Gluck Alceste - psychologically perceptive despite the singing

Watched the Bayerisches Staatsoper production  livestream last night, tho' it was ruimned by weather conditions and kept cutting out.  However, heard enough to say that Munich was LEAGUES better than Madrid.  Musically, the singers were wonderful,  Dortothea Roeschmann brilliant, and the orchestra less leaden than Bolton.  The production was suitably austere, the all important choreography so expressive that it extended the music, as it should.  Will write it up when the livestream gets archived


"They see me as a threat but I'm here to do good. Every strong woman in history has had to walk down the same path. I think it's the strength that causes confusion and fear"

Alceste, Queen of Thessaly, gives an interview. The very fact that Alceste should be allowed to give her side of events will enrage the kind of folk who think no-one is allowed insights other than their own. Director Krzysztof Warlikowski.'s production for the Teatro Real, Madrid, doesn't overdo the Princess Diana metaphor too much. Alceste (through Angela Denoke) comes across as a plausible, sympathetic personality. In any case, when the music begins, she slips back into role. In this performance, Denoke's pitch wavers and her consonants elide into vowels.  But  she acts so well that she projects character so well that she's utterly compelling. She dominates the screen, expressing Alceste's deepest feelings  with blazing intensity. A wonderful portrayal: one can forgive the lost notes. This is, after all, a Queen driven to extremes. What happens to her is horrific,  but her dignity and courage shine through.  Denoke's phrasing is plummy, but the raw honesty of her acting shows deep committment. I was immensely moved.

The Overture is stunning. Alceste knows what's happened to Admète. It's a private moment where she can show her vulnerability.  Shaking, Denoke tries to light a cigarette but her hands tremble too much.  When the trumpets announce Évandre, (Magnus Staveland)  who brings the news, the chorus reacts with grief, but as Queen, Alceste has to retain regal composure.as she addresses the populace. Here, they're shown as patients in a hospital with marble walls, whose austerity accentuates the rich, jewel-coloured satins worn by Alceste and her entourage's glowing colours.  Throughout history, royals have been expected to carry out semi-divine civic functions to calm their sujects fidèles.  Diana wasn't the first or last. In the darkness of the Temple, Gluck evokes a mood of elegant dignity. Warlikowski introduces long moments of silence, intensifying dramatic tension. A ritual is being observed. When Willard White's High Priest cries out "All-powerful God", the effect is  striking, even though White's voice is now ragged and dry.

The scene in which Alceste confronts the Underworld is brilliantly realized by designer Malgorzata Szczesniak.  The stage becomes a vast, metallic surface onto which fleeting images of the family and court are projected. Denoke seems tiny in comparison. As she sings, her shadow is shown upside down behind her: everything's in reverse. White light, rippling surfaces: Apollo's beams pierce this dark veil with cold, merciless cruelty. "Divinités de Styx, Ministères de la Mort" sings Denoke. "I will not implore your Mercy". Her pitch may be wayward, but she finds "new strength", her voice now warmed by love. The Court rejoices. Paul Groves sings Admète fluidly: this King takes things as his due, without question. Again, Warlikowski  emphasizes unspoken music. Delicately plucked strings while Alceste dances, and later when the penny starts to drop for Admète. How crude the "Spanish" dance seems in contrast! Similarly in the short interlude before "O! malgré moi, faible coeur", Denoke poses in front of a mountain of opulent roses, her face a mask of anguish. As Denoke sings front stage the flowers are lit with golden light. "Oh, how quickly the dream of life fades" sing the chorus.

Thomas Oliemans sings Hercule with macho energy. When he hears what's happening to his friends,  his cockiness collapses. He starts to shave, but his hands lose their grip, and foam pours over him. This is an interesting detail. Hercule represents male strength, while Alceste represents female strength but both are sensitive to feelings. Alceste wanders through the gates of the Underworld where bodies are being prepared by unworldly undertakers. Admète has followed her, rather than live on alone. As he sings of love, the corpses re-animate, one pair in frantic embrace.  Thanatos (also Willard White) sings to the sound of trumpets. " Charon t' appelles, entends sa voix!" Alceste starts to be wheeled away. The corpses twitch and squirm, as if electric currents are forcing them, unnaturally, into a parody of life.

Groves's singing becomes heroic, while Hercule,  stands helpless in the background, his face painted like a sad clown. Admète can't defy the gods, but Hercule, a god, can. He swings his fencing iron, invoking Apollon himself, who releases Alceste from the curse. Denoke, Groves and Oliemans sing the trio of happiness, which is taken up by the chorus. But can Alceste live happily ever after, having entered Hades? The brass fanfares and drum rolls in the finale suggest stately  power. King, Queen, Hercule and the royal children are having breakfast together: one egg, one orange juice, like in a hospital. But Alceste is in a wheelchair, tended by Thanato's assistant. Her body is present, but does her soul wander? Perhaps Admète's love is now being tested.  Perhaps Alceste is learning that you don't have to be superhuman to be loved.

This ending may be different, but it is thoughtful, and reflects a psychologically sensitive reading of the opera. Alceste is strong, but like so many strong people, strength comes at a price. She does good for others, and does her duty. But at what inner price.  Controversial as this ending might be to some, I think it enhances the meaning of the opera, and reaffirms its place in the repertoire. Contrary to received opinion, a good opera can support many different responses. The singing overall, may be better on some recordings, but anyone who cares about this opera would do well to learn from this extremely perceptive interpretation..

