Barcelona Rarity:
Damrau and Flórez can’t Salvage Linda di Chamounix

From Seen and Heard International
By:José Mª Irurzun; Photo courtesy Gran Teatre del Liceau, © A. Bofill

SpainSpain Gaetano Donizetti, Linda di Chamounix: Soloists, Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Gran Teatre del Liceu, Marco Armiliato (conductor), Barcelona’s Liceu, 27 & 28.12. 2011 (JMI)

New production Barcelona’s Liceu, coproduction with Opera di Roma

Linda di Chamounix is an opera of full-blown maturity Donizetti. When it premiered in Vienna in 1842, Donizetti’s greatest hits were already well established. Only Don Pasquale (1844), among his best known operas, came later. Although Linda di Chamounix was a major success at its premiere and at its revival in Paris (revised and with the addition of its best-known aria), it is now one of the least performed operas by Donizetti. In Spain it was last performed in Bilbao in 1998 with Edita Gruberova in the title role. In major opera houses it was seen last season at London’s Covent Garden, but only in a concert version.

Now the Liceu in Barcelona has decided to bring it back on stage, and with an exceptional cast. Is the presence of two exceptional singers like Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flórez enough for Linda di Chamounix to succeed? Alas, no.

Linda belongs among the semi-serious melodramas, which might have had its day, but not nowadays. There are exceptional lyrical pages in some Donizetti buffo operas, but no particularly successful lightheartedness in his lyrical or dramatic operas. Especially the quality of the music that Donizetti wrote for the buffo scenes of Marquis Boisfleury is poor. The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is weak enough to stand out even among other Rossini libretti and the music is very uneven, with outstanding moments (among them several of the main duets) right next to , but at times the music that does not go above oompah-pah. At three hours, nearly 3 hours of opera can get rather long.

The Liceu has commissioned a new production from Emilio Sagi, which doesn’t go beyond simply narrating the weak plot. He updates the action to the early 20th century and drapes it in kitschy sets for acts I and III: Some forested landscape with flowers and later a few trees replaced by tables and chairs to celebrate the return of the Savoyards from Paris. In the second act shows Linda’s apartment on two levels, and blends in with the costumes kept soft colors to match the sets. The lighting work is good, but the stage direction unconvincing.

Marco Armiliato has become one of the most requested conductors by today’s top singers, presumably because he is always at their service (if necessary at the expense of the music). Nothing was therefore more natural than to have him in the pit with Diana Damrau and Juan Diego Flórez on stage. His reading was not exciting; much as if the singers were in fact conducting. No question, Mr Armiliato can be (and was) very efficient at his job, but it’s not enough for an opera like Linda di Chamounix. His reading, interestingly, seemed much better with the second cast, when he managed for something altogether more lively—shaving a remarkable eleven minutes off the net music-time from the previous evening.

Diana Damrau is the ideal interpreter of the character of Linda: A great singer, a great actress, and a voice that is very well suited to the character, even if her very top register is not as bright as a couple of years ago. She has a lot to sing and many opportunities to shine and she was excellent. Her initial aria—or rather cabaletta—”O luce di quest’anima”—was good already, but she was at her very best in the madness scene that closes act II.

The second-cast Linda was Mariola Cantarero, with legions of her own fans in this theater. Her performance contained light and shadow. No question she is an excellent singer with an impressive technique that allows her to modulate her voice as few singers can do today. Unfortunately, the high notes were problematic, some of them just shouted and she offers some signs of fatigue… improper for a singer of her age, in addition to breaking three times in pianissimo passages.

Juan Diego Flórez as Carlo was a luxury. The score is not as long or complicated as Linda’s, but he threw about his expensive top notes for the pleasure of the audience, and did so with gusto! To my taste his voice is still rather too light for this Donizetti role; when Alfredo Kraus triumphed as Carlo at La Scala in 1972, he was a light-lyric tenor, not a light Rossini tenor, as Juan Diego Flórez continues to be. But that doesn’t mean that he is not an exceptional singer; indeed one of the best in recorded history.

Yet I found Ismael Jordi better suited to Carlos than his superstar colleague. He is much more in line with a “tenore di grazia.” He phrased with elegance and good taste and he was a good stage performer. What he cannot produce are the insultingly easy over-the-top notes that Juan Diego Flórez adds and delivers. Ismael Jordi was busy enough to cope with the notes as written in the score, lacking that extra bit of brilliance at the very top. Now a cross between these two tenors would be a Carlo for all history!

Silvia Tro Santafe was well-suited to Pierotto if somewhat monotonous in her singing. I preferred Ketevan Kemoklidze of the second cast, although her advanced pregnancy poked right through the fourth wall. Pietro Spagnoli was a mediocre Antonio, Linda’s father. This is not a minor character and a more important baritone is needed. Fabio Capitanucci was much better in the part, although his top notes remain too far much back. Simon Orfila was a remarkable interpreter of the Prefect, once you get used to his voice: not exactly beautiful, but always guaranteed to do well in any role he sings. In the second cast Mirco Palazzi offered a pleasant voice in the middle, of rather small volume—too whitish at the top and rather weak in the bottom register. Bruno de Simone was a better actor than singer as Boisfleury but again the singer of the alternative cast, Paolo Bordogna, gave the better performance.

