Still catching up - Bavarian State Opera "South Pole" and Opera Platform's "Manon Lescaut"

South Pole – Bavarian State Opera – Miroslav Snrka and Tom Holloway

What a curious subject for an opera, but what a terrific opera it is! Running at around two hours this performance was spell-binding!  chronicling the race to the South Pole by two teams: a British team lead by Robert Falcon Scott and a Norwegian team lead by Roald Amundson.  Ultimately Amundson arrived at the Pole first and Scott and his team died on his return trip. This is a matter of the historical record.  The opera captures the competition by placing the two teams opposite each other on the either side of the stage.  The cast is led by Thomas Hampson (Amundson) and Rolando Villazón (Scott).  They were both excellent, they both gave incredible performances both vocally and in their characterizations. Their supporting casts were also excellent. Amundson in particular seemed to have to deal with a fair amount of conflict and insubordination, this was captured and performed very well by the supporting cast.  On the other side, the death of the British team was heart-wrenching as they died one by one.  Rounding out the cast were Tara Erraught and Mojca Eerdman as the wives of Scott and Amundson.  These were fantasy conversations but did break up the intense winter trek and I felt was very effective.  The music is by Miroslav Snrka and the Bavarian State Opera website describes his compositional process some and it is pretty fascinating.  I have to say I did not pick up most of what is described, nevertheless I felt that the score was terrific.  Very powerful and moving. Finally the orchestra was terrific and hats off to the Berlin Philharmonic’s new conductor in waiting: Kirill Petrenko!

Sunday at the Opera – Latvian National Opera – Manon Lescaut – Opera Platform

http://www.theoperaplatform.eu/en/opera/puccini-manon-lescaut

Manon Lescaut is, in my view, a troubled opera.  The music is gorgeous and this is the primary reason it is performed I think, but the plot is troubled.  For example, there is a major cut in the action between the first two acts.  In the book there is a lot that happens between the meeting of Manon and Des Grieux in Amiens and when they find each other again after their torrid affair, his kidnapping by his father, his starting his work as a seminary student and so on.  The original story really is filled with narrative between Puccini’s acts 1 and 2 and even Massenet’s version includes much of what is cut – enough at least to make the narrative make sense. But not in Puccini! The two lovers run off, Geronte is mad but is assured by Lescaut that his sister will soon tire of the poor student.  Then the curtain goes up on act 2 and Manon is ensconced with Geronte.

I suppose it was this major break in the plot that led the director of this Latvian National Opera production to make Des Grieux in a priest in act 1.  It is the only reason I can think of because this device worked so incredibly poorly that it was the only rational explanation for such a completely illogical twist.  So, now in this production act 1 (still in Amiens) is a wedding.  Edmondo is the groom, and the bride is a super. The assembly is the wedding reception. The entire opera begins with Father Des Grieux blessing the couple in his role as the priest.  Everyone is a wedding guest. Of course this makes no sense.  No one seems to like Geronte so why would he have been invited in the first place and besides he seems to have a thing for the bride too.  One very interesting aspect of it all is that the bride is played as deaf and she communicates with everyone using sign language.  It is she who overhears Geronte’s plans to abduct Manon and then with sign language she tells Edmondo who then spills the beans to Des Grieux.  But wait.  Des Grieux is a priest.  He is supposed to be celibate.  All the banter about finding a girlfriend and finding love is wholly and completely inappropriate and out of place.  Even his behavior at this party is completely out of line for a priest – and this is now moved into the 20^th century BTW.  Manon is some kind of friend of the bride.  Which again is a disconnect as Manon is supposed to be around 16 and the bride here was about 10 years older.  In short, the entire first act made no sense to me.

The rest of the opera also made no sense.  There was no boat in act 3 and I really have no idea where they were in act 4.  Act 2 is set in Geronte’s palace, but so many of the usual elements were missing that it just all didn’t make any sense at all.  I felt that on the whole the production is really, really poor.  I have no problem with updating and even reimagined Regie productions.  But there has to be some kind of inner logic.  It can’t be so far removed that the libretto and the stage action are completely at cross purposes.  This might need to happen occasionally but the best Regietheater productions are the ones where it is kept to a minimum and even completely reimagined the libretto and staging fit together, to some degree.  This was decidedly not the case with this production.

It is too bad that the production is so troubled as Asmik Grigorian again is magnificent.  She is fully engaged and invested in the production and in her role, and she signs like an angel.  I find her completely captivating and she is probably the reason I stayed with this performance until the end.  Her last act aria was gorgeous, despite the weirdness of the staging.  I liked the tenor Sergei Poliakov, and he was an effective actor.  Baritone Janis Apeinis was terrific as Lescaut but the Geronte was not up to the level of the rest of the cast and was quite a disappointment.

But Asmik again stole the show.  Her performances of Violetta and Tatiana, also on Opera Platform, are her best work.  For all of her vocal glory, the production is not worth watching.  Check her out in Onegin, and I hope we see her in the USA soon.

Catch up – a couple weeks of opera…

     It has been a couple weeks but I have still been able to view several great productions during this time.  I will make some brief remarks about several of the performances I have watched.