Please also see what I've written about Warlikowski's Die Frau ohne Shatten  and Eugene Onegin

Les Indes Galantes Rameau Barbican review

Titan of French Baroque, Rameau Les Indes Galantes was brought to the Barbican Hall London by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques.  Les Talens Lyriques have a distinctive bright sound, which suits Les Indes Galantes well.  This performance was part of a tour Les Talens Lyriques created for a fully staged production with dancers for Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, The Opéra National de Bordeaux and the Staatstheater Nürnberg. Although the staging, directed by Laura Scozzi is somewhat controversial, it follows the score (if Persian women need disguises, why not burkas?)  This isn't a piece for po-faced solemnity. Good natured humour is very much a part of the Baroque sensibility. 

 At the Barbican in London, we had a concert performance, without costumes or dancers, or dancers without costumes. But Les Talens Lyriques and the soloists were so lively that some of us in the audiences (like me) couldn't help but dance along in our seats. 

In 1990, Rousset worked as William Christie's assiatnt when Les Arts Florissants created Les Indes Galantes at Aix-en-Provence, so wonderfully preserved on DVD. For Les Talens Lyriques, he has chosen a  performing edition, based on a 1750 copy of the 1735 manuscript in the archives in Toulouse, This was created by Paul Dukas initially in 1902. "La version de Toulouse me semble intéressante comme témoignage de la conception très fluctuante qu’avait Rameau de son propre opéra", says Rousset.  Composers in the past weren't dogmatic or rigid, but understood performance values. In this version, the third Entrée, Les Fleurs, is less florid, but the compensation is overall clarity. In this performance I was struck by the deft interaction between instruments and voices, "dancing" invisibly. The instruments "sing" too- the two musettes in the Prologue suggest shepherds piping rhythms for nymphs and shepherds to dance to. The antique trumpet called out plaintively. The percussionist beat out thunder with kettledrums, and blew the primitive "wind" machine. Even if the Volcano didn't blow us off our seats, the details elsewhere were deft, as agile as intricate dance steps. The "Hymen" music in Les Sauvages felt like earthy celebration and the final Chaconne restored grace and order.

Five of the original six soloists came to London, ensuring fluent, idiomatic singing. Amel Brahim-Djelloul was a vivacious Hébé, Phani and Fatime, her sparkling tone creating personality. Judith Van Wanroij was a striking Émilie and Atalide: both roles benefiting from the richness of her voice, which fills a niche in the repertoire. Benoît Arnould created the gruff macho in Bellone, Huascar and Alvar. Thomas Dollé sang Osman and Adario with well-judged roundness. 

Most impressive of all, Anders J Dahlin, whose timbre is so beautiful, one would enjoy anything he sang for sheer delight. All his roles - Don Carlos, Damon, Valère and Tacmas -  are men is stress situations, their constancy being tested. Dahlin injects just the right amount of tremolo that he makes the characters feel dramatically real. He's also a natural actor - his body language is so expressive that his slightest gesture amplifies what he's singing. It's a pity we don't hear more of him in this country because he has that balance of lyricism and thoughtfulness that makes roles come alive. As he was singing, I pondered the difference between "English" and French Baroque. Would that we could hear Dahlin more frequently in this country!  

Please also see my review of Hippolyte et Aricie at Glyndebourne (William Christie)

The Song of the Fishermen

Song of the Fisherman (漁光曲) is an icon of Chinese cinema. Released in 1934, it was a huge box-office success screened all over China. It was a good movie, but also captured the spirit of the times. Although it's a silent, at its heart lies a song. It sounds like folk song but was in fact written for the film by a classically trained composer who made it simple enough that audiences could sing along. During the years of war and turmoil, people would sing it to themselves, identifying with the plight of the fisherfolk, resolute against all odds.  HERE is a link to the recording by the star of the film, Wang Ren Mei (王人美).

"Cloud float across  the sky, fish are swimming in the water.  The sun dries the fishing nets in the morning. Wind blows against my face. The tides are turning, the waves are rising, fishing boats setting sail in all directions. cast the net, cast the net. It's hard to catch fish when the weather is bad. Fishing is difficult and rents need to be paid. Fishermen are poor from generation to generation. The old fishing net my grandfather gave me, it gives us a living through the winter" (song starts at 36' into the movie.) . Schubert fans will recognize the gentle rocking lines, like the movement of a boat being rowed along the water. The Ave Maria soundtrack was added later.

Beautiful shots of of fishing junks, on  a wide river.... "The East Sea was beautiful: poets praised it, fishermen scraped a living". Cut to a shot of a bucket breaking ice to draw water to heat on a fire. In this hard winter, a woman gives birth to twins. The family are so poor that it's not a time for rejoicing. But notice how lovingly the humble hovel is filmed: details like the grain on boards of wood are shot in clear focus. The father gets killed at sea, the mother is forced to work as a wet nurse for rich people, while her own babies starve. The boy she nurses loves her though, and later sneaks off to play on the beach with the twins, Little Cat (Wang Ren Mei) and Little Monkey (Han Lan Gen 韩兰根), a wonderful character actor with a distinctive "crying face" that lent itself to comedy while heartbreakingly sad, In this film, Little Monkey is retarded, as so many were in days before good health care, Han grimaces and jerks his limbs like he's spastic: perhaps observed from real life. His sister can sing the Song of the Fishermen better than anyone else, so she sings it to comfort him.

