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4“Fridman a thrillingly good fit for Lucrezia, handling the demands of the role with impressive ease” A last minute step-in for Yolanda Auyanet, Lidia Fridman in the title role proved a star in the making. With a dark, attractive timbre and remarkable clarity through her entire range, Fridman was a thrillingly good fit for Lucrezia, handling the demands of the role with impressive ease…
Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabitoemphasize the consistent restoration of women's rule in their spacious production of Bellini's "Norma". In the priestess Norma, who serves her gods and yet does not want to live chastely, Bellini depicts in glowing colors the disturbing double life of a woman who is extremely capable of love. However, she has also re-appropriated her dominion herself and has moved into the temple with her children. As a spiritual authority, Norma gives direction to her oppressed people. At the same time, there is a secret love agreement with Pollione, which he breaks when he falls hopelessly in love with Adalgisa. In her anguish, she entrusts her love to the High Priestess. In wild revenge, Norma first wants to kill her and Pollione's children, which the production captures in garish images. in trying Forcibly kidnapping Adalgisa from the temple, Pollione is seized. Norma orders a woodpile to be built for a priestess who has betrayed her country and her gods. But she does not mention Adalgisa's name, but her own. Then she is led to execution. All of this is only hinted at in the production (stage and costumes:Anna Viebrock ; scenic direction of the revival: Anika Rutkofsky ). There are always references to the modern world - from the telephone to the pull-out bed. Even if mystical and metaphysical moments are largely missing in this interpretation, the directing of the characters is all the more credible. One understands, above all, in the convincing performance of the excellent Spanish soprano Yolanda Auyanet,that Norma has the special dignity of a goddess, while she is only criminalized in Alexandre Soumet's play. At the same time, Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito make it clear that Norma is not Medea. Her vengeance is not so merciless, she is ready for a limitless self-sacrifice that leaves the people first shaken and then all the more angry. The strength and power of the mass rebellion stands out in this production in an extremely rousing and breathless way. Under the fiery direction of the young Italian conductor Giacomo Sagripanti, the Stuttgart State Orchestra performs with esprit and grandeur. Bellini's tonal language speaks with a thousand tongues, bringing boundless human passions to life. The brass players also appear at the side entrances and give the production a strange military character. One senses how strongly this work must have influenced Giuseppe Verdi, for example. Yolanda Auyanet lets the ecstatic surge of prayer in “Casta Diva” blossom in passionate cantilenas – and invoked in the cabaletta her marriage bond with Pollione in a most moving way. Yolanda Auyanet traces the contrast between prayer and cabaletta with an even timbre and top tones that rise to the limit. However, the magic of bel canto is also revealed in the touching embodiment of Adalgisa by the extremely emotional acting and excellent singing Diana Haller. Diminished intervals and chromatic passages of the score are then implemented in a gripping manner in the highest moments of despair. The outstanding Staatsopernchor Stuttgart ( studyer: Bernhard Moncado ) plays a central role in this , always dominating the stage in an almost all-encompassing manner. The radiant tenorAs Pollione, Massimo Giordano evokes his mental turmoil more and more believably, only to finally emphasize the larger-than-life presence of this character Giacomo Sagripanti has a special feeling for Bellini's overheated tonal language, which considerably strengthens and accelerates the singing culture and virtuosity of the singers. Liang Li portrays Oroveso as the head of the druids with a sonorous bass, while Regina Friedek as Norma's confidant Clotilde and Daniel Kluge as Pollione's friend Flavio provide interesting role portraits. Katarina Tomic and Konstantin Vogel can also be seen as Norma and Pollione's children . Cheers, frenetic applause.
