Best and Worst of 2014

Oh dear!  Its been a long time since my last post hasn't it?  Unfortunately I was laid low for quite a while with a persistent chest infection which meant that not only did I feel pretty rough, I had to cancel quite a lot of my planned opera and concert going.

But enough of that!  Now restored to relative full health, though I'd start the year with a look back at what I did manage to see!


Outstanding New Production

Surprisingly (or perhaps not!) my outstanding production of 2014 comes not from ROH but from ENO.  The Girl of the Golden West was a delight from start to finish.  A sympathetic, singable translation ensure that this opera was the deserved success it should be.  All of the lead singers nailed their characters and if their voices weren't quite 'perfect' they more than made up for that with dramatic commitment.  Why can't all opera be like this?

Runner up for this category - Manon Lescaut at the Royal Opera.  Again, not quite perfect by any means but the cast almost convinced you that it was!


Best Revival

Once again there was so much choice for Best Revival but this performance of La Boheme with Ermonela Jaho and Charles Castronovo just stood out from the crowd.  Great singing of course, but what impressed and moved me were their performances - they simply became Mimi and Rodolfo.  As I said in my end of term report - mesmerising and magical.

Highly commended in this category was a surprisingly good Barbiere di Siviglia and a deeply emotional Diaglogues des Carmelites (classed here as a revival as its been around for so long!).


Best Male Performance

Yes I know, but honest I couldn't resist this year!  Jonas Kaufmann is simply a force of nature!  Put him in the right role and he simply overcomes resistance...at least for me!  I think his most impressive performance came from the new Met production of Werther - which I managed to catch in the HD broadcast.  He really does suit the more brooding and introspective characters.  Also impressive was his assumption of Des Grieux in the ROH Manon Lescaut, even if the production didn't quite fire on all cylinders.  But most memorable for me was his performance of Wintereisse also in the hallowed halls of ROH. This has led to the purchase of many lieder CD's (not just his) and also many tickets to Wigmore Hall!

Honorable mentions for Best Male Performance go to Charles Castronovo for La Boheme and Michele Angelini in his ROH debut as Count Almaviva in Barbiere di Siviglia



Best Female Performance

So many riches to choose from, but if I'm honest the performance which simply blew me away in 2014 was Sondra Radvanovsky in Tosca.  This was my first chance to hear this artist in person and oh my word...what a stunning voice!  I simply left the auditorium open mouthed with wonder. Stunning.  Please, please can she come back?

Other outstanding female performances were Joyce DiDonato (Met HD Cenerentola), Karita Mattila for a stunning Ariadne auf Naxos, Susan Bullock for a resplendent Minnie in Girl of the Golden West and Kristine Opolais - her dramatic commitment to Manon Lescaut was impressive indeed.

Biggest Disappointment

Once again I suppose it was the quality of the new productions.  Don Giovanni was the biggest disappointment for me.  While the singing was for the most part top notch, dramatic invention was replaced by overused projections and a spinning set.  Add a touch of misogyny to the female portrayals and a bizarre ending for a most unedifying experience!

So there we have my selections for 2014.

Have a Happy New Year everyone and I wish you many new musical highlights for 2015.

Toute mon âme est là! - Werther Met HD Broadcast

After reading so many reviews and blogs and tweets about the current run of Werther at the Met Opera, needless to say I was practically champing at the bit to experience this production, if not live, then probably the next best thing.  The fact that Werther is portrayed by the 'tenor du jour' Jonas Kaufmann only added to the anticipation.  I'll try not to let this blog post descend into 'fan girl' gushing but its going to be hard!  As it happens, this was also to be my very first experience of a Met HD broadcast in the cinema which was also an intriguing prospect, so I'll expand a bit more about that aspect of my experience.