When the kids grow up the rich man's son gets sent overseas to learn the maritime business. His family move to Shanghai and invest. Little Cat and Little Monkey can't make a living at sea so they, too drift to Shanghai in search of work. The Director, Cai Chusheng (1906-1968, 蔡楚生), shows a long sequence outside factory gates where the unemployed queue desperately for a chance at a job, as well shot as any European film of the time. (qv Kuhle Wampe). The previous year Cai had directed New Women (with Ruan Lingyu with whom he's supposedly had an affair). Cai came from ShunTak, upriver from Macau, a Cantonese like Ruan, both migrants to Shanghai like millions of others. Cai was an enlightened liberal, so Song of The Fisherman, New Women and The Spring River flows East (1947) depict strong women.

In Shanghai, Little Cat and Little Monkey scavenge on the streets, but there are always urchins poorer and more desperate than they are. By luck, Little Monkey's strange features land him a job with street performers: nice scene showing traditional outdoor theatre. They meet up with the rich man's son who gives them money, because he hears their mother is ill: he still loves her and feels guilty that his good fortune might have given Little Monkey his affliction. However, the police think Little Cat and Little Monkey have stolen the money and they stand trial. They're released and use the money to buy fat pork and treats for their mother, but when the arrive at the village, she's dead. Then the rich family lose everything in a banking swindle. The son gets a job on a small trawler and takes Little Cat and Little Monkey with him.But Little Monkey is worn out, collapses and dies. Little Cat comforts him by singing the Song of the Fisherman. Han Lan Gen might look like an idiot. and play idiots, but he's a very fine actor. Watch his features change as he faces death and hears the familiar melody "Fishermen are poor from generation to generation. The old fishing net my grandfather gave me, it gives us a living through the winter".

Smash Hit - Elgar, London Coliseum

On Monday, 11th June 1917, at what was then a music hall and is now the London Coliseum, Edward Elgar's Fringes of the Fleet received its premiere. Smash hit! Initially part of a Variety performance that repeated twice daily - imagine - the songs proved so popular that the run was extended week after week, and the show toured, returning to London at the end of the year.

Elgar used texts from Rudyard Kipling's best-selling poems. The songs are robustly vivid and good enough as pure music that they work better than many of Elgar's other art songs for piano. A hundred years ago, there wasn't any prejudice against crossover like there is now. Modern music snobs don't know music history.  Fringes of the Fleet was performed with full staging and special effects. The photos above and at right show the singers in their costumes seated "at a seaside pub" as they begin their recital of maritime shanties. The Lowestoft Boat describes a herring boat commandeered for the war effort. The crew aren't sailors! The mate was a vicar in a chapel in Wales, more used to top hat and tails, and the engineer is 58, "so he's prepared to meet his fate"

"A game is more than the player of the game and the ship is more than the crew", the refrain in Fate's Discourtesy sums up the mentality of the era, when war seemed like a jolly jaunt. In  Submarines (Kipling's Tin Fish), the four baritones sing long lines near the bottom of their register, like a submarines lurking "in the belly of Death". New technology and surprisingly "new" sounding music, making the most of the unusual four-man ensemble. Best of all, I think,  Sweepers (Kipling's Minesweepers) . Mines have been reported in the fairway, and ships are bottled up in port. The minesweepers are heroes. Hence the chorus, using their names, "Unity, Claribel, Assyrian, Stormcock, and Golden Gain". Rather a mouthful to sing, but carried off with style.

Elgar's Fringes of the Fleet was so popular that a recording was rushed out in early July 1917, three weeks  after the first performance. The singers were Charles Mott, Frederick Henry, Frederick Stewart and Harry Barratt,.On July 23, Charles Mott, the lead, who had sung Wagner at Covent Garden, was called up. He was killed in battle in May 1918. Elgar himself conducted - he was an early advocate of new media. The definitive recording is the recent SOMM disc, with other Elgar rarities  The edition used is by Tom Higgins, who conducts the Guildford Symphony. (more here). The 1917 recording is now available commercially here or here and serves as an interesting example of how vocal styles have changed.  How rigid the phrasing seems now, as if the singers were old men in young bodies. In the earlier Lowestoft Boat, the singers hammed up the sound of dogs barking at the dog's home where the ships cook worked as a civilian. It's cute, but Roderick Williams and his sturdy crew (Nicholas Lester, Duncan Rock, Laurence Meikle) have the musical nous to sing better without losing the sense of adventure.

Les Indes Galantes Rousset Les Talens Lyriques

On Thursday, Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques bring Rameau's Les Indes Galantes to the Barbican Hall, London. MY REVIEW IS HERE. This is an extension of their tour which has taken in the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, The Opéra Ntaional de Bordeaux and the Staatstheater Nürnberg. They are using a version established by Les Talens Lyriques based on the manuscript stored at the Toulouse library.  If you like nudity, the fully staged version is currently available on medici TV. 

At the Barbican, we're getting a concert performance, with a different cast. The staged version, directed by Laura Scozzi, frames the opera/ballet in a  woodland grove, where the nymphs and satyrs of Classical Antiquity cavort. The nymphs here aren't painted images, nor statues, but dancers Nothing inappropriate per se.  Hébé wears a little shift because: singers don't do naked. 