On 20 January, at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, for the 68th time, a poster featured a production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletta" directed by Gilbert Deflo, which is over twenty years old. The performance is modeled on the production of La Scala, which premiered in 1995, which means that the costumes and set design are a copy of those from the Milanese performance, adapted to the size of the stage of the Polish National Opera. "Rigoletto" Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, photo: Krzysztof Bieliński During the twenty years of "Rigoletta's presence" on the Warsaw stage, the cast has seen a whole galaxy of stars, ranging from Andrzej Dobber, Agnieszka Zwierko and Artur Ruciński, to guest performances by Piotr Beczała and Aleksandra Kurzak, which electrified the Warsaw audience. Today, alongside well-known singers, the rising stars of Polish vocalism debut, bringing youth and a breath of freshness to this patina-covered realization. "Rigoletto" Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, photo: Krzysztof Bieliński Warsaw's "Rigoletto" is aging with class. Monumental, decorative decorations, the change of which is so complicated that a dozen or so minutes after the start of the performance, one of as many as three twenty-minute breaks is needed, are made with reverence and attention to detail. The sumptuous palace of the Duke of Mantua, elaborate costumes referring to historical costumes from the era allow you to plunge into the magical world of theater that many viewers yearn for today. While the modernized regietheater productions are becoming a thing of the past after only a few or a dozen performances, classic productions such as "Rigoletto" or "Nabucco" have been attracting crowds thirsty for a faithful libretto, a scenographically rich performance, for years. "Rigoletto" Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, photo: Krzysztof Bieliński The attraction of this year's series of performances was also a cast consisting of proven singers who have been performing their roles for years and young adepts of the profession, who managed to create memorable vocal and acting creations. Andrzej Dobber was, as always, excellent – especially in the scene of begging for his daughter's devotion, and Aleksandra Kubas-Kruk captivated with a beautiful, shiny, lyrical timbre of voice and fervor of interpretation. Tadeusz Szlenkier confirmed his position as one of the leading Polish tenors, and his noble-sounding voice captivated in the famous aria of the Duke of Mantua La donna è mobile. "Rigoletto" Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, photo: Krzysztof Bieliński Iurie Maimescu, a native of Moldova, cursed with the right power, and Łukasz Konieczny in the role of Sparafucil fantastically conveyed the character of a paid murderer. A lot of good can also be said about Anna Bernacka and Elżbieta Wróblewska, who perform as Maddalena and Giovanna. Particular praise was deserved by young singers performing in supporting roles, but attracting the viewer's attention with their vocal skills and stage freedom. Currently studying at the prestigious Juilliard School and winning further awards in vocal competitions, Hubert Zapiór (Marullo) is a very talented baritone, who is additionally helped by acting skills gained at the Warsaw Theatre Academy. As Countess Ceprano, Bożena Bujnicka delighted with her beauty and voice, whom earlier this season I could admire in "Orpheus and Eurydice" in Lublin, and in the role of the count he became known as a very promising young bass Jasin Rammal-Rykała. "Rigoletto" Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, photo: Krzysztof Bieliński Patrick Fournillier is a conductor who works very well with singers and the performance under his baton could satisfy the most demanding opera lovers musically.
Herman Melville, E.M. Forster, Eric Crozier and Benjamin Britten all believed that “Billy Budd” was set at sea. Czech theatre director Daniel Špinar thinks otherwise. His new four-act production of Britten’s psychologically fascinating, demonstrably homoerotic and deeply disturbing drama for the National Theatre in Prague had as much to do with HMS Indomitable as “Madama Butterfly” moved to Mozambique.In the Prologue, Vere sings “Confusion, so much is confusion!” which is a fitting epithet for Špinar’s fundamentally flawed directional concepts. Following similarly spurious interpretations such as Richard Jones’ British boarding school setting in Göteberg, Špinar had no hesitation in manipulating the carefully constructed text to his own gay-fixated and textually inconsistent preconceptions. Nothing to Do With the Text The single set by Lucia Škandiková was a hospital bed in the center of a bare blue-green stage which looked like a cross between a gigantic Tiffany & Co. shoebox and a pastel urinal. Whilst the hospice setting was all very well for Captain Vere’s poignant soliloquies in the Prologue and Epilogue, it made no sense in the central ship-board scenes, which are intended to recreate the squalid and claustrophobic conditions of a British Man o’war in 1797. The sole nautical reference was three model sailing ships carried into Captain Vere’s cabin (which was anything but “narrow”) at the opening of Act two, but these were actually of models of the Thermopylae which was launched more than 70 years after the drama takes place. There was a further small toy yacht carried by six mini-Mozart looking waifs (presumably the powder-monkeys) but this was a Dragon-class sloop first seen in 1929. Specifics in the text were blithely ignored – there were no ropes to haul, no glasses for Vere, Redburn and Flint to toast the King and Dansker doesn’t give Billy anything to eat or drink, making “baby’s” gratitude for unexpected nourishment meaningless. The only additions to the bleak pastel desert were some broken coffins in the second scene of Act two and the sudden appearance of multiple proto-phallic cannons when Billy is interrogated by Vere. Contrary to normal Man o’war ordinance, these armaments are actually pointing inwards towards the protagonists. Not so helpful for firing at the enemy. The most disturbing directional deviation however came in Act four when Billy strips naked and pops into Vere’s bed, creating the