Direction. Emilio Sagi
Sets: Daniel Bianco
Costumes: Pepa Ojanguren
Ligting: Albert Faura

Cast:

Linda: Diana Damrau / Mariola Cantarero
Carlo: Juan Diego Flórez / Ismael Jordi
Antonio: Pietro Spagnoli / Fabio Capitanucci
Pierotto: Silvia Tro Santafé / Ketevan Kemoklidze
Prefect: Simon Orfila / Mirco Palazzi
Marquis de Boisfleury: Bruno de Simone / Paolo Bordogna
Maddalena: María José Suárez
Intendant: Jordi Casanova

A ‘Publicity Stunt’ Mars a Thrilling Opera Performance

I saw the great performance at LA Opera on Saturday afternoon, November 26th, of Romeo and Juliet. Nino Machaizde and Vittorio Grigolo were a wonderful pair of lovers, with an intense showing of their dramatic and vocal powers. Their final scene was riveting; their emotional connection was overwhelming.

However, what took place after the opera certainly left a bad taste in my mouth. Requiring opera fans to purchase Machaizde and Grigolo’s albums in order to get an autograph was crass and insulting, ( nothing in the publicity about the signing mentioned this prerequisite.)

Of course, opera companies and particularly singers need the revenue of album sales but to refuse to meet the fans because they haven’t bought your albums is not only unfair but smacks of greed. I don’t remember in all my years of opera going when I was not allowed a short visit to say congratulations or to get an autograph after a thrilling opera performance. Also, I don’t think opera fans at the Met or in Europe would accept this snub.

Since Placido Domingo is the Artistic Director of the LA Opera Company,I hold him responsible for the insult. After all, Domingo is a great artist and has deservedly received plenty of adulation from his fans over the years, that’s the reason I find it so upsetting that he would allow this.

By the way, we had to wait over half an hour for Machaizde and Grigolo to come out which was certainly understandable considering what they had given of themselves in the performance. I’m sure many people who wanted an autograph would not have hung around for that time but the diehard fans would. I doubt if there would have been more than a handful that would have waited. I am a big Grigolo fan, and have his albums and copies of four of his opera performances but when I listened to one of them last evening, my feelings for his work changed. I seemed to have lost some of the good will and respect for him as a person. I hope these qualities can be restored and also I hope that no opera fan will have to face such a demeaning situation again.

The U of A’s Opera Theater–Potent Vocals and Incisive Dramatics Bring Veracity to G. Menotti’s Consul

More than half a century has passed since Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul* premiered at the Shubert Theater in Philadelpia in 1950. The opera, called his finest lyrical composition, ran in New York for eight months on Broadway picking up both the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critics Award along the way.

The opera’s theme, the personal suffering and loss of life living under a totalitarian government struck very close to home in 1950. The Second World War had ended in 1945, and many people throughout the world were still coping with the dreadful, emotional turmoil caused by the war. But is the opera’s libretto, which was written by Menotti, relevant to the world’s situation today? Well, Charles Roe, the opera theater’s artistic director, seemed to think so. And the proof came with what transpired on stage at Crowder Hall for four performances in November from the 17th to the 20th.

Before Roe could get the production to its successful conclusion, there were many challenges to consider. It wasn’t because the opera’s musical structure which Menotti allied to a pungent text became problematic in performance; it was because the work is so musically and dramatically rewarding to perform, the artistic choices had to be of a very high standard. Since 2006, Roe has been mounting opera in English and most times he has been able to capture the essence of the works by meeting the vocal and dramatic demands of each opera.

And again this time, Roe was confident that he had the students, both undergraduate and graduate, capable of handling Menotti’s opera — which from the opera’s opening chords to the last, requires a total artistic commitment on the part of the performers, if they are to win over an audience.

Ever since The Consul first premiered, musicologists and opera critics have commented over the years about Menotti’s musical touches reminiscent of the composer Giacomo Puccini, never failing to mention the composers’ supposedly similar musical approaches as exemplified in the Act One trio, “Now lips, say goodbye,” sung by John Sorel, Madga, the opera’s heroine and John’s Mother. Sung at the point in the act when the Mother and Madga say farewell to John who must flee from the secret police, the music shares Puccini’s penchant for lyrical statements of heartbreak, but the musical expression is entirely Menotti’s.

Where the composer does emulate Puccini is in his characterization of Madga Sorel. Menotti constructed a heroine who not only appears in every scene in the opera, but throughout the work continually expresses with searing emotion her journey to save her family from annihilation. As with Puccini’s heroines, Magda dominates the opera which asks for vocal stamina expressed through a multifaceted dramatic interpretation. To find a singer who can handle the role is a tall order for any opera company, but for a university opera program to find two is commendable.