ROH – Boris Godunov – This production I got to see on the big screen in St. Louis.  It starred Bryn Terfel as Boris and was conducted by Tony Pappano.  I am not that familiar with Boris.  I have seen it several times and I have enjoyed it.  But it is usually long and rather epic.  As a result it has never felt like it hung together well.  The individual scenes are terrific, but the transitions seemed troubled – to me – and I am no expert.  However, this production at the Royal Opera House used Mussorgsky’s original version that reduced the opera to a 2+ hour piece in 7 scenes.  It was much more concise and for me it was a completely different experience.  No longer was this an epic story of Mother Russia, but rather a work that focused on the rise and fall of one troubled man.  It felt to me much more Shakespearean – reminding me of the great tragic character of Macbeth as the guilt and pressures of his position started to destroy this monarch.  Terfel was simply terrific.  I have always liked him but he is often better in some things than in others.  But as Boris in this version and this production he is simply outstanding.  I was riveted by his performance.  And the supporting cast was also equally outstanding.  Leading this group is the magnificent John Tomlinson as the Old Monk.  (Digression: A while ago I found a YouTube video of “Siegfried” that starred Tomlinson as the Wanderer.  And this performance for me was the most outstanding performance of that role I have ever experienced – which is saying something as I have seen James Morris live and consider him to be among the best Wotan’s ever.  But nothing compares with the opening of act 3 in the ROH production which Tomlinson’s Wotan found himself spinning on a world that he could no longer control.  I can’t even describe it.  It was simply amazing.)  But I digress – in this Boris, Tomlinson’s Old Monk was gorgeously sung and deftly acted.  It was a powerful performance.  He is easily one of my all time favorite artists.

     Then there is the rest of the cast – whose names flipped by way too fast for me to take down.  But they were excellent.  From the young tenor with a beautiful voice as the Young Dmitri, to a terrific character tenor giving us a magnificently slimy Shuisky, to the drunk Monk in the bar who simply stole the scene from everyone else during the tavern scene, to the terrifying fool whose condemnation of Boris pushes him over the edge.  And then there is the outstanding chorus and orchestra.  I would buy this DVD – it is a terrific performance of a terrific production.

ROH – Lucia di Lammermoor – This production has received quite a lot of press.  In fact the ROH sent a warning to all ticket holders warning them that this production by Katie Mitchell would probably earn an X rating for violence if it were a film.  And after having seen it I absolutely concur.  This production does not shy away from the extreme violence of the original story.  On one hand this is actually refreshing.  It was nice to see a Lucia that accepted and presented the violence of the story which too often is only hinted at. On the other hand, the violence was excessive to the point where I felt Mitchell crossed the line.  I found myself (especially in the last scene) wondering if all that gore was really necessary and in a couple cases I really don’t think it was.

     So, to understand this production one first needs to understand that the stage is split into two different locations – we open up with the outside garden on one side and a sitting room on the other; then Lucia’s bedroom and a bathroom; then Lucia’s bedroom and the men’s smoking room, etc.  And there is continuous action in both sections of the set.  For example, as poor Lucia is being forced to sign the marriage contract in the smoking room surrounded by all the men (how brilliantly intimidating), at the same time in Lucia’s bedroom Edgardo is climbing through the window ready to crash the party.  It mostly worked very well, though at times it was almost too much action and was distracting from the music.  And in the filmed version, of course, we can only watch what the film director chooses to film.  So this entire experience is probably quite different live in the house.

     But for most of the opera I thought it worked well.  It was engaging and certainly interesting.  But there are moments which pushed the boundary and at the top of my list is the very last scene that I felt simply did not work.  First of all, it was the only time where I felt that the action on the stage did not fit with the libretto.  (Spoiler alert) – The men enter and tell Edgardo that Lucia is dead, except here in the this production she isn’t dead because she is in the bathroom in the process of committing suicide by slitting her wrists in the bathtub. The drawn out suicides of first Lucia and then Edgardo were simply too excessively violent for me.  I just had had enough of all the blood by the end of the mad scene and it just got worse.  Really, is all that much blood necessary?  The other scene that at least came close to crossing the line was the Wolf’s Glen scene, which I normally really like, but the music and singing were almost rendered irrelevant as it took Lucia and her maid Alisa the entire scene to dispatch Arturo – he did not die easily.

     And that brings up some other stuff.  What is with the bondage play?  Whose idea was that – did Lucia suggest to Arturo that “wouldn’t it be fun if you let me tie you up on our wedding night – after the big confrontation with Edgardo?”  I mean really?  And then the murder takes so long and it is drawn out.  And would a poor ladies maid really be willing to risk being hung in order to participate in the murder like she did here?  Ok, so she is loyal, but really, how far does loyalty go?  I didn’t even feel that I understood the reason for the murder.  In this production Lucia is in such full control of her senses that the murder of Arturo seemed ridiculously illogical and it is pre-mediated and it is violent. The usual approach is that Lucia looses her mind sometime during the consummation and manages to kill Arturo all by herself (which also, frankly, seems a bit far-fetched – unless he was so drunk he fell asleep – well, it is opera, one should not over-think these things I suppose.) Still, it seemed a bit just too excessive.

     Nevertheless, I found the production rather riveting. At times, I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t help myself.  Part of the idea was to present a slightly older and more empowered Lucia.  And in this I feel that Mitchell only succeeded in part.  The pre-meditation of the murder of Arturo undermined this for me.  I also didn’t really get the doppelganger ghost for Lucia.  I understood the mother’s ghost but not the other one.  She didn’t make any sense to me, especially since Mitchell downplayed the “madness” and was trying to present a more empowered Lucia, so then what’s up with the ghosts?  On the other hand, I did like the depiction of the Rev. Raimondo very much.  I find in many productions that he is almost insufferable and he is such a lousy minister.  Here he seems a little more lost and struggling to react appropriately, which I preferred to the usual Raimondo as accomplice or dupe for Enrico.  I also really appreciated that he was not dressed as a Catholic priest, and that he did not do any Catholic gestures. The fact is that Raimondo is a Presbyterian so Catholicizing him is inappropriate.  But it seems like a lot of director don’t understand that.

