.com/</a>, <a href="https://inbetweensilence.ie/">https://inbetweensilence.ie/</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-30746703971735521312023-11-15T21:06:00.004+00:002023-11-18T13:23:08.340+00:00Stockhausen - Freitag aus Licht (Lille, 2022)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxbIg80hc8o5dgxHoBeajBlGnOPFST2qK7HZ9E3qbHXn8-SMIX8Scvu4iq8ZfKhL8P754Wmb2oa77ufoxvq4u5i4AYqXRpzyOQ-Cbx9tpoFxFACqenVzcJOwSW6KWlnhAd6BcUWadUIHBhTJRvXBJ3lZvUA9L1hcE221gClxKKWtO_HVYs3bE3UcOwXU/s1693/freitag.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="1693" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMxbIg80hc8o5dgxHoBeajBlGnOPFST2qK7HZ9E3qbHXn8-SMIX8Scvu4iq8ZfKhL8P754Wmb2oa77ufoxvq4u5i4AYqXRpzyOQ-Cbx9tpoFxFACqenVzcJOwSW6KWlnhAd6BcUWadUIHBhTJRvXBJ3lZvUA9L1hcE221gClxKKWtO_HVYs3bE3UcOwXU/w400-h166/freitag.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><b style="font-family: verdana;"><p><b>Karlheinz Stockhausen - Freitag aus Licht</b></p></b><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Opéra de Lille, 2022</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Maxime Pascal, Silvia Costa, Jenny Daviet, Halidou Nombre, Antoin HL Kessel, Charlotte Bletton, Iris Zerdoud, Sarah Kim, Haga Ratovo, Rosabel Huguet Dueñas, Suzanne Meyer, Jean-Baptiste Plumeau, Emmanuelle Monier, Pauline Nachman, Marie Picaut, Michiko Takahashi, Léa Trommenschlager, Ayako Yukawa, Frédéric Albou, Arthur Cady, Bertrand Bontoux, Jean-Christophe Brizard, David Colosio, Florent Martin, Colette Verdier, Marin Rayon, Alexis Mazars, Stéphane Poulet, Edgar Cemin, Arsène Jouet</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Philharmonie de Paris streaming</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">With </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Freitag aus Licht</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, Le Balcon, continue their work on what must surely be one of the most ambitious projects in opera; a complete cycle of the seven </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Licht">Licht</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> operas composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen between 1977 and 2003. Totalling 29 hours of music and spectacle unlike anything else, this cycle has understandably never been produced in its entirety by the same opera company. Dealing with the eternal struggle to dominate earth between good and evil, darkness and light, each of the operas has their own distinct character and challenges. Composed between 1991 and 1994 </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Freitag aus Licht</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> ("Friday from Light") is the opera of temptation, but perhaps not entirely in the way you might think. It's associated with Venus and the colour orange, its spiritual features are knowledge and wisdom, and the temptation is indeed of the body, but also the temptation to change, to use the body as an instrument and turn one sound into another.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is a consistent theme in Stockhausen's <i>Licht</i>, where the idea of opera itself and what it is capable of is also transformed with an unconventional libretto that turns words into sounds and action into gestures. In terms of plot then, <i>Freitag</i> can't be easily summarised, and even an outline description of the stage direction and actions is unconventional and impossible to subject to analysis or interpretation, much less consider how it fits into the <i>Licht</i> series as a whole, but Le Balcon do their utmost to make it as easy as possible to follow, breaking the work down to its composite parts. What follows might not make a lot of sense, but it will be fun trying to relate it, so here goes...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are essentially three aspects to the work. The opening section the <i>Weltraum</i> is a suite of electronic music recorded by Stockhausen which, like the other works in <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Licht">Licht</a>, serves as a greeting (<i>Gruss</i>) to the audience on entering the theatre, entering the world of Stockhausen. There are 12 'dance scenes' of dancers dressed as 'everyday objects' who undergo transformation by "hybridisation" over the course of the performance. The third element of the opera is the dramatic action - although 'drama' and 'action' are obviously unconventional - that takes place in the ongoing struggle between good and evil, where on Friday, good yields to temptation, but perhaps something comes of this unnatural union.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh68BlrRMCFPZwoC7fIFDbxnC1rAAkPDzE8IAzmeMZ0rL_0ksYsmNWDLOQXIlzp-7pvb-hYfFBjpB42kptlnXpTbJ-o4IMaLfCwYOk0KXFOUciz_wHSQibwFylLOyyyKp2f_dqrs1IXWVkPTXWj2rrHfyIuYCoW4PzvAS9NsY2kCaTH8jKUaraaP_N8ke0/s2560/freitag01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1708" data-original-width="2560" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh68BlrRMCFPZwoC7fIFDbxnC1rAAkPDzE8IAzmeMZ0rL_0ksYsmNWDLOQXIlzp-7pvb-hYfFBjpB42kptlnXpTbJ-o4IMaLfCwYOk0KXFOUciz_wHSQibwFylLOyyyKp2f_dqrs1IXWVkPTXWj2rrHfyIuYCoW4PzvAS9NsY2kCaTH8jKUaraaP_N8ke0/w400-h268/freitag01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Le Balcon's production at Lille in 2022 doesn't make use of dancers, but rather sets up a kind of scientific laboratory were young children in white coats experiment with pairs of household objects and creatures that each make their entrance onto the stage to the electronic music backing. The first pair introduced is male and female, shown in cutaway models of human head and torso, which is then followed by dog and cat puppets, with other seemingly random objects making entrances at each significant stage of the opera.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Before then the dramatic action that relates the story of temptation plays out, Eve - a significant person in the triumvirate that is formed between her, Michael and Lucifer, encounters Lucifer in a new form, as Ludon. The exchange between them uses few recognisable words, Stockhausen moving beyond conventional language vocalisations into sounds clicks with Lufa and Elu (solo flute and basset horn) accompanying Eve. Ludon gives Eve a pearl in a clam shell. This heralds the entrance of a photocopying machine and typewriter in the dance section set at a different level on the stage.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some time later Eve returns, wearing orange and accompanied by a Children's Orchestra dressed in white. She meets Ludon, who is accompanied by a children's choir dressed in black, again the orchestra and choir forming an extension of their language as they come to play together. Ludon offers his son Kaino in marriage, all of this taking place in slow ritualistic movements, exchanging words and sounds. The Consent section takes place after the entry of the racing car, pinball machine and leg with a football sock, and is celebrated with a rocket around the moon.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpwQP-ZrqnKbifPDRI3RX-Nu8K5o84qvATXEkQ6ii8KkmkCz5SIE1Sgv-Hr7F74oFIEvHJnOQnty3WkeBAdEt17xC58Am4Yo7PPwIK30gXj-dKsx85F_HcesttKXgRz2ZUabiO96UXykckiXINs3LGBHn6N6tVOQ68nQYnDN8_KUAgF8YKJ6pmlz-ya-8/s3859/freitag02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2171" data-original-width="3859" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpwQP-ZrqnKbifPDRI3RX-Nu8K5o84qvATXEkQ6ii8KkmkCz5SIE1Sgv-Hr7F74oFIEvHJnOQnty3WkeBAdEt17xC58Am4Yo7PPwIK30gXj-dKsx85F_HcesttKXgRz2ZUabiO96UXykckiXINs3LGBHn6N6tVOQ68nQYnDN8_KUAgF8YKJ6pmlz-ya-8/w400-h225/freitag02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Part two of the opera commences with the consummation of Eve and Kaino on a boat, a scene ecstatically vocalised and scored by Stockhausen in a blend of swirling electronic drones, soft industrial clangs, bleeps and acoustic instruments. The union however is not a good one, is lamented by Michael and this causes an unnatural hybridisation between male and female humans and the cat and dog, followed by a hybridisation of photocopier and racing car. Meanwhile other objects make their entrance, a naked arm that is injected by syringe and an electric pencil sharpener. But what about the children? Well, all this leads to a war, a <i>Kinderkrieg</i>, yet another battle in the continuous war waged across many parts of <i>Licht</i>.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(Apparently a flying rhinoceros comes to the rescue of Ludon's children but I must have missed that with so much else going on).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The hybridisations continue between the footballer's leg and the pinball machine, there is the entrance of an ice-cream cone and woman's mouth, the rocket and syringe in naked arm come together, a violin and architect make an entrance, followed by a nest and a crow. As each of the hybridisations occur, other figures turn up on the stage as representations of the hybrid forms. Repentant, Eve begs Michael - the saviour as we have seen in previous days of <i>Licht </i>already presented (<i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2018/11/stockhausen-donnerstag-aus-licht-paris.html">Donnerstag</a></i>, <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2020/03/stockhausen-samstag-aus-licht-paris-2019.html">Dienstag</a></i>, <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2022/06/stockhausen-dienstag-aus-licht-paris.html">Samstag</a></i>) - for forgiveness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So not exactly conventional or even comprehensible for the most part, but </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Freitag aus Licht</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> is not the hard work that its formidable scale, ambition, reputation and description might suggest. It's not overly serious either, although I suspect Stockhausen took it very seriously indeed. You are free however to see it as you like and in the hands of musical director Maxime Pascal and director Silvia Costa, it's actually a very engaging work, inviting you into its deeply involving world, asking you to think differently or feel perhaps more than think. It's certainly grand, wholly operatic, more than a little bit bonkers, pushing the boundaries of the lyrical and theatrical art form.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjp-DhTSj3Z4l0ucKy2EtH49wFyURqLSCQEyOQpBogoOY2UfyHV0GOsiHZMa3J03u0we4r5h0QSom_HtIi2vYOjQ6zeQb00V9_uOexQnPoB9geWpGs9HmXZmtOEkEa-Waytcq12RE46thQYh3DHnUp9SLTQ9fyks5k-u4uRpIJecT23j1aMd334CqMehA/s3685/freitag03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2458" data-original-width="3685" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjp-DhTSj3Z4l0ucKy2EtH49wFyURqLSCQEyOQpBogoOY2UfyHV0GOsiHZMa3J03u0we4r5h0QSom_HtIi2vYOjQ6zeQb00V9_uOexQnPoB9geWpGs9HmXZmtOEkEa-Waytcq12RE46thQYh3DHnUp9SLTQ9fyks5k-u4uRpIJecT23j1aMd334CqMehA/w400-h266/freitag03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>I don't believe that the opera places any demands on you to follow and understand everything that is going on other than on the most basic level of good encountering evil and seeking to overcome temptation. Everything else is just part of the audiovisual experience, for you to feel and pick up things that don't fit into coherent language or rational action. Analysis is superfluous, as everything Stockhausen wants to express in this opera is up there on the stage - or as much as possible - so it's up to the viewer what they take from it. Bearing in mind of course that <i>Freitag</i> is just one part of the whole seven opera <i>Licht</i> cycle.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Stockhausen doesn't leave a lot of room for director interpretation, but Costa and Le Balcon have been very creative in how they choose to present the work which, as you can see, has some challenging and precisely detailed stage directions. They appear to try to remain as close as possible to the vital intent of the work, preserving its symmetry, its structure and the esoteric qualities that lie within its ritualistic movements. The hybridisation scenes may test one's patience with distorted cut-up high pitched electronically treated voices, but it's a striking opera performance and presentation. I'm sure they'll come up with something equally creative for the string quartet played from four helicopters in <i>Mittwoch aus Licht</i> ("Wednesday from Light").</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Maxime Pascal and Le Balcon once again fully live up to the remarkable character of an extraordinary operatic experience. There is nothing else like Stockhausen's <i>Licht</i> and its originality is replicated yet again here in the spectacle of the stage production, in the musical performances and the singing. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Jenny Daviet">Jenny Daviet</a> is extraordinary as an ethereal soaring Eve, interacting with the deep intonations of bass <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Halidou Nombre">Halidou Nombre</a> as Lucifer and baritone <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Antoin HL Kessel">Antoin HL Kessel</a> as Kaino. It demands much more than just conventional singing, as there are few recognisable words and a lot of vocalisations, all of which are notated in detail by the composer with accompanying movements and gestures.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4QdCJcMaw_xB_tbHgPZI7dp0vUHRgSiaOxBLqdAHT4iF1gDG2L00x7btkymyBb1ujVG_9Y4yvhbu5_3-KwiTso1d0PKqSgwGylbspfFnutgzWI37OGLluJP5c1hxNJe7kgYShkYoCJhTOkbfPsagWL5wTfGT6_TmJLlhxfCpQJfJAyiB18n31To33K6o/s1499/freitag04.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1499" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4QdCJcMaw_xB_tbHgPZI7dp0vUHRgSiaOxBLqdAHT4iF1gDG2L00x7btkymyBb1ujVG_9Y4yvhbu5_3-KwiTso1d0PKqSgwGylbspfFnutgzWI37OGLluJP5c1hxNJe7kgYShkYoCJhTOkbfPsagWL5wTfGT6_TmJLlhxfCpQJfJAyiB18n31To33K6o/w400-h266/freitag04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>From its <i>Gruss</i> to its <i>Abscheid</i>, <i>Freitag aus Licht</i> is intended as an enveloping surround theatrical experience, Stockhausen not only seeking to transform one sound into another, but to use sound that moves through space. The recording of the 2022 production in Lille, streamed via the Philharmonie de Paris (which is currently hosting the next section in the cycle <i>Sonntag aus Licht</i>), uses a binaural recording to attempt to capture the enveloping soundscape that Stockhausen seeks to place the audience within. It's an experience in itself.</p></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: <a href="https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/live/concert/1160308-karlheinz-stockhausen-freitag-aus-licht?fbclid=IwAR0QLuB4q-kt-txJpDSSxuozjeruTAw8ENxr8cVlKUpSkpdSX69zOJxyi0Y" target="_blank">Philharmonie de Paris</a>, <a href="https://www.lebalcon.com/?encyclopedia=licht" target="_blank">Le Balcon</a></span></div>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-30229711377550587682023-11-11T12:08:00.011+00:002023-11-18T13:30:43.486+00:00Mitchell - The Headless Soldier (Belfast, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVrwJZxYXheUUQLovmDqzQQo42zAbTLTv3NpPeiQZiUKXOYmxa9W0biW6UyQ7H-cbcnBr7xPj-AxeO8Zi8sC8OxgXgmPq0UntRM673Bfzl0ABTf9vM7A34ir7QQtLBqwCj0V9TB_5cz3ymGehd7On7T8JezmkdNLhIIDS_s2rCa3jThR2V3fZVqa9vZk/s1640/headless%20soldier.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVrwJZxYXheUUQLovmDqzQQo42zAbTLTv3NpPeiQZiUKXOYmxa9W0biW6UyQ7H-cbcnBr7xPj-AxeO8Zi8sC8OxgXgmPq0UntRM673Bfzl0ABTf9vM7A34ir7QQtLBqwCj0V9TB_5cz3ymGehd7On7T8JezmkdNLhIIDS_s2rCa3jThR2V3fZVqa9vZk/w400-h225/headless%20soldier.png" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Conor Mitchell - The Headless Soldier</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Belfast Ensemble, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Tom Deering, Conor Mitchell, Ed Lyon, Sarah Richmond, Christopher Cull, Shea McDonnell</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Lyric Theatre, Belfast - 9th November 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">They weren't giving too much away about the plot or subject matter of the new opera by Conor Mitchell and Mark Ravenhill on the Belfast Ensemble website or on the website of the Lyric Theatre where the world premiere was being performed as part of the Outburst Queer Arts Festival 2023, but you could rely on <i>The Headless Soldier</i> being controversial, provocative and bang-up-to-the-moment contemporary. Provocative and controversial and probably offending a number of people in the process, but never just for the sake of it, and at least for a good reason. Daring to confront what is not something spoken about in polite society is what has made Mitchell and the </span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Belfast%20Ensemble" style="font-family: verdana;">Belfast Ensemble</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> perhaps the most vital company in Northern Ireland arts scene at the moment.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As it turns out, it is precisely polite society and its unwillingness to speak about and confront issues that is the target of <i>The Headless Soldier</i>. Or one of its targets, for it tackles a number of issues, not in a random fashion, but in a manner that is interconnected in ways that you might not think immediately obvious. Indeed, it is not even a traditional opera with a beginning middle and end, but an opera triptych of three short pieces that each build upon each other thematically and musically to add up to something ...well, something quite frightening.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rZkw88A5-eAjTTuO9GwKKlyGo66jy8vIsjaoTbWCpKX-NDwJUyMqFRbAk741pBl6upXvuOKTEzfbDeaKSU0Q0NY0Ry2zCi4NDa6w37lQmoFabEFDwMpWiaL2Blz06YsFaiWqyhbaFzY166Jo98suUz72GzNTQnuO66NxbRqO5OvlZHEqz8kBa-g6oXA/s2048/headless%20soldier02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3rZkw88A5-eAjTTuO9GwKKlyGo66jy8vIsjaoTbWCpKX-NDwJUyMqFRbAk741pBl6upXvuOKTEzfbDeaKSU0Q0NY0Ry2zCi4NDa6w37lQmoFabEFDwMpWiaL2Blz06YsFaiWqyhbaFzY166Jo98suUz72GzNTQnuO66NxbRqO5OvlZHEqz8kBa-g6oXA/w400-h266/headless%20soldier02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The outline description of the new opera was simply that it "looks beneath the perfect lives of Helen, her husband, Thomas and their haunted son, Zach – finding a hidden, much closer war." No further plot synopsis is provided and the idea of a plot turns out to not really be the whole story anyway. In the first part of the opera, 'Intolerance', Helen introduces herself on the way to becoming a new and better person. To address the painful stomach cramps she has been suffering she has cut out caffeine from her diet in favour of health drinks, pro-biotic yoghurt, acupuncture and regression therapy, and it's really working. Except it isn't. Her intolerance is not so much in her diet as something else deeper within her that is expressed in a few violent outbursts.