Swiss Patriots

Right, so for my first Met visit I lucked into a good one. A well cast and sung opera I did not know well, or how it ended, in a serviceable production I'm going to call it. The things that were needed were there, there a few gimmicks, but nothing that took    away from telling the story. And a number of items that with thought may end up being quite telling to the director's thoughts on the opera.

First though, how good is it to be in a theatre where the sound does not turn to mush. After the clarity of the overture onward, going back to the sound of the orchestra pit at Sydney Opera House will be something I won't relish. 

The new production is the one mounted by the Dutch National Opera, by Pierre Audi, who clearly had a good handle on the characters and story, nothing jumped out as out of character, even if a couple of the characters do seem 1 dimensional. Why is Gesler such a cartoon style villain? The libretto does not tell us, and it seems just accepted that he is the evil vicious governor on behalf of the Austrians, with no indication that anyone else objects. Until Mathilde decides to stand up and use her imperial rank to overrule him over Tell's son 

So, to the singers. There was a big cast in WT, and all of then were clearly audible, despite being in the balcony, a considerable distance for voices to carry. As Tell, we had Gerald Finley, bringing both flexibility of tone and dignity to the role. It's a long role, and he never showed signs of flagging, as he portrayed the famous hero of the piece. This was a role that showed why he is one of the most sought after singers in the world today, it was a remarkable performance. Why he was dressed like a Jedi master, I am not sure.

As the tortured and lovelorn second hero Arnold, we had Bryan Hymel, bringing all his power and high notes, and considerable flexibility to this role. If Tell was the soul of the piece, Arnold was the heart, torn between family and homeland, and the imperial Mathilde, who he met in the past, who returns his love. Loving the enemy never ends well, in these things, and this couple provides much of the complications.

The princess herself was sung by Marina Rebeka, bringing a highly flexible, focused, if somewhat hard sound to her florid writing, but that bloomed wonderfully into a big lush sound in her more lyrical moments. Her costumes seemed variations on Victorian era riding habits, changing from black to white as she begins to distance herself from Gesler and his regime. 

The evil Gesler was played by John Relyea, being loud and obnoxious, as he is well capable. It's not a voice you expect in Rossini, but then, it is not written full of his usual complex flexible vocal lines, this is more Verdi-style villain writing, which he clearly enjoyed. 

I keep mentioning things as being unlike Rossini's normal style, and indeed, at times it did not feel like Rossini. The final chorus especially, has moments where you think, Rossini wrote this? It sounds 20th century. Other times, it is very clear, this is the same composer who wrote the Barber of Seville. The long well known overture is clearly his, with its long crescendi and strident calls to arms. Yet, the same composer writes proto-20 century music to end the night? It all seems a little unexpected. What isn't unexpected is Rossini's need of a good editor. This is NOT a short opera, and frequently the same music and words are repeated over, thus, there are times when it seems what would be a whole aria, but is only part in Rossini's world, is repeated, just to emphasis how lovely it was, and how heartbroken/eager to fight/in love they really are. A ruthless editor could easily chop 1/10 from the piece I think, if the repeats were killed. But, then, this was a French grand opera, where nothing is short. 

Speaking of French grand opera, the big ballet scene in Act 3 was handled very well, it helped to build the antagonism between the Swiss and the Austrians, demonstrating their heartlessness towards them. It was also one of those situations where the chorus has to take part (always fraught), but thankfully their dance part was fairly simple in a large complex scene. But pity the chorus who had to go from singing to dancing energetically to singing... 

So, all round a great night. Lots of great singing, a chance to see a piece I am never likely to see mounted in Sydney. And a rollicking good story, even if it took far longer to tell, than it needed to. 

Thoughts post Trojans from The Met

Right, yes, I know the above link is not from Les Troyens from the Met but is from the Covent Garden production by David McVicar with Anna Caterina Antonacci, but such is the strength of her performance in Trojans, that any discussion about another production inevitably has to reference her, so I thought I would throw it in at the start. This is the finale of Act 2, the final scene in Troy before the opera moves to Carthage with Enée and his entourage, en route to Italy. It is without a doubt the most glorious mass suicide scene I know in opera, and ACA in the role of Cassandre is intensely haunting and musical. She lives the role of a somewhat maddened oracle, not wanting to see what she is seeing, and haunted by it. Her performance was mesmerising and gripping, as well as being beautifully sung. Friends who went reported being haunted by her for days after.

By contrast, the Met had Debbie Voigt, a very different singer. While ACA is very definitely zwischenfach, Debbie is defiantly dramatic soprano. She lacks the darkness of tone that ACA brings, and frankly needs in this role. She also reportedly found the lower range of it a challenge in some of the earlier performances. This I would believe. Having said that, Francesca Zambello's production also makes Cassandre a very different beast to McVicar. In McVicar, she revels in the oddness of being prophetic, even as the visions she sees frighten her. She is shunned only because she brings bad news, not because she is odd. In the Met, she is cast in the weird woman/witch/evil keep away mode, even though she seems eager to lose the visions. It is more her being prophetic despite wanting it, rather than clearly revelling in the role, as in the McVicar.

