Vladimir Stolpovskikh / Critiques

The Mikhailovsky Theater hosted the first premiere of the season — the opera The Magic Flute staged, set and costumed by Pet Halmen. Conductor of the Mariinsky Theater Gavriel Heine was at the podium. The performance became a joint project of the Mikhailovsky Theater and the Lausanne Opera. The director died four years ago, and the St. Petersburg production was handled by Eric Vigier, director of the Lausanne Opera. If such a performance had appeared a couple of years earlier, it might not have seemed very relevant. And today, the strict, pure, black-and-white aesthetics, in which the production, stylizing the theater of the Mozart era, is solved, has turned out to be a balm for the soul, tormented by daily reports from the battlefields or terrorist attacks.

The Mikhailovsky Theater hosted the first premiere of the season — the opera The Magic Flute staged, set and costumed by Pet Halmen. Conductor of the Mariinsky Theater Gavriel Heine was at the podium. The performance became a joint project of the Mikhailovsky Theater and the Lausanne Opera. The director died four years ago, and the St. Petersburg production was handled by Eric Vigier, director of the Lausanne Opera. If such a performance had appeared a couple of years earlier, it might not have seemed very relevant. And today, the strict, pure, black-and-white aesthetics, in which the production, stylizing the theater of the Mozart era, is solved, has turned out to be a balm for the soul, tormented by daily reports from the battlefields or terrorist attacks.

The performance of the Mikhailovsky Theater "Oprichnik" is one of the main opera premieres of this year. On September 29, it was shown for the first time on the Moscow stage. Theatre. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko gathered many connoisseurs of high art that day. I must say right away that staging this opera by Tchaikovsky is a seductive desire, but very difficult to perform. The composer himself reworked it more than once and obviously left some hints that another interpretation, not quite spelled out in the score, preserved only in his notes, and editing is also possible. The director of the play, Sergei Novikov, and conductor Alexander Solovyov, while working on the modern version of Oprichnik, were obliged to penetrate into the not quite completed plan of Pyotr Ilyich and, as noted by many critics, they did it with the highest reliability. “It is still preserved in the Mariinsky Theater, and in the museum in Klin I managed to see a photocopy of it: the composer mercilessly, right on 5-10-15 pages in a row, crossed out, removed repetitions and lengths,” Sergey Novikov said in an interview with Fontanka.ru » about the manuscript of the opera. Frankly, I'm surprised why "Oprichnik" had not been staged before, as it happened now. Apparently, everything has its time. The creators of the performance not only presented the audience with a magnificent spectacle, but also returned to us a sense of the authenticity of Russian opera, created a fascinating canvas from a very conservative material, where you wait for the denouement with no less attention than in action-packed prose or cinema. From the first minutes it is clear that in this performance there is a magnificent ensemble on the stage, built harmoniously, but at the same time nervously, with constant overtones, with an abundance of plans and the maximum departure from conventions to live dramaturgy. In addition to the work of Novikov and Solovyov, the scenography of Alexander Kupalyan should be noted. In opera performances, the goal is often to show the stars, here the stars are all, it is impossible to single out anyone in particular. I remember how Evgeny Svetlanov once said that if scenery or some performer is singled out in a performance, this is an alarming signal to the whole performance. In Oprichnik, everything is subordinated to one thing - to bring to the utmost concentration the author's intention of the genius Tchaikovsky, the author of the music and the libretto of the opera, which is based on the work of Ivan Lazhechnikov. The performance from the first scene wisely leads the reader from peak to peak, from find to find, from climax to climax. In the first scenes, I was struck by the move with the video projection. This is not just a trick, it is not intrusive, but very effective in giving credibility to what is happening. The performance immediately passes from the limited space of the stage into the Moscow architectural landscapes of that era, air and freshness instantly burst into the texture of the direction. I looked at it spellbound, and when the birds flew across the sky, the effect of being transferred to the living surroundings of the Russian Middle Ages reached its maximum. The part of Basmanov is given to the countertenor (notable work by Vadim Volkov). And here the reception worked perfectly. The image turns out to be ominous and very ambiguous: a reveler, a friend of the king, a guardsman, and