Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Così fan tutte
Royal Opera House, 2016
Semyon
Bychkov, Jan Philipp Gloger, Corinne Winters, Angela Brower, Daniel
Behle, Alessio Arduini, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Sabina Puértolas
Opus Arte - Blu-ray
Purely
in terms of the musical and singing performances, the Royal Opera
House's 2016 production of Così fan tutte is reasonably good, if not
quite exciting or revelatory. Semyon Bychkov conducts an elegant
account of the work, but it doesn't particularly fizz with those
energised moments of Mozartian brilliance. The singing performances are
fresh, bright and vibrant, but don't seem to be able to carry the
weightier considerations that are in the opera either. Jan Philipp Gloger's direction has an interesting concept that actually sets out to
bridge that gap rather well, providing plenty of visual interest in the
sets and situations, but somehow it still never quite coheres the way
you might like it.
Making Don Alfonso a theatre director
does take the work into a meta-theatrical direction, the opera even
opening with the director and the cast of his latest work taking their
bows at the start of this performance during the overture. The idea is
not just to be clever, but to consider the meaning of Mozart and
Da Ponte's opera in the context of art and artifice. It's not
real-life, it's an opera. That doesn't mean that it doesn't have a
serious point to make, but it can do it through music, theatre and,
although it might seem like a contradiction, and is less commonly seen
these days in this opera, it can be serious through comedy. As a
theatre director then, Don Alfonso uses a number of theatrical
situations to put love to the test and illustrate his point about
fidelity and constancy to the two unrealistically idealistic young
couples.
The Royal Opera House production tries to
address the issues of love and fidelity in the opera in a lighter and
more playful fashion without having to resort to that darker view of
male and female relationships and middle-class ideals that you will find
in some other productions (Michael Haneke and Christophe Honoré). It's true that some of the
ideas expressed in the opera might be considered rather out of step
with modern attitudes towards gender politics and political correctness,
but Mozart and Da Ponte's comedy is actually just as challenging of
prevailing attitudes. One need only look at their other two
collaborations to realise that the same principles are applied to Così
fan tutte. The theatricality and forced romanticism of the situations
in Gloger's production highlight the fact that Mozart and Da Ponte are
satirising such attitudes, regarding the notion of constancy and
fidelity as nothing more than an artificial bourgeois construct that
prevents us from following the true dictates of the human heart.
And
it's true. Don Alfonso and his rather more practical minded
co-conspirator from the serving classes Despina are actually correct.
Not so much in the idea that it's women who are inconstant (it's taken
for granted that men are fickle), but rather what Così fan tutte shows
us is that anyone can fall in love, the human heart can be easily swayed
and circumstances (or fate if you like) all have a part to play. It's
not about fidelity, it's about human nature, and when it comes to
exploring the wonder and the mysterious ways of the human heart, there's
no-one like Mozart for showing its infinite variety and capacity for
love. It might not always work out how we might like it, but in
contrast to the cynicism that you can find in some modern productions,
Mozart's music actually shows us that rather than leading to
disillusionment, he considers this to be something wonderful and
something to be celebrated.
Gloger's production then
captures both the artifice of romantic ideals where we don disguises and
play roles, but in each of the theatrical settings it also shows the
wonderful variety of circumstances in which love can work its magic and
catch us unawares, breaking down any preconceived ideals. It's a
production that is perfectly in tune with the playfulness of the idea
and the execution of the original, matching its cleverness, its richness
of mood and character. Mozart and Da Ponte tell us to keep an open
mind, and the same thing can be applied to this production. Every time
you come to a Mozart opera, you can experience and discover something
new about this wonderful work, and this one actually extends on some of
its themes rather brilliantly, if you have an open mind and no
preconceptions.
In execution however, it somehow doesn't
quite come together the way it should. It's perhaps the difficulty of
maintaining all those levels and trying to provide something for
everyone; trying to retain some amount of the familiar with a few new
ideas to challenge them. It's also down to the nature of the work
itself, which demands young, fresh singers, but expects them to have the
experience to maintain those various levels of superficiality and
sophistication. Corinne Winters, Angela Brower, Daniel Behle and Alessio Arduini however give engaging individual performances of equal
weight that permits them to interact well as a team. Sabina Puértolas is a lively irreverent Despina, and Johannes Martin Kränzle perfect as a
generous rather than a cynical Don Alfonso.
