operaramblings

Back to the beginning

operaramblings — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:04:50 +0000

Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo is one of the few 17th works still in the canonical opera repertoire though little performed before the “early music revival”. So it was quite a bold step when the Opernhaus Zürich in the 1970s staged all three extant Monteverdi operas in productions by J-P ponelle and with Nikolaus Harnoncourt leading an orchestra of period instruments. All three productions were subsequently made into lip-synched films and have been re-released on DVD by Deutsche Grammophon as a boxed set.

The L’Orfeo is very typical of Ponnelle films. Costumes combine elements of the 17th century with elements of antiquity. There are strong verticals. Although shot in a studio the piece is still set in a theatre, or something rather like one. There’s a kind of naivity to the camera work and a heavy use of the nose-cam. Anyone who has seen other examples of Ponnelle opera films will recognise it instantly.

The details of the production are really quite odd. The lemur described Orfeo himself as :looking like Sinbad the Sailor in a 1970s movie” and he’s matched by a strangely doll like Euridice. The first couple of acts are a bit manic and reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz before we descend into a sort of Halloween House Hades with skulls and cobwebs and exaggerated make-up. It’s interesting in a hyperkinetic sort of way but I don’t think it has much to say.

The music making is very classy though in a raw kind of way that seems totally apt for Monteverdi. No burnished strings here. This is Harnoncourt doing his thing (and so young and with a very 70s haircut) and doing it very well. The band is Das Monteverdi-Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich which must be, I guess, the beginnings of the Zürich tradition of having members of the regular orchestra form a period instrument band; an excellent practice embodied today in La Scintilla. The singers were, I assume, drawn from the Zürich house ensemble because there are no big names. Still, it’s a strong singing cast headed by the Orfeo of Philippe Huttenlocker There are other strong performances from Trudeliese Schmidt as La Musica, Hans Franzen as Caronte and Glenys Linos as Proserpina. There’s also an early appearance of Francisco Ariaza as one of the shepherds.

Technically the disk package shows its age. The picture is slightly washed out, somewhat grainy 4:3. The sound is better with decent reprocessed DTS 5.1 surround sound which, on this disk, I preferred to the LPCM stereo which is not always the case with DG’s reprocessed efforts. There are no extras and documentation is fairly basic. It’s unfortunate. I would have like to know more about the instrumentation used. Subtitles are English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese.

So, not a definitive production and showing its age but, nonetheless, an intriguing look at Harnoncourt early in his career. Reviews of the Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea will follow in due course.

Pictures from Figaro’s Wedding

operaramblings — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:47:23 +0000

Here are a few of the photographs that Chris Hutcheson took at the preview of excerpts from Figaro’s Wedding last week.

The whole gang

More under the cut…

Stephen Hegedus, Figaro and Teiya Kasahara, Cherubino

Miriam Khalil, Susanna

Herheim and Egoyan

operaramblings — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:15:53 +0000

This Sunday afternoon (in Toronto) and evening (in Oslo) Brent Bambury of the CBC will interview Atom Egoyan (in Toronto) and Stefan Herheim (in Oslo) about their respective approaches to Richard Strauss’ Salome. The Egoyan version is just finishing up a run at COC (my impressions here) while Herheim’s version, previously seen in Salzburg, opens at Den Norske Opera & Ballett on Saturday. There will be live audiences in both cities connected by videolink. Details for Toronto are under the cut.

Bel Canto bliss

operaramblings — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:25:17 +0000

It’s one of the nicer things about Toronto that from time to time a visiting star at the COC will agree to do a free lunchtime recital in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Today was the turn of American coloratura Anna Christy who is currently singing the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. It was an exceptionally fun sixty minutes.

I was a little worried when she and accompanist Liz Upchurch just took their places and started. I need not have been. We got a set of three bel canto art songs that were full of virtuosity and personality. The sheer technical skill was obvious but so was the range of tone colour. Those doomandgloomists who think modern singers can’t act with the voice should listen to Ms. Christy. It’s all there. After that opening she did open up and explain the middle part of her set; pieces by Bolcom and Copland that she sees as natural successors to bel canto. Sung with exquisite attention to the texts one can see her point. She was also very funny and very human. I do like modern divas so much more than the one’s who get in a snit because the caviar isn’t the right temperature.

She finished up with arias by Rossini, Handel and Donizetti, all sung stylishly and with tasteful ornamentation. It was really classy. And to round things out her parents were there and it was her dad’s seventieth and there are no prizes for guessing how things finished up.

Another thought on offing nuns

operaramblings — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:57:10 +0000

I was riding my bike in the Don Valley this morning and, as I passed underneath the Bloor Street Viaduct, a thought struck me. Maybe Against the Grain Theatre’s next Toronto-centric opera adaptation coud be Dialogues des Carmélites. The last scene could be staged with the nuns jumping, one by one, from the viaduct. I don’t know whether enough people have read In the Skin of a Lion to get the reference but what could be more Toronto than Ondaatje?