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the second part of <i>The Headless Soldier</i>, 'Fear & Misery', we meet Helen's husband Thomas who is trying to convince his wife of a move into a gated community, partly as evidence of belonging to a select social group, but there is also fear behind this desire. His fears seem to be of external forces and dangers and a sense of protectiveness of their son Zachary, but there is something deeper inside giving rise to his fears that a gated community won't protect him from. In 'War & Peace', Zachary is indeed troubled, drawing disturbing pictures of the headless soldier that haunts him in the dark. His parents blame it on the news, which is filled with images of war, but the tensions between his parents are also clearly contributing to his problems.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2i6LmKn9zhGFj1AjXWMCrIgK3IWY8fxuaziVCVVGIJD48MfUzLqyVqpJfXVS-2twSzHDoJP3ez939SuV4Rs7VmhYGU-c-SaWnm1dMuTEcBoquiRBjbDzaeB6e0Nw93orWU9usl-kfZ6Oz5A0xudxWeJf8D9nyKEBYxfZX41hY_nVxF0mZncLEwNI0IM/s2048/headless%20soldier03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2i6LmKn9zhGFj1AjXWMCrIgK3IWY8fxuaziVCVVGIJD48MfUzLqyVqpJfXVS-2twSzHDoJP3ez939SuV4Rs7VmhYGU-c-SaWnm1dMuTEcBoquiRBjbDzaeB6e0Nw93orWU9usl-kfZ6Oz5A0xudxWeJf8D9nyKEBYxfZX41hY_nVxF0mZncLEwNI0IM/w400-h266/headless%20soldier03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>It sounds like a psychological study, but written by Mark Ravenhill and with Mitchell's music playing just as important a role in what the opera says, there are other levels explored here. War features prominently, the war within the family collectively as well as individuals, fighting battles with their worst impulses and fears, but these problematic attitudes are extended out into the society we live in where other types of war rage. As is often the case with the works of the <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Belfast%20Ensemble">Belfast Ensemble</a>, this is so up-to-date and relevant that it feels like Ravenhill and Mitchell have been watching the 6 o'clock news this evening and put it all up on the stage as an opera by 7:30pm. It's that 'now', it's immediate and of the moment, even if such unerring accuracy and contemporary relevance is not so much eerily prescient as depressingly inevitable.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">So while the middle-class aspirational family are up there on the stage waging war with their demons and each other, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Conor Mitchell">Conor Mitchell</a>'s direction shows other on-screen violence projected onto screens. It's incredible to think that they have managed to reflect the current Israel-Hamas war with news footage that is fresh from our TV screens, juxtaposing it with relentless Looney Tunes cartoon violence. The conventional wisdom would suggest that desensitisation to violence through on-screen experience is having an impact on the model modern family, but the impression is that Ravenhill and Mitchell are aiming for perhaps the exact opposite - that it's the deeper human fears and failings found in this type of family unit, passed down from generation to generation, that lead to the kind of pain, suffering, hate and death that we can see taking place on a global scale in wars around the world.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kUJVtbf5ywCx8zsElewvu6drD1Zkd-iYVXA1bCr3pwG40PwbQApUJwidB-jsl4dd7XpYRtkUwv2lycNOG0pHc59DTs10RyrUdHGb_c90XfdJyI3LF5Wj0IZZMg77F-4u8ddJo_pLZUrwphTTmHNYFUaY_pzEhFuZ9bOkW46ZZqoq7qzEIBix6LRWmw0/s2048/headless%20soldier01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kUJVtbf5ywCx8zsElewvu6drD1Zkd-iYVXA1bCr3pwG40PwbQApUJwidB-jsl4dd7XpYRtkUwv2lycNOG0pHc59DTs10RyrUdHGb_c90XfdJyI3LF5Wj0IZZMg77F-4u8ddJo_pLZUrwphTTmHNYFUaY_pzEhFuZ9bOkW46ZZqoq7qzEIBix6LRWmw0/w400-h266/headless%20soldier01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>That's not a safe or comforting position to take, but then that's exactly what you expect artists like Ravenhill and Mitchell to do; not pander to their audience, but challenge them. Mitchell's music takes the same line of attack, a fascinating blend of harmony, melody and jarring dissonance that reflects the subject. Everything seems very pleasant and idealised on the surface of <i>The Headless Soldier</i> family, but there are little Michael Nyman-esque or John Adams-like flurries of racing panic to the <i>Turn of the Screw</i>-like underlying menace that would threaten to explode into Béla Bartók <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Duke%20Bluebeard%27s%20Castle">Duke Bluebeard's Castle</a></i> horror were it not for the controlled chamber orchestration of the Belfast Ensemble orchestra. Conducted by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Tom Deering">Tom Deering</a> however, they delivered all the necessary impact. If the final door of the castle is not opened in <i>The Headless Soldier</i>, the score leaves you with a sense that its contents remain locked inside and festering.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such is the nature of the score in this respect that even two experienced opera singers like </span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ed%20Lyon" style="font-family: verdana;">Ed Lyon</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> and </span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Sarah%20Richmond" style="font-family: verdana;">Sarah Richmond</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> had to use microphone amplification, although that's probably as much to do with the acoustics of the Lyric Theatre not being ideal for opera. That said, Ed Lyon's mic didn't seem to operate on the first night when he took to the stage as Thomas in the second part of the opera, but his delivery was strong enough that it didn't have any noticeable impact other than being out of balance with Sarah Richmond. And with Richmond's powerful delivery, he had his work cut out there. Her solo monologue performance in part one of the opera was just delightful, delivering Ravenhill's deeply acerbic text - deeply in as much as it was simmering below the surface of genteel amiability - with wonderful inflection and timing that was matched by Mitchell's complementary score. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search?q=Christopher+Cull">Christopher Cull</a> had considerable challenges too </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">for maintaining that tension throughout the final part </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">as the agonised and terrifying apparition of the blood-soaked headless soldier. There were challenging on-stage situations for Shea McDonnell to deal with, but he was equally as impressive as Zachary.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqymYw75oajvcKg_f42022uVZmmny9ugFz5sZzTSzC07jFMjzSP8wTTfXXhMQIw5azSO1fLoV_QymOdlJe-QulmYnXh469JFZHm5JtMUQuZhtPp0A4BWUsYDpButKCAECFe-tOG3ZLZqefx4oi1cjFvQdCXSPnoymXxwgt4XOp27FXyla2QAwqBwe747U/s2048/headless%20soldier04.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqymYw75oajvcKg_f42022uVZmmny9ugFz5sZzTSzC07jFMjzSP8wTTfXXhMQIw5azSO1fLoV_QymOdlJe-QulmYnXh469JFZHm5JtMUQuZhtPp0A4BWUsYDpButKCAECFe-tOG3ZLZqefx4oi1cjFvQdCXSPnoymXxwgt4XOp27FXyla2QAwqBwe747U/w400-h266/headless%20soldier04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The final part of the opera triptych might not have revealed any answers or delivered the satisfying conclusion that a theatre audience might expect, but Mitchell and Ravenhill didn't write this piece to send you home in comfortable complacency. Compounding the horror seen through the eyes of a child subjected to a bombardment from all sides, turning it into nightmare dreams of a headless soldier, the nightmare is a live and waking one still lying below the surface and ready to erupt later with the next generation. It's not the most comforting of thoughts to leave the theatre with, but its not up to the creators to tie this up neatly or tell you what to think or do. If anything, what they are doing is pointing your darker side back at you, asking you to ask yourself what it is that is really wrong in the world today, and suggesting that you don't have to look too far to find the answers.</p></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAI0A0D_tk56TeX5FOvNJ_sePAZ4h9J1YDURN8RFBdrT-Q4Joy1RH211XMFzJ73vjZqXlsFyyhxpJL1Bdon_FB4QzS25aT7wo5Rl8oo0jMRVqN1d6L5vUnQcP1-_XnXo0_-u6QL0wSpGdbOVHfgMQJ7edd4l9-doHPTbSH3ZUgFWFN6nB9OPIgkF46Yg4/s1000/headless%20soldier%2001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="1000" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAI0A0D_tk56TeX5FOvNJ_sePAZ4h9J1YDURN8RFBdrT-Q4Joy1RH211XMFzJ73vjZqXlsFyyhxpJL1Bdon_FB4QzS25aT7wo5Rl8oo0jMRVqN1d6L5vUnQcP1-_XnXo0_-u6QL0wSpGdbOVHfgMQJ7edd4l9-doHPTbSH3ZUgFWFN6nB9OPIgkF46Yg4/w400-h229/headless%20soldier%2001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcOvv85LvirbAkD71VCm4NFCVZo0dryqKpvqq8lXyDIxKYguIcuIDtZinGHhhOADyDdv6D0A82IJ3QMILHnIWdHztOvBK8FmA5buAnii2I1G0vC1mIqDBM1hQH6J1GXiEDNXkDM3dgvgNAZSt8B2jKdEIG5ZmX0MZm-J7U4MCu5jvMqWnuiMQ6EvOyeY/s1000/headless%20soldier%2002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="1000" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEcOvv85LvirbAkD71VCm4NFCVZo0dryqKpvqq8lXyDIxKYguIcuIDtZinGHhhOADyDdv6D0A82IJ3QMILHnIWdHztOvBK8FmA5buAnii2I1G0vC1mIqDBM1hQH6J1GXiEDNXkDM3dgvgNAZSt8B2jKdEIG5ZmX0MZm-J7U4MCu5jvMqWnuiMQ6EvOyeY/w400-h220/headless%20soldier%2002.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>External links: <a href="https://www.thebelfastensemble.com/" target="_blank">The Belfast Ensemble</a>, <a href="https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/the-headless-soldier-an-opera-triptych" target="_blank">Lyric Theatre</a></p></span><p></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-27537875340382532642023-11-05T14:00:00.001+00:002023-11-05T14:00:00.145+00:00Wagner - Das Rheingold (Brussels, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjbdb3Q1lhNIyHyJRfMHSBETw0eByY0vV7Zl2b-AhXyay24fdYqOjmOewHV3SfZJ4D1_6mOSkUcJEo-qV69CeNnXNdLEYxpcvDx64TFath51VfxhgkJPAry0cxf8qCGMSveWYmYonSYZHneSNGFEySg_iZlHEg2-12g3Aq5wMRRK2XgTN6kHHHcRzrBI/s1746/rheingold2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="1746" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjbdb3Q1lhNIyHyJRfMHSBETw0eByY0vV7Zl2b-AhXyay24fdYqOjmOewHV3SfZJ4D1_6mOSkUcJEo-qV69CeNnXNdLEYxpcvDx64TFath51VfxhgkJPAry0cxf8qCGMSveWYmYonSYZHneSNGFEySg_iZlHEg2-12g3Aq5wMRRK2XgTN6kHHHcRzrBI/w400-h120/rheingold2.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Richard Wagner - Das Rheingold</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>La Monnaie-De Munt, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Alain Altinoglu, Romeo Castellucci, Gábor Bretz, Andrew Foster-Williams, Julian Hubbard, Nicky Spence, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Anett Fritsch, Nora Gubisch, Scott Hendricks, Peter Hoare, Ante Jerkunica, Wilhelm Schwinghammer, Eleonore Marguerre, Jelena Kordić, Christel Loetzsch</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>RTBF Auvio live stream - 31st October 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you've ever watched an opera production directed by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Romeo%20Castellucci">Romeo Castellucci</a>, you'll know not to expect anything straightforward or traditionally narrative driven. It's probably better to think of his work as closer to installation or conceptual art than opera performance direction. There are a lot of conservative opera-goers who don't like the idea of that one bit, but the idea of bringing that style and approach with a willingness to extend theatrical techniques to a work like Wagner's <i>Der Ring des Nibelungen</i> is thrilling, and this is surely a work that is more conceptual than it is narrative and worthy of such deeper exploration and consideration.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Depending on your view then, Castellucci actually keeps things relatively simple in the opening work of the new Ring cycle at La Monnaie, although some will surely see this <i>Das Rheingold</i> completely overhauled and distorted beyond recognition. Both things are possible at the same time, but also neither are completely the whole story here. If you want to relate the instances of idiosyncratic imagery as representative symbolism, much of what is seen in this <i>Das Rheingold</i> doesn't necessarily serve any meaningful purpose, but there is no reason it should, unless you believe that Wagner's stage instructions should be followed to the letter, and a lot of people do.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisW21JV4crfPdU9qeUKUc0hE3NIxPn49zzQCq67P5q21-be2sdwuiD5R18lSe_SIClreyiTouvg2hHtEc7jAa8uPAa6IAv8lRCKgEdL9AdO87mYTaZRZPvdCQFcCxHQK9Wc09I-HG-AWqV8NfWrbIVHXoFtXDhjjktBPHrrSwaW4ZkiCPWd4VI3WRd2XQ/s1080/rheingold1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisW21JV4crfPdU9qeUKUc0hE3NIxPn49zzQCq67P5q21-be2sdwuiD5R18lSe_SIClreyiTouvg2hHtEc7jAa8uPAa6IAv8lRCKgEdL9AdO87mYTaZRZPvdCQFcCxHQK9Wc09I-HG-AWqV8NfWrbIVHXoFtXDhjjktBPHrrSwaW4ZkiCPWd4VI3WRd2XQ/w400-h266/rheingold1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The first thing you see on the stage is a huge spinning metallic ring, which is as simple and direct an image as you can get for an opening of a Ring cycle. This gives way after the opening famous 136 opening bars in E-flat major to the scene of three almost entirely naked gold-painted Rhinemaidens frolicking and writhing together in darkness and gold-lit vapour with dancer doubles in a way that inflames Alberich's (gold) lust. It's as effective a way of getting as close to that primal state of the mythological founding origin of the earth/universe as you can imagine, and Castellucci has some imagination.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Valhalla reverts to the almost clean white minimalist set that is characteristic of Castellucci, but with classical Greek statues and friezes, the gods dressed in black robes and crowns, tiptoeing their way through a sea of naked-looking bodies (another familiar Castellucci trope) in modesty saving flesh-coloured garments; little people crushed by the grandeur of Wotan's vanity or workers exploited for labour by the giants? It's open to whatever interpretation you like. The result however is clear, that there is a price to be paid for this. Rather than make the giants appear larger than life as most productions might, if they bother at all, the director here substitutes the singers of family of gods for children who mime the singing. It's not just a gimmick, but a clever and effective way of showing the reversal of power that their vanity has imposed on them, and similarly they become old and enfeebled played by elderly actors as they realise that they have to obtain the Rhinegold in order to save Freia and her rejuvenating golden apples.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywL8fs9Z5RY4WMZlVvUmc9VcHh4r8wWK0CgnXTG20wrcO8RqBib81DeZDp9HgemxnOKj1UYu_X6dVgQh_XSLTdhh1i6GbFaYjCAbUPOE_DC9rouJPeiqnj6BgZZfsPpMdgA-a5-0MZE1YoA5MrZTXrJjp32AdW9bHq81wUxZb6S8uHn0oZfDMU6bcdBY/s1080/rheingold2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjywL8fs9Z5RY4WMZlVvUmc9VcHh4r8wWK0CgnXTG20wrcO8RqBib81DeZDp9HgemxnOKj1UYu_X6dVgQh_XSLTdhh1i6GbFaYjCAbUPOE_DC9rouJPeiqnj6BgZZfsPpMdgA-a5-0MZE1YoA5MrZTXrJjp32AdW9bHq81wUxZb6S8uHn0oZfDMU6bcdBY/w400-h266/rheingold2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Niebelheim scene also relatively straightforward again presenting strong contrasts, dark and industrial but not overly decorated, with just one machine that seems to specialise in creating large rings of a diameter of about two metres across. Even the Tarnhelm is a ring that Alberich hangs around his neck, disappearing into dark mists. It's superbly atmospheric with Mime and Alberich marvellously deformed creatures. Alberich's Tarnhelm transformation is created by him peeling off his rubber bodysuit to be captured naked, tortured and smeared in black oil in the empty Castelluccian white space. </span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Scott%20Hendricks" style="font-family: verdana;">Scott Hendricks</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> handles this humiliation of Alberich bravely and it is also dramatically effective, transforming this world into something alien but recognisable, the horrors of what occur feeling very real. Another nice touch that adds to this is where Alberich's curse becomes a black smear that the dwarf leaves down one side of Wotan's face and eye.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That's all relatively simple and direct for this director, although of course there are lots of other little eccentric touches; the playful and disrespectful Loge throwing ink bombs at photos of classic cast members of Ring operas in the past wearing winged helmets and breastplates, Fasolt killed by a giant crocodile falling from the sky, Erda a headless statue sitting in lotus position. Does it add up to anything in terms of a concept or commentary? Well you could see the now almost obligatory condemnation of consumerism in a society that is heading towards late capitalism meltdown, but the parallel is not made explicit or over-emphasised as it might have been in the Chereau/Boulez Ring at Bayreuth, or indeed <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Castorf%20Ring">Frank Castorf's more recent cycle</a> there. It's not just decorative either, although it is that too (it looks stunning), but it's too early in the cycle to pin down to one simplistic reading. There will certainly be plenty of other opportunities for the director to build on or diverge from any interpretation placed on the opening chapter.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuZfe0l2oM2vgdTW4wvJYCNXmswjl0_mgdGrif5NFSU_pmCTvw7q8u29ITs3A6I4VYW9p9WGztJYbYFwSusOVHoTFpe3p5qpOMtf8zM5Qf4iA-Oi66vqNpUNAHXibi0vkP303HQ4SsIU86s_W69ohXjQgRhhvf86azlC03Vboc8zn0K_4CAG7tMPw5lHc/s1080/rheingold3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuZfe0l2oM2vgdTW4wvJYCNXmswjl0_mgdGrif5NFSU_pmCTvw7q8u29ITs3A6I4VYW9p9WGztJYbYFwSusOVHoTFpe3p5qpOMtf8zM5Qf4iA-Oi66vqNpUNAHXibi0vkP303HQ4SsIU86s_W69ohXjQgRhhvf86azlC03Vboc8zn0K_4CAG7tMPw5lHc/w400-h266/rheingold3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>It's all to little avail of course if you can't bring the requisite musical and singing forces to <i>Das Rheingold</i>, there can be no concerns at all with the La Monnaie production; even if few are familiar or experienced Wagnerians, the casting and singing is impressive right across the board. This is the first time I've seen <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/G%C3%A1bor%20Bretz">Gábor Bretz</a> singing Wagner and he makes for a grave, resonant and commanding Wotan. I wouldn't associate <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Marie-Nicole%20Lemieux">Marie-Nicole Lemieux</a> with Wagner either, but she is an excellent Fricka, heartfelt in her fears for what horrors her unfaithful husband has visited upon the gods. It will be interesting to see how she handles the role of the much less forgiving wife in <i>Die Walküre</i>. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Anett%20Fritsch">Anett Fritsch</a> is a superb Freia, and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Scott%20Hendricks">Scott Hendricks</a> very impressive as Alberich. He is not always this reliable, but this is one of the best and most consistent performances I've seen from him. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Nicky%20Spence">Nicky Spence</a> makes the mischievous playful schoolboyish Loge seem effortless.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Musically, this is also a real treat with <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Alain%20Altinoglu">Alain Altinoglu</a> conducting the La Monnaie orchestra in the first Ring cycle there in 30 years, and this looks like it will be a memorable one. With not so much an ascent to Valhalla on the rainbow bridge, the gods at the conclusion to this <i>Das Rheingold</i> drop into the pit of the ring, dressed in white like members of a death cult, accepting the course that fate has placed them on. This is everything you want from the start of a Ring cycle; epic and spectacular, visually and emotionally stimulating, with impressive singing and musical direction. To be presented at La Monnaie across two seasons, with <i>Die Walküre</i> to follow in January 2024, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Romeo%20Castellucci">Romeo Castellucci</a> delivers a majestic, intriguing <i>Das Rheingold</i>, serving the work in his own particular style and visual language, leaving the way open to explore the further riches of the remaining parts of the tetralogy.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Links: <a href="https://www.lamonnaiedemunt.be/en/program/2654-das-rheingold" target="_blank">La Monnaie-De Munt</a>, <a href="https://auvio.rtbf.be/media/les-plus-grands-airs-d-opera-l-or-du-rhin-de-richard-wagner-3112557" target="_blank">RTBF Auvio</a></span></div>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-57189648944643273582023-11-03T16:47:00.003+00:002023-11-03T16:50:33.469+00:00Wagner - Lohengrin (Paris, 2023)<p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE68Itj6EK3bYsuTpRerHZqRQ_7bkUQSGotzJVpJ1ySSUKaVgdR4Lu3Yi1hyphenhyphenIoo4MDmIqQ7X5xwVUYK96qYHLX8x0NDBQjP9F1khYRNaZylgfiMVL1gx5xQli6QscZfuK1aI0FLhnj2-WdQ84Rp4tnXVNktzpffwp4Ic5hJqK9rEGC8Nr0nECbZMM3BUo/s1507/lohengrin2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="1507" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE68Itj6EK3bYsuTpRerHZqRQ_7bkUQSGotzJVpJ1ySSUKaVgdR4Lu3Yi1hyphenhyphenIoo4MDmIqQ7X5xwVUYK96qYHLX8x0NDBQjP9F1khYRNaZylgfiMVL1gx5xQli6QscZfuK1aI0FLhnj2-WdQ84Rp4tnXVNktzpffwp4Ic5hJqK9rEGC8Nr0nECbZMM3BUo/w400-h154/lohengrin2.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Richard Wagner - Lohengrin</span></b><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Opéra National de Paris, 2023</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Alexander Soddy, Kirill Serebrennikov, Kwangchul Youn, Piotr Beczala, Johanni van Oostrum, Wolfgang Koch, Ekaterina Gubanova, Shenyang, Bernard Arrieta, Chae Hoon Baek, Julien Joguet, John Bernard, Joumana El-Amiouni, Caroline Bibas, Yasuko Arita</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Paris Opera Play - 24th October 2023</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Surely the only impression you can have watching Act 1 of the Paris production of <i>Lohengrin</i> directed by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Kirill%20Serebrennikov">Kirill Serebrennikov</a>, is that Elsa von Brabant has truly lost her mind. About to face trial for the alleged murder of her brother, the heir of Brabant, who she claims was abducted by swans, she spins around in a bare room, scrawling on the wall, while abstract projections and dark nightmarish forces gather around her. The arrival of King Heinrich to oversee the trial doesn't seem to have any mollifying effect as she places a tangled ball of steel wool on his head has a crown. There doesn't seem to be any doubt about her state of mind, although some might be just as likely to think that the director and the Paris Opera has lost its mind with this extreme production of Wagner's early work.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The question however is indeed just how are you supposed to represent what is clearly a legend, the myth of <i>Lohengrin</i> as related to the sentiments underlying Wagner's overarching development of a national mythology, and how to place it on the stage in a way that draws on those underlying themes and meanings. It really doesn't stand up to much scrutiny if enacted as if it were real. Sure, Telramund might believe himself powerful enough that he doesn't even need to provide evidence against Elsa, but you would think he might hesitate and withdraw his accusation when a heavenly figure on a raft drawn by swans makes an appearance. Even the king recognises an emissary from God when he sees it.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicBBRPnBae5yiU-e3yBmJzawN5Qg4AUYl3ztwuS6jDW86dcaaAl0-n-Gpet9mBG_8CtwG6XDj33a5Qm4XqqNgNC_r98YSQh8K3Eqb83p3hxleki73grgDZ5WUK_zBCBWe19g-W4woqPHsSphQP2uyObDNLfWUZpXx7y5XEIwWBsNyVgwGWucl5CIOzsk/s1200/lohengrin05.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicBBRPnBae5yiU-e3yBmJzawN5Qg4AUYl3ztwuS6jDW86dcaaAl0-n-Gpet9mBG_8CtwG6XDj33a5Qm4XqqNgNC_r98YSQh8K3Eqb83p3hxleki73grgDZ5WUK_zBCBWe19g-W4woqPHsSphQP2uyObDNLfWUZpXx7y5XEIwWBsNyVgwGWucl5CIOzsk/w400-h266/lohengrin05.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>Essentially what you have to get, aside from other considerations of Wagner's ideals explored through the work, is that </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Lohengrin</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> is clearly a battle between good and evil and you can choose to depict that as a struggle between two representative figures, or if you are a stage director for a major opera house now has a great deal more technology and sophisticated theatrical means at his disposal, you can expand that out to show how evil can pervade society and destroy the good in an individual. Or you can view the battle being raged within the mind of one person, and show that in a representation of true torment. Is that a fair summary of the basic premise? Do you need lab mice to represent that? Well whatever works...</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Evidently the Paris production, arguably more extreme and abstract than even the Bayreuth production won't please everyone, with multiple rooms on the stage and bizarre activities taking place in each one of them. It's a very busy production, but it looks stunning and it does force the audience to think about what is really being told in the story. And, more importantly, it does so in a way that doesn't make it feel like an academic exercise - such as perhaps the <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2012/06/wagner-lohengrin.html">Hans Neuenfels' mice in lab experiment production</a> - but one that presents the true power of the work. The crucial moment of truth comes with Lohengrin's winning declaration and Elsa's promise to him backed with a chorus that is powerful and deeply touching. You must surely feel what is being presented here, even if it makes little coherent narrative real-world sense (as if <i>Lohengrin</i> ever did).</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDj7KoNAhhncruaPLxT3ZLO0WDIuQUmFZX_c9CHiMz_M0uoo2BIyEAQyXovHtzls1RYGatMs6VKiwWNm5QfwjIpdTQNDfNDJKMcndPm4mJZUfaVM2ZK5rwGGPtuNNPbDAln7-60RVNBdyXhiXwvDGcAbgNUKn0jvxqjtrszj3FJMjceIyzRA36ePr67Y/s1200/lohengrin04.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDj7KoNAhhncruaPLxT3ZLO0WDIuQUmFZX_c9CHiMz_M0uoo2BIyEAQyXovHtzls1RYGatMs6VKiwWNm5QfwjIpdTQNDfNDJKMcndPm4mJZUfaVM2ZK5rwGGPtuNNPbDAln7-60RVNBdyXhiXwvDGcAbgNUKn0jvxqjtrszj3FJMjceIyzRA36ePr67Y/w400-h266/lohengrin04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The real test of course, as suggested above, is in whether the cast and musical performance can convince you that there is such depths and humanity in the work. Few would dispute Wagner's ability to imbue the work with such character and the Paris production clearly intends to honour that with more than just a high production value am-dram period costume drama (no offence <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2017/06/wagner-lohengrin-dresden-2016.html">Dresden</a>). Conducted by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Alexander%20Soddy">Alexander Soddy</a>, the overture felt a little slow and thinly orchestrated, but as it progressed through Act 1 it was clear that it was a slow-burning build up. The abstract activities on the stage take the same approach, as that gradually coalesces into something huge and overwhelming, as indeed it should considering what is at stake. Even a fight with whirling light-sabres doesn't take away from that. It's just simply epic.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Having left you somewhat overwhelmed and bewildered, there is however evidence of a more prosaic reality going on in the second act, but one that depicts a no less deep struggle. It seems <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Kirill%20Serebrennikov">Serebrennikov</a> is operating on a David Lynch-like level without using directly referencing the film director's imagery or style, aside from what at one point looks under lighting like a Twin Peaks Black Lodge red curtain. Elsa, it appears, is indeed a sick young woman. Telramund and Ortrud appear in a drab house where they could be abusive parents or step parents, until we see them don white medical coats to care for her in some kind of medical facility. It turns out to be a military medical facility, with soldiers quarters on one side and patients in the other. Elsa's wig is removed to reveal that she is undergoing some kind of treatment, possibly electro-shock, which might account for her visions of angels and demons.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFgL8j_iGZgk0652SC_kFelDb6me_i0yHN9tbhh_6voQyjBE-_xlCNxNpl-vzrGE6x8rr-PFRYCWcfmENgBvzgRl6J_F8I9BjfFw5nXdoYzcPAfTwIQOY1hgNeNpymFSS3dtO2JaAMNr-sjD-QtzhVV8SGadAkGRLGqnZdjZaG91mb1DBuabAwC8REck/s1200/lohengrin01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwFgL8j_iGZgk0652SC_kFelDb6me_i0yHN9tbhh_6voQyjBE-_xlCNxNpl-vzrGE6x8rr-PFRYCWcfmENgBvzgRl6J_F8I9BjfFw5nXdoYzcPAfTwIQOY1hgNeNpymFSS3dtO2JaAMNr-sjD-QtzhVV8SGadAkGRLGqnZdjZaG91mb1DBuabAwC8REck/w400-h266/lohengrin01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>But it's not so straightforward or easy to chart of course, the two visions of the world blended together, using doubles, dancers and mirror images. The Paris production defines the roles of Telramund and Ortrud in the cast list as as "military psychiatrists", so there is a suggestion that the production is taking in the psychological damage caused by war, which is - and often seems to be - a subject that relates to the what is going on in the world in the present day. Grieving mothers are briefly seen holding pictures of their lost sons before being shunted off. The wedding march at the opening of the third Act is not just the traditional one for Elsa and Lohengrin, but a lineup of weddings for troops about to be sent off to war and likely die there, war brides and grooms photographed before a backdrop of swans.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Previously seen here directing a similarly idiosyncratic production of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2021/04/wagner-parsifal-vienna-2021.html"><i>Parsifal</i> at Vienna in 2021</a> Kirill Serebrennikov attempts to mirror the wider context of Wagner's world of mythology throughout his works by linking it visually and thematically with his production of <i>Parsifal</i>. It's also clearly intended to have modern day relevance to the world we live in today, not just to make a political statement, but to show that Wagner remains relevant and addresses fundamental human issues. Even in an apparent fantasy work like <i>Lohengrin</i> Serebrennikov seeks to find a way to reconcile the mythological elements with the darker nationalistic and militaristic sides of the opera.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixhS94LMnU00SRBP5R4JEd68fxGp8q2bdXgyMDI3R10jqS-A1zn8E2UncEvzsOmWrUC51kNOUfK7d3ChMFV0QoAl86HmlQYA4hTNsbXhiRkNBOpAVZv8Z3qnxFkRzqNiwbY4zY-0fARoWgrzvgGzO08QWvQDoTFsEHVGRbZ2lS-UJ2JkNF7r5U1t9yucU/s1200/lohengrin03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixhS94LMnU00SRBP5R4JEd68fxGp8q2bdXgyMDI3R10jqS-A1zn8E2UncEvzsOmWrUC51kNOUfK7d3ChMFV0QoAl86HmlQYA4hTNsbXhiRkNBOpAVZv8Z3qnxFkRzqNiwbY4zY-0fARoWgrzvgGzO08QWvQDoTFsEHVGRbZ2lS-UJ2JkNF7r5U1t9yucU/w400-h266/lohengrin03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Make of it what you will (I personally thought it was magnificent, building to a hugely emotional and fitting conclusion), but there is little to fault in the casting or the singing. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Johanni%20van%20Oostrum">Johanni van Oostrum</a> is clearly one of the most troubled Elsas I've seen but she maintained composure and a purity of tone. I've seen <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Piotr%20Beczala">Piotr Beczala</a> sing this role several times now, and he still doesn't disappoint. Along with Klaus Florian Vogt (who is in an alternative cast for this production), the two of them are among the best current tenors in this role, each with their own distinctive sound. There are a few signs of strain in the top notes for both Beczala and van Oostrum, but it's hardly surprising considering the challenges here and both provide solid performances in the main. </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Wolfgang%20Koch">Wolfgang Koch</a> is solid and reliable as Telramund, a role that requires character and Koch definitely brings something of that to it. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Kwangchul%20Youn">Kwangchul Youn</a> is another solid Wagnerian in the role of Heinrich a der Vogler, but most impressive of all in this performance is <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ekaterina%20Gubanova">Ekaterina Gubanova</a> as the irredeemable Ortrud. The role of the chorus is vital in this opera and they were outstanding. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Alexander%20Soddy">Alexander Soddy</a> stepped into conduct following the early departure of Gustavo Dudamel, and in the pacing, build-up and delivery of the opera, conveying not only the full force of Wagner's score but putting it fully in service of the extraordinary stage direction, it was an exemplary account.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: </span><a href="https://www.operadeparis.fr/saison-23-24/opera/lohengrin" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">Opéra National de Paris</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, </span><a href="https://play.operadeparis.fr/catalogue/live" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">Paris Opera Play</a></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-11446227484822067592023-10-30T13:47:00.002+00:002023-10-31T19:47:55.066+00:00Tutino - La ciociara (Wexford, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqpZUZis6lSJIhLHTAgjOFqwruRlJmKNrlAbc86fnyZnnS3HCfV4XiB0sO-4Oq_iU1CWtl78yJkP6q-bZl_MlhFoiv6dLB8NMtnRen-b76XibpdvfYNmPdpm0i9svkPIMmG42X1bfxV0qGDkkk3mN8wARAc282d2ElYfMiCRl27lgaQKfqkosMmPE_2s/s960/ciociara.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinqpZUZis6lSJIhLHTAgjOFqwruRlJmKNrlAbc86fnyZnnS3HCfV4XiB0sO-4Oq_iU1CWtl78yJkP6q-bZl_MlhFoiv6dLB8NMtnRen-b76XibpdvfYNmPdpm0i9svkPIMmG42X1bfxV0qGDkkk3mN8wARAc282d2ElYfMiCRl27lgaQKfqkosMmPE_2s/s320/ciociara.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Marco Tutino - La ciociara</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Wexford Festival Opera, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Francesco Cilluffo, Rosetta Cucchi, Na’ama Goldman, Jade Phoenix, Leonardo Caimi, Devid Cecconi, Alexander Kiechle, Allen Boxer, Carolyn Dobbin, Conor Prendiville, Erin Fflur, Julian Henao Gonzalez, Grace Maria Wain, Meilir Jones, Christian Loizou, Will Searle, Peter McCamley</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>O'Reilly Theatre, National Opera House - 26th October 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Wexford Festival Opera may be noted for its unearthing of rare works mainly from the 19th century, but the reviving of works as a way of keeping opera alive and vital also extends to programming new and recent 20th and 21st century works. It's in the context of the 72nd festival's Women & War theme that even against some notable historical competition it was a contemporary composer Marco Tutino and his opera <i>La ciociara</i> that proved to be the most musically and dramatically satisfying work in programme. You might think that the task of composing an opera on the subject of war might have been made easier by having the cinematic source material of the master of post-war neo-realism Vittorio de Sica to work with, which in turn is adapted from Alberto Moravia's war time experiences in Italy, but there is clearly much more to making all that into a successful opera. And indeed a challenge to stage it successfully, so we were fortunate that conductor <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Francesco%20Cilluffo">Francesco Cilluffo</a> and director <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Rosetta%20Cucchi">Rosetta Cucchi</a> were key to realising the full dramatic potential of the work for Wexford.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Composed in 2015 where it was premiered at San Francisco Opera, it's a newly revised version of <i>La ciociara</i> that was being performed for the first time at Wexford. For a festival specialising in reviving old and forgotten opera, Wexford manage to rack up a surprising number of premieres, also managing this year to put on the first ever staged production of the original version of a rare Donizetti opera, <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/donizetti-zoraida-di-granata-wexford.html">Zoraida di Granata</a></i>. <i>La ciociara</i> was however even more of a coup, since in its new form at least it's an extraordinary piece of opera. It has the opera-cinematic quality of Richard Strauss in its huge dramatic and romantic sweeps, matching the dynamic and range of human experience during a time of war, but it is also thoroughly modern in how it adapts to those changes of tone and provides a consistent accompaniment to the dramatic action without ever resorting to film soundtrack backing.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJGKJGSpYQRCYaTy6bqjJBLiS1xFdlzAnPK0Wu1TQN9kFbhfwmdFXzxUzWxLqzWadYwYLpbCaVntuYutrloQfUEssQnN33yBZWHoePWK9DUSr0cOVvIoJYfseWdwMxCMUbdl4DY8VuNvL8YGR5xNGN7uHqqxda7OZOvXkGt14zmcawOGud5xbIDzoCqU/s720/ciociara03.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTJGKJGSpYQRCYaTy6bqjJBLiS1xFdlzAnPK0Wu1TQN9kFbhfwmdFXzxUzWxLqzWadYwYLpbCaVntuYutrloQfUEssQnN33yBZWHoePWK9DUSr0cOVvIoJYfseWdwMxCMUbdl4DY8VuNvL8YGR5xNGN7uHqqxda7OZOvXkGt14zmcawOGud5xbIDzoCqU/w400-h266/ciociara03.