     Rachel Lloyd was absolutely stunning as Alisa.  She has little sing (but sang it all beautifully) but she was on stage a lot and had a lot to do.  She was terrific, even if I feel that Alisa’s participation in the murder was a step too far to be believable.  I really liked the Normano also.  And I liked the way Mitchell used him throughout the opera, even when his singing part was technically over.

     The other principals were outstanding.  Diana Damrau’s performance as Lucia was a tour de force; a truly amazing performance in every way.  Her mad scene was probably the best I have ever heard.  Such control and delicacy!  And her interaction with the glass harmonica was simply stunning. The Edgardo of Charles Castronovo was also outstanding.  His was perhaps the most unsympathetic Edgardo I can remember seeing.  One had the sense that he wasn’t that much of an improvement over Lucia’s miserable brother.  This Edgardo was self-absorbed and had a cruel streak.  The Enrico of Ludovic Tezier was also very well sung.  I feel as though there was something missing in his acting though, but maybe Mitchell had him tone down the usual “villain” approach to the role.

    This review has wandered a bit.  In short, I really liked the production, but feel that it still needs work.  And there is just too much gratuitous violence and blood. 

Vienna – Ballo – This Ballo is perhaps one of the most traditional productions of this opera I have ever seen.  The sets and costumes were sumptuous.  The cast did little to no acting – stand and sing was the order of the day, especially for the chorus.  I found it all rather tedious as a spectacle. I did however enjoy the singers, especially Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Renato and Piotr Bezcala as Riccardo.  I also liked the Amelia quite a lot as well.  But maybe at this point with all the productions I have seen I am just finding these traditional productions to be boring.  This one certainly was.

Paris – Iolanta/Nutcracker – These two works by Tchaikovsky were premiered together originally and so Paris has paired them again and the production is directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov. Now I know Nutcracker very, very well, as I have played in the orchestra for many performances.  Iolanta I know not nearly as well having only seen it once before in the HD broadcast with Anna Netrebko and Beczala from the Met a year ago or so.  Still I was struck with the musical similarities of the respective scores.  They really do work well together, though it makes for a long evening.  The production of Iolanta was really nice.  It was a kind production.  In other words, Iolanta is treated kindly by everyone in the cast (even if her dad is a bit to protective.)  I mention this only because in the Met production there was a meanness that characterized how some of the cast related to Iolanta.  I liked this production better, frankly.

     Nutcracker began immediately upon the conclusion of the opera – and I mean immediately.  In fact the music of the overture was used for quasi-curtain calls and applause for the singers who were replaced by their dancing doubles.  And we begin in the same location with the same characters as the opera. And from there we fall into a series of fantasies, some of which are rather terrifying.  I found it all rather engaging, but at the end of the day, I just did not understand what Nutcracker was supposed to be about. It just seemed to drift far afield.  Now, I don’t mind that there was little resemblance to the original story or even that act 2 had a number of surprising cuts.  But I just never could figure out where we were and what we were experiencing.  Still the performances were excellent.  Sonja Yoncheva as Iolanta was gorgeous in every way, especially vocally.  The King Rene was also outstanding.  In fact all of the cast was very strong.  And the dancing principals were wonderful – especially the Iolanta double (Clara?) – who actually ends up with much more stage time than the singing Iolanta.

     It was really a fascinating production and I am glad I saw it.  It would be worth watching again to see if I could pick up more hints about what the director was trying to say.

Midweek Opera - Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots" - Australia Opera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Og7nQtWag

     I have for some time now wanted to enter into the world of Giacomo Meyerbeer.  I have heard selections from his operas here and there, and there is an excerpt from "Les Prophets" which appears in the 1st Gekeler Oboe Method book and which I have heard students play for years.  But until now have never sat through an entire Meyerbeer opera.  And so the opportunity has come since I recently happened on a YouTube recording of "Les Huguenots" from Australia Opera.  And this is no run of the mill performance though.  This was Dame Joan Sutherland's final farewell performance at Australia Opera, so it is an important event in opera history.  She plays the Queen of Navarre who is not a major character and who disappears from the opera after act 3.  But even so she has some very spectacular singing and Dame Joan turns in a wonderful performance.  As always, her husband, Richard Bonynge conducts.

     I found the entire (long) opera to be a mixed experience.  A lot of it was the production and the singing.  Aside from Dame Joan and the tenor, the rest of the cast were mixed.  A couple I think were included because they had some connection or friendship with Dame Joan and her husband even though they were way past their prime.  The chorus and orchestra are however terrific.  But the other reason for my mixed reaction is the production itself.  This production is traditional.  Very traditional! Excessively traditional! And I found it completely tedious.  Maybe I am not so used to such traditional productions anymore, but I can see why this kind of traditional staging is no longer popular.  I would actually love to see this opera staged by a creative current director who could get at the core of the meaning of the opera and minimize all the distracting fluff.