The
disconnect however appears to be more in the musical performance. Semyon Bychkov keeps the tone deceptively light, and it's this tone that
dominates without either connecting meaningfully or contrasting with
what is going on up on the stage. While Gloger's sets carry the sense of
game play and role play, each of the 'actors' playing their allotted
roles, it all feels a little detached and doesn't find a way to carry
through to the ambiguous feelings that linger with the revelations made
at a very confused resolution. There's an effort made to end on a
wistful note, but you never get the sense that there is anything serious
at stake here and no one really gets hurt. The ambiguity about Così
however is what keeps it fresh and keeps you thinking, and this
production does give you plenty to think about.
The
Blu-ray presentation of the production also gives it a new lease of
life, particularly in the High Resolution audio mixes of the musical
performance. The extras on the BD are scant, but the introduction
covers the all you need to know about the director's intentions for the
concept, the characters and the nature of the work itself.
Links: Royal Opera House YouTube
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Così fan tutte
Royal Opera House, 2016
Semyon Bychkov, Jan Philipp Gloger, Corinne Winters, Angela Brower, Daniel Behle, Alessio Arduini, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Sabina Puértolas
Cinema Season Live - 17 October 2016
Così fan tutte has never quite been treated with the same love and affection that is given to Mozart's other two collaborations with Lorenzo da Ponte, Le Nozze di Figaro or Don Giovanni. Perhaps it's because Così fan tutte is more overtly a comedy, but there are comic elements in all three operas. Perhaps the same weight of insight into human feelings and behaviour just isn't there or just gets lost amidst the farce, but that depends very much on the choices made in direction. In recent years for example, Michael Haneke and Christophe Honoré - both filmmakers - have explored the very dark side of human behaviour in Così fan tutte to a largely successful degree.
Perhaps all Haneke and Honoré really did with Così fan tutte was find a way to connect the audience to an emotional reality within the opera that the comic side doesn't achieve quite so well, but that raises the question about whether or not this betrays the true intent of the work. Like Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni all sides of human behaviour are explored, and there are also dark and disturbing aspects that are there to be drawn upon in Così fan tutte. The answer would seen to lie in achieving a human balance between the comedy and the darkness and, if nothing else, this search to reveal the true worth of Mozart in Così fan tutte means that the work is always a fascinating challenge.
Jan Philipp Gloger's production for the Royal Opera House takes the challenge head-on by recognising that, perhaps even more than the other two Mozart/Da Ponte collaborations, art and artifice are at the heart of Così fan tutte and part of its very nature. Even if it's entirely in the spirit of the work, placing the emphasis on the artifice in the opera with an openly theatrical presentation is however a risky gamble as it tends to place even more distance between the situation and the truth behind it. The real test of whether the work can reveal its deeper human predicament lies more with the performers here, but despite truly great performances from an impressive young cast, the production does seem to work against them.
By using and emphasising theatrical devices as the basis for the production, Jan Philipp Gloger adheres to the comic principles that are at the heart of the work, and the means by which Mozart and Da Ponte make their case. The subtitle of Così fan tutte - A School for Lovers - tells you of this intent. The plot of the opera, like the opera itself, relies on the artifice of art to get its message across. Art is a means of arriving at a truth about inner sentiments that outside 'realism' might not be capable of reaching. Just as Mozart's music is a means of expressing those feelings in relation to love and fidelity in Così fan tutte, so too the use of theatre has the power to invent situations that put those feelings to the test.
The lesson that Don Alfonso has to impart to his students Ferrando and Guglielmo is not just that all women are by nature inconstant and unfaithful in their love, but rather that love is not some romantic ideal that we can choose to bend to our will. The heart has no master. The meaning and intent of this lesson is a serious one, but presenting it as a comedy does pose some problems that often tend to overshadow the truth of the work. Rather than play it straight with the two men donning stupid disguises as moustachioed Albanians that would fool no-one, there has to be some sort of complicity in going along with the game on the part of both men and their partners, Fiordiligi and Dorabella. It has to be seen as a role-play on some level that delivers the truth.