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Clive Barda</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's a work that more fully realises the Women & War theme of the 72nd Wexford Festival Opera. Where </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/donizetti-zoraida-di-granata-wexford.html">Zoraida</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> and </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/erlanger-laube-rouge-wexford-2023.html">L'aube rouge</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> struggled to get a satisfactory balance, </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">La ciociara</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> also has a romantic core but fully humanises it in while placing it in the context of war. And by humanising that also includes the dehumanising effect of war. There is no holding back here on the brutality and the horror that war inflicts on society and the individual. The individuals in question are Cesira and her daughter Rosetta, the 'two women' of the English version of the Moravia book and film, and Michele, the school teacher Cesira meets in the village of Sant'Eufemia when she returns to her home region of Ciociara escaping from the war in Rome.</span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Another aspect of the impact that war has on individuals comes in the form of Giovanni, a brute who has followed Cesira and Rosetta from Rome who joins a fascist militia. He hears that the two women and Michele have given aid to a wounded American soldier and, in a jealous rage over Cesira's blossoming relationship with Michele, he informs the local Nazi commander Von Bock - a Scarpia-like figure - which leads to a similar anguished confrontation and eventual execution of Michele, not to mention a rape scene. It's hard not to associate the musical connection and heritage of the brutality pushed by Puccini in <i>Tosca</i> in such scenes.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8mY-cfAPlwnhhgJkt24SNw4Li30CYvxip0usA214ZngVrdH5tYgKK9pC8QUS35xX8D2d2oNA8CkaA99lXAeG1tRAUG4PvCekUTluMx8ISK1DwAFtdMaNv84uACifQGlrOEzTnd7jwwCwiwxdXkVkDtemlAOnz_5sQUPcYc2VUeCm4V45J7gkEYvVDHd8/s720/ciociara04.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8mY-cfAPlwnhhgJkt24SNw4Li30CYvxip0usA214ZngVrdH5tYgKK9pC8QUS35xX8D2d2oNA8CkaA99lXAeG1tRAUG4PvCekUTluMx8ISK1DwAFtdMaNv84uACifQGlrOEzTnd7jwwCwiwxdXkVkDtemlAOnz_5sQUPcYc2VUeCm4V45J7gkEYvVDHd8/w400-h266/ciociara04.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Clive Barda</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">You can detect the post-Wagner and post-Verdi approach to opera of Strauss and Puccini in Tutino's music, but the composer nonetheless puts a neo-Romantico spin on ot, the music dramatic, theatrical and emphatic. Musically everything goes hand in hand with the drama, enhancing the narrative and emotional tone of the piece at every stage. Not a moment is wasted, the opera simply flowing from one scene to the next. The director Rosetta Cucchi (also the artistic director of the Wexford Festival Opera) has a hand in that of course, using filmed segments to link the journey of the two women, Tutino helpfully providing linking music to mark the passage of time and distance. </span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cucchi also takes inspiration from Vittorio De Sica (Peter McCamley), the director of the film version of <i>La Ciociara</i>, including him as a silent figure in the drama during preparations for filming, taking in the location and imagining what he will make of each scene. That gives Cucchi licence to include a dancer figure, a representation of his inspiration perhaps, the emotional core of what he wants to capture on film, the essence of woman maybe? Strength? Endurance? It doesn't necessarily need a name or single definition, since it is really something deeper that arises out of the music that can connect on a different level with the personal experience and reaction of each person in the audience.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is vital to the human aspect of the work, to the connection it makes with the listener and as a reflection of how the experience of war can be different for different people. It can dehumanise and inflict horror, as <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/donizetti-zoraida-di-granata-wexford.html">Zoraida di Granata</a></i> and <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/erlanger-laube-rouge-wexford-2023.html">L'Aube rouge</a></i> made clear earlier in the opera festival, but it can also bring out the better human qualities. Cesira in fact was not such a nice person while she was in Rome, using the war as an excuse to inflate prices in her store. Returning to what was known as the Ciociara region south of Rome, in the country, she finds a closer relationship with nature, naming the flowers and trees, finding secret paths in the woods, finding love, the contrast of the war revealing what is truly important.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZXXsmXVuCdhgvcBHDhQ4yOsa2yORyS2JfGzp_srIBB1IUowIqzW2Lww6A2akVwMkxyKJDFN_81if0h-_DnNEH4VMR1sfPwdbwFn5N5Lt2IGJHuujG-iBjlHjYThkhJTehDkWEbuNzgqOZGnLAwc4CmiVar_vghHfFmx1RwBHs2IkgGn5OQryLwJplk0/s720/ciociara02.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZXXsmXVuCdhgvcBHDhQ4yOsa2yORyS2JfGzp_srIBB1IUowIqzW2Lww6A2akVwMkxyKJDFN_81if0h-_DnNEH4VMR1sfPwdbwFn5N5Lt2IGJHuujG-iBjlHjYThkhJTehDkWEbuNzgqOZGnLAwc4CmiVar_vghHfFmx1RwBHs2IkgGn5OQryLwJplk0/w400-h266/ciociara02.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Clive Barda</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The opera evidently requires a strong central performance in Cesira, and you</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> couldn't ask for better than <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Na%E2%80%99ama%20Goldman">Na'ama Goldman</a>, or indeed praise her performance enough. She held the work together as its heart, her singing and dramatic performance absolutely exceptional. Just as remarkable was </span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Jade%20Phoenix" style="font-family: verdana;">Jade Phoenix</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> as Rosetta, the young soprano giving an amazing performance through some challenging scenes, singing absolutely superbly. The scene where she took to the front of the stage to offer up a song of prayer was a revelation, winning over the audience as she lived through the trauma and post-trauma brilliantly. </span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Leonardo%20Caimi" style="font-family: verdana;">Leonardo Caimi</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> was excellent as Michele and </span><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Devid%20Cecconi" style="font-family: verdana;">Devid Cecconi</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> marvellous in the thankless role of the fascist brute, Giovanni, but neither overshadowed the outstanding performances of the "two women" at the heart of the work.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Superbly directed by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Rosetta%20Cucchi">Rosetta Cucchi</a> with no expense spared on the impressive production design, the staging couldn't have been in better hands. The same goes for the musical direction of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Francesco%20Cilluffo">Francesco Cilluffo</a>, and the Wexford orchestra were on fire as they tend to be under this conductor. I look forward to the work he directs at Wexford every year in the assurance that it will be among the best of the festival. That was certainly the case this year in a very good main programme, but in terms of being the full package, <i>La ciociara</i> topped the bill and that was recognised by fierce applause and a standing ovation at the curtain call. I don't think there is any such thing as the perfect opera, but when music, drama, performance and presentation come together as well as they do here, this is as good opera gets.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCtrtsDNnU2hj0A0HGk0-8nYUr9l23zkqZIsHQ9RIu6Q_YoP-JFmgGuG9ZxZfq-XJ3Fp_Xjl7UlQSvjpsXU491Rl7kDEACZgKE2aNUBeq3CWoEOQ1FigFozg_28jH1u2bfwOFeYodtyLKL4Hn3S4D9KaS8WmV3qTU_GMmkwXGXGH8QCMIiCv_UuAD7O5Y/s1000/wexford-26-10-2023%20(01).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="1000" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCtrtsDNnU2hj0A0HGk0-8nYUr9l23zkqZIsHQ9RIu6Q_YoP-JFmgGuG9ZxZfq-XJ3Fp_Xjl7UlQSvjpsXU491Rl7kDEACZgKE2aNUBeq3CWoEOQ1FigFozg_28jH1u2bfwOFeYodtyLKL4Hn3S4D9KaS8WmV3qTU_GMmkwXGXGH8QCMIiCv_UuAD7O5Y/w400-h253/wexford-26-10-2023%20(01).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHip-by4v7GPU0SS3wOqh0D66Rjo9jfjlGJXw2Wsn7KNK9gRNjp5uqumc7WDb7MDpUcrdlmKbWURt8z3V_qe8w0S18-i3i2tS6xlxbVqnwSsOigGRsXDOeRODQhHK619vfkEXo3Ie8PZGl2o4Xm-BwHe2mwZ1r65YAOcEkfL2x-TuwtSqOLXrRtSZlIYM/s1000/wexford-26-10-2023%20(02).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="1000" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHip-by4v7GPU0SS3wOqh0D66Rjo9jfjlGJXw2Wsn7KNK9gRNjp5uqumc7WDb7MDpUcrdlmKbWURt8z3V_qe8w0S18-i3i2tS6xlxbVqnwSsOigGRsXDOeRODQhHK619vfkEXo3Ie8PZGl2o4Xm-BwHe2mwZ1r65YAOcEkfL2x-TuwtSqOLXrRtSZlIYM/w400-h253/wexford-26-10-2023%20(02).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: </span><a href="https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/festival-programme/la-ciociara-two-women" style="font-family: verdana;">Wexford Festival Opera</a><p></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-64249769997880138592023-10-28T21:24:00.004+01:002023-10-28T21:28:53.528+01:00Erlanger - L'Aube rouge (Wexford, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx88Kq9iKaDSb4865Qu2W6repzqJJ_ycMu7AL_h892PaXlj3LU9k6rmhhIhEFx2MQHy4_pDzCakh0oPHz75kT5wj_QfVIa-85wcKlD93Qgg-aNxhNRBb3SZmsnpbQpXycPowyUEROuPf_kBY_FQkGJ_WWrEBT1PhM5lFIwwY5WjtlMdjg0xEc5EWg_OrU/s960/l'aube%20rouge.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx88Kq9iKaDSb4865Qu2W6repzqJJ_ycMu7AL_h892PaXlj3LU9k6rmhhIhEFx2MQHy4_pDzCakh0oPHz75kT5wj_QfVIa-85wcKlD93Qgg-aNxhNRBb3SZmsnpbQpXycPowyUEROuPf_kBY_FQkGJ_WWrEBT1PhM5lFIwwY5WjtlMdjg0xEc5EWg_OrU/s320/l'aube%20rouge.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Camille Erlanger - L'Aube rouge</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Wexford Festival Opera, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Guillaume Tourniaire, Ella Marchment, Andreea Soare, Andrew Morstein, Emma Jüngling, Ava Dodd, Dominica Williams, Giorgi Manoshvili, Philippe-Nicolas Martin, Rory Musgrave, Thomas Birch, Ami Hewitt, Leah Redmond, Corina Ignat, Judith Le Breuilly, Conor Baiano, Hannah O’Brien, Andrii Kharlamov, Rory Lynch, Gabriel Seawright, Vladimir Sima</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>O'Reilly Theatre, National Opera House - 25th October 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">You would expect things to get a little serous in a festival season based on the theme of Women & War. Without having to emphasise the point, sticking closely to the original 15th century setting, the Wexford Festival Opera production of Donizetti's <i><a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/2023/10/donizetti-zoraida-di-granata-wexford.html">Zoraida di Granata</a></i> nonetheless succeeded in bringing out those themes strongly in such a way that you could hardly fail to see it echoed in contemporary real world events. That theme is should be just as effective in <i>L'aube rouge </i>(The Red Dawn), an early 20th century work of verismo character by Camille Erlanger that involves the action of a band of Nihilists in pre-revolutionary Russia plotting the assassination of the Grand Duc. Composed in 1911, not far removed from the historical events it depicts, director <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ella Marchment">Ella Marchment</a> gives the stage production a closer contemporary feel that should also relate to today, but as intriguing as it is to consider this forgotten work and as well performed as it is, it doesn't succeed in making the impact you feel it ought to.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's an interesting subject for an opera by a French composer of Jewish origin at a time when the divisions caused by the Dreyfuss affair had revealed deep-rooted prejudice and divisions in French society, and when the Russian Revolution was stirring not far around the corner. Much is made of this in the festival programme notes for <i>L'Aube rouge</i> but other than to provide context and suggest a connection with the Italian verismo movement, neither political element really appears to exert much influence on the opera. Apart from a police raid in the first act on the anarchist group in St Petersburg that is quickly dispersed and the shock finale of Act III when Sergei is shot by a member of his own group, the emphasis in <i>L'Aube rouge</i> appears to be more concerned with setting up the tragic and impossible romance between Olga and Sergei.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_RtY-anydyieGBIeIckJmr08DrJPaFuURjBobkK7oCDhIclUDmd1WwokMiJi6tAEfuQlmbCdIDJiaNqq91YVm9YQ4PnPXGHW4U72b9__i1R08Q6qX3Son25wfXDOcN1QUafAw_np3EHstKi6y2yR6kdJfBj71UMsWBKLlvNs7Pr_vjimuiOxZ_dgK6mE/s960/l'aube%20rouge%2001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_RtY-anydyieGBIeIckJmr08DrJPaFuURjBobkK7oCDhIclUDmd1WwokMiJi6tAEfuQlmbCdIDJiaNqq91YVm9YQ4PnPXGHW4U72b9__i1R08Q6qX3Son25wfXDOcN1QUafAw_np3EHstKi6y2yR6kdJfBj71UMsWBKLlvNs7Pr_vjimuiOxZ_dgK6mE/w400-h266/l'aube%20rouge%2001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Olga is the daughter of General Lovarov, the despised chief of police, so she is immediately distrusted when she appears at a meeting of the anarchist group. Sergei however vouches for her and falls in love with her, but there is no future for their romance in such a place, and so they move to Moscow. Olga's family however have other plans for her that include a marriage to Pierre De Ruys, a surgeon and important establishment figure, but Sergei, who Olga's father has convinced her has died in a Siberian prison camp, shows up at the wedding and the two of them run away together to Paris. </p></span><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sergei however is shot by another member of the Nihilist group when it is believed that he is no longer dedicated to the cause. He is saved only by the intervention of Olga, who convinces the man she deserted at their wedding, Pierre De Ruys, to perform life-saving surgery. Determined to prove himself however Sergei on recovery embarks on a mission that will assure his death, attempting to assassinate the Grand Duc. It's enough to drive Olga herself to madness and death.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's high melodrama, but as far as the themes go <i>L'Aube rouge</i> undoubtedly emphasises the impact that war has on preventing people living ordinary lives, and as Olga is the central character of the opera (with in Andreea Soare, a gifted soprano capable of really making her the central focus and heart of the opera), the plight of women and any hope of living in peace and love is emphatically shown as being doomed. Certainly all the indications of that are there in the music which, even if the main part of the opera revolves around an impossible romance, has a deep undercurrent of tragedy within it. Even the second Act wedding scene and the fourth Act dances are all powerfully and dramatically scored in a way that suggests that any celebration is fleeting and only a brief respite before the real world crashes in again.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjNRevdfGOGavEwSHv149Azrqp3i7yez-ewcQ80h7C0KyNEFGNMIgpri5ks4O9M44mX7UGRcRNfBlvv9WSt_Rlrh3hHrseQGfrWuFPmbU7ME8R6HqItuRB8lNDYcQ861eE1qfxSoCy-cA66PBQYxmd7a8DQbMnQpLtrbhY-Da00KstfcrjI0S1YLLi6U/s700/l'aube%20rouge%2002.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="700" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbjNRevdfGOGavEwSHv149Azrqp3i7yez-ewcQ80h7C0KyNEFGNMIgpri5ks4O9M44mX7UGRcRNfBlvv9WSt_Rlrh3hHrseQGfrWuFPmbU7ME8R6HqItuRB8lNDYcQ861eE1qfxSoCy-cA66PBQYxmd7a8DQbMnQpLtrbhY-Da00KstfcrjI0S1YLLi6U/w400-h260/l'aube%20rouge%2002.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Clive Barda</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>It may be powerfully scored by Erlanger, but there is little that stands out as memorable in either the plot development or in any distinct flair of musical expression. Even so, like many neglected opera's from the beginning of the 20th century, it remains fascinating to consider where it fits in and how, along with many other composers, it seeks to find a new voice and a place for opera in a post-Wagner and post-Verdi age. Certainly you can here echoes of the verismo composers, the dramatic writing fitting in well with the darker side of Puccini (Tosca in particular), the overall tone and subject matter reminding one of Alfani's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2017/11/alfano-risurrezione-wexford-2017.html">Risurrezione</a></i> (performed at Wexford in 2017) and Giordano's <i>Siberia</i>.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Two things however stand out in this performance however that make it very much worthwhile, aside from it being an intriguing rare opera. Conducted by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Guillaume Tourniaire">Guillaume Tourniaire</a>, the playing of the orchestra was exceptional, the warmth and dynamism of the music enhanced by the beautiful acoustics of Wexford's O'Reilly Theatre. The other stand out was the commanding performance of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search?q=Andreea+Soare">Andreea Soare</a> as Olga. She demonstrated beautiful clarity, control and lyricism even at the most anguished of moments, but was also capable of dropping to softness and even playfulness in the singing of a Russian song. It was a great, fully rounded performance that is essential to the character of the work. <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Andrew Morstein">Andrew Morstein</a> as Sergei/Serge also had a lovely tenor voice, but didn't have the volume behind it to carry the dramatic import. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Giorgi Manoshvili">Giorgi Manoshvili</a>'s Kouragine was also worthy of note.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Much as <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ella Marchment">Ella Marchment</a>'s direction and ideas for the Wexford production tries to give it a contemporary feel that aligns with the festival theme of Women & War, the opera's uneven balance of love and war doesn't allow it to have the same impact as the production of Donizetti's <i>Zoraida di Granata</i> the previous evening. The final act here should bring back the dramatic tension of the activities of the Nihilists that end up taking the lives of both Sergei and Olga, but it ends up feeling less of a humanitarian issue than a romantic one. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The director can only work as best as the material allows however, and the production design strived to keep the drama grounded in concrete reality heading towards inevitable tragedy and not idealise the romantic aspect, using a multi-purpose staircase and a grim concrete background that feels oppressive and inescapable. Even in Paris, the set holds the same basic feel, the frenzied dancing of the final act likewise unable to shake the inevitability that it is leading towards a bleak finale.