     But of course the fluff is a part of the opera.  This is yet another problem with this opera: the libretto is tiresome.  I realize that in the mid-19th century there had to be a love plot.  But this love plot is so irrational and tedious that I found it at times unbearable.  At the heart of this opera is the horrific massacre of the Huguenots - 300 French protestants murdered by Royalist Catholics in the 16th century - a  religious crime against humanity!  And a theme that is unfortunately timely as our world continues to see crimes of this kind perpetuated in the name of God by several different groups of religious fanatics - including Christians!  This is the heart of this opera and this is what needs to be emphasized.  Perhaps it is impossible to redeem this opera, but a production that could focus on that would be worth seeing.  But, IMHO, the love plot needs to be cut drastically.  For example: the scene at the end of act 4 - Valentine (the Catholic daughter of the leader of the Catholics) and her beloved Raoul (a Huguenot) have just overheard the plot and then Valentine spends the entire rest of the scene preventing and imploring Raoul to not do anything to save his fellow Huguenots.  Her selfishness and lack of compassion I found hard to stomach.  Right, it's an opera.  But it is not a great opera and that scene needs to be cut or reduced. Also, the confusion about her relationship with the Count of Nevers which leads to all of the conflict is also rather tedious.  Of course we don't turn to opera to learn history, but really, the massacre does not have roots in a confused love triangle.  And in a way it kind of trivializes this crime against humanity.

     For me, I guess the fact that our world is wracked with such horrible violence, and much of it religious violence, makes me less tolerant of the tedious shortcomings of this libretto. Certainly other operas do the same thing, but this one seems particularly bad and besides, as I said above, it is not a great opera musically, so I was rarely swept along through the difficult scenes by the music. Certainly there is some great music in this opera, but they are moments or short sections or scenes rather than entire acts.  Raoul's aria in act 1, accompanied only by a viola (viol d'amore in the original) is one of the highlights of the opera.  Also the conspiracy scene and the blessing of the swords in act 4 is a terrific scene.  I also liked the music for the massacre scene.  The Queen's Page has a great aria (accompanied by horns) and there is a terrific extended bass clarinet solo.  But out of an opera that is 3 and a half hours long that doesn't amount to much.  Still I think this opera might have a life if it is edited and refocused.  Maybe...

     I am not done with Meyerbeer, yet.  I would like to watch "Les Prophetes" next.  And then maybe a couple of the others which have been revived lately - "Robert le Diable" and "L'Africaine."  But they are long, so it may take me a while.  This is worth watching for Dame Joan and to ponder the issues of religious violence.  In closing: The Count de Saint Bris tells his men that they are compelled to this act of violence because it is ordained and approved by God.  Too many use the same argument down through history and into our own times.  And they are all wrong.  They have misunderstood and projected their own hate and fear upon God and the result will be, as it is for Saint Bris in the end of the opera, a complete loss of everything that is beautiful, and indeed a loss of one's humanity!

Sunday at the Opera - Vienna's "Parsifal" - Opera Platform

     Parsifal is an opera that I have grown to love over the years.  The music is amazingly and achingly beautiful.  The plot is complex and a bit odd.  One the one hand it utilizes so much Christian symbolism that you might think it is Wagner returning to his Christian roots, but no.  There is little, in my view, that reflects orthodox Christianity in this libretto.  The Good Friday liturgies in acts 1 and 3 are frankly unrecognizable to any of us who actually celebrate the Triduum.  To look at this as a Christian work one would have to see the Pelagianism which is embedded in the libretto. But Parsifal does not reflect or derive from Christian theology, it is more reflective of Buddhism I think.  I am no expert on Buddhism, but I have deep respect for the faith. What I know is that at the heart of Buddhism is the journey towards self-awareness and completeness.  A part of this journey is self-denial.  All of this is embedded in Parsifal.  When seen in this light I think it makes more sense, and I experience it as a much more profound reflection of the struggle of life's journey.
   
     Another problem with this opera is that for reasons I do not completely understand stage directors within the last 30 years or so always want to emphasize the broken down and even apocalyptic dimension (which I think is not there actually - there is nothing apocalyptic about this opera!)  My very first Parsifal was at Lyric Opera in Chicago over 10 years ago.  It was sung beautifully, but the setting was depressing.  It was the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.  It was very tiresome. Within such a setting even the Buddhist themes are subverted. I absolutely loved the new Met production and I found the Berlin production to be also outstanding, though it focused on some other things as well. This Vienna production I think is somewhere in the middle.  It is not awful, but it is not great.  It is however perplexing. One wonders exactly what this stage director is trying to convey.  And it is a mixed bag.  I found act 2, for example, very effective.  Act 3 was ok, but not all that great.  And act 1 was totally confusing.  For example, exactly what is the point of making all of the residents of Montsalvat into members of a fencing club?  I just did not understand why everyone was dressed for fencing, had the swords and practiced their fencing throughout act 1.  And then it is dropped for acts 2 and 3.  And was that a human sacrifice with the shirtless boy?  Why?  And if not, what was it all about with the boy and the knife? And why is Montsalvat so run down?  Is it really necessary?  In general the production is just bland and nonsensical.  It is not worth watching for the production, frankly - IMHO.

     But the singing is another story.  This Vienna Parsifal is beautifully sung and (mostly) beautifully played.  Violeta Urmana is stunning as Kundry, one of the best I have ever experienced.  And Michael Volle sings Amfortas with such beauty and phrasing that it brought tears to my eyes at time. Stephen Gould is a good Parsifal and Falk Struckmann does a nice job as Gurnemanz, though he doesn't really have the gravitas in his voice that I have come to expect in this role.  Still he is a fine singer and musician and a good actor. Boaz Daniel also does an excellent job as Klingsor and brings a vocal beauty to this role that is sometimes missing.  He is also quite the dapper Kingsor!  The orchestra was mostly good.  As usual the Vienna Philharmonic is a mixed bag.  Interspersed with moments of great beauty, like the act 1 prelude and the Good Friday Spell music (beautiful oboe solo) we then had to put up with the usual false attacks in the winds and kacks from the horns.  One expects better of this orchestra.

     If you are anxious to see a variety of different Parsifal's it is worth watching and musically it is over all very fine.  The production however leaves much to be desired.

http://www.theoperaplatform.eu/en/opera/wagner-parsifal

My 3 Opera weekend at the Met!