Gloger's idea of having Don Alfonso as a theatre director then has considerable merit, not least for the conceit of the two men dressing up and behaving out of character as they try and woo their respective fiancées into being unfaithful. As the theatrical sets and situations are levered into place, it is however clearly a high-level concept and not one could bear any realistic scrutiny. Suspension of disbelief is necessary, but at some level surely we must all realise when we go to the theatre or the opera that we are never watching realism on the stage, but just people acting. But acting for a good reason, which is to get to a deeper truth, and, let's not forget, to entertain. This production entertains and impresses and it even gets the all-important human message across through its art, but it does still feel a little too artificial.
It's through no fault of the singing or the musical performance. On every level this is an outstanding performance. While the characters are by no means interchangeable (other than for the necessities of the plot evidently), I often find that it's harder work to distinguish or perhaps care enough to consider what are the defining characteristics of the four main characters. They might not be as multifaceted and complex individuals as those in The Marriage of Figaro, but they can still have depth and personality. Genuine attention to the music and the arias show that this is the case and if it doesn't come across it not as much an issue with Mozart and Da Ponte's depiction but more likely with the direction or the singer's ability to bring something to their role. There is no issue at all with the singers here in the Royal Opera House production, but perhaps the direction doesn't do enough to highlight the contrasts and differences.
As far as singing and characterisation go the performances however are outstanding. Corinne Winters, Angela Brower, Daniel Behle and Alessio Arduini are just delightful as the confused lovers, each of them bearing equal weight, each of them meeting the challenges of the work, all of them bringing considerable youthful personality and sympathy to the roles in their individual arias, in their duets and ensembles. It's marvellous to see such a team interacting, working with each other in a way that illustrates all the points of the music and the drama. Sabina Puértolas too is one of the best Despinas I have seen, her singing performance impressive, bringing a lively fun personality and a sense of pleasure at mixing things up on the stage. The wonderfully versatile Johannes Martin Kränzle is comparatively rather restrained as Don Alfonso, but dressed in period costume as the 'director' (as Lorenzo da Ponte?), it was hard to really grasp his real nature here.
Musically too, there's a good performance here from the orchestra under Semyon Bychkov that keeps the tone deceptively light, but it's this tone that dominates without either connecting meaningfully or contrasting with what is going on up on the stage. While Gloger's sets carry the sense of game play and role play, each of the 'actors' playing their allotted roles, it all feels a little detached and doesn't find a way to carry through to the ambiguous feelings that linger with the revelations made at a very confused resolution. There's an effort made to end on a wistful note, but you never get the sense that there is anything serious at stake here and no one really gets hurt, which, for all the criticisms you could make about it, is not something you could say about Christophe Honoré's devastating conclusion in his production for Aix-en-Provence and Edinburgh.
Links: Royal Opera House
Richard Wagner - Der fliegende Holländer
Bayreuther Festspiele, 2013
Christian Thielemann, Jan Philipp Gloger, Franz-Josef Selig, Ricarda Merbeth, Tomislav Mužek, Christa Mayer, Benjamin Bruns, Samuel Youn
Opus Arte - Blu-ray
You never know quite what to expect from a new Bayreuth production other than the certainty that it won't be a "traditional" staging of a Wagner opera. Jan Philipp Gloger's concept for the 2012 production of Der Fliegende Holländer for example, is initially difficult to figure out, but there are a few things that stand in its favour that suggest that it at least holds true to the spirit and intention of the work. One is its adherence to the dramatic and mythological strengths of the work, the other is the quality of the performance itself, conducted by Christian Thielemann and sung well by a strong cast.
Taking it in terms of each of the three acts - although this performance uses the "joined-up" version of Der Fliegende Holländer without breaks or intermission - it's not immediately obvious what the setting or the intention is from the first act, and there's not much that appears consistent in the tone or the concept in the acts that follow either. Act I seems to suggest a futuristic setting, a data or information sea rather than a traditional water one. Dark walls are lined with connections, components and cables like a motherboard, lighting-up with the flashes of the storm, one that seems to derive directly from the ominous and unnoticed approach of the cyborg Dutchman's phantom ship.