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYORJJKORB21oL0Zv84GktNyTtvO9OCxMqyul312Z9e7ZdThcUksPyuvk842gDJFcQzxB8F1C6EcHxN6OskXzObFCunzhEd7kVLEOL4C22LNPh2uPV4qi2dpRWPafSbeqwtK6ejBD_pkOI_jtnd6MjeItZdlafn_gjfTUnpoX0sYESWEMVSMvqC-jfpY/s1000/wexford-25-10-2023%20(01).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="1000" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYORJJKORB21oL0Zv84GktNyTtvO9OCxMqyul312Z9e7ZdThcUksPyuvk842gDJFcQzxB8F1C6EcHxN6OskXzObFCunzhEd7kVLEOL4C22LNPh2uPV4qi2dpRWPafSbeqwtK6ejBD_pkOI_jtnd6MjeItZdlafn_gjfTUnpoX0sYESWEMVSMvqC-jfpY/w400-h251/wexford-25-10-2023%20(01).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEhoW34K7HZ_giyv4kvIEyycRyDGjJhVzC65sPAulyWG4GFaaYCg5AHZyLB9DsGZqtKW6HqWS_UEQqt3Z-DlxezcgIBard53ws1xi3AOP7-4kRHusQi5kTddw8_qTGDzT-OQk9-hmEWEyegyWnrD8KegkzvxFbOSbE1-32ucZDrgo3RMzdfZVUBW6-geY/s1000/wexford-25-10-2023%20(02).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="1000" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEhoW34K7HZ_giyv4kvIEyycRyDGjJhVzC65sPAulyWG4GFaaYCg5AHZyLB9DsGZqtKW6HqWS_UEQqt3Z-DlxezcgIBard53ws1xi3AOP7-4kRHusQi5kTddw8_qTGDzT-OQk9-hmEWEyegyWnrD8KegkzvxFbOSbE1-32ucZDrgo3RMzdfZVUBW6-geY/w400-h230/wexford-25-10-2023%20(02).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Links: <a href="https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/festival-programme/laube-rouge" target="_blank">Wexford Festival Opera</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-9984562802199194072023-10-28T20:28:00.002+01:002023-10-28T20:32:46.106+01:00Donizetti - Zoraida di Granata (Wexford, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi23CPTphp6bybDW0PXLBfEspT9a91bIdp_1hRjstS84GWj1ogq0_gKLCaXN38URffICdszNq5dm_e9boTwSfOY6rWmQrfGh86q6_lL3lNQLw8insr4PYrgRrPBRLeWQLXx4cyG8bGKiNRLArvD_eFYYh9jbiF6ikfkSquVcI0JfPBoOxQ7_tCZe8UUbqs/s960/zoraida.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi23CPTphp6bybDW0PXLBfEspT9a91bIdp_1hRjstS84GWj1ogq0_gKLCaXN38URffICdszNq5dm_e9boTwSfOY6rWmQrfGh86q6_lL3lNQLw8insr4PYrgRrPBRLeWQLXx4cyG8bGKiNRLArvD_eFYYh9jbiF6ikfkSquVcI0JfPBoOxQ7_tCZe8UUbqs/s320/zoraida.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Gaetano Donizetti - Zoraida di Granata</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Wexford Festival Opera, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Diego Ceretta, Bruno Ravella, Claudia Boyle, Konu Kim, Matteo Mezzaro, Julian Henao Gonzalez, Rachel Croash, Matteo Guerzè</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>O'Reilly Theatre, National Opera House - 24th October 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">For 72 years, one of the principles of Wexford Festival Opera has been to present rare, lost and forgotten opera that is worthy of a fresh look. With a history of 400 years of opera to look through, there are hundreds of composers, never mind works, that have been neglected over this time. Donizetti is not a composer you would think of as neglected, but surprisingly few of around 75 operas written by the composer are regularly performed, and it is only through the efforts of Wexford and the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo that more of his works have been rediscovered. Thanks to a joint co-production between Wexford and Bergamo it's <i>Zoraida di Granata</i> that has been dusted off this year and given a smartly polished performance in its world premiere at Wexford.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And it is a bit of a coup for Wexford, since it isn't often that you get to see the world premiere stage production of an opera that was written 200 years ago - one by Gaetano Donizetti no less. The original version of <i>Zoraida di Granata</i> composed in 1822 was never performed due to the death of the lead tenor playing the role of Abenamet in an unfortunate accident. The opera had to be rewritten for a contralto and scenes reduced to suit the hastily arranged replacement. Donizetti took the opportunity to revise and extended the work further in 1824, but the original 1822 version for tenor Abenamet has consequently never been fully staged. What is interesting is that this co-production with Bergamo is being performed in two different versions, Wexford putting on the only performances of original 1822 version, Bergamo working with the revised 1824 version. This was an occasion then that was worthy of being greeted with fireworks - as is traditional at the start of the Wexford Festival - and even the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in attendance at the premiere performance.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroMSH5W7sSM0zWWqoZvSLITiR5E64WMwJTZxMdS9YUZogy7Q0ILb2slqQmN3uP6DE1PxA-HU7ku0OfOxJpJBSYn0UCNvh6bc5N6VO2DhxA9DvVpn1A_NpkDrsIYKcdhyZTdxWGyiZLgfGGrdDNSqjYBvAQgudVEgWC2PMovVLukUEpKoddeN9AdlAHXA/s2000/zoraida%2002.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1166" data-original-width="2000" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroMSH5W7sSM0zWWqoZvSLITiR5E64WMwJTZxMdS9YUZogy7Q0ILb2slqQmN3uP6DE1PxA-HU7ku0OfOxJpJBSYn0UCNvh6bc5N6VO2DhxA9DvVpn1A_NpkDrsIYKcdhyZTdxWGyiZLgfGGrdDNSqjYBvAQgudVEgWC2PMovVLukUEpKoddeN9AdlAHXA/w400-h234/zoraida%2002.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Clive Barda</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Written in 1822, <i>Zoraida</i> is an early Donizetti, his sixth opera and his first great success that led to greater things. Based on its presentation at Wexford, it's not difficult to see why. The plot is relatively straightforward for a Donizetti opera, not as convoluted as some of his works and it benefits from its directness. While it has short sections of recitative, musically there is no "filler", the writing passionate and lyrical in its setting of a traditional story of three-way romantic conflict in a time of war. There is no mad scene or any such extravagance, each of the three principals having an aria to express their condition, the soprano in particular having a beautiful aria in the second act that hits all the emotional points. The villain Almuzir also has a powerfully written aria in Act 1, expressing his desire for Zoraida, which serves to balance the work and give added poignancy to Zoraida's aria at her fate.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In terms of the plot it's set in the roughly historical period of 1480, with the city of Granada taken by the Moors but still under siege. Almuzir has deposed and killed the king of Granada and is determined to marry his daughter Zoraida. Zoraida however is in love with Abenamet, the head of the army and Almuzir's rival. Unable to 'persuade' Zoraida to marry him, Almuzir instead plots to be rid of Abenamet, sending him out in command of troops to repulse the Spanish counterattack, but warning him on the pain of death that the city's standard must remain safe in his hands. Almuzir of course plans to ensure that even when Abenamet is successful in battle, that the standard is taken from him. It's only when his scheme is undone that Almuzir feels shame for his actions and repents, accepting the union of Abenamet and Zoraida.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLdDae6swRTRp1lWFM9xfTosDUYHdVdn1B7VG5EB1y3R__FATuqLNjdq2eL_gfC1ng7D_xehAoSyn2evmBrvoZlD8e4B2o8fAn_lgG6tY4q6R5dbx6CwRDu3-55nAOHOhmnxyEbJwPODahPvUl8AWxPN1OvCJh2aNIUjEnxCfmNrfw5aNP-JFMVDRWwg/s2048/zoraida%2001.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1362" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBLdDae6swRTRp1lWFM9xfTosDUYHdVdn1B7VG5EB1y3R__FATuqLNjdq2eL_gfC1ng7D_xehAoSyn2evmBrvoZlD8e4B2o8fAn_lgG6tY4q6R5dbx6CwRDu3-55nAOHOhmnxyEbJwPODahPvUl8AWxPN1OvCJh2aNIUjEnxCfmNrfw5aNP-JFMVDRWwg/w400-h266/zoraida%2001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Clive Barda</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That unlikely resolution and change of heart amused the audience at Wexford, which is entirely the point of </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Zoraida di Granata</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">. It's opera as unsophisticated entertainment, or so you might think, but in reality the musical qualities of Donizetti's composition are evident in the flowing lyricism of the score and wonderful melodic invention. It's actually beautifully balanced musically and dramatically, direct in its focus on the romantic drama of the plot, giving equal concision and precision in the expression of the three leads, never letting it turn into a showpiece for the soprano as you might find in later works. That's the case for the 1822 original version, and you would suspect that there is nothing to be gained and much to lose in forced revisions that could hardly improve on this.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If the quality of the work was evident it was wholly down to the production and the performance of the opera at Wexford highlighting its qualities. The playing of the Wexford Festival Orchestra under <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Diego Ceretta">Diego Ceretta</a> brought out all the colour and dynamic of Donizetti's vivid score. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Claudia%20Boyle">Claudia Boyle</a> as Zoraida was bright, clear and passionate in delivery, the soprano role nonetheless challenging with some coloratura flourishes in repeated lines, but nothing too extravagant. It suited the directness of the director's approach, delving into the emotional core and content of the work that ties it in with the theme of this year's festival, Women & War, and Boyle came into her own impressively in the second act. <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Matteo Mezzaro">Matteo Mezzaro</a> was a little bit wavering as Abenamet, but likewise stormed through in the second act, giving the impression that the cast were buoyed by the progression of the music and plot. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Rachel%20Croash">Rachel Croash</a> was superb as Ines, but it was South Korean tenor <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Konu%20Kim">Konu Kim</a> as Almuzir who took the honours and the loudest applause at the end of the opera. He didn't have to play the eye-rolling evil villain, but put everything into flashes of anger and lust, letting it roar out with superb control and projection.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Directed by <a href="http://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Bruno Ravella">Bruno Ravella</a>, the production design also played to the strengths of the work with no elaborate special effects being required. The set remained largely the same across the two acts/two halves of the opera with a ruined classical structure backdrop and the ground littered with debris. Only the occasional lowering of a pillar and framework of a destroyed stained glass window as required for dramatic purpose. The lighting was just as effective for varying and matching the tone of each scene dramatically. The challenge for the director - for any director doing a Donizetti opera - is to make a 200 year work with old-fashioned opera conventions feel immediate and relevant, as well as serve the demands of the plot and retain the particular balance that makes this one such a successful opera.</span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVYkMhwJ-pt6fXQETuRYW4oVdmCvZlpyXlC0U8_udUBRVpQk-RVzvDb5DucK5vmPyOZWM7m8o804YfK-tEp264_W0SMZx6s0tuW8LnX2laD8J1DTE3jeumYJgofCD8De_81K0zDkWf7yQktKhuftxSR3Z_METswesTOnhuiMqKgUDY_k8jxfOr6PN2cSA/s2000/zoraida%2002.jpg%20(clive%20barda).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1293" data-original-width="2000" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVYkMhwJ-pt6fXQETuRYW4oVdmCvZlpyXlC0U8_udUBRVpQk-RVzvDb5DucK5vmPyOZWM7m8o804YfK-tEp264_W0SMZx6s0tuW8LnX2laD8J1DTE3jeumYJgofCD8De_81K0zDkWf7yQktKhuftxSR3Z_METswesTOnhuiMqKgUDY_k8jxfOr6PN2cSA/w400-h259/zoraida%2002.jpg%20(clive%20barda).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Clive Barda</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There was one other element that the director had to consider which fitted perfectly with the Women & War theme of the 72nd Wexford Festival Opera. While work on this production would have been on-going for some time for it to make any meaningful point about current conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, it was hard not to see obvious parallels with the devastation currently being shown on our TV screens and sympathise with the idea of innocent people caught up in it all. And indeed the women who are victims of these atrocities, one of the first scenes you see being a dead woman pulled out of a pile of rubble. It couldn't have been foreseen that such scenes would be playing out at the same time in the real world, but on the other hand not surprising at all really that so little has changed and that war continues to bring nothing but suffering to all those caught up in it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This performance of <i>Zoraida di Granata</i> has been filmed and will be available to view on OperaVision from 3rd November 2023.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuEwOIDDVVpKKmZcVp9_PagY9AI09cJ50nPsAxyW56tTxCb92tBne0_y8IQ2DYzezv3jhVePSJlBrcXTBfAozkntkTQ6jkaSqMQelmjMGKSC-1n9voHnNwqjiYF2jgHqa2h5uJI9J8twbw5GJaEXaEpIl_WeXqHrAkRnyxK0BV2jDl5jc5vcMTwTCHJbg/s1000/wexford-24-10-2023%20(01).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuEwOIDDVVpKKmZcVp9_PagY9AI09cJ50nPsAxyW56tTxCb92tBne0_y8IQ2DYzezv3jhVePSJlBrcXTBfAozkntkTQ6jkaSqMQelmjMGKSC-1n9voHnNwqjiYF2jgHqa2h5uJI9J8twbw5GJaEXaEpIl_WeXqHrAkRnyxK0BV2jDl5jc5vcMTwTCHJbg/w400-h300/wexford-24-10-2023%20(01).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1rK0bagso2jHgR0qXd7tZMeVB7Kczb8MoSA4KZVix31mjNL5egRVus9nDPhyphenhyphen_WfnWAYuGfVsXSsa85vTgDHJfb9z0X0N9C59bd9_2u2aNjzGuscwXSZwpsDgOd5wuFFC2pVkh9i9otheZxEsuAezzFzQMWq9ySE1LiALcElurwgxzA1ztgwvY0jTQB0/s1000/wexford-24-10-2023%20(02).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1rK0bagso2jHgR0qXd7tZMeVB7Kczb8MoSA4KZVix31mjNL5egRVus9nDPhyphenhyphen_WfnWAYuGfVsXSsa85vTgDHJfb9z0X0N9C59bd9_2u2aNjzGuscwXSZwpsDgOd5wuFFC2pVkh9i9otheZxEsuAezzFzQMWq9ySE1LiALcElurwgxzA1ztgwvY0jTQB0/w400-h300/wexford-24-10-2023%20(02).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>External links: <a href="https://www.wexfordopera.com/programme/festival-programme/zoraida-di-granata" target="_blank">Wexford Festival Opera</a>, <a href="https://operavision.eu/performance/zoraida-di-granata" target="_blank">OperaVision</a></p></span><p></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-71684133061913998692023-10-22T16:24:00.001+01:002023-10-22T16:27:23.352+01:00Heggie - Dead Man Walking (New York, 2023)<p><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vxYE4AX38DrkLns4KhxMp3WpxvXS2QBoRBWQiL0CR-UljyjMeUAxFeELs9mOLwJwEnJ5GBLNa7Z-3rqzJsH-FRVoz2-r6ZSbxjxmp8WLgvLyc2Op15LOltmkREC0elv1eotGgws0nvWKWi52egl0j5KiPiXfo62kkP4nTyKA04s8WeYKKC203c_py_k/s1537/dead%20man%20walking.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="1537" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_vxYE4AX38DrkLns4KhxMp3WpxvXS2QBoRBWQiL0CR-UljyjMeUAxFeELs9mOLwJwEnJ5GBLNa7Z-3rqzJsH-FRVoz2-r6ZSbxjxmp8WLgvLyc2Op15LOltmkREC0elv1eotGgws0nvWKWi52egl0j5KiPiXfo62kkP4nTyKA04s8WeYKKC203c_py_k/w400-h170/dead%20man%20walking.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Jake Heggie - Dead Man Walking</span></b><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Metropolitan Opera, 2023</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Joyce DiDonato, Ryan McKinny, Susan Graham, Latonia Moore, Rod Gilfry, Krysty Swann, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Chauncey Packer, Helena Brown, Briana Hunter, Magdalena Kuźma, Matteo Omoso Castro, Alexa Jarvis, Justin Austin, Chad Shelton, Raymond Aceto, Regan Sims, Mark Joseph Mitrano, Jonah Mussolino, Christopher Job, John Hancock, Patrick Miller, Jonathan Scott, Earle Patriarco, Ross Benoliel, Tyler Simpson</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Met: Live in HD - 21st October 2023</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's the start of a new Met Live in HD Season, and no longer enjoying the star power of Anna Netrebko since their falling out over the war in Ukraine as a draw for the opening broadcast, the Metropolitan Opera in New York have instead chosen to go down an unexpected route of promoting contemporary American composers, as they did with Terence Blanchard's incendiary <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2021/11/blanchard-fire-shut-up-in-my-bones-new.html">Fire Shut Up In My Bones</a></i> in 2021. It's a risky strategy, but as Peter Gelb acknowledged in the introduction before the cinema relay, perhaps a necessary one for the Met to change and recognise opera as a relevant contemporary creative artform, not just a revival of music composed centuries ago. And presumably, such an approach might be necessary to attract new younger and more diverse audiences.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">To that end not only does the 2023/24 season open with the Met premiere of Jake Heggie's <i>Dead Man Walking</i>, but the next two broadcasts are also new or modern works, <i>X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X</i> by Anthony Davis and <i>Florencia en el Amazonas</i> by Daniel Catán. That is certainly an appealing line-up for me, at least in as far as having the opportunity to experience unfamiliar works in the next best way to seeing them live (which would be highly unlikely outside of the United States in any case). The Met have their Live in HD broadcasts down to a fine art, and that was certainly the experience with their completely stunning production of <i>Dead Man Walking</i>.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXaOIDbVBlcp2hyganiUi-DhKSsYinlWE_dH3iMY_Ezhd2VNgGIIlA69JgLg1usW5nxYB1a9WPXz5c6JUfF9pXBxfgDqt2gOUlb3EP6i5eygJa9OJZdHyMj2BcE4DiE1YGjfIlo8YzNcHab1W6Y0yibC3aNlWKC8C6m4Q7hSITdqVgdqDotxyKxkQK1qQ/s4000/dead%20man%20walking%2004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2667" data-original-width="4000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXaOIDbVBlcp2hyganiUi-DhKSsYinlWE_dH3iMY_Ezhd2VNgGIIlA69JgLg1usW5nxYB1a9WPXz5c6JUfF9pXBxfgDqt2gOUlb3EP6i5eygJa9OJZdHyMj2BcE4DiE1YGjfIlo8YzNcHab1W6Y0yibC3aNlWKC8C6m4Q7hSITdqVgdqDotxyKxkQK1qQ/w400-h266/dead%20man%20walking%2004.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Composed in 2000, and having the distinction of being the most successful or at least most widely performed (in America) new opera of the 21th century (so far), the Met are late catching on to Jake Heggie's first opera, but they certainly make up for it with a production that does the work full justice and which may even consolidate its reputation and popularity. I'm late to the work myself, as American contemporary composers are not particularly fashionable in Europe and rarely get performed here. As if seeking to make that cross-over, the Met chose the Belgian experimental opera and theatre director <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ivo van Hove">Ivo van Hove</a> to direct their first production of the work, and that was enough to entice me out to see it in the cinema, when I otherwise might not have. I'm very glad I did, and it will certainly bring me back to see their other new productions this season.