In a few hours we'll travel across continents and through time and spaces to locales the locals would never recognize. The first Entrée, Le Turc généreux unfolds on a beach. Émilie, in orange silk, is sunning herself, oblivious to the gathering storm clouds. So she gets picked up by a Turk, as does happen to tourists in the Med. But Rameau throws in a jolly little riff and Osman relents. Osman and Valère are mates, after all : "Au plus parfait bonheur il a droit de prétendre, Si la vertu peut rendre heureux"   

The William Christie/ Les Arts Florissants Les Indes galantes (Serban 2002) was so audaciously spectacular that all else pales in comparison.  Who can forget  the "clouds" flats floating in space, the volcano and the Inca headresses ?  Or the Red Indians with bison heads ? This new staging goes, instead for more down to earth humour. The trio of tourists who dance throughout the entire opera/ballet tell us we're with the Incas of Pérou because they drink cocoa, and wear souvenir hats. You can tell that this Les Fleurs is set in Persia because the women wear burkas, and that Les Sauvages are American because they go in for tacky advertisng signs. All a bit jokey, but what is Les Indes Galantes but humorous fantasy ?  If this staging is weak, at least we can listen better to the singers, and to Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques. The dancing in this version  is livlier and more  naturalistic than in Chrsitie/Les Arts Flo, though they saved a bit on costumes !

ENO Rodelinda Handel Hip and oddly HIP

The ENO's Rodelinda will shock some, but the real shock is that it's closer to Handelian values than one might expect.  Glyndebourne's 1998 Rodelinda was ground breaking and has pretty much defined the opera for modern audiences. The ENO doesn't have the budget for singers like Antonacci, Scholl and Streit, and no matter how good he is, Christian Curnyn could never get the ENO orchestra quite up to the level that William Christie got from the specialist OAE. Surprisingly,  the new ENO Rodelinda justifies itself rather well in its own terms.

Richard Jones's Rodelinda, designed by Jeremy Herbert, illuminates the music with a true Baroque palette: burnished gold, amber, emerald, silver and  cream. Action moves between small, confined "rooms" in the set, but this also reflects the music. This is an opera based on solo show pieces,  as each character reflects on his or her own perspective on proceedings, often misunderstanding other people's motivations. Everyone thinks Bertarido is dead, Garibaldo scams Grimoaldo and Eduige, and Bertarido stabs Unulfo, his best friend. Only when the characters realize that simplicity and tolerance are more important than self advancement do they properly reconcile "Dopo la notte oscura più lucido, più chiaro,più amabile, più caro ne spunta il sol quaggiù.Tal dopo ria sventura, figlio d’un bel soffrire, più stabile gioire nasce dalla virtù". At the ENO this is of course translated but it's worth quoting in the original since it refers to the contrasts of dark and light so central to the ENO production. Thus the final scene is specially beautiful. Grimoaldo blows up a giant statue, the symbol of earthly power and vanity. The stage is dominated  by the statue's huge arm bearing the name "Rodelinda" in elaborate baroque script. Love remains when all else is destroyed. The singers are dwarfed, their self interest subsumed by greater harmony. Perhaps one could read a political sub-text into this Hanoverian opera, but it's elegantly cloaked in Classical balance.

Modern tastes are shaped by 19th century operatic styles further  modified by movies and TV, so we've come to expect a much greater degree of realism than Handel and his audiences would have expected. The Glyndebourne Rodelinda, directed by Jean-Marie Villégier, was "modern" in the sense that it emphasized the undercurrents of emotional realism in the opera, giving 20th century audiences an insight into the opera's basic meaning. Richard Jones 's more stylized formalism is closer to the rough-and-ready world of Handel's era, when audiences saw opera as allegory rather than verité. Hence the singers at the ENO journey on travelators, so we can listen to the music unfold when there's no obvious action. Baroque audiences also loved special effects. They didn't have the technology to do video, but the ENO projections (by Jeremy Herbert and Steven Williams) are totally in keeping with the genre.

Rebecca Evans sang Rodelinda, and Susan Bickley's Eduige had was imposing vocally and visually. Iestyn Davies's Bertarido  was very good, his duet with Rebecca Evans in the final act particularly impressive.  What a joy this opera is for those (like me) who love the countertenor voice. Christopher Ainslie as Unulfo doesn't have as big a role but he makes his mark. Richard Burkhard sang Garibaldo, the "bad guy" as baritones should be in Baroque parlance. John Mark Ainsley is arguably the finest British Baroque specialist of our time, and at his peak would have been outstanding. He's still well worth hearing and has stage presence. He's also got guts, showing his bare chest and back, with a Rodelinda tattoo. Humour is very much a part of the humane message in this opera and the production accessed it well.

As in all productions, there are things to like and dislike. I'm not generally a Richard Jones fan, but this Rodelinda has more merits than some would appreciate.

photos: Clive Barda, courtesy ENO

Glyndebourne connects with the Telegraph

Starting this summer, The Glyndebourne Festival is teaming up with the Telegraph.  The new partnership - launched in Glyndebourne's 80th anniversary year - will see The Telegraph stream three full length Glyndebourne operas online across the 2014 Festival season from May to September. Online broadcasts are more cost effective than HD cinema screenings, especially for medium sized houses like Glyndebourne. This is interesting news because it marks a move away from the Guardian, which has screened Glyndebourne online in the past. The Guardian's connections with the South Bank, Alex Ross and Dudamel may or may not have affected its coverage, but it's healthier when there's more diversity in the media.