     I don't get to go to the Met very often since I live in Southern Illinois. It is therefore rather expensive and difficult to get to NYC, even though Lincoln Center is my favorite place on earth. But I made the pilgrimage and binged on Met opera this past weekend. Friday: Roberto Devereaux; Saturday afternoon: Simon Boccanegra; Saturday evening: Madame Butterfly! The last one was a spur of the moment decision as I had not originally planned to see that, but as I found myself free on Saturday evening I thought, well, why not!

     Many folks complain about so-called "modern productions" even though all productions being performed would be modern productions. I have alway had a difficult time understanding the complaint. As an art form opera needs new ideas and a steady flow of re-imaginings. Otherwise it becomes a museum piece and it will die. Of the 3 productions I saw the middle one: SB was the most conservative with opulent period sets and costumes. The Butterfly was a magical production utilizing elements of Japanese theater and the RD was seemingly very traditional yet with an interesting concept of the play within the play. Politics and personal relationships all intertwining and playing out on a public stage where it is all watched and observed by many who hang around. I loved each and every one of these productions.
     Vocally I got to experience some of my favorite singers: Sondra Radvanovsky who I adore; Mariusz Kwiecien who withdrew from the Don Giovanni I had hoped to experience in Chicago; Elina Garanca and Matthew Polenzani; the Great Placido Domingo and Furuccio Furlanetto; Joseph Calleja; Krisina Oppolais; Dwayne Croft, Maria Zifchak and Tony Stevenson. The amazing Met chorus and orchestra. (Beautiful playing from the winds as always BTW) And then James Levine conducting SB! It was fantastic. All the singing was terrific, IMHO. Musically each opera was very strong and the acting was top notch. I found SB to be the most powerful and moving of the 3 operas. Not sure why I wasn't more moved for Butterfly.
     In many ways I think the HD broadcast of Butterfly was more engaging. Seeing the whole stage enabled us to see everything that was going on at once. And at times this was wonderful. But at other times I think this opera is so personal and there is so much interaction of the cast that the close ups were able to bring out details that I simply was too far away to see in the house. I will say however the mirror worked a lot better in the house. The mirror did not read in HD for me but in the house the choreography utilized this reflection and was very effective and moving, the scene with the birds for example.
Much has been said about Domingo's ability to pull of these baritone roles and much had been said by me. I have always been a major fan of his, but he really is not a baritone and the voice is just not right for these baritone roles - I really didn't like his Di Luna and Don Carlos (in Ernani) or papa Germont. And even in SB there are times where his tenor is just not the right voice. However, seeing it live was quite different from listening alone. Domingo was Simone! His command of the stage, his acting and his entire inhabiting of the role was quite remarkable. It was a riveting performance. And when you add Furuccio Furlanetto and Calleja and the rest of the terrific cast it was a remarkable performance and experience. When the curtain rises on the council chamber scene with Domingo sitting on the throne regally costumed surrounded by the council it was a stunning image. And then when the chorus begins the insurrection.... Well, it doesn't get any better than that!
      I have no complaints about RD. I loved every minute. The cast, led by Sondra, was terrific. I personally loved the production. This is not history! The plot of this opera is so far removed from the actual historical events that led to the execution of Essex that there is no correlation at all. (Love and jealousy were not factors! Essex's idiotic and poorly planned and executed insurrection was what led to his execution. E1 was actually pretty magnanimous considering how many others she pardoned!) So it's not historical, so remember that and just take it on its own terms. I loved Sondra as Elizabeth. I do not find her voice harsh, but she has power and she commands the stage, as she needs to in this role! I am looking forward to seeing it in HD this coming weekend.
     I probably will not have the opportunity to go to the Met 3 times in a weekend again for a long time. It was a wonderful weekend and I truly loved every moment! And on top of it I got to meet some wonderful folks for our Met Opera in HD Fans page. This was a wonderful extra. It was great to meet all of you who were in the house and it was great to meet and chat with Will Berger for a little while. All in all a great time.

Sunday at the Opera - Easter Sunday - "Magic Flute" from La Fenice

     "The Magic Flute" is on the one hand a beautiful and complex opera both in terms of its plot and certainly in terms of its music. The music is glorious, no question.  But the plot, well, as fanciful and fun as it is in parts, on the whole is rather complex and can be confusing.  I have posted about some of these issues below.  Perhaps the most perplexing part of the plot is all of the Masonic symbolism, which is interesting, but gets a little lost on 21st century audiences.  At the same time at it's core it is a coming of age story.  Tamino and Pamina both go through a journey into adulthood and responsibility as do Papageno and Pamina, perhaps a little less successfully.  And Sarastro and the QofN have to deal with the issues of letting go.  These basic issues mean that Flute is ripe material for alternative imaginings of the plot - also known as Regietheater.  Some folks reject Regietheater out of hand, but I think that is a mistake.  Certainly some productions don't work, but this can be true of traditional productions as well.  This La Fenice "Flute" is a Regietheater re-imagining, but in my view it is very, very well done and thoughtfully conceived.  Directed by Damiano Michieletto this production is set within the context of a school and focuses on issues of coming of age, pursuit of knowledge and wisdom and letting go.  All of these themes are in the libretto, it is just that they are handled differently than Michieletto, which I think is fine actually.  I found the production very engaging and rather fascinating.  Part of this was the outstanding cast.  Across the board the entire cast was excellent: Tamino - Antonio Poli / Pamina - Ekaterina Sadovnikova / Papageno - Alex Esposito / Sarastro - Goran Juric / Queen of the Night - Olga Pudova / Papagena - Caterina di Tonno / Speaker - Michael Leibundgut / First lady Cristina Baggio / Second lady: Rosa Bove / Third lady Silvia Regazzo / Monostatos Marcello Nardis.  
     Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the production are the journeys the various characters take.  There is much that is very untraditional, but very interesting nonetheless.  For example Monostatos is also a student who is struggling to find himself and his journey is so much different than the traditional approach, and where he ends up is so much more positive.  The Queen of the Night obviously has issues with trying to hold on to the childhood of her daughter and just can't let her go.  But eventually she also transforms.  And the same can be said for all the principal characters.
     Of course, in any Regietheater production one of the problems is that the libretto itself doesn't always cooperate and one must just ignore certain details.  Isis and Osiris, for example, didn't really fit and there were plenty of other little details that one had to just get past - there was no water or stone for Papageno's birds, and he really didn't have more than a token bird.  But frankly it just didn't matter to me.  The overall concept was so strong I felt that I had no problem getting past many of these details.
     Musically it was very strong.  Conductor Antonello Manacorda was able to elicit quite a lot of energy from the cast and orchestra.  In fact, his tempi at times were just about to the edge as terms of being fast.  But the cast kept up with him.  It was an exciting musical performance and a thought provoking and well done production.  Enjoy!