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some of my initial hesitation and doubts about having any interest in <i>Dead Man Walking</i> would have been down to it being made into a film (that admittedly I haven't seen) and the subject matter. Although based n a real life story of a nun, Sister Helen Prejean and her memoir of the friendship she struck up with a man on Death Row in the days leading up to his execution, it not only seemed to me designed to stir emotions and gain Oscar nominations, but I imagined that the opera would have similar intentions and be a little ...well, over-emphatic perhaps if not overly sentiment stirring. And it turns out there is some truth in this, Heggie and his librettist Terrence McNally designing the opera to play out as much like a movie screenplay as an opera follow along similar lines, which is where the choice of Ivo van Hove to direct it comes across as a true masterstroke.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPK9GK55u1qDlwLOBRXLr_9-VxVdVBlY1QKB08QkO05zkQpGPRQemLQbqrviq4H1ZiUf2Jrc1vXnloZsJXztOgmHnuB42PKv5_6f2aqpzKGWjO4bjz88Z4H_Dc5lD-KXdjP5OS3ptDpr-QjbnX-nW2Pvf5oulhp0cD2y8DRqSlLjJbwosxFPDaec_Otag/s1040/dead%20man%20walking%2003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1040" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPK9GK55u1qDlwLOBRXLr_9-VxVdVBlY1QKB08QkO05zkQpGPRQemLQbqrviq4H1ZiUf2Jrc1vXnloZsJXztOgmHnuB42PKv5_6f2aqpzKGWjO4bjz88Z4H_Dc5lD-KXdjP5OS3ptDpr-QjbnX-nW2Pvf5oulhp0cD2y8DRqSlLjJbwosxFPDaec_Otag/w400-h261/dead%20man%20walking%2003.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Ivo van Hove is a theatre director who is used to working with cinematic drama. He has adapted Bergman's 'After the Rehearsal' and 'Scenes From a Marriage', Cassavetes' 'Opening Night' and Visconti's 'Ossessione' among many film adaptations for the stage, but he also brings a cinematic quality to his plays, using on-stage cameras and projections. His <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ivo van Hove">opera productions</a> have similarly benefitted from these kind of techniques that open up backgrounds and underlying tensions, but his success with opera is as much in his ability to draw marvellous acting performances out of the principals and the secondary singers, using every means to express the maximum impact and insight out of whatever he is working on.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Surprisingly, for <i>Dead Man Walking</i> he is much more restrained in how he presents the work, settling for a minimalist set with lots of open space and limited use of on-stage camera-operators and projections. I thought at first that he might be reining in any excesses for an audience less used to experimental European theatre, but it soon became clear that van Hove was actually just serving the needs of the opera <i>Dead Man Walking</i>. Aside from the filmed opening sequence depicting the murders, the menacing prison scenes with guards and prisoners seeming to erupt out of swirling infernal mists, his direction here allows the drama to focus and bring out what is already well-scripted and scored in the relationship between Sister Helen and Joseph De Rocher, letting the characters come alive through their words and interaction rather than employing and of his usual tricks and techniques.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDj_JsRrkgbn0dzYj0w4lqLF3TEPHQAO5da7WAO9gr0rPH5NgqvROWQbeDI8vxq-fp7FAHe6tR3B2IN0kuW4UqnqruMczfKbFR6NdqcfY0DhvH2i9T4spcp8x9RsEI_9I2ViJFlOtLYMHK3rz48guvw6hH9SPHu_HwtDgq4uCtio9gBqRsysIaXp_IAs/s768/dead%20man%20walking%2002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDj_JsRrkgbn0dzYj0w4lqLF3TEPHQAO5da7WAO9gr0rPH5NgqvROWQbeDI8vxq-fp7FAHe6tR3B2IN0kuW4UqnqruMczfKbFR6NdqcfY0DhvH2i9T4spcp8x9RsEI_9I2ViJFlOtLYMHK3rz48guvw6hH9SPHu_HwtDgq4uCtio9gBqRsysIaXp_IAs/w400-h266/dead%20man%20walking%2002.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>That is almost certainly the right way to approach Heggie and McNally's <i>Dead Man Walking</i>. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ivo van Hove">Ivo van Hove</a> makes what could otherwise be film-like theatrical, as well as theatrical for the big screen in the cinema broadcast. Such is the nature of the subject, the direct way it is handled in the superb libretto and the sometimes heavy-handed score by Heggie, that any further emphasis or extraneous action would be too much. Scene after scene had huge emotional impact, and the director doesn't get in the way of that. The final execution scene, as is surely intended, is almost devastating, the director here choosing to get right in close on the act of delivery of the lethal injection with a hand-held camera projecting the procedure. If the rights or wrongs of capital punishment are largely left to the viewer to decide, the inhumanity of taking another's life is not and the production makes sure you see exactly what it entails.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm not sure what I expected from Heggie's score, not being familiar with the composer, but his writing for this opera surprised me. He is stated as being in the American tradition - whatever that is, Bernstein maybe? - but <i>Dead Man Waking</i> reminded me of Poulenc and <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Dialogues des Carmélites">Dialogues des Carmélites</a></i>. Perhaps the amount of nuns on stage influenced that idea, but I think emotionally, thematically, structurally and musically it's a close match. It's powerfully composed for maximum impact, if perhaps a little too over-emphatic and bombastic in places under the musical direction of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Yannick Nézet-Séguin">Yannick Nézet-Séguin</a>, but I'm sure he delivered it the way the composer intended. It certainly achieves the desired impact; invigorating and draining at the same time.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">As well as every other element of the production being up to the extremely high standards of the Metropolitan Opera, the casting of the principals, the singing and acting performances are simply beyond reproach. Every role, not just the central relationship between convict and nun, is filled with character, the performances consequently utterly committed to doing them justice and superbly delivered. You couldn't expect more from <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Joyce DiDonato">Joyce DiDonato</a> and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ryan McKinny">Ryan McKinny</a>, both absolutely rivetting, but it's hard to imagine anyone surpassing the deeply felt emotional delivery of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Susan Graham">Susan Graham</a> as De Rocher's mother. Secondary roles are just as well written and performed, with <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Rodney Gilfry">Rod Gilfry</a> in particular standing out as the father of the murdered girl, but impressive performances also from newer Met singers <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Latonia Moore">Latonia Moore</a>, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Krysty Swann">Krysty Swann</a>, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Wendy Bryn Harmer">Wendy Bryn Harmer</a>, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Chauncey Packer">Chauncey Packer</a> all providing notable performances, particularly in the family scenes with overlapping dialogue and raw emotion pouring out.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidK4D_ZDu8H4AJrwUIW6coTp6ktpYy8W79_VE_TNdTHCXmKCcG2F0To0ZaaRliU-16b-X48pqHHnjD42YyN2S3-9-51Js7kZ4eYb2Tb6pBiNPq9KmW1mLiPTxwBZeup_tpShabwGiMC51yVrlOtt5TSpBMntuxtRvvR9oSOKVtWdSM0fTlm6lb3pR3Eu4/s1600/dead%20man%20walking%2001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1600" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidK4D_ZDu8H4AJrwUIW6coTp6ktpYy8W79_VE_TNdTHCXmKCcG2F0To0ZaaRliU-16b-X48pqHHnjD42YyN2S3-9-51Js7kZ4eYb2Tb6pBiNPq9KmW1mLiPTxwBZeup_tpShabwGiMC51yVrlOtt5TSpBMntuxtRvvR9oSOKVtWdSM0fTlm6lb3pR3Eu4/w400-h171/dead%20man%20walking%2001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>While I am instinctively suspicious of work that is this emotionally charged and direct, it's almost impossible for any aspect of <i>Dead Man Walking</i> to be "too much" considering the subject and the way it demands to be presented. No one element however overshadows another in the Met's 2023 production, everything comes together to present Jake Heggie's opera in the best possible light, from these incredible singing and acting performances and the perfectly pitched direction. Even the Live in HD presentation is just perfect, engaging the cinema audience with the filming, the close-ups, Ivo van Hove's own on-screen camera and split-screen shots, making this feel like they were sharing something truly remarkable and even momentous. Impressive on big screen, the video capture of this final performance will no doubt continue to resonate and secure the place of <i>Dead Man Walking</i> in the American contemporary opera canon.</p></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">External Links: <a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2023-24-season/dead-man-walking/" target="_blank">The Metrooolitan Opera</a>, <a href="https://www.metopera.org/Season/In-Cinemas/" target="_blank">The Met: Live in HD season</a></span></div>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-82398516636280365082023-10-21T12:13:00.005+01:002024-01-14T14:56:55.614+00:00Janáček - The Makropoulos Case (Paris, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj148BQmZJIX3kvQfPGYgac9mpOXAFqDV-F8-ZWzYZbgnUhyphenhypheni2rbMZtlq_xZxmp-oIc_sFbLwa-qsTe80YEv5ryK1Ms4iBkSmVEGLDccJQh6w-iDZ8qeut8YFj51qV_6FC-ZqVlwmNwucpZjZe8JUXO76499cuHoMyBOG0b-RzaQssZ0VlqvweZ536w0pQ/s1714/makropoulos%20affair.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="775" data-original-width="1714" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj148BQmZJIX3kvQfPGYgac9mpOXAFqDV-F8-ZWzYZbgnUhyphenhypheni2rbMZtlq_xZxmp-oIc_sFbLwa-qsTe80YEv5ryK1Ms4iBkSmVEGLDccJQh6w-iDZ8qeut8YFj51qV_6FC-ZqVlwmNwucpZjZe8JUXO76499cuHoMyBOG0b-RzaQssZ0VlqvweZ536w0pQ/w400-h181/makropoulos%20affair.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Leoš Janáček - The Makropoulos Case</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Opéra National de Paris, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Susanna Mälkki, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Karita Mattila, Pavel Černoch, Nicholas Jones, Ilanah Lobel-Torres, Johan Reuter, Cyrille Dubois, Károly Szemerédy, Peter Bronder </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Paris Opera Play - 13th October 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I could think of several reasons why the idea of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Krzysztof Warlikowski">Krzysztof Warlikowski</a> directing a Janáček opera would be an attractive proposition - attractive enough in my case to start a subscription with Paris Opera Play to watch a livestream broadcast. The science-fiction nature of <i>The Makropoulos Case</i> and its modernity lends itself to wild flights of imagination, and the relatively short running time of the opera means that an adventurous director like Warlikowski doesn't have to strive too hard to make it fit with what will undoubtedly push a concept beyond the limits of what the opera can sustain. And the promotional 'King Kong' images it has to be said show that Warlikowski is going to push his own ideas and distinctive view of opera as far as he can.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">He can't help himself with this one, such is the richness of the 'script' and the 'soundtrack' he has to work with that he can indulge his love of classic and iconic movies to the extent that even a short opera like <i>Makropoulos</i> is somehow extended to almost 2 hours. Regardless of what you think of the director's style and techniques, you can hardly argue with is his choice of 'Marilyn Monroe' to represent the superstar fame of the opera's ageless icon Emilia Marty and her tragic situation.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTQny64Udhqvr2HAqZCxi9y0dibiqEmuAJLWWM_Rq7jJmvAMUPkPjjFeQVESpl5EUkHmzj_MOAHa6-rtBeYVmi4gDrg3CtRe8k6Zu9omwcBdBr46bn8ohrwvNGTU2pRJu2XaSr0IncH1O0kumRUea_ERFP70xt_qKmWh5a6iJmAomqmrbDGh3iOnq16s/s1200/makropoulos%20affair%204.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1200" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTQny64Udhqvr2HAqZCxi9y0dibiqEmuAJLWWM_Rq7jJmvAMUPkPjjFeQVESpl5EUkHmzj_MOAHa6-rtBeYVmi4gDrg3CtRe8k6Zu9omwcBdBr46bn8ohrwvNGTU2pRJu2XaSr0IncH1O0kumRUea_ERFP70xt_qKmWh5a6iJmAomqmrbDGh3iOnq16s/w400-h271/makropoulos%20affair%204.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The opening section, that this director often fills with filmed movie footage of his own for his productions, this time uses original classic Hollywood footage of '<i>Sunset Boulevard</i>' and '<i>King Kong</i>', neither of which feature Monroe of course, but blending these with documentary footage recounting the string of marriages and the tragedy of a legend, the fall of Marilyn Monroe, they tangentially serve to provide an effective link between her life and <i>The Makropoulos Case</i>. Rather than take place within the offices of the lawyer Kolenaty then, this merges into a kind of on-stage reenactment of the unveiling of bound King Kong to a New York audience. No, definitely not the most obvious of connections to the start of <i>The Makropoulos Case</i>.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">And yet, there are plenty of references in the libretto to connect the tragedy of Elina Makropoulos with Marilyn Monroe - "<i>Nothing is eternal. 'Vanitas' …ashes to ashes!</i>" "<i>What can you care about a woman of ill repute who lived 100 years ago?</i>". It might not draw anything new out of the opera, but it certainly provides a fresh way to look at the work, a new way to connect to its themes, since the plot is a fairly convoluted one. Warlikowski's production certainly brings out how women have been objectified by men over the years the harm inflicted on Emilia Marty as a woman who has lived through it and seen it all, been abused and mistreated by men trying to mold her in the image of their fantasies. "<i>See this scar on my neck? Another man tried to kill me. I'm not going to undress to show you all the marks men have left on my body</i>". she tells a besotted Albert Gregor, in thrall to the lure of the glamorous image.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnfso6_yYLxhMnUZBKcv0bF9hGNr3oH8qW6lltiooUgQ8OOyMk6a4M_PTjEr_jUDN0FclV4JDSmtZBM2NUbTenJynnLfQe3e0tMcvsPWjZHjfWtDGXyN48mrvyXnZXKP2aIhSfBYX3BI5lpRUH9cyJwdT0RfnYGSursr1W-V2ME-uacktUmUQ6xUb16VM/s1200/makropoulos%20affair%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1200" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnfso6_yYLxhMnUZBKcv0bF9hGNr3oH8qW6lltiooUgQ8OOyMk6a4M_PTjEr_jUDN0FclV4JDSmtZBM2NUbTenJynnLfQe3e0tMcvsPWjZHjfWtDGXyN48mrvyXnZXKP2aIhSfBYX3BI5lpRUH9cyJwdT0RfnYGSursr1W-V2ME-uacktUmUQ6xUb16VM/w400-h271/makropoulos%20affair%203.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>It's a gift of a role for any star soprano who is able to project a similar glamorous allure, and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Karita Mattila">Karita Mattila</a> proves to be a good choice for her ability to inhabit the persona of the enigma that is Emilia Marty; a star, diva, a Norma Desmond. Dressed as Marilyn Monroe in a constantly billowing <i>Seven Year Itch</i> dress is a bit more of a stretch, but this is opera and almost every opera has a singer cast in a role that they don't match physically or in age, and Mattila carries it off surprising well. This is after all an opera where we are dealing with a character who is an ageless 337, so anything goes surely? 'Anything goes surely' being the philosophy of Warlikowski as well you could say. What matters is that she can sing the role and inhabit the role with personality. </p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mattila's voice might be a little weaker now in terms of volume, but she delivers a hugely convincing performance and the personality is definitely all there. Her voice sounded a little muffled in places, but it's hard to judge that from a live web broadcast. She still sings with great control, singing in Czech, which is doubtlessly challenging. As is the role itself, which Warlikowski doesn't make any easier, but there is little room for doubt about her ability there, her performance very impressive, genuinely magnetic and charismatic. All the roles are similarly well-cast and performed with notable performances from <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Pavel Cernoch">Pavel Černoch</a> as Albert 'Bertik' Gregor and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Ilanah Lobel-Torres">Ilanah Lobel-Torres</a> as Krista. As often proves to be the case, 'Maxi' Hauck brings a humorous touch to the opera, sung here by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Peter Bronder">Peter Bronder</a> as an ice-cream salesman during the interval at the theatre/movie theatre where Emilia is appearing in a fully-staged reconstruction of Fay Wray being picked up by Kong.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cxTlJiKfFH0RK84_IApZbWBVFfyHx7UKTtatob3B-kIOgA2vLtlUAjCHyoFHGcxopO19357ijkEEWRvte5deOQkNshkCJKTP7YV49E1YPGLK00foStazRPNCtMeRoNaEf5VqZKJ-HGkgB29oggstO3WQq9GlQWix-t8J1SvD0j2HrE5fSuwcQ3UbqTQ/s1200/makropoulos%20affair%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="1200" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cxTlJiKfFH0RK84_IApZbWBVFfyHx7UKTtatob3B-kIOgA2vLtlUAjCHyoFHGcxopO19357ijkEEWRvte5deOQkNshkCJKTP7YV49E1YPGLK00foStazRPNCtMeRoNaEf5VqZKJ-HGkgB29oggstO3WQq9GlQWix-t8J1SvD0j2HrE5fSuwcQ3UbqTQ/w400-h265/makropoulos%20affair%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Set designer Małgorzata Szczęśniak provides an impressive set and staging for this scene, a key scene in the work that succeeds in capturing the wonder, humour and the underlying tragedy of life that - like <i>Jenůfa</i> and <i>The Cunning Little Vixen</i> - lies at the heart of the work. Also, since the work does relate to the nature of the artist taking on many roles, exploring human experience, the nature of aging or remaining ageless, it does relate well also to <i>Sunset Boulevard</i>. Maxi becomes Erich von Stroheim's butler to Emilia's Marilyn Monroe/Norma Desmond, the opera finishing with a swimming pool scene that captures the glamour of the lifestyle and the tragedy to unfold there. <i>Ars longa, vita brevis</i>.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's all there - glamour, spectacle, consideration of the nature of living and being human - all wrapped up in a marvellous entertainment with glorious music conducted here by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Susanna Mälkki">Susanna Mälkki</a>. That's <i>The Makropoulos Case</i> and there's no question all the glamour, spectacle and full consideration of what the opera has to tell us about the nature of living is fully what you get in <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Krzysztof Warlikowski">Krzysztof Warlikowski</a>'s new production for the Paris Opera.