titillating expectation of homosexual congress between the handsome young sailor and the philhellene naval captain. Instead, in Jesus-like manner, Vere solemnly washes Billy’s feet, then after the Articles of War are read (which specifically state that Billy is to be “hung from the yardarm”), Vere impales the supine seaman with his ceremonial sword. Possibly Špinar saw this as some kind of symbolic ultimate penetration, but it had nothing to do with the text or 18th century British naval regulations. Costume designer Marek Cpin was no better. The sailors were closer to WW1 Kriegsmarine cadets, Billy looked like a cross between Popeye and Querelle styled by Nautica, Squeak could have doubled for the Artful Dodger and Claggart was a Goth grasshopper sporting an over-sized stylized Order of the Garter star – an unlikely honour for a mere Master-at-Arms. The ultimate absurdity was a powder-wigged Captain Vere dressed in a long-trained powder-blue ensemble bedecked with diamond brooches. His appearance at Captain’s muster could have been Liberace sashaying onto the poop of HMS Pinafore. There is unquestionably a major homosexual theme to this opera, which given the proclivities of the novelist, librettists and composer, should come as no surprise. However, 1951 was hardly a time to caterwaul “I am what I am” and the Sapphic subtext should be as subtle as the behavior of the protagonists is repressed. Špinar has Claggart followed by five handsome body-stockinged dancer/athletes who grope, writhe, roll and climb over each other, and the Master-at-Arms, at every opportunity. It is about as discreet as a drag-show by Divine. During the lengthy “This is our moment” chorus when engagement with the French seems imminent, the dancers put on a Cirque de Soleil show of slow motion pugilism which totally ignores the bustling on-deck directions in the libretto. There was certainly a lot of pectoral pulchritude displayed by the prepossessing Prague lads, but much of Radim Vizváry’s choreography was an unsubtle cribbing of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s human Tarnhelm concept for Guy Cassiers’ “Ring” at La Scala in 2010. But the Music… Fortunately the musical component of the evening was much more satisfactory. The chorus of the Czech National Theater Prague was really outstanding and the tricky cross-rhythm ensemble passages such as “This is our moment” were impressively sung. The multitude of small roles were not especially memorable except for a resonant Redburn by Jiří Brückler and a dulcet-toned Friend by Luboš Skala. The only serious negative was that overall English diction was consistently imprecise. This was particularly noticeable in the rollicking “We’re off to Samoa” couplets. The roles of cabin boy, novice and tenor solo were impressively sung by Jan Petryka who has a real tenore di grazia timbre and technique. “Over the water, over the ocean” was wistfully lyrical. For some inexplicable reason, Špinar had the novice sing Vere’s “Scylla and Charybdis” passage after Claggart’s murder, ending with “it is I whom the devil awaits.” Although emotionally powerful and vocally well sung by Petryka, this makes no dramaturgical sense whatsoever. Admittedly the novice is weak and cowardly but these failings have been skillfully manipulated by Claggart. It is Vere who is wracked with angst and self-loathing for failing to save Billy and until the guileless youth blesses and absolves him, logically believes he will be damned for his pusillanimity. It is also doubtful that an uneducated young novice would be familiar with Greek mythology. Gidon Sak is no stranger to the role of the contemptible Claggart, having enjoyed recent success in the part with Donald Runnicles in Berlin. With a palpable Iago-ish malevolence, Sak’s characerization is a seething mono-dimensional study of evil with an S&M kink. There is no attempt at subservient hypocrisy or ignominious dissimulation. The voice is stronger in the upper register but the deeper tessitura such as the low G natural on “I will destroy you” and the low F-sharp on “Your honour” lacked resonance and projection. American baritone Christopher Bolduc was an agreeable Billy with perhaps a better knowledge of what was going on in Claggart and Vere’s mind than more ingénue interpretations. The voice is not especially large and tended to be slightly overwhelmed in the ensemble sections. “Billy Budd, King of the birds” was far from stentorian, but the closing “Through the port comes the moon-shine astray” scena was beautifully phrased in an intimate lieder-style manner. Despite the louche Liberace look, Slovak tenor Štefan Margita was vocally convincing as Vere. Margita was able to convey the character’s preoccupation with good and evil, rigid regulations and philosophic humanism with understated eloquence. Whilst his English was often quirky with the occasional rolled “r’s” and extended “e’s”, the voice projected well over the large orchestra and there was some refulgent singing in the upper register exemplified by a clarion top B-natural on “leave me.” The Real Captain of the Ship Laurels of the evening however went to young British conductor Christopher Ward and the National Theatre orchestra. This is a maestro who knows how to breathe with the singers and his conducting of Britten’s immensely difficult, kaleidoscopic, sea-sonorous score was translucent and trenchant. There was ebullience, poetry and rhythmic insistency in Ward’s inspired reading and while there may not have been a whiff of salt air on the stage, the orchestra could have come straight from shores of Suffolk. The graduations between atmospheric pianissimi and hefty fortissimi (especially evident in the major/minor triad shifts in the “interrogation scene”) revealed no small degree of virtuosity by the Czech musicians. Strings were seductive and woodwinds chirpy with the first flute being particularly impressive in the obbligato passages during Billy’s final scena. Brass were raw and raspy and the Grand Inquisitor-ish instrumentation of tuba, low strings and contrabassoon before Claggart makes his bogus denunciation of Billy was truly ominous. Neither Melville, Forster or Crozier were well-served by this vexatious and inappropos production, however Britten was in excellent hands on the podium. Ward is a conductor to watch.