the voice is almost female. It seems to me that the idea is subtly carried out here that in all impunity and violence there is something perverted, weak and unnatural. The first act is crowned by the scene of the oath of Andrey Morozov, who compromises with evil for the sake of revenge on Prince Zhemchuzhny, his enemy and the enemy of their family. There are a lot of people on the stage, and not a single person is accidental, everyone moves as they would in real life. The orchestra and choir are superbly woven into the metaphorical theatrical language, where many of the actors' movements do not show the action, but symbolize one or another image in the most complex range of the hero's feelings. It can be seen that the director knows the vocabulary of those times, all the words of the opera are perfectly supported by the gestures and poses of the characters. The brilliant stage confrontation of the characters emphasizes the enormous vocal abilities of Sergei Kuzmin (Andrey Morozov) and Alexei Tikhomirov (the leader of the guardsmen, Prince Vyazminsky). The story of Morozov's fall in this scene is almost Faustian, but the image of the future guardsman is still attractive in his throwings, especially in the first half of the episode crowning the first act. However, a wormhole is expanding in it, the beginning of the path to moral collapse, encrypted by Tchaikovsky in the harsh rhythm of this scene, in the obvious alternation of simple harmonies, in the predominance of distinctly minor chord combinations, amazingly orchestrated. When, at the very climax, a teenager appears on some kind of torture board, the frost goes through the skin. I realized that this is a hint that the best, the purest, is being killed in Andrey. The new Andrey Morozov, the future oprichnik, kills the old one in himself - an honest hot young man. wonderfully orchestrated. When, at the very climax, a teenager appears on some kind of torture board, the frost goes through the skin. I realized that this is a hint that the best, the purest, is being killed in Andrey. The new Andrey Morozov, the future oprichnik, kills the old one in himself - an honest hot young man. wonderfully orchestrated. When, at the very climax, a teenager appears on some kind of torture board, the frost goes through the skin. I realized that this is a hint that the best, the purest, is being killed in Andrey. The new Andrey Morozov, the future oprichnik, kills the old one in himself - an honest hot young man. The second act is a kind of mirror of the first. Andrey Morozov looks at him, but sees himself as different, the audience looks at him and thinks not only about the plot of the opera (the authors of the performance managed to reveal the twisted intrigue of this opera, where Morozov falls into the trap of Vyazminsky, a longtime enemy of the Morozov family), but also about its moral - the moral component. What is important here is Andrei's Pyrrhic victory over the enemy of their family, Zhemchuzhny, who not only offended Andrei Morozov's father, but also opposes his marriage to his daughter (both female parts, Boyarina Morozova and Zhemchuzhny's daughter Natalya, sound absolutely fantastic performed by Ekaterina Egorova and Valentina Fedeneva ). Its meaning is revealed subtly, not in the forehead, but with all moral certainty. Betrayal, alliance with evil are irrevocable. The final scene of the wedding is staged so multi-dimensionally, with such a variety of counterpoints, that the impending drama and the execution of Andrei are keenly felt behind the holiday. This effect is created by highlighting one or another place on the stage, which logically leads to the execution scene, which was decided not as a dramatic death of a person, but as his fall. Andrey really falls on the stage from a high place to the ground. Like hell. The scenery in this regard is built very ingeniously. And even the artist of mimams in the role of Ivan the Terrible, with his short movement around the stage, creates the entourage that is necessary for the correct positioning of the finale. Watching Alexander Solovyov at the conductor's stand is a pleasure. As a graduate of the conducting choir faculty, I was happy to note that in his technique there is not an ounce of work for the public, only a strict horizontal idea. It was this horizontal that Novikov and Solovyov pulled out of Oprichnik. I'm sure this is what Tchaikovsky wanted when he edited this score until his death. Movement, constant movement of all layers. The performance is very beautiful. Scenery, costumes, projections are made with excellent taste. Bright, varied, nothing weighting, nothing superfluous. Sergei Novikov noted in an interview that the main task of art is moral. Well, this performance managed to solve these problems without being too didactic and edifying. I am sure that this production will be loved by listeners of all ages for a long time and will pave the way to Oprichnik for those who have hitherto not appreciated this opera enough.