Another look at Carmélites

operaramblings — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:54:49 +0000

It’s becoming a habit. For the fifth time this season I went back to take a second look at a COC production. This time it was Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. We were in our usual seats at the front of the Orchestra Ring rather than at the back of Ring 3 where I was on opening night. I still didn’t notice any real issues of orchestra/singer balance, which had been complained of by some reviewers. Maybe it was an issue towards the front of the Orchestra where the press tend to be?

What struck me again was the strangely immersive quality of the piece. It really sucks one in and what might be, perhaps ought to be, really boring is quite compelling. Poulenc’s music makes the characters impossible to ignore. I think it was easier to appreciate Carsen’s stage craft from lower down too. There are several places where he uses, in effect, a human curtain to make a scene change. For example, the menacing crowd moves slowly across a bare stage leaving the trashed version of the Marquis de la Force’s house behind them and then return later to remove it in the same way. It’s a clever way of making the changes without taking the audience out of the action (though a small section of that audience did seem desperate to applaud every time there was a pause in the music).

All in all though I don’t see any reason to fundamentally alter my opening night review. There are still four performances left between today and next Saturday and, despite stellar reviews, it hasn’t been selling that well so there are tickets available. It’s a compelling piece of theatre and who knows when it will be seen again in Toronto.

What’s green and blue and Carsen all over?

operaramblings — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:34:07 +0000

Robert Carsen’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is as visually striking as any of his productions. It’s also one that’s done the rounds, playing in Aix and Lyon before being recorded by a strong cast at the Liceu in Barcelona in 2005. The challenge with Dream is to create visual worlds for the Fairies and the Mortals that are different but work together. Carsen and his usual design team do this very well in this case. The Fairies are given striking green and blue costumes with red gloves. The mortals mostly run to white and cream and gold and they seem to spend a lot of time in their underwear. The lighting, as always with Carsen, forms an important part of the overall design. Carsen completists will also notice certain other characteristic touches like starkly arranged furniture.

It’s a very physical production. People run and jump and dive off things. This is especially true of Puck where Carsen makes an interesting choice, choosing to cast a mature actor, here Emil Wolk, rather than a young boy as seems usually to be the case. This puck is visibly middle aged, a bit manic and a bit creepy and disgusting. He’s a big contrast to Tytania’s Fairies who are immaculately dressed and polite and very well played by the children’s chorus; the Escolania de Montserrat. Carsen also seems to take the “rude” in Rude Mechanicals in the modern sense. The scene with Wall has the unfortunate Chris Gillett as Flute actually kissing his hole.

The principal parts are strongly sung and acted and everybody looks the part too. David Daniels was caught here absolutely in his vocal prime and is superb as Oberon. He’s well matched by the Tytania of Ofelia Sala who has a rather ethereal tone and acts extremely well, especially in the scenes with Bottom. The quartet of lovers; Gordon Gietz, Deanne Meek, William Dazeley and Brigitte Hahn, manage the craziness well and look good in underwear. Peter Rose is a broad Bottom (in every sense) strutting and blustering and generally making an Ass of himself. He’s well supported by the other Mechanicals, especially Chris Gillett as a mincing Thisbe, but they all get through a lot of work in this somewhat hyperkinetic production. Harry Bicket conducts and he brings out the textures and details of the score with great precision.

François Roussillon directs for video and I don’t think this is one of his better efforts. There are just too many, too close, close ups and it goes all artsy in places, especially at the beginning of Act 3. There’s plenty going on in this production and it just doesn’t need help from the video director. The picture is distinctly better than average and the DTS 5.0 sound is perfectly acceptable (There’s also Dolby 5.0 and LPCM stereo). There are English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Catalan subtitles. There is no bonus material and documentation is bare bones.

Despite reservations about the video direction this is the Dream to buy. The only other version in the catalogue is the 1981 Glyndebourne production which is showing its age in every way.

Cendrillon

operaramblings — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:46:34 +0000

Massenet’s Cendrillon is less often performed than Rossini’s take on the same basic story. I’m really not sure why. Rossini’s take is a bit weird (in a good way), especially in the Ponelle production, but Massenet’s is much more interesting musically. Oddly enough there’s only one version on DVD; a 2011 recording from the Royal Opera House. Fortunately it’s very good. The production is by Laurent Pelly and it has quite a bit in common with his La Fille du Regiment. Here the set is made up of pages from the original syory by Perrault rather than military maps but the effect is similar. Costumes are quite cartoonish (shades of the recent Alice in Wonderland ballet) except for Cendrillon herself, the prince and her father. There’s a strong emphasis on the humorous side of the piece and the “ballets” are thoroughly subverted.