My cinema of choice was the Curzon in Mayfair, a little gem with only two screens and a world away from the large multi-screen cinemas more commonly found.  Seating just over 300 in total, the auditorium was ample without being oversized, with comfortable seats, attentive staff and a nice line in Prosecco, Chardonnay and Merlot which you could sip at your seats - very civilised indeed!  The auditorium was about three-quarters full as a guess - not bad for a 5pm start I thought.  My fellow opera fans were slightly more 'mature' than I...which is quite something given that I'm not exactly a spring chicken myself!

My once concern before the broadcast started, was the thought of the possibly overwhelming volume levels.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind my opera loud when it needs to be, but this is Werther, and something a little more subtle is required, rather than the normal volume at cinemas which tend to rattle the walls!  Luckily my doubts about the quality of the picture and volume were soon put to one side - I couldn't really fault either, apart from a couple of little 'glitches' in the stream, but they only last for a couple of seconds.

So, to the opera itself.

I don't really have a big history with Werther.  I know the most famous tenor aria of course, but I've never seen a live performance before.  I have seen the DVD of the 2010 Paris production, also coincidentally starring Jonas Kaufmann and Sophie Koch as his Charlotte. I enjoyed the performances of both very much but the actual direction of this DVD I find annoying in the extreme.  Unfortunately the director shows us shots of the singers waiting in the wings, the back of the conductor and the orchestra and more or less kills the mood that the singers are working so hard to establish.  Bizarre.

Luckily this new production by Sir Richard Eyre was filmed in a pretty straightforward way for the broadcast.  Close-ups were more or less on-cue and appropriate, the singers always totally in character, the larger picture also lovingly detailed.  The production itself was in the traditional mould but none the worse for that.  There were a lot of projections - this seems to be a 'thing' now and I think that directors are still getting the hang of how to use and more importantly how much to use!  My recent Don Giovanni at ROH, used them a little too frequently I thought.  Here they were used sparingly but effectively, especially when they eased transition from one scene to another, the house and garden of Charlotte and her family, magically transforming into a ballroom where Charlotte and Werther dance and fall in love.  I would be interested to know how effective the projections were in the theatre as opposed to the broadcast - they certainly seemed impressive on the big screen.

This was the last performance in this particular run of Werther and I think it probably showed in the performances.  Rarely was there a moment when any of the cast were not totally committed and in character - a difficult feat to pull off when the camera is constantly on you.  And yet I believed in all of the characters - even the annoying ones!

This opera is a slow burner - there is a lot of scene-setting in Acts 1 and 2 and Sophie Koch as Charlotte paced her performance accordingly, only allowing us a glimpse into her changing emotions in Act 3 and then the ultimately tragic consequences in Act 4.  She is a believable warm presence as Charlotte, with a voice to match and an utterly convincing actress in this part.  David Bizic as her husband Albert was new to me and his voice was smooth and darkly coloured. But this is not an especially grateful singing role for a baritone, with few opportunities to shine.  Lisette Oropesa has a bright-voiced winning soprano and in the role of Sophie she is sweet without being saccharine, suggesting hidden depths and empathy with her sister's plight.

But let's face facts here - Werther is all about the tenor.  And when the tenor is Jonas Kaufmann you can be sure you are in for an emotional roller coaster ride.  The voice of course is wonderful, perhaps darker and more burnished than before, which is unusual itself when this role has traditionally been sung by the likes of Alfredo Kraus, Nicolai Gedda and more recently Roberto Alagna.  Kaufmann makes it work though, his darker tones suggesting a more brooding presence from the start. But its not just the voice - wonderful as that was - its the full commitment to the role that impresses.

The final act is a master-class in acting from both singers as Werther commits suicide (quite graphically here) and Charlotte arrives too late to save him - but not too late to comfort him and finally admit her love.  There were moments here when I was quite literally holding my breath.  And, strange as it sounds, there were also moments when I actually forgot that they were singing and everything was just the drama being played out. That for me is the ultimate in operatic acting.

So for me, my first Met Live HD experience was a thrilling one and one I'm definitely going to repeat at some stage.  No it can't replace the special thrill of being in the opera house and hearing singers live, but when that's just not possible then this is the next best thing.