This year's Glyndebourne Festival productions are :

Richard Strauss : Der Rosenkavalier - a new production directed by Richard Jones, conducted by Robin Ticciati  (Glyndebourne staged this opera in a different production as early as 1965)

Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin (revival)

Mozart - Don Giovanni (revival of the Jonathan Kent production which I loved and reviewed here)

Mozart  - La finta giardiniera  - new production with hot new director Frederick Wake-Walker who did the superb Britten parables at Aldeburgh (more here and here)

Verdi - La Traviata - new production by Tom Cairns

Handel Rinaldo - revival, which I reviewed last time round here)

Carl Orff in Cowboy Country: Dr. Robert Olson Brings “Carmina Burana” to Longmont, Colorado

From David Woodward in Longmont, Colorado :

Carl Orff’s perennial musical spectacle Carmina Burana again manifests itself, this time in the small northern Colorado town of Longmont. This coming Saturday evening March 1st, Dr. Robert Olson will lead three Colorado soloists, lyric soprano Kara Guggenmos, tenor Dr. Todd Queen and baritone Thomas Erik Angerhofer and the Longmont Symphony Orchestra and Chorale in a concert performance of the work, on Sunday 1st March 2014.

Longmont is a diverse, well-educated community of about 90,000 folks located 40 miles north of Denver and 15 northeast of Boulder. Each of these three locales is home to a symphony orchestra, as well as many excellent instrumental and choral ensembles, among them the self-directed Sphere Ensemble and the virtuoso Ars Nova Singers from Boulder. Many of us were fortunate to hear the Wilhelm Killmayer two-piano/percussion arrangement of Carmina Burana in two wonderful Boulder Chorale performances last October.

The Longmont Symphony was founded in 1966, and Dr. Olson has been its Principal Conductor and Music Director since 1990. He is also the Director of Orchestras/Opera at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He is known for his legendary efforts on behalf of the Colorado Mahlerfest, a Boulder event of concerts and symposia held annually since 1988 and awarded the gold medal of the International Gustav Mahler Society in 2005. His performances of the Eighth Symphony and the Joe Wheeler reconstruction of the unfinished Symphony nr. 10 alone have made him one of Mahler’s most credible American interpreters.

Selecting a companion work to the Carmina Burana for the concert evening always presents an interesting challenge. Dr. Olson has honored a patron’s request and has programmed Anton Webern’s concise 1908 masterpiece, the Passacaglia Op. 1, a work that reveals a deeper dimension of archaism: a dark contrast to Orff’s spectacle.

The present writer’s excitement and anticipation of Saturday night’s concert has a personal element, as it is my first time singing in public. In mid - December, the Longmont Chorale, a fixture in the community for nearly 80 years, sent out a call for singers from the area. I answered the call, and have been rehearsing with the Chorale since early January . The Chorale’s director’s Scott Hamlin and Ray Harrison, have provided educated and enthusiastic guidance to the Chorale members, and have expertly communicated the work’s joyous and romantic spirit. In one of the men’s sectional rehearsals a few weeks ago, Ray found a textual error in the Schott score in the carmine “Veris Leta Facies” - he spotted a “Phoebus” where there should be a “Flora” instead! We have dress rehearsals with the orchestra tomorrow and Friday night, followed by our performance this weekend. At this hour, our performance has nearly sold-out. Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana Express is rapidly approaching its stop in Longmont.

 Photo of Long's Peak above Longmont in the Colorado Rockies, credit Scott Bauer

Prince kisses Frog - Rameau Platée

As the opening credits for the classic Laurent Pelly production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Platée roll, we hear Marc Minkowski conduct Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble over a  shot of an elegant French palace. But wait! We hear the sounds of frogs croaking : the tumult almost but not quite shatters the poise of the orchestra. But that's exactly what Platée represents.(Details of Paul Agnew conducting Platée in London are here).

Rameau wrote Platée to entertain Louis XV and his court on the occasion of the Dauphin's marriage in 1745. The bride was a Spanish Infanta, but she was ugly. Platée is a frog whose realm is a pond in the wilds, the opposite of refined, elegant Versailles. But she/he has pretensions: she/he thinks everyone she meets will fall in  love with her. The part was written for a travesti, a man pretending to be a woman, which makes the satire rather cruel. As it happened, the princess died very young and the prince never became king. Yet given what we know of Rameau and the way he had to court the rich, perhaps the laughs are ultimately on the Gods and their abuse of power.

Laurent Pelly's production, (from 2002) uses a set, designed by Chantal Thomas to show the long Prologue in a theatre. Usherettes show members of the chorus to their seats but within minutes, order descends into relative chaos. the chorus members bounce up and down and swap places, "dancing" rather than staying put as they should. Study the detail in the movements, which replicate the liveliness in the music. Indeed, at times the horizontals of the set resemble manuscript paper and the chorus members notation. Rameau's music and precise dance figures come alive! Thespis, Momus and Thalie, the muses of satire, are exhausted after a night of drunken carousing, but the chorus wants a show. .

The Gods Jupiter (Vincent Le Texier) and Mercury (Yann Beuron) appear in (almost) plain clothes - more like mortals with problmes than all-powerful beings like the rulers of the House of Bourbon. Jupiter is the king of the Gods but his wife Juno is giving him strife, so he and Mercury concoct a cruel plan. Knowing that Platée is desperate for love, Jupiter pretends he wants to marry her.  But Paul Agnew's Platée the Nymph  is a creation of genius. The costume's brilliant: Agnew's masculine muscles look hilariously awkward with his pink water lily tutu. Incredibly good acting - every gesture frog-like and grotesque, yet painfully poignant. He jumps clumsily instead of dancing. Plateée is an amphibian out of his/her natural element, easy prey for the cynical Gods. Trumpets usher in formal, courtly music,  but the chorus are lit with green light,, with big google eyes: a chorus as one can hear at nightfall. A storm is brewing. Wonderful divertissements, choreographed with meticulous attention to the music. Drums roll. Jupiter descends from the heavens in a giant chandelier.  "Aquilons, trop audacieux, craignez ma colère". Don't mess with me,  you uppity water creatures! A stunning coup of theatre that would have the snobs at Versailles cackling with delight.