It may be dark and menacing, but the tone is inconsistent, the Steersman and Daland like a comedy double-act or at least showing some degree of levity in their actions and gestures. Conceptually, it doesn't seem to hold together, but arguably Wagner's technique doesn't hold together either in this earliest through-composed work which breaks into Donizetti melodies and Lortzing-influenced operetta duets. Act II seems similarly schizophrenic, the female chorus not a group of wives-a-weaving but workers in a factory packing fans into boxes. Among this group of sweetly singing industrious ladies, Senta comes across as a bit of an odd-ball - dark, gloomy and not a little deranged, crafting an abstract sculpture of the mythical Dutchman out of spare bits of wood, black tar and packing.
If you're a bit lost as to what is going on here you can at least enjoy the outstanding musical and singing performances, but things do start to fall into place in Act III (although it might help if you refer to the director's notes on the production in the accompanying booklet). Broadly speaking it's not that far removed from Martin Kušej's interpretation for the De Nederlandse in terms of how the subject of Der Fliegende Holländer is viewed as a question of love versus commerce. The incompatibility and conflict between love and business is indeed a subject that plagued Wagner most of his life, so there's merit in this view, but whether it can be brought out meaningfully depends very much whether it also adheres to other important aspects of the composer's life and philosophy, particularly around this time.
According to Jan Philipp Gloger, the Dutchman's curse is to be ever in search of new markets and increasing his profits. Weary of the pace of modern life and cold practicality of business, he needs to find some peace and get back in touch with real human feelings. This is a credible reading of the work, but it needs to also take into consideration Wagner's belief in the romantic and ennobling power of myth, its importance enriching and expanding the horizons of the individual and its collective purpose as something that defines a nation and its people. Golger's production actually does this, converting Senta into a makeshift angel, her actions inspiring her co-workers to recognise her human sacrifice in a commemorative object d'art.
That sounds belittling of Wagner's mythology, but it actually brings it back to human terms without losing any of the grandeur of the work. That's all there in the music - to which careful and respectful attention is paid here - and in the singing performances. Christian Thielemann's conducting of the Bayreuth orchestra might perhaps be a little unadventurous, but it's perfectly attuned to the dramatic performance and the singing. Unshowy, it's sensitive to the intricacies of the score, muscular where required, light and lyrical in other places with a true romantic sweep and dramatic drive. It's wonderful to hear, but even more impressive in how it connects with all the points of the dramatic staging.
The efforts of director and conductor could still all fall apart if the production didn't also have sympathetic singing performances and, fortunately, the singing here is very strong in all the roles. Ricarda Merbeth in particular is outstanding as Senta. It's is a difficult role, not just for the singing requirements, but in how one chooses to define and balance Senta's dreamy, deranged and romantic nature. Merbeth not only meets all the technical requirements, she delivers it with ringing lyricism that captures the magical as well as the all too human nature of her character. She's at her best in the critical Act II scene with the Dutchman which has to make this unlikely couple seem credible and she and Samuel Youn do indeed 'click' and work together wonderfully.
You can't fault the casting in the other roles here either, with Franz-Josef Selig a solid Daland and Benjamin Bruns a bright, golden-voiced Steersman. The choral work - a vital element of Der Fliegende Holländer - is also outstanding, the male choruses purposeful and driven, the female chorus delicate and lyrical. The production design for this 2013 recording incidentally seems to have been reworked slightly from it 2012 presentation from what I can see from production photographs. Senta is dressed in black throughout here rather than red, the blood red imagery replaced elsewhere with black tar-like drips. The model sailing ship is gone in Senta's ballad, replaced with her obsessing over the abstract sculpture she has created.
On Blu-ray, the 2013 Bayreuther Festspiele production of Der Fliegende Holländer looks tremendous, even with all the dark backgrounds and high contrast lighting. The audio tracks are both strong, the DTS Master HD-Audio 5.1 giving a good surround ambience while the PCM track is more focussed and direct. Extras consist of short interviews with Benjamin Bruns, chorus master Eberhard Friedrich, director Jan Philipp Gloger and a slightly longer entertaining interview with Christian Thielemann being amiably(?) spiky and contrary, clearly knowing his own mind with respects to Wagner and this work. The disc is region-free, subtitles are in English, French, German and Korean.