http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/festivals/teatro-la-fenice/la-flute-enchantee-de-mozart-teatro-la-fenice-de-venise-213091

Sunday at the Opera - Un Ballo in Maschera - Bavarian State Opera

     The Bavarian State Opera live streamed their production of Ballo last Friday and then they archived it for a week.  I am so glad they made it available for a time to watch when it is convenient. The experience though was a bit of a mixed bad.  First of all, the singing was excellent - Piotr Beczala as Riccardo and Anja Harteros as Amelia were outstanding - I especially loved Amelia's 3rd act aria with the cello - beautifully sung and played. I also liked George Petean as Renato. I was not as excited by the Oscar of Sofia Fomina, not sure why, there was just something missing. I did like Sam and Tom and the chorus was good. The tempi over all seemed slow and the whole score seemed to drift a bit for lack of energy. But perhaps that might have been on purpose to go with the rather drifting production. Frankly I found the production rather perplexing and in the end unsuccsessful. It seemed to be a concept in search of an opera - and Ballo just didn't work for it. I did like the intro - setting up Riccardo as reckless seems to me to be right on, but then it floated away: why was there a bed in every scene?  If it was Riccardo's bed why was Renato and his child sleeping in it?  What was the point of the puppet? Why all the guns and why, for an opera entitled "A Masked Ball" were there no masks to be seen anywhere. I don't mind when directors try to reimagine a work and I have seen some that work incredibly well (the Theater an der Wien 2015 Dutchman for example is one of the best I have ever seen) but this just made no sense to me, there was no inner logic and it kept contradicting itself. Often in these inds of reimagininations the libretto can often undermine the concept, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot.  For this production it was the latter - what we saw on the stage was so far removed from the libretto that it made no sense. Frankly I was kind of glad when it was over for between the weird production and the slow tempi I had checked out of this production at the beginning of the last act. I do have to say that Verdi filled this opera with some wonderful music, but this production leaves much to be desired. I much prefer the current Met production much better. Watch it for the beautiful singing, but hopefully this cast can use their talents in a better production of this opera. Not recommended I'm afraid.

The stream is available only for a week:
http://www.operlive.de/

Opera Platform - Die Walküre from Opera Platform

http://www.theoperaplatform.eu/en/opera/wagner-valkyrie

     

     Opera Platform has made available a 2014 performance of the production of Die Walküre from The Dutch National Opera - the cast includes: Christopher Ventris as Siegmund, Catherine Nagelstad as Sieglinde, Kurt Rydl as Hunding, Thomas Johannes Mayer as Wotan, Doris Soffel as Fricka and Catherine Foster as Brünnhilde.  The production featured a stage that wrapped around the orchestra in an arch.  There were a couple other parts to it but it is a rather simple design, but this stage does all number of things and the concept works well.  Additionally there are few props, the constuming is fairly traditional and effective - especially Wotan's gown which he reveals in the last scene!  The lighting is also effective. The Netherlands Philharmonic is conducted by Haertmut Haenchen.  The production is directed by Pierre Audi.

     I have to say this is actually the second time I have seen this very performance.  I actually have watched a 4 Ring operas in this production before, though it has been a while ago.  On the whole I found Walküre effective and well done.  The singing on the whole is very good - Siegmund, Sieglinde, Wotan, Fricka and Brunnhilde are all excellent.  Hats off the Brünnhilde for totally nailing her entrance "hi-yo-to-hos" - not easy, but Catherine Foster is terrific.  Doris Soffel was very effective as Fricka and I liked Thomas Mayer as Wotan.  His was a troubled and distraught Wotan, which he conveyed effectively.  The twins were also excellent.  Kurt Rydl cut a powerful figure on stage as Hunding, but vocally I felt he was not up to the rest of the cast.  For me the most moving part of this production was the last scene in act 2 - Brunnhilde and Siegfried all the way through the battle.  This section was beautifully sung and powerfully acted.  I found it very moving.  I should have felt the same about Wotan's farewell but there were distractions - not the singer's fault mind you.  