The Mikhailovsky Theater from St. Petersburg showed on the stage of the Musical Theater named after Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko its latest opera premiere - the rare "Oprichnik" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. While the 6th festival of musical theaters of Russia "See the Music" is in full swing in Moscow and the capital is literally "choking" from regional productions - operas, ballets, operettas, musicals and other multi-genre novelties - one-day non-festival tour. The Mikhailovsky Theater does not take part in Seeing the Music, as well as in its antipode, The Golden Mask: Vladimir Kekhman prefers to go his own way, not getting involved in the capital's festival games. Nevertheless, the novelty of opera - a genre that he generally does not really like, clearly preferring ballet to him on both stages entrusted to him (both in the Mikhailovsky and in the Novosibirsk theaters) - he dared to show in Moscow, where the Mikhailovsky Theater did not bring anything already long enough. I think it played an important role in this The historical drama about the atrocities of Ivan the Terrible's oprichnina was called upon to make an official from the presidential administration: the move is truly either Aesopian or Mephistopheles. Sergey Novikov is a high-ranking state administrator who "dabbles" from time to time in opera directing: he has more than one production in reputable theaters to his credit. Unlike his previous experiments with Oprichnik, he decided to do it traditionally - without incrementing meanings, reversing the plot and motivations of characters, without transferring in time and other dubious "virtues". Thus, of course, stepping into risky territory: after all, staging a performance without shocking frills, traditionally, but interestingly, is a daunting task. Here it is necessary to show imagination, and work with the actor, and not fall into bad taste. To the best of his talent, Novikov seems to have done everything he could: the scene of the oprichnik's oath, worked out sharply and musically, and the finale - a tragic denouement at a wedding feast with a mimic bloodthirsty king wandering among the guests, like a gilded (due to brocade vestments) like a tarantula, or a scorpion, were especially successful. The first pictures were less successful - static and boring, which the director tried to diversify with a very stilted animation and inept wiring. The realistic scenography of Alexander Kupalyan also turned out to be a problem. Called to strike the imagination of the public with its richness, scope and realism in the style of Fedorovsky's socialist realism, it unexpectedly revealed a situation of stylistic disharmony. Luxurious historical costumes, a variety of props that convey the spirit of the era, and the decorations of old Russian interiors sometimes came into visual conflict with video art, which has replaced large-scale painted backdrops and curtains in our time. The falsity was especially felt at first - later, when other merits became clear in the performance, primarily musical, this awkwardness faded into the background and was practically forgotten by the end of the evening. Finding them in Oprichnik is not at all an easy task. The third opera of the great Russian classic is considered unsuccessful, and theaters rarely resort to it: despite this, the second St. Petersburg Opera House tried to protest the “verdict of history”. The rare opera by the most popular Russian composer is not only a rare guest on the theater stage - a performance based on it, as a rule, is also not long-lived. The problem is not only that it is not staged often: after the premiere screenings, where the halls are filled with music lovers and opera fans, each time the performance is harder and harder to sell. I remember the half-empty Bolshoi Theater in the 1999-2000 season, when, after the spring premiere, Oprichnik was not seen in autumn and winter, and very soon it fell out of the repertoire again. The situation is not much better with the Mariinsky version of the 2015 model, What is wrong with this opera? Indeed, at the Bolshoi there was a luxurious historical performance by Irina Molostova - in fur coats and kokoshniks, as the majority of the public loves, and they sang very loudly; and at the Mariinsky Theater they staged a completely modern dynamic performance in the style of a musical show, in which the vocal work was also generally successful. In fact, Oprichnik has enough problems. This is also a verbose libretto by the composer himself with far-fetched dramaturgy and