Since Roe has increased the number of performances of the fall production to four, double casting became necessary. For the role of Magda, Menotti imbued it with so many emotions that sopranos Mele Santos and Christy McClarty had enough room to find their own vocal and dramatic interpretation.

Santos’s Magda was intense and straight forward in her quest to save her husband from the evil forces that surrounded them. McClarty’s Madga was more introspective, trying to hide her desperation, recognizing the end for her, John and his mother would be fatal.

Menotti wrote a long climatic aria in Act Two, Scene Two for Magda, expressing her frustration at not being able to obtain a visa to join her husband in a neighboring country. The aria, which takes place at the Consulate, is a dramatic tour de force with dynamics ranging from Adagio to Presto agitato, written in multiple time signatures from two/four to twelve/eight and interspersed with E, G and A flats — notes geared to show Magda’s gradual, psychological breakdown which leads to her suicide at the end of the opera. But Menotti, not one to lose a great operatic opportunity, gave Magda, at the aria’s climax, one last vocal grasp of hope, expressed in one of the most beautiful, soaring melodies in all the operatic canon.

Both Santos and McClarty seized the moment. Santos threw herself into the role with a vocal strength that characterized her entire interpretation, so much so, the soprano seemed to tire at the end of the Act Two aria, but still held on to Magda’s willfulness. McClarty built the aria from slow desperation to emotional exasperation with vocals that held on to the end. Sunday’s matinee performance was conducted by David Dunbar, an assistant. He had Menotti’s score well in check, but lost some of the aria’s orchestral dramatic strength which made McClarty’s interpretation all the more impressive.

But the sopranos had other standout moments. In Act Three, Santos vocals showed how Magda’s determination to survive morphed with notable pathos into her acceptance of her fate. In Act One, McClarty’s scenes with John’s mother exhibited a clear sense of foreboding of what was to become of their lives.

As John Sorel, bass-baritone Seth Kershisnik and as his Mother, mezzo-soprano Mackenzie Romriell showed that experience counts. Both singers having appeared in other Opera Theater performances such as Il matrimonio segreto and Albert Herring, took to their roles with vocal ease and dramatic confidence. Kershisnik’s Sorel was forceful and committed to trying his best to save his family. Romriell was alternately angry with the government’s interference and tender with Magda and John’s baby boy who sadly died from malnutrition. Both singers were outstanding in the Act One trio with Magda and in the Act Three finale as they reappeared as figments of Magda’s delirium in her dying moments.

Stephanie Brink and Jovahnna Anderson in the role of the Consul’s Secretary and Jess Koehn and Jose Coca as Mr. Kofner, a gentleman in search of a visa, sang and acted their roles with portrayals that showed off Menotti’s ability to write secondary parts with feeling and accuracy.

In the double casting of the Magician, Nika Magadoff, who tried to convince the Secretary that his magic tricks alone would earn him a visa, tenors Brandon Dale and Mitchell Sturges handled the vocals comfortably. Dale’s Magadoff relished performing his tricks with delightful humor, but Sturges held back from connecting his magic to the character’s personality. And Kyle Vincent Connor’s Secret Police Agent was alternately pompous and nasty befitting his profession with Alejandro Banuelos as John’s confidant Assan, comporting a congenial stage presence.

Menotti’s facility in writing roles that are small in size, but not in scope, came to the fore in the three ladies patiently waiting at the Consulate for their visas. Ellen Hinkle as the Foreign Woman, Gabriella Carillo as Anna Gomez and Emily Spirk as Vera Boronel came up with distinct characterizations that were exceptional in vocal quality.

Again, the artistic vocal and orchestral success of the production were in the hands of Music Director and Conductor Thomas Cockrell. The maestro got his orchestra members and singers to bring to full throttle the anguish and heartbreak of an abandoned people that Menotti so clearly expressed in his music.

Sally Day’s sets and Christopher Allen’s costumes reflected the drabness and harshness of Magda and John’s daily life. However, Day was able to add to the production’s overall sense of doom with the set in the Consul’s office. She constructed plexiglass floor to ceiling panels that were translucent at the top where images of curled barbed wire shown through representing everyone’s mental imprisonment.

The added performances for both the fall and spring productions shows real advancement in the Opera Theater’s pursuit of performing excellence. However, the number of empty seats for a production of this stature points to a disconnect between the ability to both attract audiences and fill all those seats.

* Synopsis — In order to save his own life and the lives of his freedom-loving friends, John Sorel is forced to leave his wife Magda, his baby and his mother, and escape over the frontier. Magda visits the consul’s office to obtain a visa so they can join John, but she is thwarted by the necessity for countless documents and papers. The baby dies and John’s mother falls ill and also dies. At the Consul’s office Magda receives a message from John saying he is returning. To prevent his arrest, Magda sends a note saying he will not find her alive. She returns home and turns on the gas jets, experiencing hallucinations before she dies. John arrives too late and is arrested by the secret police.

Synopsis by Quaintance Eaton