Giuseppe Verdi - Otello
Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich - 2018
Kirill
Petrenko, Amélie Niermeyer, Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros, Gerald
Finley, Rachael Wilson, Evan Leroy Johnson, Galeano Salas, Bálint Szabó,
Milan Siljanov, Markus Suihkonen
Staatsoper.TV - 2 December 2018
While
the dramatic qualities of Shakespeare's original play undoubtedly have a
lot to do with the development of the nature and the emotional dynamic
of the interaction between its characters, Verdi's Otello is the closest
the composer would come to dramatic and musical perfection, the opera
bringing its own charge and emphasis. There's little that a director
can add to this and perhaps the best they can do is try to harness its
power or bring a different emphasis without upsetting the balance. Some
might seek to justify Jago/Iago's actions - and indeed Verdi's
librettist Arrigo Boito invents a whole 'Credo' for him - but Amélie
Niermeyer feels that a little more consideration of Desdemona's
perspective can bring other elements out of the work. It's a balance
that she meets well in her 2018 Munich production, but the real success
of the production rests more on the performance of the three exceptional
leads.
The opening scene of Otello, for example, is one
of Verdi's greatest achievements, the conjuring up of a storm that sets
the tone for what follows. Niermeyer of course retains the imagery of
the storm as it applies to the narrative, an important introduction to
the arrival of the Moor back in Venice, but the director also
appropriates the storm as an emotional one by having Desdemona already
in place in the scene, indicating that it's her perspective that is
going to be considered. There's also a kind of doubling up however, a
mirroring in Christian Schmidt's set designs, Desdemona in a white room in her innocence while the dark
reality of the world to come without her lies outside.
That's
the theory anyway, the 'concept', with the stage also turning a quarter
turn each act to gradually reveal the totality. In practice it's not a
major imposition and scarcely discernible but Desdemonda's presence is
certainly felt more, and the injustice of Jago's plotting and Otello's
jealous suspicions consequently come across more effectively. The
actual mechanics of the plotting are not neglected either, the presence
of the handkerchief as a device, how it changes hands and how it is used
against Desdemona, is also emphasised. It even takes on a metaphorical
aspect when highlighted this way; as an object of desire, as a symbol
of love, of how the purity of that love is mistreated and turned against
her, and as such it also has that dual function of innocence and
destructiveness.
In its division of darkness versus
light, dreams versus reality (as it applies to Desdemona) and reality
versus nightmare (as it applies to Otello), the concept is uncomplicated
and on a fairly high-level. It is used just to provide a context for
the drama to take place within, or rather it describes the
emotional context - as it applies to Desdemona mainly - rather than
illustrating the dramatic action. Rather more effort is given to
directing the singers as actors and knowing how to use talent like Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros and Gerald Finley.
When you've
got a singer and actress as skilled as Anja Harteros you want to make
the most of it, particularly when she is paired with Jonas Kaufmann, as
she has been successfully on a number of occasions. Bringing her
Desdemona onto the stage earlier than usual, even just as a silent
witness, Harteros is a phenomenal presence. She remains the centre
around which the work revolves (and apparently the set too, although I
didn't really notice it). She brings an intense emotional realism that
is on a par with the dramatic and musical drive of the opera.
Otello
also needs to be up to that level or perhaps even beyond it and Jonas Kaufmann is equally as strong a performer in terms of characterisation,
interpretation and technique. Yes, he still tends to deliver
everything at the top of his voice, but in this case with the nature of
the ultra-sensitive Otello and with Verdi's writing of it, it's
justified. One possible weakness of the opera version of the work is
that we don't perhaps see enough of the tenderness of Otello's love for
Desdemona that becomes so twisted, but it is there and Kaufmann also
expressed the softer sentiments well, sentiments that are necessarily
strong enough to be turned to such horrific ends.
So all
you need then is a Jago convincing, capable and callous enough to really
stir it up between Harteros's pure Desdemona and Kaufmann's conflicted
Otello; do that and you're on fire. The Bayerische Staatsoper have
Gerald Finley as Jago, another strong presence more than capable of
holding his own against Harteros and Kaufmann. There's no histrionics
here, his is not a malevolent force as much as a determined belief in his
superiority, boosted by a measure of self-satisfaction and self-regard.
It's this kind of detail that makes all the difference, that makes the
characterisation convincing, that makes it capable of pushing it to
those places that Verdi takes it in his score.
I love
watching Kirill Petrenko conduct. Honestly, if this was just a concert
performance without the staging and the camera was fixed on Petrenko
directing the orchestra, it would be just as dramatically effective.
Petrenko enthusiastically throws himself into the opera with complete belief in it, becomes the drama, lives the
music, and when he does that inevitably the music lives too. And it's
incredible music. You can certainly get jaded with Verdi, with La
Traviata and even Rigoletto, but not when you hear Verdi in his mature
late period played as well as this. Technically daring in its
arrangements, arias, duets, ensembles and choruses all put to the
service of the emotional drama and colour of every single scene, Verdi's
Otello is every bit as powerful as Shakespeare's Othello can and should
be.
Links: Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper.TV
Gioachino Rossini - Semiramide
Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich - 2017
Michele Mariotti, David Alden, Joyce DiDonato, Alex Esposito, Daniela Barcellona, Lawrence Brownlee, Elsa Benoit, Galeano Salas, Igor Tsarkov, Simone Alberghini
Staatsoper TV Live - 26 February 2017
It seems to me that the Bavarian State Opera have been much more successful in striking a balance between fidelity to the original intentions of an opera and a more modernised approach to presentation, where in the past they might have been a bit more radical and hit-and-miss. The production of Rossini's lengthy opera seria Semiramide with its setting in antiquity was however always going to be a good testing ground to see if the high standard set so far this season could be maintained. Happily, David Alden's production is perfectly pitched, and with an outstanding cast of Rossinian singers, this was an impressive account of a challenging work.