Rameau's music for Platée subverts the grandeur, however. "Qoui, qoui, qoui," he/she sings, "venez, venez, venez". Short squat flurries, not elegant legato. Mad cacophony from the woodwinds. Jupiter, now disguised as the "Hibou" in the text, covers his ears in disgust. Fireworks spew from Jupiter's hands, and La Folie appears, a vision of sparkling white, a glorious contrast to the grubbiness around her. Mireille Delunsch looks divine; madness purer and clearer than godliness. Her dress, significantly, is made from scraps of musical manuscript. at one stage she pulls bits off to "sing" them. This is a masterful stroke of theatre, extravagant in the audacious Baroque style, yet also pertinent to meaning. More wonderfully choreographed passages of male ballerinas en deshabillé. Delunsch walks towards the orchestra and "conducts" before launching into an extended display of maddeningly florid trills and rapid fire decoration. "L'amour est cruel quand il est outragé!". Her music then becomes plaintive "funebres,  underpinned by a menacing drone from the orchestra. A mournful dance for a wedding ? "Je veux finir par un coup de génie, ...Je sens que je puis parvenir au chef-d'oeuvre de la harmonie". Sure enough, harps are plucked solemnly and the nuptial ensemble join in harmony, starting with "Hymen, Hymen" and descending into a more ironic "Bon, bon, bon".

The Third Act begins when a figure with a colourful,  realistic frog head appears in a box above the stage, giving Minkowski the cue to start conducting. The frog enters the pitch and snatches the baton with a flourish at the exact moment the overture ends. The frog has been glimpsed before, observing proceedings. Now it's becoming part of the action. More dancing, as was de rigueur in celebrations like this, but the guests have been partaking of Bacchus, and their inhibitions relax. Cupid pops by, and the Three graces, all in underwear, as Platée begins to twig that perhaps love isn't all it's cracked up to be. When he/she spots The Frog among the guests, she greets him with a warm embrace. He hands her a bouquet of wild water lilies. Just as the wedding is about to take place, Juno (Doris Lamprecht) storms in to stop proceedings. The wedding guests drag Platée mercilessly on the ground. "Chantons, Platée, égayons nous". But Platée isn't fooled any more. Vivid exchange where she/he argues with Clitheron (Laurent Naouri) the satyr who set her up right at the beginning "Moi, Qui? Moi" "Toi, Oui, Toi" Then Platée sings, rather than imitates a croak, and jumps back into his/her pond.

Medici tv is screening this Platée from the Palais Garnier 2002, as part of its year-long tribute to Rameau. It is a timely reminder that the Baroque era embraced adventure, and French baroque in particular was fun and energetic. Rameau himself was an innovator and also something of a misfit in the upper echelons of the aristocracy.  So enjoy this Platée and the wonderful performances within, and appreciate its verve and intelligence. Pelly is a master of French style and works with the best in the field. Someone said of his Meyerbeer Robert le Diable that he "didn't take the opera seriously enough". On the contrary. He understands the genre fine: It's those who don't who should be taking him more seriously.

Alice Sommer Herz "Everything is a present"

From Alice Sommer Herz's Facebook page:

"On behalf of Alice’s family, we thank everyone for all the words of affection and admiration rightly attributed to her. She passed away peacefully surrounded by her family.
Much is being written and broadcast, but not from many who truly knew Alice. The only fitting tribute to her is the film she loved the most, “Everything Is A Present”. Christopher Nupen was the one film maker who actually knew her well and who shared the same passion and understanding for music as she did. Most importantly, it was the only film she asked to watch again and again until her last days. So it is only appropriate we share with everyone what she loved most."

Sincerely,
Alice Sommer's family

Alice is gone, but I will gift her "present" to some I care for, so the good she represented can live on. HERE is a link to "Everything is a present".   

 Christopher Nupen met Alice Sommer Herz when she was still in her 90's. She appears in his film "We want the Light" an examination of the Holocaust and the meaning of music. More about that here.

 

Alice Herz-Sommer, 110, has died

Alice Herz-Sommer, aged 110, died in hospital this morning. She was the world's oldest Holocaust survivor, the world's oldest pianist and many other things. Her life is remarkable in many ways but for me, especially because of her dynamic approach to life.  Born in Prague in 1903, she was a professional musician. When the Nazis came, she was shipped to Terezin (Theresienstadt) where she played in the notorious camp orchestra. Even then, she was unusual because she had a young son to live for. He made her laugh when he sang songs from Brundibar. To laugh, in a concentration camp?  But that sums up Alice's personality.  When she was "just" 97, she told Christopher Nupen in his film "We Want the Light" that her twin sister was a pessimist and  that "tension" shortened her life. "Nature and music, that is my religion" she says, her face lighting up radiantly. "I am grateful to my mother who wanted us to learn, to know, to be thankful for everything ..... seeing the sun, seeing a smile, hearing a nice word. Everything is a present to be thankful for".