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External Links: <a href="https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-23-24/opera/laffaire-makropoulos" target="_blank">Opéra National de Paris</a>, <a href="https://play.operadeparis.fr/catalogue/live" target="_blank">Paris Opera Play</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-91370045682788193862023-10-14T11:30:00.005+01:002023-10-14T11:33:24.446+01:00Foccroulle - Cassandra (Brussels, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtiVj-5fuAtX_yLh3qYggg1fLMMeogs3goV25TakQ0t29QFrVmQjW1DsEvC4APsaG6p3hdRtmmpMqshdcGy0cfHaahYkeByCrCuaLLn3X_jGwGQgI9eQr9StZ_N45R42DhagRmzn9-NzaNfQV-LlKCynhlNOkbR7uS9DJFMQwtnzT3dsXOJSLxhM6mR-8/s1513/cassandra01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="1513" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtiVj-5fuAtX_yLh3qYggg1fLMMeogs3goV25TakQ0t29QFrVmQjW1DsEvC4APsaG6p3hdRtmmpMqshdcGy0cfHaahYkeByCrCuaLLn3X_jGwGQgI9eQr9StZ_N45R42DhagRmzn9-NzaNfQV-LlKCynhlNOkbR7uS9DJFMQwtnzT3dsXOJSLxhM6mR-8/w400-h136/cassandra01.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Bernard Foccroulle - Cassandra</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>La Monnaie-De Munt, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Kazushi Ono, Marie-Ève Signeyrole, Katarina Bradić, Jessica Niles, Susan Bickley, Sarah Defrise, Paul Appleby, Joshua Hopkins, Gidon Saks, Sandrine Mairesse, Lisa Willems</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>OperaVision - 14th September 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are any number of Greek dramas and myths that remain applicable to today, with themes that are still capable of inspiring contemporary operas. Matthew Aucoin's <i><a href="Matthew Aucoin - Eurydice https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2021/12/aucoin-eurydice-new-york-2021.html">Eurydice</a></i> adapts Sarah Ruhl's original play and libretto to explore deeper feminist and human themes explored by the Orpheus myth, while Aribert Reimann's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2017/06/reimann-medea-berlin-2017.html">Medea</a></i> casts a shadow over a society intolerant of outsiders, its rulers obsessed with wealth and prestige, blind to the danger of failing to respond appropriately to the needs of those seeking asylum and the price that is paid by our children. <i>Cassandra</i> in as far as Bernard Foccroulle's opera presents it, clearly speaks to perhaps the most immediate global crisis facing modern society, one that is being warned about daily and becoming ever more urgent, but it's apparent that again, no one is listening. Climate change is the pre-warned disaster facing us all.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Cursed by Apollo so that her premonitions for the future will fall on deaf ears, the words "Ototoi popoi da” that Cassandra struggles to express at the start of Foccroulle's opera are unintelligible and unheeded until disaster strikes. She emerges here as a ghost of the past brought into the present, the two time periods combined and overlapping through a wall of literature written on the subject. The collapse of Troy with all its classical implications - traditionally well-served in opera as well as in Greek drama - is echoed in a modern disaster, as the wall collapses leaving devastation in its wake. People buried by the disaster emerge cut and bruised and crying over the dead in the rubble, as a camera operator zooms in showing the devastation in all its horror.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mfpLQeHt4BMRzjwfH4aabBmb4XOqN40ufhdCARB8SnRZSArpBZGXyouEK862qLn2W4OuUH9SOH6C918gJKPR5wl8Vj1R4V0aL6fOzjrl90LD6mntR-HmeOoCkAv1bAOstnEXHJicMOwUaT7WI7-23jv3L7ISFDS1QfNaYxtSqfZBuW5o4cW0ALbZD-4/s2000/cassandra04.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1181" data-original-width="2000" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mfpLQeHt4BMRzjwfH4aabBmb4XOqN40ufhdCARB8SnRZSArpBZGXyouEK862qLn2W4OuUH9SOH6C918gJKPR5wl8Vj1R4V0aL6fOzjrl90LD6mntR-HmeOoCkAv1bAOstnEXHJicMOwUaT7WI7-23jv3L7ISFDS1QfNaYxtSqfZBuW5o4cW0ALbZD-4/w400-h236/cassandra04.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>It's a familiar scene that we have seen repeatedly on our own screens over the last couple of years. There's really no beating around the bush here. The opening is direct and devastating, a classical style Cassandra in full outburst, carrying a dead bleeding child plucked from the ruins of Troy as a Greek chorus ominously intones the consequences of the failure to listen and the orchestra delivers jagged blocks of chords. It's a powerful opening, the impact heightened by Foccroulle's music, not to mention the reaction of Cassandra, and yet, despite all the power of classical-inspired opera, it's a message that is still likely one to go unheeded. It needs something more to bring that message up to date, and Foccroulle and librettist Matthew Jocelyn choose to find another way to get the message across.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is an intentionally jarring change of tone as the setting abruptly changes to the present day, where a modern day Cassandra, PhD student and published climatologist Sandra Seymour, conscious that all other attempts to express the imminency of the danger have fallen on deaf ears, chooses to deliver her warning as a comedy routine. Running models and algorithms from her studies, Sandra knows danger is real, but chooses to approach the subject with the audience by blaming 'sex fiends' going under the names of Donald, Jeff and Vladimir raping the earth, as she shatters a block of ice. There's not really any beating around the here bush either (not much comedy either), but there is disagreement about her approach from an environmental activist, Blake, who who takes her message more seriously that she does. They share the same concerns however and end up in a relationship together.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KTiaqaB-9n3dkvrzI2cFCeiCJj63olFRy4oVos0PdK_iqQh48tyZKaPRWZitcWPUpdO4LcJ0Srfg85ULh0FKTjFoYqeDRqfuUOzkpmntxU9rGAWnsbLqckn_k5oLIPZrlP0g1YHJVzw3RDqGr1kPNLYtOtUKSf-c8RqU8-FSjL0Bjyb-RQtT4rJ6uJ8/s2000/cassandra02.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1409" data-original-width="2000" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3KTiaqaB-9n3dkvrzI2cFCeiCJj63olFRy4oVos0PdK_iqQh48tyZKaPRWZitcWPUpdO4LcJ0Srfg85ULh0FKTjFoYqeDRqfuUOzkpmntxU9rGAWnsbLqckn_k5oLIPZrlP0g1YHJVzw3RDqGr1kPNLYtOtUKSf-c8RqU8-FSjL0Bjyb-RQtT4rJ6uJ8/w400-h281/cassandra02.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Using such means, Fouccrolle's opera seeks to provide a wider context and every means at his disposal to draw together the classical warnings and the present crisis. There are plenty of 'sex fiends' in history bringing damage to humanity and mythology is full of them, not least Apollo, so the parallels are well-established and the musical language used for each of the scenes is appropriate and effective. The subject is not exactly a new concern expressed in modern opera - Sivan Eldar's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2022/09/eldar-like-flesh-lille-2022.html">Like Flesh</a></i>, Tom Coult's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2022/07/coult-violet-buxton-2022.html">Violet</a></i>, Perocco's <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2017/01/perocco-aquagranda-venice-2016.html">Aquagranda</a></i> - but these are a little more allusive towards the subject and Foucrolle's opera strives to be more direct. It's important but difficult to do that without descending into preachiness. <i>Cassandra</i> does do a lot of telling, quoting statistics and figures on the melting of ice caps, but it tries to present these in an accessible way, looking at classical mythology for additional substance, using a modern couple debating with each other as a way of putting fire into their relationship and the best way of putting the message out there. This might work for some observers, not for others.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The classical story however does add another element, or at least it does in the way it is presented here as overlapping with the modern-day story. Priam and Hecuba are also brought back from the books, now able to reflect on what the plays written about the fall of Troy tell us, now fully aware of the consequences of failing to listen to the warnings of Cassandra. These scenes - which flow seamlessly from a dinner party scene with Sandra's well-to do parents who are more focussed on causes that boost their image and profits doubling up the roles of Priam and Hecuba - is as charged and anguished as you would expect, equally if not as much as a classical retelling, such as in Berlioz's <i>Les Troyens</i> for example. We already have the benefit of hindsight to act as foresight, the opera seems to be telling us, and we don't want future generations to look back on our society incredulous that we failed to heed the obvious present warnings of the fall of civilisation.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6z3UlRVINfBWsaRN1KyCCEK0dk0K_FzYRehVuPbcEkcr8AHoGSDqVyHS3Lk5XJaryajI54RcY3Ey-uAhi7ugNGQSqFBA8nC2077SO73jvwTybsqSCDYEXv0jWTNrVZuMnlzIhnX90J8iprfn4CNJh5Ekig2wiHJce9FOlkzV66yC8ZxbJeenNR1g-PO4/s2000/cassandra03.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1338" data-original-width="2000" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6z3UlRVINfBWsaRN1KyCCEK0dk0K_FzYRehVuPbcEkcr8AHoGSDqVyHS3Lk5XJaryajI54RcY3Ey-uAhi7ugNGQSqFBA8nC2077SO73jvwTybsqSCDYEXv0jWTNrVZuMnlzIhnX90J8iprfn4CNJh5Ekig2wiHJce9FOlkzV66yC8ZxbJeenNR1g-PO4/w400-h268/cassandra03.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Belgian composer Bernard Foccroulle is a former director of La Monnaie in Brussels and the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. This is his first opera composition and it's an ambitious full-scale work, attempting to encompass a number of styles, each effective for the requirements of the libretto and the message. There's Cassandra past blending into Sandra's present, the drama and music serious on one hand, seeming blithe on the other, reflecting two ways of viewing the subject. If we truly knew what is ahead we wouldn't treat it as a joke, but at the same time, most aren't taking it seriously. Foccroulle tries every means, style and views of these conflicting worlds and tries to replicate it in the music, not least in the strong writing for female voices and the short musical interludes, Scene Four and the final scene for example consisting only of a musical depiction of a swarm of bees.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is inevitably some banality in the modern sections in the domestic relationships, the language, the swearing, the so-called comedy and in the family crises. There is a point to be made about preserving the world for future generations, but whether the opera and its approach hits the mark or is "bullshit" as is loudly heckled by an "audience member", the point isn't convincingly made. Opera has the power to raise a subject to a higher level, elevate the mere words and drama of a libretto, achieve impact through the music and singing, but it's by no means clear that Jocelyn and Foucroulle's approach to <i>Cassandra</i> will be heeded any more than those unheeded warnings of its title character.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Conducted by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Kazushi%20Ono">Kazushi Ono</a> for the premiere of this new opera at La Monnaie, the music and its effectiveness to the subject and libretto can't be faulted, the fascinating and varied score inviting the audience to listen closer to what is being presented. There is much that is equally impressive in the singing and the stage production, so every effort has been made. A new opera, the singers cast are obviously chosen as perfect for the roles. There are singing and performing challenges here but each is outstanding, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Katarina%20Bradi%C4%87">Katarina Bradić</a> in particular in a gift of a role as Cassandra, but Sandra is also a large role and is impressively sung by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Jessica%20Niles">Jessica Niles</a>. I also thought the performances of her mother and father, sung by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Susan%20Bickley">Susan Bickley</a> and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Gidon%20Saks">Gidon Saks</a>, doubling as Hecuba and Priam were both terrific, contributing superbly to both sides of the work.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYPv2FloinGSJYc_b3siBjaWIO-Pq8Ha4cELsNRBQGn7cvQGazTt_5S6Gz5h09mevXwJNjzcZyWrHJiAN_21_wFyvKHz7lpfWhAOoLrllYGMDhM-mRWhynfCOrQ4n57Ig-5byTfVlvswcoAt7nzy3fLGFmC1SEALQP-OrMDU-s40QgkBcQt6U8iFJs6s/s1151/cassandra05.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1151" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYPv2FloinGSJYc_b3siBjaWIO-Pq8Ha4cELsNRBQGn7cvQGazTt_5S6Gz5h09mevXwJNjzcZyWrHJiAN_21_wFyvKHz7lpfWhAOoLrllYGMDhM-mRWhynfCOrQ4n57Ig-5byTfVlvswcoAt7nzy3fLGFmC1SEALQP-OrMDU-s40QgkBcQt6U8iFJs6s/w400-h250/cassandra05.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The stage production directed by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Marie-%C3%88ve%20Signeyrole">Marie-Ève Signeyrole</a> with sets by Fabien Teigné also plays an important part in maintaining an connection and fluidity between the 'classical' sections and the modern-day sections, as well as bringing out the underlying context of the climate change debate that is drawn between them. Projections and live filming are used, every means that can enhance the central key imagery of nature and devastation. There are blocks of ice, screens of hexagonal blocks, computer-generated swarms of bees, showing life and nature interwoven and in crisis. It's an impressive looking production, serving the subject, the music and the drama well, or as well as it is possible to do considering the limitations of what the arts can really be expected to contribute to the discussion.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Externa links: <a href="https://www.lamonnaiedemunt.be/fr/sections/388-streaming-gratuit" target="_blank">La Monnaie streaming</a>, <a href="https://www.lamonnaiedemunt.be/fr" target="_blank">La Monnaie</a>, <a href="https://operavision.eu/#" target="_blank">OperaVision</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-32069109998979621482023-10-07T14:39:00.002+01:002023-10-07T14:51:42.303+01:00Gounod - Faust (Dublin, 2023)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYop8choI-qNkUe58yWLgBQ-Q8NDwWqPjkvXF_jECxHB19jRmn1PArppdAbJbVJ4f_YD6CMFtgzbs3dYOZyZIVZ3WICkL07ijaB1j3xRmT0y7BgVnqc0SR-u5HJiG15dZRTIk3leNlDEQAZxGKWeF4dAYXYKazkgQkjy8f_TL1t3CB9A1AjzcAogij5M/s800/INO_lfaust-4_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="800" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYop8choI-qNkUe58yWLgBQ-Q8NDwWqPjkvXF_jECxHB19jRmn1PArppdAbJbVJ4f_YD6CMFtgzbs3dYOZyZIVZ3WICkL07ijaB1j3xRmT0y7BgVnqc0SR-u5HJiG15dZRTIk3leNlDEQAZxGKWeF4dAYXYKazkgQkjy8f_TL1t3CB9A1AjzcAogij5M/w400-h236/INO_lfaust-4_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><p><b>Charles Gounod - Faust</b></p></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Irish National Opera, 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Elaine Kelly, Jack Furness, Duke Kim, Nick Dunning, Nicholas Brownlee, Jennifer Davis, Gyula Nagy, Mark Nathan, Gemma Ní Bhriain, Colette McGahon</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Gaiety Theatre, Dublin - 1st October 2023</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Goethe's <i>Faust</i> brings up some essential and always relevant big questions about the nature of humanity and the meaning of life. The quest for knowledge, love versus lust, science versus religion, war and peace, forgiveness versus revenge, all are considered, as well as the consequences to our actions. Gounod's <i>Faust</i> takes up all these into his opera but seems to have little serious consideration or point to make about any of them and instead focusses almost exclusively on the tragic love story at the centre, and using the rest of the material as colour for some admittedly fantastic dramatic set pieces and thrilling music. That can be enough but it doesn't have to be, and an adventurous production can bring all these elements together into something more coherent and thoughtful. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Jack%20Furness">Jack Furness</a>'s production for the Irish National Opera at best pays lip-service to some of the bigger questions, but it is ultimately more successful in serving those set pieces with strong musical and singing performances.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_NBYXQp0nddjZO94uY2OUkOFUISvmOik0ADi3Yxwq4h0HF4028fQg0bYmb8C2s-p3MpJNcLzq0foYBrIep4wkRVvtQN32XvBCUrmJFpz1ILC9uo-_ivsVcQjouny7V7mg14k1WLjukKpAiuBjuqDS2wPiBUiO6SwWjZ5oznoximwogs6mh12GW6Bpaw/s2362/ino-faust09.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1575" data-original-width="2362" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_NBYXQp0nddjZO94uY2OUkOFUISvmOik0ADi3Yxwq4h0HF4028fQg0bYmb8C2s-p3MpJNcLzq0foYBrIep4wkRVvtQN32XvBCUrmJFpz1ILC9uo-_ivsVcQjouny7V7mg14k1WLjukKpAiuBjuqDS2wPiBUiO6SwWjZ5oznoximwogs6mh12GW6Bpaw/w400-h266/ino-faust09.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The INO <i>Faust</i> at least has a very distinctive look and feel and Furness succeeds in putting the drama across very much in its own way, with little of the obvious traditional period settings. It seems to be set against the beginning of the Great War in the costumes and period detail, but not strictly so, which is enough to give this plenty of mood and menace for the work of the devil to be unleashed. Right from the start it makes its mark, finding a unique way of presenting the tricky transformation scene of Faust from an old man - who nonetheless has a soaring tenor voice - into a younger man followed his renouncement of his studies and his soul along with it, and gives it all up to Mephistopheles in exchange for reliving a life filled with true possibilities. The tenor, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Duke%20Kim">Duke Kim</a>, appears as a younger shadow version of an actor playing the aged scientist (Nick Dunning), who is eventually freed from the shackles of his old age.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This works well enough without any real distraction, the older Faust reappearing only now and again as if to remind him of the fate that still awaits him. There is a similar adventurous approach to several of the other key scenes, the simple adaptable set designs moving into place to set mood and background more than serving strictly as literal locations. This allows things to similarly move fluidly with all the quality of a nightmarish flow of time and place, all under the control of Mephistopheles. Mainly there are three large chimneys that look like setting the scene of a dark industry of people working in factories. These turn into ovens that are used in the manufacture of armaments for the war that Valentin is off to fight in with his comrades, the largest one eventually revolving downward to present a huge cannon.