Dialogues des Carmélites - Royal Opera House 7th June 2014

I remember with utter clarity the very first time I heard a snippet of music from this opera.  It was way back in the mists of time (around 1992/3) when I was just starting to really explore opera and classical music in earnest. So I'd buy one of those magazines with a free CD featuring snippets of classical music and just listen. Some of the tracks I already knew, some I didn't like and some I really enjoyed wanted to know more about - it was a really good way of exploring music on the cheap!  Lo and behold one day a track from Carmelites blasted from the speakers and it stopped me in my tracks.  What the hell was this?  Singing nuns getting their heads chopped off?  Baldly stated it sounds bizarre but what I had stumbled across was the Salve Regina, perhaps the most famous 'piece' of the opera and its utterly devastating conclusion.  I didn't know the opera at all but it was love at first listen.  Unfortunately I never got a chance to see a live performance....until now.

And I have to say that it was worth the very long wait.  Much has already been said about this production by Robert Carsen. This is not a new production by any means, having originated in 1997 and has been travelling around the various opera houses since then.  Still, better late than never.  I've only seen two Carsen productions before and neither was a completely satisfactory experience.  Most recent was the Falstaff which I saw live at ROH.  An updating to the 1950's there seemed to be more surface than substance and the final act didn't really work.  His Zurich Tosca (seen on DVD) was also a 1950's based production, although this one taking its cue from film noir and Hitchock themes.  This had the novel idea of removing religion from the opera all together - the first act taking place in a theatre and not a church.  There were some good moments but this was mainly due to the performers and not to the concept. So I was still a little bit wary of what was to come.

In Carmelites, Carsen quite wisely lets the story and the music do the talking.  While the costumes evoke the period of the story, the stage is mostly bare.  Carsen uses the very evocative and clever lighting (designed by Jean Kalman) to great effect.  Combined with the use of the chorus and actors who fill the stage when required this is a simple tale, simply told.  There were no real jarring moments in terms of production although the finale has divided opinion.  As the nuns are gathered to meet their fate they indulge in some gentle almost tai chi like movements before falling gently to the ground one by one.  I think it would have been just as effective to have them stand utterly still but by this time I had tears in my eyes and I couldn't see anyway.

Its very hard to highlight individual performances as this is very much an ensemble - no diva turns here!  Of note to me was the cameo of Thomas Allen as the Marquis de la Force, surely now in the winter of his career...but what a winter.  Richly characterised as always, he made the most of this small role and was warmly applauded at the end for his efforts.  Yann Beuron as his son made a good impression but this opera is not really about the men.  Sally Matthews as Blanche, the novitiate nun who is pretty much afraid of everything, was outstanding as was Anna Prohaska as the perky Sister Constance.  I'm a big fan of Sophie Koch (especially in French opera) and I wasn't disappointed here.  Another standout was Deborah Polaski as the aged and dying Mother Prioress.  She really threw herself into the agonies of the dying nun and you can imagine poor Blanche being terrified.  If Emma Bell was less notable than the rest of the cast, it was only because she had little enough time to establish her character.  Quite honestly there was no weak link in the cast.

So what was it all about?  I suppose on the surface it was about a group of nuns who succumbed to the zeal of the French Revolution.  Others have said it is about the transference of faith - that the faith shown by Constance and the other nuns is somehow transferred to Blanche, enabling her to return to the nuns and die with them. For me personally, it was about overcoming fear, or rather overcoming the fear of fear and thus being able to move on.

In many ways, I had a very similar experience with this opera as I did when I saw Parsifal for the first time and I approached it in much the same way.  This opera is a journey and you have to slow down and let the composer take you on that journey and not want to rush ahead - the conclusion is all the more devastating for the slow pace in getting there.

I have only one criticism and that is a technical one.  The sounds of the guillotine, while still devastating, were greatly over-amplified in the theatre -  at least in the lower amphitheatre where I was sitting.  It just brought a slightly false-note to an otherwise perfect night at the opera.  I'll  leave you with that devastating final scene.

Mazes of the Mind - Fidelio, English National Opera, 27th September 2013

I don't go to see opera at ENO very often it has to be said.  This is nothing to do with their tendency to a somewhat more challenging directorial approach than the ROH.  I like to think I'm open-minded and take each production on its own merits.  No, my reluctance is usually to do with the fact that I do prefer my opera in the original language i.e. the language of the original libretto. Italian opera especially tends to sound frankly more than a little strange and grating to the ear when translated into English.  So I tend to avoid the mainstream repertory that I know well and visit ENO for works that I don't know quite so well - or that have a tradition for being translated into English, such as the upcoming Die Fledermaus.