    (Spoiler alert) So act 3 begins with the fire on the mountain - ??? - ok.  Not sure why, but ok.  The stage blazes for the orchestral intro and then the fire disappears in time for the girls to come in and do their thing.  The Valkures are very effective - all good singers and I personally enjoyed the choreography of their motions.  I thought it was effective and painted a picture of these servants of Wotan who have no will or identity of their own - only Brunnhilde is not in sync, of course - she has broken with that life at the end of act 2.  So we go all the way through act 3 and I am expecting some cool fire.  But no - no fire.  We had fire at the beginning, but no fire at the end!  What is up with that? Just some red light?  Was it fire code, safety - all good reasons.  But the fire at the beginning of the act was misplaced and the lack of fire at the end of the act 3 was a major disappointment for me.

     The other thing about this production which I did not like is the way they depict Wotan's spear.  He does not carry a spear - it is a part of the set, and it appears at his behest (effective when he puts an end to Hunding, though I will say).  Ok, so I am old fashioned in this - but I want Wotan to carry a spear.  The spear is important - it is an extension of himself - it is the basis of his power - and it is the basis of his struggles and misery.

     Those are two quibbles about a production that otherwise is really excellent.  It is musically excellent and it is well worth watching.  And not only that but there are English subtitles, which are nice.  I recommend this great production on Opera Platform's site.

Sunday at the Opera - Jenufa

     My opera for today is a 2005 production of Jenufa from the Gran Teatre Liceu.  This production stars Nina Stemme and Eva Marton. I watched it on YouTube (link below). There are times when a performance or production is so outstanding that it completely overwhelms you.  Such is the case with this production and performance.  Eva Marton gives a stunning and incredible performance as Kostelnicka and she is matched by an equally outstanding performance by Nina Stemme in the title role.  The remainder of the cast and chorus are also excellent.  Jorma Silvasti as Laca and Par Lindskog Stárek as Števa were also terrific.  I found the production very interesting and moving. Each setting had a rock or rocks as focal points and the meaning of this became apparent in reading the English subtitles.  This was perhaps the most out of place in act 2, but this is the act where this symbolism became the most profound.

     In many ways this is a disturbing opera.  It is not just the infanticide (we have that in Il Trovatore after all).  It is the atmosphere of this village which is some brilliant depicted in the orchestration right at the beginning of the opera.  The repeated patterns in the xylophone set up this sense of oppressive atmosphere and throughout the act it comes in and out of the orchestration.  And the atmosphere in this village is toxic.  Rooted in religious oppression fear and judgment are the present realities for all the residents, especially the women.  In a moment of weakness Jenufa has given herself to Steva and the consequences for this are grave indeed.  There is no forgiveness available to her and she is rejected and dishonored, especially by Steva who is desperate to get away from her. This fear, judgment and oppression are what finally drive Kostelnicka to her desperate act.  It is a horrible act, but it is done in love, in a desperate attempt to give Jenufa her life back in this harsh environment.  This is what religious oppression looks like.  This is the world that the so-called "Evangelical Christian Right" would create for us all.  It is a miserable world and it is neither Evangelical nor Christian.  But (spoiler alert) there is a ray of hope and of light that shines into this dark and miserable environment and it comes in the form of forgiveness.  Jenufa forgives - Jenufa shows a grace and love that is uncommon and it has an amazing effect.  This is the antidote for the fear, the judgment and the hate = it is love!  That is what the Christian Gospel is all about.  It is amazing to me that so many who claim to be followers of Christ seem to completely miss this.  They need to watch this opera and take its climax to heart.

     One thing I love to watch for is how the cast interacts with each other during the curtain calls and this cast is amazingly affectionate with each other.  It was very touching to see Nina Stemme hug Eva Marton and for Marton to gently kiss her on her head - both with tears in their eyes.  In fact they were both crying real tears in act 2 - how can they sing?  This is an amazing performance!  Watch it!

https://youtu.be/DFbRCiChA1g

Sunday at the Opera - Winter Opera Co presents "Il Trovatore"

     Sometimes opera can be fun!  And yesterday the production of "Il Trovatore" was fun.  The 3+ hours went by quickly as Winter Opera's outstanding production and performance of this "warhorse" opera proceeded.  It was fun, because - first of all - musically it was very well sung and performed.  The orchestra was good, the chorus was good and all of the principals were great.  It was fun because (as usual) the sets and lighting were spectacular (I continue to be amazed at the outstanding work of set designer Scott Loebl and lighting designer Sean Savoie - they do so much with what I can only assume is a tight budget).  It was fun because the stage director did not try to apologize for the melodramatic and rather convoluted plot but took it seriously and presented it seriously.  There was no - "yes I know this is crazy, but it's opera, so just bear with us" here.  Every single member of the company I felt was totally invested in telling this story - from the leading principals who fully inhabited their roles to the chorus and even the smaller roles - like Ruiz - running panic-stricken offstage to gather the forces to rescue Azucena like he was really going to rescue Azucena!  Did I notice little things - yes, there were a few coordination issues between pit and stage, and yes there were a few cuts.  But they didn't matter at all.  This was a terrific afternoon at the opera.  And to top it all off it looked to me like they had a very large audience.  Great!  Congratulations!  Gina Galati and all of the folks at Winter Opera deserve a huge congratulations on what they have accomplished. Bravi tutti!