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2CO0FE98TtCXyJ_j_FBTiEZiMsVaAE0hptK8YeG7x8NQhrsat7sZkmjKCWtZ4DN4guMTEgaqEkvZxk7CVYUkmMiMOFazWPBY7ZikJ_PssjEYHPQ8nqm6u9R-wRhWXFjuyCya6hfRsRACzQi1ixTXYd0zTa4nv7hnqdYqeFNPlSwahpvLr8xYl4FH3JfM/s2048/ino-faust07.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1285" data-original-width="2048" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2CO0FE98TtCXyJ_j_FBTiEZiMsVaAE0hptK8YeG7x8NQhrsat7sZkmjKCWtZ4DN4guMTEgaqEkvZxk7CVYUkmMiMOFazWPBY7ZikJ_PssjEYHPQ8nqm6u9R-wRhWXFjuyCya6hfRsRACzQi1ixTXYd0zTa4nv7hnqdYqeFNPlSwahpvLr8xYl4FH3JfM/w400-h251/ino-faust07.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The nature of war is a constant theme throughout, the evidence of Mephistopheles at large in the world or perhaps the misadventures of men of science having consequences far beyond the actions of one man, Faust. The contrasts and ambiguities of war are also reflected in the imagery, with a huge cross made of a rocket bomb and crossed rifles in the church scene where Marguerite is condemned, and there are retina-searing explosive incidents elsewhere. You can't deny that the production makes the necessary impact on such scenes, not least in the arrival of Mephistopheles rising up in a blinding red light from beneath the stage, but right through the Act II drinking song and waltz, the Jewel Song, the soldier's chorus, and the hallucinatory Walpurgis night scene. The production looks great and is particularly well-choreographed in those crowd and choral scenes.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But somehow, as a whole, it never seems to amount to a great deal, and ultimately Gounod's focus on Faust's chase, treatment and abandonment of Marguerite which makes up the bulk of the dramatic thread that ties up the work, overshadows any attempt to draw deeper meaning or resonance out of the subject. It doesn't have to be like that and many productions have striven to overcome the dramatic limitations of the opera (<a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2021/05/gounod-faust-vienna-2021.html">Frank Castorf, Vienna 2021</a> - being one of the most recent and extreme), but <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Jack%20Furness">Jack Furness</a> doesn't really push those ideas anywhere interesting. The focus appears to be just to ensure that full justice is done to Gounod's music and there at least there is much to enjoy in the performance at the opening performance at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS7c4NnnaAQrwBfLCtwDxkw9-BYH9Wbh4ID5pnfnYqAqzGJVeICZj12qOCl_iAGdrgn2ic_OQymuvGEieyFiaKNbR6EJAPUkVgtMk6Uak7H8z_OjsZMe6pMB4aLdjVx2yBiNY84pZ_nxOQOIacjsmQIOxKVIMwTNp2lCf6Bcp6U93mwHr14MjIfEtx2jk/s1482/ino-faust01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="744" data-original-width="1482" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS7c4NnnaAQrwBfLCtwDxkw9-BYH9Wbh4ID5pnfnYqAqzGJVeICZj12qOCl_iAGdrgn2ic_OQymuvGEieyFiaKNbR6EJAPUkVgtMk6Uak7H8z_OjsZMe6pMB4aLdjVx2yBiNY84pZ_nxOQOIacjsmQIOxKVIMwTNp2lCf6Bcp6U93mwHr14MjIfEtx2jk/w400-h201/ino-faust01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>The orchestra was very capably handled by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Elaine%20Kelly">Elaine Kelly</a>, capturing the melodic invention of Gounod's score and its dramatic setting. It was the singing however that really stood out here. Arguably, this is an opera made for showing off great singers and the performances here were simply outstanding. South Korean tenor <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Duke%20Kim">Duke Kim</a>'s Faust soared, delivering one of the best performances I've seen in the role, playing off a fine Mephistopheles from <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Nicholas%20Brownlee">Nicholas Brownlee</a> and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Jennifer%20Davis">Jennifer Davis</a>'s sympathetic Marguerite. Gyula Nagy was an impressive Valentin, delivering a terrific "<i>Ecoute-moi bien Marguerite</i>" dire warning to his sister. There were no weaknesses anywhere here, with <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Mark%20Nathan">Mark Nathan</a> as Wagner, <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Gemma%20N%C3%AD%20Bhriain">Gemma Ní Bhriain</a> as Siébel and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Colette%20McGahon">Colette McGahon</a> rounding out a great cast. You couldn't fail to entertain an audience with that, which - more than trying to draw anything deeper out of <i>Faust</i> - was clearly the intention and successfully achieved.</p></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsohfVW5UfdEybLi23F3DBLScjgHFxjy-tRBPvX7HgGmuLOV0pvqb6njFw1bvTCQaqy6RgsyJEjR6o8X25_LO1dFAHWDwAi7oVxhJ2B6x2YXYg1fva0hb-hMZpHtONAEjN2x3jzn8oAhFsW6jVQpbTxxZERD_gqh29_74Yl1d_MDagyHT9g_fbDcZc-MY/s1000/IMG_20231001_165041%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="749" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsohfVW5UfdEybLi23F3DBLScjgHFxjy-tRBPvX7HgGmuLOV0pvqb6njFw1bvTCQaqy6RgsyJEjR6o8X25_LO1dFAHWDwAi7oVxhJ2B6x2YXYg1fva0hb-hMZpHtONAEjN2x3jzn8oAhFsW6jVQpbTxxZERD_gqh29_74Yl1d_MDagyHT9g_fbDcZc-MY/w400-h300/IMG_20231001_165041%20(1).jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External Links: <a href="https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/">Irish National Opera</a></span></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8721380394854520189.post-46723598555553010032023-09-25T20:28:00.003+01:002023-09-25T20:32:07.354+01:00Saariaho - Innocence (Aix, 2021)<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrNkP99Bgl5krtDSylJQTEZu9AUgVGiFr5NOX4b1eRU-oANoF_FZ8yUsuezXKGyMa0yPQT-lW7mktKkwJftvEEzOu0Q3NpMSSYKYtHQTjKMivz3-9QFd9HRemW73MQLtE6A5_cdes3ei3HuNoeIs-lhbosq2axJ2c7vW-yV49WYX0u5PedbAl3QgFteA/s1485/innocence.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1485" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrNkP99Bgl5krtDSylJQTEZu9AUgVGiFr5NOX4b1eRU-oANoF_FZ8yUsuezXKGyMa0yPQT-lW7mktKkwJftvEEzOu0Q3NpMSSYKYtHQTjKMivz3-9QFd9HRemW73MQLtE6A5_cdes3ei3HuNoeIs-lhbosq2axJ2c7vW-yV49WYX0u5PedbAl3QgFteA/w400-h205/innocence.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br />Kaija Saariaho - Innocence</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, 2021</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Susanna Mälkki, Simon Stone, Magdalena Kožená, Sandrine Piau, Tuomas Pursio, Lilian Farahani, Markus Nykänen, Jukka Rasilainen, Lucy Shelton, Vilma Jää, Beate Mordal, Julie Hega, Simon Kluth,Camilo Delgado Díaz, Marina Dumont</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>ARTE Concert - 10th July 2021</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The loss of Kaija Saariaho in June 2023 came as a shock to those who recognised her as one of the most brilliant of contemporary composers. I saw her twice in person, once at the premiere of her opera <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2016/03/saariaho-only-sound-remains-dno-2016.html">Only the Sound Remains</a></i> in Amsterdam in 2016, where she was present in the foyer posing for press photos. It was a surprise however to walk into a coffee shop in Dundalk in Ireland in June 2019 and see her sitting there with her husband Jean-Baptiste Barrière. Even though I knew she was there as a guest for a performance of her works at the Louth Contemporary Music Society's annual two-day summer festival, and Dundalk has seen many famous modern composers appear in town, it still felt strange to see the composer of such sublime music in such an everyday place. I think I made a brief nod and smile of acknowledgement, unwilling to disturb her. The performance of Terra Memoria that evening by the Meta4 string quartet was extraordinary and thrilling.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I greatly admired her music, even though like most contemporary music, you had to search it out and rarely had the opportunity to have it brought to you. For various reasons I never found the time to watch the streaming of <i>Innocence</i> at the Aix-en-Provence festival in 2021 even though I had read good reports about it. Sadly, now that there won't be another, this final work will remain her last contribution to the world of lyric drama and, belatedly taking the opportunity to view it now, the work is even more poignant now, deeply moving and surely a masterpiece, a fine testament to the wondrous complexity of her musical range. The beauty and power of her music is fully evident here, the restless striving to push her music into new ground through the use of unconventional instruments like the kantele and exploring the range of the voice as an instrument.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSbPBBnKBuG6vrOPdSXLh1zgRFldjeANqNr2mA8I5Ld_IoVW6a4ctfRYglknS0axrX3ftbIZJn2CJbv3vYZIuLtIzYRMOODiFuPun4k-naIDW8Syz20K0Dfp1UZ4KAJe02pRyPaH9TEoH3daTuOkEMOf9CgAEbrLQ3gXxd60i3QULKn1WMXRVZNFzypQ/s1000/innocence01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoSbPBBnKBuG6vrOPdSXLh1zgRFldjeANqNr2mA8I5Ld_IoVW6a4ctfRYglknS0axrX3ftbIZJn2CJbv3vYZIuLtIzYRMOODiFuPun4k-naIDW8Syz20K0Dfp1UZ4KAJe02pRyPaH9TEoH3daTuOkEMOf9CgAEbrLQ3gXxd60i3QULKn1WMXRVZNFzypQ/w400-h266/innocence01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Innocence</i> is in almost complete contrast to her previous opera <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2016/03/saariaho-only-sound-remains-dno-2016.html">Only the Sound Remains</a></i>. It exudes menace and sorrow from the outset even as the drama opens on the day of a wedding that is a supposedly happy occasion for the bride, the groom and his family. But not everyone is happy, the celebrations tainted, almost overwhelmed by a greater emotion; the shock and horror of the caterer Tereza who has been asked to provide service at the last moment. To her horror, she has just come to the realisation that the eldest son of the family she is working for killed her daughter Markéta along with a number of other children in a gun rampage through a school ten years previously. As she relives the experience, the family are forced to confront the reality that this event cannot be erased or forgotten about.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Going into the opera without knowing what is to take place, there is nonetheless an evident rawness and complexity in the situation, one that is trying to bring together two contrasting events that do not sit well together. The music tries to encapsulate these conflicting sentiments, as well as find a way to suggest that something has taken place that is almost too deeply disturbing and horrific to depict or even speak out loud. It takes a while before the libretto make that realisation explicit, the present and past playing out at the same time, and when it comes it still feels painful, even if it remains too horrific to show with any kind of dramatic realism. And yet, through the music and the direction, it manages to truly get to the heart of the mixed emotions surrounding it in place and time.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESAYuUAyUvOmKRWmgEBXMWfJWReEK25d6Bxh-xSsXb1larqIo2F6Qf0ffOJuXc4alQ_XgyghAmbL9hSrWyYnucuI9Cz_UjCEFekxnx3KGQ0ZWDtNnlgH91D-_x4taM6GVbo3dOIzZjXS6S3qsyNDEmld9Q6_Zs4hbNhc6jr4EVttOCaZ34o-uVnUXuHU/s1000/innocence03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiESAYuUAyUvOmKRWmgEBXMWfJWReEK25d6Bxh-xSsXb1larqIo2F6Qf0ffOJuXc4alQ_XgyghAmbL9hSrWyYnucuI9Cz_UjCEFekxnx3KGQ0ZWDtNnlgH91D-_x4taM6GVbo3dOIzZjXS6S3qsyNDEmld9Q6_Zs4hbNhc6jr4EVttOCaZ34o-uVnUXuHU/w400-h266/innocence03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Simon%20Stone">Simon Stone</a> is a good director to bring out the complexity of undercurrents and contrasting viewpoints (see his extraordinary <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2021/08/wagner-tristan-und-isolde-aix-en.html">Tristan und Isolde</a></i>, also performed at Aix in 2021) and he finds a creative way of allowing it to work coherently, but it's Saariaho's music, conducted at the premiere by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Susanna%20M%C3%A4lkki">Susanna Mälkki</a>, that really brings it together. The score gets to the heart of the situation and sentiments without resorting to cinematic techniques or the conventional dramatic orchestration that you might expect, but rather with a delicacy and sensitivity of touch, the music plunging deeply into the interior world rather than the external drama.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That's quite a challenge. For a start there is a large cast of individual figures in Sofi Oksanen's original libretto, each of the children international students, speaking in a mix of languages, who each tell their own story while simultaneously living and reliving their experience. Some are now dead, others express fear blended with survivor guilt, constantly questioning how they reacted at the time, how they could possibly have helped. This plays out at the same time and alongside the parents of the killer feeling concern about bringing an innocent new bride into this family, mixed with guilt about their son's actions, questioning whether they are in some way to blame, whether they failed to notice the warning signs, whether they were complicit to one extent or another in what has happened.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRFhqcntQ36Fu0sNxyqEO72sAqiWsSj7XPRD0ANdqR057gslL0-b_jjU9Cn9K1tQTMtk_ewsymR9ysG8MDA8k4M0I9wTxG9OOgzorPgF_cFd6IQ3jPs3-3mc-EcLsPjpdFmK_R8HUpxutklFGpZI9YHQievKZrCsc7-x35Zs9RsgF6CP8_-pbV-CR-8Y/s1000/innocence02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRFhqcntQ36Fu0sNxyqEO72sAqiWsSj7XPRD0ANdqR057gslL0-b_jjU9Cn9K1tQTMtk_ewsymR9ysG8MDA8k4M0I9wTxG9OOgzorPgF_cFd6IQ3jPs3-3mc-EcLsPjpdFmK_R8HUpxutklFGpZI9YHQievKZrCsc7-x35Zs9RsgF6CP8_-pbV-CR-8Y/w400-h266/innocence02.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p>Then there is the challenge of exploring the act of the school shooting itself, trying to present a rounded account of the complex motivations that may have lain behind it; was it inspired by racism? was it a terrorist act? and the impossibility of even being able to fully explaining it. The stage shows commemorations taking place simultaneously with the bloodbath, the occasion contaminated by a sense of anger at the tragedy being used and exploited for political gain, with politicians making fake promises of changes to gun laws. The pain of some has value, the pain endured by others none at all, as one of the victims puts it, words and good intentions replacing any real action; nothing will be done, until the next shooting.</p></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The singing has its own complexity, in a multiplicity of languages, English, Finnish, French, Spanish and German are spoken, and even the singing voices have an uncommon range, from background choral voices used as an instrument, to spoken recitative and folk-inspired arrangements on the part of Markéta, the dead daughter of the catering server at the wedding party. The work also captures Saariaho's fascination for time, how it can be subjective, seeming to stretch out when one is bored and in other moments it can feel like time seems to stop. This feeds into how she composes the music for each overlaid and overlayered scene. Time has stopped for some, it is repeating for others, past and present coexist. The music ambitiously attempts to bring this all together, bringing together the experiences of many into the same period of time.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgr-s6-9zoVoJTaOeyjFUeqeJPT1inFsJbqSaCdBY9eN2JUTvk3m6QRgHC3z0KkJYhTXwBXToPvp0YBqxxu3lDySM329CPAJwD19HrliboIIdwRHyunqkGm33N6N3DU073DF29Vbk_nNePWoYcnMgCmMIN2V6qYWDym-SB0qMiKxBckkmMx7sshI5NU4/s1000/innocence03.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgr-s6-9zoVoJTaOeyjFUeqeJPT1inFsJbqSaCdBY9eN2JUTvk3m6QRgHC3z0KkJYhTXwBXToPvp0YBqxxu3lDySM329CPAJwD19HrliboIIdwRHyunqkGm33N6N3DU073DF29Vbk_nNePWoYcnMgCmMIN2V6qYWDym-SB0qMiKxBckkmMx7sshI5NU4/w400-h266/innocence03.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The opera is superbly directed by <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Simon%20Stone">Simon Stone</a> for the Aix festival. It's not just the concept of the rotating box of rooms and split levels that keep the continuity flowing and scenes overlapping, but much like how the same idea was applied to his <i><a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/2022/04/berg-wozzeck-vienna-2022.html">Wozzeck</a>,</i> the clarity with which the complexity of the story is allowed to unfold is impressive. The scene of the shooting is horrific enough without it requiring blazing guns, the testimonies from blood-splattered victims and survivors tells the story in its own horrific fashion, but the scene where Tereza confronts the family and the new bride with the deception they have been carrying out, pouring out all the pain she has had to live with is truly harrowing. Nothing however is as clear cut as we would like it to be when it comes to identifying who is a victim. The performances here from <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Sandrine%20Piau">Sandrine Piau</a> and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Magdalena%20Ko%C5%BEen%C3%A1">Magdalena Kožená</a> is this scene are extraordinary, but then they are both remarkable throughout. The filming for screen is also superb, the close-ups in this scene showing the intensity of the dramatic performances.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The singing is outstanding, Saariaho writing beautifully for the voice with singers clearly chosen as best for the roles and all of them outstanding. <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Markus%20Nyk%C3%A4nen">Markus Nykänen</a> as Tuomas, the Finnish groom, and <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Lilian%20Farahani">Lilian Farahani</a>, his Romanian bride Stela, both give notable performances of great emotion and intensity at the situation they find themselves in. Saariaho is not afraid to use spoken recitation when it is required for its own effect, for the direct expression of the students, rising into singing under the strain of the experience. Choral arrangements of chants and humming vocalisations underline the ambiguity of the unspoken and the inexplicable. The high pitch yelps of <a href="https://operajournal.blogspot.com/search/label/Vilma%20J%C3%A4%C3%A4">Vilma Jää</a>'s Finnish folk singing for the dead Markéta takes getting used to but have their part to play also and work effectively for the dramatic purposes of the opera. Combined, it makes <i>Innocence</i> an almost overwhelming experience, for all it takes in, for all it expresses, for it being a work of unparalleled ambition and genius. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">External links: </span><a href="https://festival-aix.com/en/program/opera/innocence" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">Festival d'Aix-en-Provence</a></p>Noel Megaheyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10175675779658952011noreply@blogger.com