Its a valid choice, but the McVicar provides the more exciting performance. Yes, ACA is a better actress, but I think it is also the direction made it work. Having Deb Voigt run round the stage trying to get people's attention, only to have them all run away in fear made her seem less a figure we cared about, while ACA was defiant in her isolation, and seemed to almost revel in it, when people would not listen. A curious distinction, but one that helps to explain why one was vastly more compelling. It seemed more organic to the story, and less an idea imposed from the director, if you will.

Having said that, if I had not seen the Covent Garden production first, I would have been very happy with Deb's performance. She sang securely, with depth and feeling. This is a demanding role, and a big one, and she was convincing, just left me wishing I had seen her first, not second. On the other hand, if I had seen this production first, would I have bothered with the Covent Garden as well?

As her fiance, we had Dwayne Croft, who brought a larger voice to the role than I gave him credit from his stint in Das Rheingold as Donner. He sang as a man who clearly did not understand his wife to be. At times I was not convinced he was in love with her, rather, this felt more like an arranged marriage, yet they sang of love...

The other performer of note in the Trojan acts was of course Bryan Hymel, the surprise tenor of the Covent Garden Trojans, who replaced the ill Jonas Kaufmann. Here, he took over for Marcello Giordani, who pulled out, realising this role was no longer right for him (was it ever?) Bryan brings a huge bright tenor sound with clarion focus to this role. All I think I need to say about him is, if he is singing a big tenor role near you, make sure you go hear him. Hell, for that matter, you could probably hear him from outside most theatres, that voice has cut and heft to carry for days. And he can sing this role easily at 33!!!! (Enée normally goes to Wagnerians) Enée is a role that is already something of a specialty for him, and will remain so. He lives this role, singing it with passion and power, and also lyricism as required.

Having said that, special mention must be made of the chorus in this production. When the Met puts on their full chorus, with extras, you know the show must need it. There was (I believe) about 110 in the chorus for this production. It showed, and they sounded fantastic. They sang beautifully off and on stage, and portrayed their various roles well, be they soldier, sailor, farmer, wife, whatever.

After Troy, the next acts all move to Carthage where the beautiful Didon rules over a happy peaceful community founded after they fled from Phoenicia at the death of her husband. As Didon we had the glorious sounds of Susan Graham, with her sister played by Karen Cargill, one of the few none US based singers. As a pair, they were well matched, both big luscious voices and strong stage presences. Having said that, watching Karen Cargill is an entertaining experience all in itself. Unlike most singers, who when they sing the effort shows on their face, on Karen's face, there is no sign of the effort she is putting in to produce the sound. Sure, her mouth stretches open as she shapes the sounds, but her cheeks and eyes show no sign of the effort she is doing. There is an almost serene relaxation happening when she sings, allowing her to express what ever she wants, unencumbered by the effort to achieve the sounds she is producing. At times it seemed almost disconnected, but after seeing some appalling face pulling on stages recently as singers fought to produce the right notes, it was a very welcome change.

As Didon, Susan Graham produced glorious tones and a performance that started distant but approving of her subjects, to passionate lover of Enée, to unhinged wronged woman when she is left. She never once lost character or produced sounds that were not beautiful or musical. She also clearly enjoyed partnering with Bryan as her love interest.

Also featured were Kwangchul Youn as Narbal Didon's chief minister and Eric Cutler as Iopas, her court poet. Both sang well, bringing to life their roles, even if Iopas spends a lot of time onstage, but not singing.

At this point I also need to mention the ballet. Now, it is French grand opera, so I get you need ballet. But really, do we need ALL of it? The ballet in act 4 seems to take over half an hour. You also have ballet music in earlier acts. Surely some of the Royal Hunt music should be dropped to bring the length under control if you are going to do Les Troyen in one night? I mean, it is 5 hours of music, surely we can cut some of it? The ballet does seem an obvious place to shorten, especially if you decide to use it to re-enact some of the story. The whole story comes to a grinding halt for half an hour, then we have some discussion about the 2 lovers, then we get their glorious duet. Did we really need all the ballet to stop the story completely before that?

The next act of course is where everything goes horribly wrong for Didon. Enée abandons her then sings his biggest solo (see below) and after various of his group sing their own solos, he has harsh words with Didon and they sale off leaving her bereft. She then has a complete meltdown on stage and kills herself, prophesying of the coming of Hannibal from Carthage to destroy the city of Rome Enée is off to build.

Now, I have to say that the biggest difference between the two productions I have referred to would be the theatricality of the productions. One was an unashamedly modern mishmash of scenery that clearly represented specific places without caring about the time. It created great effects in a small space and forced you into its own world.

The other was a less showy event but that used more. More people, more space, more levels on stage. Yet rather than making you feel more in place, you felt less a part of the event. Too much was spent on creating the look of something, without actually being that thing. Somehow in not even trying to be historically accurate but socialogically accurate, the Covent Garden worked, while the Met production somehow failed, because it kept paying lip service to what it thought things should look like, without following through on them. So the modern items jarred against the authentic, stopping the illusion taking hold.

So, on the whole, I found the Met production a bit of a blancmange. Much of it was great, but I found things about it that left it feeling less than the some of the whole.

But, I'll leave you with Bryan singing his big aria in the final act, which is amazing.