A Fright at the Opera! Ballo in Maschera 2nd January 2015

Copyright Catherine Ashmore

Oh dear!  I had hoped that my first opera excursion of 2015 would be something to inspire and kick the year off in fine style!  Despite the dark rumblings of discontent following the first (and subsequent) nights, I hoped that inspiration and a Christmas miracle might have intervened.  Alas, and sad to say, it has not.

Un Ballo in Maschera (to give the opera its full title) is fabulous middle-period Verdi and full of wonderful if tricky arias, duets and ensembles.  Verdi's original version was set in Sweden with the story portraying King Gustav III's assassination at a masked ball,  Of course, the censors would not allow this on stage and so he was forced to change both character and location - Gustavo eventually became Riccardo the Governor of Boston.  In this latest production however, all is a bit more vague.  While the Boston version names are retained, the location appears to be some Ruritanian middle-European location prior to World War 1 - none of which really has any impact on the story telling.

I really have nothing positive at all to say about the physical production and direction on display. The sets and costumes looked cheap and old-fashioned, the choreography dismal and singer-direction non-existant.  My initial tweeted reaction was to use the word inept.  Today I would add amateurish - except that would be an insult to some fine amateur performances I have seen.

There was conversely too much action in places and yet not enough in others.  Focus was constantly pulled from the lead singers by distracting stage business going on around them.  The overture was of course staged - to no real effect.  More annoyingly there was a side-show with Amelia's little boy constantly in and out of bed and Oscar (the page) having a bit of hanky-panky with the maid - all while the lead singers attempted to focus audience attention - and failed for the most part.  It really looked as though the director Katherine Thoma, had concentrated her attention on the peripheries and totally abandoned any attempt to direct the lead singers.

On paper the cast certainly appeared to have the vocal goods, although in my pre-season round up I did express doubts about their dramatic abilities.  Joseph Calleja, Liudmyla Monastyrska and Dmitri Hvorostovsky are very fine singers - great actors they are not.  Casting all three in the same production is unfortunate as even one great acting performance might have enlivened the evening. But it was not to be and unfortunately they received no help at all from the director.  They were all at their best when left alone singing solo arias and the audience rewarded those efforts appropriately.

Joseph Calleja is a fine tenor but his vibrato heavy voice is an acquired taste and I haven't really acquired it.  I don't think he's quite got the measure of this particular role but that may come in time and with better direction may well be a success.  I don't think pairing him with uber-dramatic soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska particularly helped his cause.  She has a magnificent voice it has to be said, although I did feel at times that her lowest notes were completely disconnected from the rest of her voice.  I've now seen her in three roles including a previous Lady Macbeth and Abigaille and unfortunately I've seen no dramatic engagement on any of those occasions. She faired slightly better here it has to be said but only slightly.  Hvorostovsky is pretty much a known quantity at this stage in his career and there were no surprises pleasant or unpleasant.   

Real dramatic engagement and some vocal allure was provided by both Serena Gamberoni as Oscar and Marianne Cornetti as Ulrica the fortune teller.  The conspirators as played by Anatoli Sivko and Jihoon Kim were also well within their roles dramatically and vocally.

Daniel Oren in the pit managed to suck the life out of what should be music of sparkling wit and hidden depths.  Combined with the directorial ineptitude of Katherine Thoma this Ballo really had no chance at all.

50 Shades of Grey.....The Opera

Nabucco, Royal Opera House 6th April 2013

For those of you who might have found your way to this blog via searching the title of this post, I apologise if you were expecting something a little more...exciting shall we say.  No, this is about a performance of Verdi's Nabucco staged by the Royal Opera in a production by Daniele Abbado.

Let me lay my cards on the table here - I love Verdi.  He is by far my favourite opera composer and although I may flirt with Puccini, Mozart, Strauss and even Wagner I always return to Verdi.  Why?  I have no logical or well thought out explanation, but simply say that his his music has the ability to move me in ways other composers rarely do.  His music encapsulates the drama and in a good stage performance can stir the emotions in myriad ways.  Which is why last night's performance was so disappointing.