often strained dramatic provisions. And the inconsistency of the lyrical and pathetic nature of Tchaikovsky's talent with the framework of the folk-everyday historical drama: in this field the composer tried more than once to compete with the representatives of the "Mighty Handful" (primarily Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov) and every time (in addition to "Oprichnik" - also in "Voevoda" and "Enchantress") lost. These are direct borrowings of music from another opus - from the first operatic experience of Pyotr Ilyich, from Voyevoda, which he did not like and was burned in a fit of perfectionism. However, Ostrovsky's play and Lazhechnikov's tragedy, the literary foundations of Voyevoda and Oprichnik, are completely different works in terms of passions, Of course, the general public does not know all these nuances, but they feel in their gut that the opera is far from perfect - and quickly loses interest in composing, especially since the title itself is not well known. Therefore, having decided to turn, despite all the "buts", again to this opera, in Mikhailovsky they began with the main thing - with the musical version. Maestro Alexander Solovyov, the recently appointed new chief conductor of the theatre, greatly reduced the score, removing all redundant repetitions and dramaturgically rethinking some fragments. For example, the second act of the performance opens with a symphonic intermission, which was made from dance music "a la russe". And, we must give him his due, the renovation was carried out not only professionally, but masterfully, and perhaps even talentedly - the score was given dynamism and greater logic and persuasiveness, it began to play with colors in a new way. He coped with it and at the level of practice. The orchestra added with each picture - but not in sonority, which could only drown out the singing, but in an emotional message, playing captivatingly, brightly, expressively. Already in the third scene, where the protagonist of the opera Andrei Morozov, against the will of his mother-boyar, joins the ranks of the guardsmen and pronounces his terrible oath, Solovyov managed to achieve a great intensity of expressiveness. The conductor put a lot of effort into emphasizing the incredible lyrical expressiveness of the unique melody of Pyotr Ilyich, highlighting the depth of his dramatic pathos, which Tchaikovsky possessed like no other. For some, this may be a surprise, but not for the author of these lines. I remember well how in 2013 Alexander Solovyov, without exaggeration, saved the premiere of Der Rosenkavalier at the Bolshoi, literally picking up the conductor's baton falling out of the hands of Vasily Sinaisky and brilliantly conducting an important Moscow inauguration - Strauss's luxurious opera was then staged for the first time in Moscow. And each subsequent meeting with the maestro confirmed that the conductor is worthwhile: knowledgeable, able and not mediocre. It remains only to congratulate the Mikhailovsky Theater on such an acquisition. Solovyov also worked with the vocalists to fame. The incredible clarity of diction, when every word is understood without any interlinear, is a rare occurrence in opera. An excellent balance was built between the stage and the pit: without sacrificing orchestral colors, the maestro never drowned out a single singer, no one forced or strained, although almost all the parts in this opera are sharply dramatic and very strong voices are needed here. Soprano Valentina Fedenyova (Natalya) delighted with the beauty of timbre and lyrical sincerity, whose singing can satisfy the most demanding tastes today. Mezzo Ekaterina Yegorova managed to create a weighty and large-scale image - her noblewoman Morozova is probably the most important character in the oprichnina drama. On the whole, Aleksei Tikhomirov (Vyazminsky), the Helikon bass, convinced me, although his voice cannot be called ideal for Russian opera. The titular hero Andrey Morozov performed by Sergey Kuzmin delighted with confident valiant tops and correctly found intonation. Only the gender concession in the part of Basmanov did not seem appropriate enough: they preferred to take the role of the young boyar countertenor Vadim Volkov, whose harsh soprano sound distorted the character of his hero, In a word, Mikhailov's premiere convinced me first of all by its musical solution - there was a breath of good old opera, where the drama was done mainly in singing and orchestra, where the primacy of the sound over everything else was unconditional. Everything else did not spoil the dinner.