"Life is a gift", she often said. "Hatred eats the soul of the hater, not that of the hated"   Alice is an inspiration, positive therapy in human form. She's had a tough life, but hasn't become bitter. "Music is God", she has said, "in difficult times you feel it most". Think of the famous quandary, is a glass half full or half empty? But the glass is always full. The other half is air, without which we cannot live. Drink it gratefully!  Some people, alas, get their kicks out of being miserable and inflicting it on everyone else. Not Alice!

It's not how long you live, some have said, but how well you have lived. Not in material terms, but in terms of what you've learned and given back to others. In that sense Alice will be immortal.

Once I met Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and told her how she inspired me."But I didn't do anything, I just survived", she said, which is an understatement, but utterly sincere. People take responsibility for themselves. Another camp inmate (also with a young son) told me about grass shoots emerging from the ground after a hard winter."We ate them" she said, totally matter-of-fact.

Paul Bunyan ETO LInbury - the most penetrating review.

HERE is a link to Claire Seymour's review of the ETO's Paul Bunyan at the Linbury, London. Please take the time to read it because it's exceptionally penetrating and well analysed. Claire wrote the book The Operas of Benjamin Britten, the standard reference in the field  Lots of people came new to the opera, and most of them want to find out more and sharpen their appreciation. Alas most newspaper critics didn't seem to make the effort.

"Bunyan’s final words to the emergent nation weresomewhat lost, as the party-goers began clearing up the debris of thecelebration. Perhaps Steel was making a subtle point: Bunyan says, ‘Americais what you do/ America is I and you, /America is what you choose to makeit’, but these Americans did not listen and fail to recognise theirresponsibilities, individual and collective. In the closing moments, Steelattempted to add some political depth to the production. If the action hadalready suggested that the American Dream was flawed at the start, then thefuture certainly did not look good for these loggers, judging by the contentsof the wicker basket left by Bunyan for the loggers, like a prophesy to beresignedly accepted or actively resisted. Bent intently, and to the incredulityof the onlookers, Inkslinger withdrew first a pistol, then a lurid Guantanamojumpsuit, followed by an overly large Bible (presaging the influence of theChristian Right?), a shabby copy of Playboy, some fast food wrappers,a lap-top, a periwig and noose. This chain of emblems of the institutions ofstate and finance spoke powerfully. The final image of black soprano AbigailKelly, draped with a crumpled Stars and Stripes, was a poignant one.’ 

photo copyright Richard Hubert Smith

Britten Paul Bunyan ETO Linbury London review

The English Touring Opera's Paul Bunyan.makes an excellent case for Britten's most misunderstood opera. When it premiered in 1941,  audiences couldn't figure it out. If anything, modern audiences are even less likely to get Paul Bunyan, accustomed as we are to gung-ho feelgood depictions of Americana, such as Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, Aaron Copland's  Appalachian Spring, cowboy movies and TV. "From homespun culture manufactured in cities, Save us, animals and men"  HERE is a link to Claire Seymour's exceptionally penetrating review, in Opera Today. She wrote The Operas of Benjamin Britten, tye standard reference.

Paul Bunyan is a heroic myth, not reality. Fundamentally the piece isn't about Americana at all, and attempts to present it as such only damage its reputation.  Paul Bunyan needs to be understood on its own terms and in the context of Britten's creative development. Fortunately, the ETO production minimizes kitsch and maximizes meaning.  A professional cast is used, lifting standards way above well-meaning amateur earnestness. Conducted by Philip Sunderland, the score is revealed in all its gawky glory but without mawkish easy laughs. Liam Steel directs, using a set designed by Anna Flieschle where the  human qualities of the opera come into greater focus. The "Trees" in the Prologue were shown as simple planks of wood. The Blues Singers aren't camped up, nor are the hard-working labourers in the camp trivialized by being dressed up to look like animals.

Sunderland also doesn't indulge in cute for its own sake. Here, we could hear snatches from Peter Grimes in embryo, such as the slithering snake-like bassoons, and the way lines stretch along the range of voices in the chorus.  The all-important "wood dove"theme was played with suitable menace. Just as Siegfried is led into the forest by a wood dove, we  in the audience are being beguiled, led into a forest of dreams. Britten employed this Siegfried/ Wood Dove imagery in his The Sword and the Stone (1939), written for children. (read more here)  In Paul Bunyan, he resurrects it for grown-ups, with even more punch.
 

This being a "numbers musical" with a big cast, the kind of character development we might expect in normal opera doesn't really happen. But there is enough innate pathos of roles like Hel Helson and Johnny Inkslinger to give the opera depth. Superlative singing and acting from Wyn Pencarreg and Mark Wilde respectively, expanding the parts with utterly convincing dignity. We feel Henson's pain as he's taunted by nightmares mocking him for being less than a Nordic Hero. Henson doesn't articulate, but Pencarreg can express much more than is in the text. Helson is a counterpart to Paul Bunyan (Damien Lewis) both of them men from a different, more primeval era. Tiny (Caryl Hughes),  Hot Biscuit Slim (Ashley Catling) will move to Manhattan and Johnny Inkslinger to Hollywood, but Paul, Babe the Blue Ox (imaginitively depicted by a man under a blue blanket), and Helson don't belong in a polluted, commercialized world.

