D’Intino’s Azucena Rescues Liceu’s ‘Trovatore’

Opera research tells us that, at first, Giuseppe Verdi was considering “Azucena” as the name for his 1853 opera, Il Trovatore. If the composer were still alive and had attended the opera’s December 22nd performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, he very well might have. There was no doubt while watching the telecast at the Loft Cinema on the same date, that mezzo-soprano Luciana D’Intino captured one of the most intriguing and vocally-effulgent interpretations of Verdi’s gypsy outcast this opera lover has ever heard. D’intino’s vocal ease and textual command of the role was in the tradition of two of Italy’s best interpreters from the past, Giulietta Simionato and Fiorenza Cossotto. And the audience was very fortunate to hear and see her, for what remained was one of the dullest performances of Verdi’s magnificent musical masterpiece.

For once, the physical side of the production was not the culprit in the show. The sets, costumes, and lighting by William Orlandi were in vogue with many of the opera productions of today. They combined a style reminiscent of older times with the sleek lines of today. Orlandi’s unit set was composed of white side walls and back scrims that changed from the orange sun of daylight to the dusky blue of nighttime. Orlandi’s work followed Director’s Gilbert Deflo’s concept of chiaroscuro in Salvatore’s Cammarano’s text. (By the way, one remarkable thing about the libretto is how the librettist was able to wheedle down the verbosity in Antonio García Gutiérrez’s long romantic drama typical of early 19th Century Spain.) The set designer also carried the day/night theme over to his costumes. They had a hint of 15th Century soldiers’ uniforms united with the clean lines of modern-day dress. This was most apparent in the plastic sheen of the blue and red helmets of the opposing armies with both clad in black soft-shelled armor. He dressed the heroine Leonora in one costume only: a long white, tailored tunic. Beautiful though it was, it got a little boring to look at by opera’s end. As a matter of fact, ennui was something that plagued the whole production, even making Marco Armiliato’s conducting seem routine.
(more…)

Puccini, Madama Butterfly

From Seen and Heard International
By: José M Irurzun; Picture courtesy of the Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofia, Valencia
(below)Oksana Dyka as Cio Cio San

After opening its opera season with Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Valencia returned to box-office security by programming Madama Butterfly, last performed here in April 2008. Some would say it is far from interesting to repeat these operas within such a short period of time, but the public does not seem to agree with that view and the eight performances are already sold out.

On the previous occasion the production was by Keita Asari, from La Scala. This time, we were presented with one of Mariusz Trelinski’s productions. I say one of his productions because, to my knowledge, there are two – the one seen in Valencia and the production being performed at the same time at the Mariinski Theatre. The productions are very similar, although chronologically the Valencia Butterfly had its premiere in Warsaw in 1999, while the Mariinski one was premiered in 2005. Mariusz Trelinski is one of the stage directors preferred by Placido Domingo and Valery Gergiev and both have presented several of his productions in the theatres they manage.

I found Trelinski’s production quite appealing aesthetically, but rather uneven and only able to carry the emotion of Puccini’s work here and there. There are excellent moments, especially Butterfly’s entry with her entourage, all on board boats, or the end of Act II, with the silhouette of the hull of Pinkerton’s warship and a small boat going towards it, while we listen to “il Coro a bocca chiusa”. There are almost too many scene changes, with sliding curtains that open new sets at the back of the stage (e.g. the Yamadori scene, the Commissioner, or an absurd Zio Bonzo hanging from the ceiling in a dragon’s mouth). The sets are attractive, but the costumes are not truly appealing to my mind.

What is outstanding in this production is the wonderful lighting by Tomasz Mierzwa, some of the best I’ve seen in a long time. (Apparently, he is not responsible for lighting the Mariinski production). But Trelinski’s stage direction is not that interesting, since the drama is lost in aestheticism and none of the characters is particularly well defined. In summary, this is a brilliant production, but rather short of emotion – something less than ideal for Puccini.
(more…)

Janácek, Katya Kabanov

From Seen and Heard International
By:James L. Zychowicz; Pictures © Dan Rest

The Kabanov Household

Leoš Janá?ek’s 1921 opera Katya Kabanova is based on the 1860 play The Storm by Alexander Ostrovsky, and the title of the source is a key element in its musical adaptation. Just as the storm is critical to Ostrovsky’s play, the tempest depicted at the beginning of the opera’s third act is one of the composer’s most powerful musical conceptions, and its presentation at Lyric Opera of Chicago is impressive for the way in which it brings together the various elements of this work. The drama, music, dialogue, and imagery must fuse well to make this scene intelligible, and the focus Markus Stenz gave this climactic scene conveyed the intensity of one of the composer’s most powerful stage works.

Karita Mattila seems perfectly suited to the role of Katya, a figure which she portrays as able to stand up to the verbal and emotional assaults of her domineering mother-in-law, Kabanicha, here portrayed by Judith Forst. As Katya, Mattila gave life to her character by expressing not only the powerful emotional outbursts that are essential to the first scene, but also the profound despair of the final part of the drama. Musically, Mattila gave an almost flawless performance, which required both a soaring upper register (for example, in the exchange with Varvara about the freedom of birds), as well as a clearly articulated lower register, most memorable in the storm scene. The latter passage, the almost unexpected confession, worked well in the speech rhythms which are at the core of vocal line in Janá?ek operas and Mattila allows her voice to suggest a kind of delirium, which leads her to blurt the name of her lover, and then the madness that possesses her in the final scene.

Mattila dominates the stage in the second half of the opera, a woman liberated from the oppressive household through her doomed quest for freedom in taking a lover. Already berated by the staid and demanding Kabanicha for deviating from convention, Varvara gives her the opportunity to react to her inner daimon without regard for the harm she should wreak upon Tichon and ultimately on his relationship with his mother. Mattila made Katya believable, not only vocally, but also through her acting. Her final moments remind one of expressionist drama, especially when Katya hears the Volga in the off-stage chorus, which emerges from the orchestra timbres just loudly enough. To this Katya responds almost dementedly, and at that point it is clear from Mattila’s interpretation of the role that Katya can neverreturn to conventional life in Kabanicha’s household.
(more…)