     Just a couple notes about the cast.  The stand out for me was Claudia Chapa as Azucena, which is probably my favorite character in this opera anyway.  I felt that Claudia really was outstanding in every way.  She had the low register and the high notes when needed.  Her acting was great and she was appropriately creepy and mysterious.  Her "son" Manrico was played by Jorge Pita Carreras and I really enjoyed his performance too.  He infused Manrico with a little of that Di Luna arrogance. Sometimes Manrico is played like nice guy Cavaradossi, but that I think is wrong.  Manrico has di Luna blood, he should not be so different in temperament from the Count and this tenor got it just right!  His "di quella pira" was excellent.  True he left out the interjections during the chorus "allarmi" section, but so do every other tenor, except Pavarotti.  But, this is the first time in a while that have actually heard the tenor sing both syllables of "ala........rmi" on the high C at the end.  Even at the Met (where there is no excuse for this I think) the tenors have taken to singing "allahhhhhh". So bravo for singing the word the way it should be.  This is the 3rd time I have seen Neil Nelson, the bass baritone who performed as the Count di Luna.  So far it has been Leporello, Hagen(!) and now the Count.  Certainly an interesting collection of characters.  And all of them were well performed. Nelson has remarkable stage presence and he can be truly menacing on stage.  Vocally he has a wonderfully rich bass-baritone which suited Leporello and Hagen very well.  At times I felt he was on the edge in terms of range for di Luna.  But he never wavered and really sang the role beautifully. The final singer was Maria Kanyova as Leonora and again she sang beautifully and truly inhabited the role. At times she seemed to struggle a bit with support in the softer sections, but her act 4 string of aria, ensemble, duet was very well done indeed.  The Miserere, BTW, was a high point for me.  I have to mention Clark Sturdevant who has a very beautiful voice and did a terrific job with the rather small and unsatisfying role of Ruiz and Antoine Hodge was excellent as Ferrando and managed that difficult opening scene with complete control.

     Was there some kind of amplification going on? There seemed to be an issue with a speaker at the beginning of act 2.  It was perplexing.  But luckily it was over quick.

     So again, Bravi tutti!  Yesterday was a great day at the opera.  I am anxious to hear what next year's schedule will include.  Well done Winter Opera!

Sunday Night at the Opera - Evgeny Onegin - Opera Platform

     Opera Platform is offering a performance of Eugene Onegin from the Komische Oper Berlin. This is an overall very good production and performance. The production by Barrie Kosky itself was fairly traditional, the setting for Acts 1 and 2 being a lush green outdoor setting, a meadow on the edge of a forest. This setting was effective for a lot of these scenes, but not for all.  Tatiana's letter scene was a stretch for me. I couldn't quite understand how a teenage girl would be allowed to simply wander around outside in the middle of the night (her grandmother knows she is there).  The canning of raspberry jam was a nice touch, but it was a device that got a little old after a while.  The other problem with the letter scene is that Tatiana had no paper, so she had to resort to tearing pages out of her book and writing on those pages.  This powerful scene lost some of its power due to this setting I felt, despite the beautifully acted and sung performance of Asmik Grigorian as Tatiana.

     But we are not done with this setting. The duel happens here too.  That is fine and I won't give it all away except to say that I felt that a couple of the director's choices for this scene robbed the scene of its emotional power. It is ironic because on the one hand the performance of the principals was really outstanding, both in terms of their singing and acting.  Lensky was portrayed as more troubled than is usual, and I felt that really worked.  Well, so was Onegin actually and his final scene with Tatiana was powerfully performed.  But I get ahead of myself.  Now, we are in the theater so I can make the shift in my mind that the meadow in the last scene of the last act is not really the same meadow as the first two acts - in fact it is not supposed to be.  Tatiana has married Prince Gremin and they live in St. Petersburg in act 3. And for a production as basically traditional as this one this was certainly my assumption.  But then how is it possible that there in the grass they find the glass jar with Tatiana's letter in the very last scene of the opera.  That was a major disconnect for me. Years have supposedly gone by.  Onegin has been wandering around Europe in an effort to deal with his terrible guilt for having killed Lensky and Tatiana has gotten married and is now the Princess Gremin and the center a some major social activity in St. Petersburg, but yet here is that letter.  But aside from those kinds of little things, there is much that works very, very well.  I loved the rain, for example.  It added to the power of the last scene of the opera. I liked that the male characters were less restrained and had more depth.  I loved the way Grigorian played Tatiana.  She was not played as shy so much I thought as just bookish and introverted, but nevertheless a girl capable of intense feelings.  I also loved the interaction of all the women leads in act 1.  This is a loving family - these 3 generations of women have genuine affection for one another and it was beautifully played.  Into this then comes these damaged and difficult men.  Lensky with his brooding bad temper and alcohol problem and the arrogant Onegin. And when we finally do meet Prince Gremin we discover that Tatiana has not settled, but has found a man who genuinely loves her and she loves him back. And she is now not quite as withdrawn.  The lovely gown she wore was representative I think of this transformation.  She is now a woman - responsible and mature and strong.  Onegin has no hope and his advances came off as pathetic.  It was very effective.

     I really liked Asmik Grigorian as Tatiana a lot.  There was something about her performance that really touched my heart. Vocally she was secure I thought and exceptionally musical, but her embodiment of the character I felt was very moving.  Günter Papendell was very effective as the arrogant and then desperate Onegin and the Czech tenor Ales Briscein was terrific as Lensky. The rest of the cast, the chorus and orchestra were all excellent. The conductor, Henrik Nanasi kept the opera well paced through out.  I was disappointed I must say in the lack of dancing and dancers.  This score contains some of Tchaikovsky's most wonderful dance music, which for the most part was performed as orchestra solos and moving music.  There was very little dance - this is too bad.  On the other hand, I should also say that one of the things that made this production work with its (for the most part) single setting in the meadow was the excellent lighting by Franck Evin. The lighting effects were simply gorgeous at times.  This is a over all a fine Onegin and worth watching.  Highly recommended.

http://www.theoperaplatform.eu/en/opera/tchaikovsky-yevgeniy-onegin