Let's get the bad out of the way first along with a little story background.  Nabucco is a classic biblical tale of conflict between the Hebrews and Babylonians, the title name being an Italianisation of the Old Testament king Nebuchadnezzar.  The opera was also Verdi's first big stage success, full of patriotic rousing choruses (Va pensiero) and a fantastic role for a dramatic soprano (Abigaille) and great acting opportunities for the leading baritone role of Nabucco.

As is the norm these days, the production was updated, this time to an unspecified time and location, although it had a vaguely 40's/50's look about it.  Now, I don't object to random updating, in fact a good modern production can cast a new light on old works and make you think about them in a different way.  What I do object to is random updating with no particular rhyme or reason - as in this case.  The set consisted of what looked like a giant sandpit with concrete obelisks, around which the large chorus wandered around seemingly at random. Distracting projections on the back screen only added to the confusion.

More disastrously costumes worn by chorus and principles made no attempt to differentiate between the Hebrews and their oppressors - a vast study in grey. There also seemed to have been little attempt by the director to tell the actual story and for the majority of the time chorus and principles shuffled about or stood facing the audience to sing of their anguish.  In fact, if you 'd binned the set, dressed the singers in evening dress and done a concert performance I'm convinced that the evening would have been much better.  As I say, I have no objection to updating when there is a particular point to be made, but what was the point here? And when things did get a bit more exciting (in comparison with what had gone before) there was still no dramatic reasoning behind it.

Now while a ring of fire is very pretty and certainly warmed things up on a chilly evening, what was the reasoning behind it?  Certainly the soprano Liudmyla Monastryrska gave no hint in her demeanour.  There was also some nonsense where various Hebrew prisoners were dragged around the sandpit seemingly with the sole intention of making pretty patterns in the sand!  If Daniele Abaddo were trying to say something with this production it was lost in translation.

Now onto the good.  The musicianship and singing on display ranged from good to excellent.  The conductor Nicola Luisotti led a spirited overture which boded well for the rest of the evening and sure enough the music making was first class.  Leo Nucci is a veteran in the title role, both in terms of experience and age.  At 71 years old his voice is a miracle, showing very few signs of wear and tear, and bringing with him a real Verdian style and appreciation.  I can't imagine the title role being sung better - even by the erstwhile baritenor Placido Domingo who takes over the role on the 15th April.  Dramatically too, Nucci always convinced starting with arrogant monarch (in a grey suit) challenging God, to a convincing and sympathetic portrayal of madness when he is struck down for his arrogance.

One of the main attractions for many of the audience was the chance to hear soprano Liudmyla Monastryska as Abigaille, Nabucco's daughter.  She has a huge dramatic voice in the middle range, although I felt that her lower notes were not well supported (that's me getting technical) and sometimes her top notes were slightly disconnected from the main body of her voice.  No, her glory is in the strong and secure middle of the voice, the chest register impressive and dominant and the audience clearly loved it.  However for me I was more than pleasantly surprised when she sang softly and lyrically - she has a beautiful mezza-voce which she doesn't use often enough, although maybe this is not the sort of role that calls for it.  However, what she doesn't have is dramatic impetus - at least not in this production.

Another pleasant discovery for me was the tenor Andrea Care who gave a good account in the relatively small role of Ismaele - this is not a tenor dominant opera.  But his voice is secure and he has a handsome presence and was probably one of the most dramatically engaged of the singers on stage.  I'd like to see him in a leading role to see if he has all the goods.  A special mention also goes to the Zaccaria of Vitalij Kowaljow, possessor of a deeply sonorous bass voice and some convincing acting - I'd like to see him in a production where he can fully show off his dramatic instincts.

 But above all the expanded chorus of the Royal Opera House deserve special mention.  Their singing throughout the opera was simply stunning - especially in the famous Va pensiero (pictured above) where the final held note was breathtaking and worth the price of admission alone - if only the rest of the production had been up to their exacting standards.

So to conclude, a dramatically disappointing evening but musically it was way above average.