Performances are very strong throughout. I guess most people buy the recording for Joyce DiDonato in the title role but, in my opinion, although she’s very good she’s outsung and outacted by Eglise Gutierrez, who gives a slightly camp but vocally brilliant account of La Fée, and Ewa Podles who is perfectly cast as the pompous step-mother. Alice Coote sings le Prince Charmant and while she’s fine vocally she seems to be doing the Alice Coote pants role thing where she never manages to seem more than about fourteen. Jean-Philippe Lafont also turns in a well characterised performance as Cendrillon’s father. Bertrand de Billy in the pit seems well attuned to Pelly’s concept and gets very agile and musical performances out of the singers while playing up the pomposity where needed.

Video direction is by Olivier Simonnet and it’s unobtrusive. The picture and DTS 5.1 sound are perfectly adequate and there are a bunch of cast interviews offered as extras. There’s no Blu-ray version which seems a bit off for a 2011 recording. Documentation is very basic and there are English, French, Spanish and Italian subtitles. All in all this is well worth seeing and is the only video option if you want to explore Cendrillon.

Figaro’s Prenup

operaramblings — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:43:40 +0000

Today’s free lunchtime concert in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was a preview of Against the Grain’s upcoming Figaro’s Wedding. Its got a brand new English libretto by director Joel Ivany very much along the lines of the La Bohème they did at the Tranzac a few years back; setting the story in today’s Toronto but keeping the basic plot line roughly similar. Today’s show featured excerpts from the piece plus interviews with the characters by Joel. I don’t want to do spoilers but let’s just say it’s very clever and very funny. It’s got a great cast of young local singers and it’s been arranged for piano and string quartet by the amazing Topher Mokrzewski. This is going to be really, really good and I’ve never heard anything get such an enthusiastic reception in the RBA.

The full show is going to play at a real wedding hall, The Burroughes Building at 639 Queen Street West on May 29-31 and on June 2. There’s no show on June 1 because the venue is booked for a wedding! Tickets and more details are available at http://www.againstthegraintheatre.com. Be warned, opening night is already sold out and I expect the remaining nights will also sell ahead of time. This is going to be a hot ticket.

Sorry about the iPhone photo. Expect better ones in due course.

Quilico Awards 2013

operaramblings — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:35:34 +0000

Last night, for the second time (the first was in 2011) the singers of the COC Ensemble Studio competed for the Christina and Louis Quilico Awards; a prize competition created by Christina in memory of her husband, baritone Louis. It was the usual competition format; the singers offer three arias, they sing one and then the judges choose which of the remaining two they will sing. It being the Ensemble Studio on show the standard was extremely high. Nine singers and eighteen arias is too much to report in detail so I’ll concentrate on the winners.

Alan Walker of the Ontario Arts Foundation, Christina Quilico and the Ensemble Studio

In third place was Ambur Braid. She gave us a very decent version of “Regarde-les, ces yeux” from Massenet’s (as she put it) “ever popular” Esclarmonde and then followed it up with a “Sempre libera” for which my quick note was “wow!”. It was just what one might expect from Ambur; drama, passion and interpolated high notes. This lady lives above the stave! She’s singing Violetta for Arizona Opera next March and I would love to see it. Expect a unique take on the role!

Alan Walker, Christina Quilico and the winners

Second place went to Claire de Sévigné who gave an appropriately pretty reading of “Ah! Douce enfant” from Massenet’s Cendrillon (has Gianmarco Segato been bribing people to do Massenet?) and an elegantly ornamented “Non disperare” from Giulio Cesare. It was a thoroughly polished lyric soprano performance of the kind that tends to win competitions.

Then we got the first real surprise of the night. There were two first place winners! In this case Neil Craighead and Rihab Chaieb. Rihab gave us “Wie du warst” from Rosenkavalier and a really lovely performance of the haunting “Must the winter come so soon” from Barber’s Vanessa. I’ve been listening to Rihab fairly regularly for about three years now and she really is beginning to blossom. The genuine dark mezzo tone colour has always been there and now it’s married to real power.

Rihab Chaieb

Neil, too, has developed a lot since I first heard him. The voice is rock solid and he’s gained a lot of confidence and become a very polished actor/singer. Last night he sang “O tu, Palermo” from I vespri siciliani, which really suited his voice, and “Aprite un po’ quegli occhi”. I’m less sure about Neil and Mozart. It’s such a crowded field and, while he’s powerful and technically sound, he doesn’t have the prettiest voice. I suspect he’ll really come into his own as he grows into heavier repertoire. He’d make a very imposing Wotan!

Neil Craighead

Judging these competitions must be really tough. I was sitting with a couple of Toronto’s better known opera writers and, when we compared notes, we all had different names. The only one we agreed on was Ambur I think. My 1-2-3 were all in the prizes though!

Rihab, Neil and Ambur will be leaving the Ensemble Studio at the end of this season but I’m sure we’ll see more of them in Toronto and elsewhere. I certainly hope so. It was a most enjoyable couple of hours thanks to all the singers involved, accompanists Jenna Douglas and Timothy Cheung and, of course, Ms. Quilico for creating the opportunity.

Photo credits: Chris Hutcheson