All the numerous cameo parts and choruses were deftly sung and blocked, keeping the pace lively even in the Second Act where the inventiveness in the music starts to pall  Britten had written "popular music" such as the Cabaret Songs (to poems by Auden) so satirical pastiche came easily to him. The many numbers like the Lumberjacks Chorus, The Quartet of Swedes, the Cook's Duet and Tiny's Lament rattle off cheerily but in such profusion the second half of the operetta starts to feel forced. For all its faults, Britten learned a lot from Paul Bunyan. The Christmas Party, for example, suggests the feast in Albert Herring, a much bleaker opera than most realize (read more here). The clumsiness of some of the musical writing in Paul Bunyan is in fact artistic licence. Parts of the piece sound corny because what they depict is corniness. Perhaps Britten is demonstrating the truth in Auden's phrase "From the accidental beauty of singalongs, Save Us, animals and men".

If Paul Bunyan isn't a hymn to kitsch Americana, what is it? In the opening chorus, the singers sing that the Revolution has turned to rain. Management/staff relations in the logging camp are better organized than in many real life businesses. Britten and Auden were well aware of Brechtian  dialectics and the political music theatre of their period, and this has some effect on the stylized, almost agit prop narrative. However,  Paul  Bunyan springs from a much deeper groundswell of pain and disillusion. Britten, Pears and Auden left Europe, hoping to find a new world uncontaminated by the strife of 1930's Europe. Britten's sojourn in America was comfortable, but he picked up on the darker sides of the America Dream. In Paul Bunyan, ancient forests are felled, the wood used for houses and railway tracks. "Progress" moves further west, and with it, conformity, gentrification and hypocrisy. "From patriotism turned to persecution, Save Us, animals and men". Peter Grimes and Billy Budd describe the fate of men who fall foul of bigots and mobs. Britten, Auden and Pears were well aware how J Edgar Hoover was hunting down "subversives". McCarthy's witch hunts would have come as no surprise.  Like Peter Grimes, Paul Bunyan and Babe are too big for their boots in a world where pettiness rules.

Paul Bunyan is a stylized vision of  "a Forest, full of Innocent Beasts. There are none who blush at the memory of an Ancient Farm, None who hide beneath dyed fabrics a Malicious Art ".

"It is a Spring morning without benefit of young persons. It is a sky that has never registered weeping or rebellion.............It is America. But Not Yet. 

WANTED: Disturbers of Public Order,. men without foresight or fear 

WANTED:  Energetic Madmen, those who have Thought Themselves a body large enough to devour their dreams 

WANTED: The Lost, those Indestructibles whom Defeat can never Change. Poets of the Bottle, Clergymen of a Ridiculous Gospel, Actors who should have been Engineers, and Lawyers who should have been Sea Captains. Saints of Circumstance, Desperados, and Unsuccessful Wanderers and all who can hear The Invitation of The Earth. America, youngest of her daughters, awaits the Barbarians in marriage"

photos Copyright Richard Hubert Smith

Cast List : Conductor Philip Sunderland, Paul Bunyan Damian Lewis, Jonny Inkslinger Mark Wilde, Hel Helson Wyn Pencarreg, Tiny Caryl Hughes, Hot Biscuit Slim Ashley Catling, Sam Sharkey / Andy Anderson Stuart Haycock, Ben Benny Piotr Lempa, Fido Abigail Kelly, Moppet Amy J Payne, Poppet / Moon Emma Watkinson, Western Union Boy Matt R J Ward, John Shears / Blues Singer Adam Tunnicliffe, Cross Crosshaulson / Farmer Matthew Sprange, Blues Singer / Crony Johnny Herford, Blues Singer / Crony Henry Manning, Jen Jenson / Crony Maciek O’Shea, Pete Peterson Simon Gfeller, Goose / Wind Hannah Sawle, Goose Lorna Bridge, Goose / Heron Annabel Mountford, Blues Singer / Squirrel, Helen Johnson Beetle Susan Moore, Young Tree / Boy Emily-Jane Thomas

Broadcast Alerts Feb - March

From Andrzej ;

Wednesday - 27 February 2013   War Horse NT live Cinema
Thursday - 28 February 2013 18.30 Matthias-Passion - Berlin Phil (Gerhaher) Berlin Cinema
Saturday - 01 March 2014   Prince Igor MET Cinema
Saturday - 01 March 2014 23.20 La traviata   TV France 3   
Saturday - 08 March 2014 23.20 Acis et Galatée   TV France 3
Tuesday - 11 March 2014   Werther MET Internet Sirius radio - free
Friday  14 March 2014 19.00 Le Nozze di Figaro Genova Internet Internet http://www.streamingcarlofelice.com/la-stagione.html
Saturday - 15 March 2014 18.30 La Bayadère  Munich Internet Internet
Saturday - 15 March 2014   Werther MET Cinema
Sunday - 16 March 2014 21.00 Keenlyside   Internet WCLV on Sunday 16 March at 4pm EST - 9pm UK 
Sunday - 16 March 2014 21.40 Elektra Aix-en-Provence TV Arte HD  

A Goethe Palindrome Wigmore Hall Sunday 23rd

Royal Academy of Music Song Circle, Sunday 23/2 4pm Wigmore Hall

Christina Gansch soprano 

Rozanna Madylus mezzo-soprano

 Richard Dowling tenor 

Ed Ballard baritone 

Samuel Queen baritone

Thomas Primrose piano Chad Vindin piano

The Academy Song Circle makes its annual Wigmore Hall appearance for this group of ten Goethe poems, set to music by two of the following : Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Loewe, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann and Wolf. Good singers!

"There are many ways of structuring a Lieder recital – songs grouped according to theme, chronology or poet, for example – but the palindromic approach has the advantage of revealing how different composers have reacted to the same words, without juxtaposing the songs in such close proximity that they cancel each other out."