For me Fidelio just about comes under that criteria.  I don't understand German in the way I do Italian/French and I've only seen Fidelio once - and that was on DVD.  I do know Florestan's aria 'Gott! Welch dunkel hier' reasonably well...but more of that later. So a visit to see this was definitely on the agenda.  What tipped the balance for me was ENO's introduction of their Secret Seat scheme, where you pay £20 up front with no idea of where you will be seated until a couple of days before the performance when your seat will be confirmed.  Suitably intrigued and up for a gamble I booked 'secret seats' for Fidelio, Die Fledermaus and Peter Grimes.  Thankfully in the case of Fidelio, the gamble paid off very nicely with a front row seat in the Dress Circle - a ticket normally costing £94!  Not bad.  However looking around the auditorium I couldn't help but notice an abundance of empty seats.  This is a shame and I do hope ENO is not about to go the way of New York City Opera who seem to be on their last legs.

The production by Calixto Bieito is new to ENO, although will be familiar to international opera goers and YouTube fans as it was premièred in Munich in 2010.  I'll say upfront that I haven't watched any of the available clips as none seem to come with English subtitles, and given my unfamiliarity with the work, I do need them.  So, I came to this performance as fresh as I could and with no preconceptions other than knowing the basic outline of the story.

I have to say that I found the standing set (pictured above) stunning.  The picture doesn't really do it justice and I also have to give kudos to the lighting designer Tim Mitchell for making what could have been a stark and ugly set, quite beautiful at times.

Apart from occasionally clambering around the set, the singers were mostly confined in front of the mad-made monolith but they made the most of the restrictions.  I must admit that if I was coming to this completely ignorant of the story, I would probably have no idea what was happening - and to me that is a failure.  I shouldn't need to have to read essays by the director before I watch a piece of theatre - they should be able to convey the story effectively without me having to refer to the programme to see what on earth they are getting at.  There is also much mention of a 'fresh vision' and 'challenging assumptions' which is all very well if you are dealing with people who know the opera inside out and are open to being challenged whilst still understanding the original.  But what if you are dealing with people (like me) who have very little previous knowledge of the opera and are therefore left totally confused by this production.

Ironically I felt that this did work as a piece of theatre, but not as an opera - the two felt quite disconnected.  Let me explain a little.  For me, the ideal opera performance is one where acting and singing combine to produce an almost seamless work - one where you almost don't notice the acting or the singing as separate entities.  In my experience that fusion very rarely happens and the balance nearly always tips to one side or the other - either the music/singing wins out, or the acting/theatrical aspects do.  I have been lucky enough to witness those rare performances where you almost forget that someone is singing, so wrapped up in the drama have I been.  But those are rare exceptions - and this performance came no where close alas.

The most annoying part of the performance came with the arrival of Don Fernando, bizarrely costumed here in full wig and 17/18 Century get up - as opposed to the rest of the cast in current workaday clothes.  Why?  I would almost have preferred the Munich version where he was some sort of Joker figure.  And then of course he goes and shoots Florestan - which I admit came as a bit of a surprise.  The first word of out my mouth was  'b........'  I'll leave you do deduct what that might have been. It just didn't work for me as played here.    I have subsequently looked up the Munich version to see how they played it and frankly it was much better done, the reactions of the singer playing Don Fernando 'sold' the idea - but not in the ENO version I'm afraid.

I'd be interested to know if Bieto directed this revival and approved of the tweaks to the original. Subsequent viewing of clips of the Munich original has revealed some significant differences in addition to the one noted above.

As to the singing, I would say that overall it was of a very high standard given the challenges of some very physical aspects to the production.  Stuart Skelton was impressive as Florestan and his first utterance of 'God, the darkest hour' was in no way inferior to a Certain Other Tenor's outstanding version.  I did feel however, that he tired a little towards the end.  Beethoven's challenging writing no doubt, but also a very hectic schedule alternating Fidelio and Peter Grimes - neither easy sings. But Skelton has a beautiful strong voice and I'm looking forward to his performance in the ENO Peter Grimes in February.

Emma Bell as Fidelio/Leonore was his equal although I found her lower register less reliable and beautiful than her steely top where I felt she came into her own.  Very nicely acted too if not entirely convincing as a bloke.

So, for me a game of two halves.  The music and singing was beautiful but the production failed for me personally in that I didn't get the emotional 'punch' that I'm always looking for in opera.  However, what it has done is made me more eager to experience another production of Fidelio - there are so many interpretations of this story that could be done, both traditional and non-traditional.  I hope I get to see one soon.