Challenging certainly as far as singing is concerned (with Joyce DiDonato playing the Assyrian Queen, you would feel that this critical element at least is well catered for), but challenging also in as far as striking a balance between the political machinations of Ancient Assyria and the traditional overheated romantic complications that are tied up in it. The director can't just indiscriminately impose a nice balanced viewpoint either - as directors might have done at this Munich opera house in the past - but needs to take into consideration the nature of Rossini's musical treatment, which does tend to exert a strong force and intent of its own.
So what does Rossini set out to achieve in Semiramide? Well, it's an opera seria written in 1823, the composer's last work in Italy before he moved to Paris, taking his work to a new level that would effectively influence the structure and tone of Italian opera for rest of the century. Semiramide can then be seen as the last of an older style of opera not that far removed from those of the 18th century, a style of opera fast growing out of fashion even then. It's as if Gluck's opera reforms had never happened, and as far as Italian opera is concerned the new rules never really applied, as the Rossini style would provide a direction for the opera seria form to morph into the even more extravagant style of bel canto.
What can already be seen in Semiramide however is Rossini's own method of expanding the set subjects of the older form into something involving far more dramatic expression. Instead of arias we have more confrontational duets, and the chorus is not there to comment on the situation but becomes the voice of the people involved and implicated in the dramatic events. Rossini's musical underscoring only intensifies the emotional charge and conductor Michele Mariotti brings all those familiar techniques out wonderfully with the Bayerisches Staatsorchester. The racing rhythms are already in place, the melodies, the pizzicato plucked strings building into marching rhythms that speeding up into winding wild spins and crashing crescendos. It's not as sophisticated as Rossini's later work for Paris, but it's still highly effective.
The drama in Semiramide however remains a challenge, even with such music to probe the underlying dramatic tensions and conflict. Like most opera seria, the subject is not so much a political power struggle as a romantic melodrama with family complications. To sum the long opera up in a few lines, the Queen Semiramide is expected to hand power over to her consort Assur, the general who helped her murder her husband, the ruler King Nino. Semiramide however stuns everyone by announcing that she will marry the war hero Arsace, not realising that Arsace is actually her missing son, Ninia, nor - in true opera seria tradition - caring about the romantic complications this might cause for others. The turn of events force King Nino's ghost to rise from the grave to demand vengeance from Arsace who, when he discovers his true identity, knows who is the villain he must kill.
With a ghost scene, a mad scene (Assur furious to the point of derangement at Semiramide's rejection), religious intoning and dramatic revelations accompanied by peals of thunder, Rossini certainly ups the stakes of the opera seria, pointing the way towards not only bel canto but grand opera. David Alden's production captures perfectly this sense of something old given a new twist. Paul Steinberg's sets of elegant rooms with adjustable walls and large family portraits, convey a sense of shifting arrangements within a rich, corrupt family. That's the dominant tone, but there is room for the grand gestures that come out in Rossini's music, with a large statue of King Nino towering over several scenes in a display of power, and pictures moving and coming to life during the more melodramatic revelation scenes.
With the emphasis on home and family, what comes across more effectively in Semiramide is the underlying sense of love being a more important factor than power. Those who aspire to power without knowing true love end up the worse for their ambitions, eaten up with frustrations, their families torn apart by their desire for revenge. It's family as society as well then, and the chorus likewise have a large part to play in the drama as the citizens witnessing the upheaval that is taking place within the royal family. As far as Semiramide is concerned, it does soften how she is portrayed since there is love there for Arsace, which even though it is misplaced is transformed in an almost redemptive fashion when she becomes aware of his true identity.
Like any good director then, Alden's job is to be true to the story and the personalities as Rossini might have intended, respecting the work for the time it was written, but still making it appealing to a modern audience. Alden acknowledges the history and the location with a few nods in the costumes, but sets it more within what he describes as a combination of North Korea and modern Middle East. There's no need for historical reconstruction here; it's an opera. What matters more is that everything is geared towards drawing out the themes by whatever means necessary and giving the appropriate space for the music and the singers to elaborate upon those distinctive elements that Rossini specifically brings to the opera medium.
Which brings us to Joyce DiDonato. Now there's a singer who is more than capable of doing justice to Rossini's terrific writing for the voice for the role of Semiramide, Queen of Assyria. And it's not just her singing ability and the quality of the voice, which should already be very well-known. What is just as important is that there is 'presence' there too, the essential star quality that is necessary to carry a role like this and do justice to the vocal challenges and to the complexity that it reveals within the character. She assumes the role of the Queen brilliantly, looking every inch the diva, carrying the extravagances of the drama with complete authority and conviction. Without this kind of interpretation the opera would be a much lesser work in performance. Fortunately, it really doesn't get much better than this.
It's an excellent cast all round however, many of them experienced Rossinians. Alex Esposito sings comfortably within the bass role of Assur, but he still has a tendency to overplay the eye-rolling villain. It feels more like he is performing than really inhabiting the role. Assur admittedly isn't as nuanced a character as Semiramide and does go full-blown crazy, but Rossini's music makes this plain enough without additional emphasis being required. Daniela Barcellona is superb as Arsace, another challenging role that really needs a contralto voice and it's the kind of trouser role that Barcellona specialises in. Rossini generously gives lovely pieces to all the leads, which gives Lawrence Brownlee the opportunity to shine as Idreno. Elsa Benoit also makes a good impression staggering around as a confused Azema, but even Galeano Salas's Mitrane and Simone Alberghini's Oroe have their moments and take them well. The chorus work too is just tremendous, and the Bayerische Staatsoper just continue to go from strength to strength.
Links: Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper.TV
