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I had such high expectations for this production - it is one of my favourites; a perfect marriage of music to singing, Gluck trying to make the music as important to the singing. This should be achingly beautiful and tragic. This production only managed to be beautiful I think.
Mark Morris' (self-professed 'opera queen' wrapped in a pink pashmina) direction was adequate. For a dance choreographer the dancing element was lacking. The focus was out. Trying to mesh singers and dancers together did not work.... and really since in previous Morris productions the singers were even banished from the stage I was disappointed with the lack of ambition in the direction....
James Levine's obvious love for this piece was born through in his conducting which was suitably dramatic.... perhaps it was the singing the made me deflated with the overall piece. Now, I had heard rave reviews of Stephanie Blythe's Orfeo - great range, and impassioned in parts but she left me cold.... Yes, her voice is beautiful, yes, she does have a good tone but there was no tie in with the words; there was no notion of the real tragedy. I know that she had missed a performance due to illness and I wondered if this was the reason for the sometimes lack of emotive force. Was she concentrating on controlling her voice particularly in the higher registers?
Heidi Grant Murphy's Amor in a pink polo shirt and chinos brought a little more baroque feel to the piece - cheeky but every so charming. The surprise for me was Danielle De Niese as Eurydice - the best I have heard her... An extraordinary impassioned performance - she still overacts but she did manage to raise the emotional charge of the piece and encourage a little more passion from Stephanie Blythe.
A note about the set..... when Eurydice is re-united with Orfeo the whole scene looks like it set on a staircase made of glistening coal.... The set was definitely the star in this scene.
Overall this was a rather disappointing production. Morris could have made more of the dancers and for me this was a missed opportunity. I did so want this to be a great production but then may be I just had too high expectations.
(part of the score of L'incoronazione Di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi)
Every year a Glyndebourne production gets staged at the Proms... luckily for those who cannot quite afford the seats at Glyndebourne. We were certainly treated to an emotive and chilling production - all for £5 (lucky bear though sore from standing for 4 hours).
As this was a semi-staging there was only a spare set with a thick red curtain, a bed and a bath - perhaps all for the better after hearing that the swathes of red curtaining and dour set did nothing to augment the production at Glyndebourne. Instead we could concentrate on the action and the performances.
This is Monteverdi's last opera; a tale of lust and power that the popular Venetian audiences would have been very familiar with.... Monteverdi is definitely writing for the people; there is love ,comedy and irreverence for authority (in act one a couple of soldiers deride Poppea and Nerone and essentially say that Nerone is robbing everybody... not even Seneca is respected). It is truly Shakespearian in it's breadth.... comic and tragic scenes.... people from the court and their servants. And it is so spare - mostly recitative over exquisite harpsichord and baroque instrumentation courtesy of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Emmanuelle Haim's conducting from the harpsichord brings out a bright sound encompassing all the nuances; this music is sensual and invigorating.
Iestyn Davies as Ottone gave a particularly strong performance full of angst and despair... Ottone is a character who is thwarted in love and driven to murder...... resigned to the fact that Poppea could never love him he declares his love for Drusilla and achingly sings 'Drusilla ho in bocca, ed ho Poppea nel core' (I have Drusilla on my lips, but Poppea in my heart).
Comedy relief is giving by Arnalta (played by the wonderful tenor Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke) and by the nurse (Dominique Visse) who both ham it up in drag.... a great source of humour. Lucia Cirillo's Page and Claire Ormshaw's Lady-In-Waiting both added youthful bawdiness and fun to their shared scene - 'Purché baciat'io sia da tuoi rubini, Mi mordan pur le perle.' (so long as I'm kissed by those rosy red lips, your pearly white teeth can bite all they like).
Danielle de Niese's Poppea is delectably lusty and power hungry. Her bright soprano might not be totally apt for Monteverdi and sometimes her lighter voice was lost in the large hall of the Royal Albert Hall but the Act 1 bedroom scenes with Alice Coote's Nerone were intensely sizzling.... you almost could not look. I just could not decide whether her flirting, lustful tones were genius or just over-the-top... It might be something to do with the contrasting acting styles to Alice Coote I thought.. Danielle de Niese has a more convential acting style (which for the most part is great for opera- certainly great in Julius Caeser) whereas Alice Coote is more like a method actor - she never acts she is the role.
Which brings us to the true highlight.... Alice Coote's cruel and capricious Nerone. Alice Coote's dark, extravagant mezzo voice is well suited to this part.... indeed I caught the pre-performance talk with the conductor Emmanuelle Haim who remarked that it was this darkness and madness even of Coote in previous roles that made her a prime contender for the role. Nerone is ruthless, he is corrupted by power (he killed his mother and went on to kill many others) and this comes through in the role. In this production he kills his friend Lucano (played by the admirable Andrew Tortise) whilst singing the praises Poppea just for the sheer pleasure of it.... it makes for a strangely beautiful but chilling scene.
As I already mentioned the 'bedroom scenes' are intensely sensual and even erotic.... they certainly convey the lust/love that Nerone and Poppea shared. In Act 1 Scene 10 Alice Coote sung particularly beautifully imbueing the sensual words with tonnes of passion and was, for me, the highlight. The way she sings 'Idolo mio, deh in braccio ancor t'avessi. Poppea respiro appena.' (My goddess, oh, were I but still in your arms. Poppea, I can scarcely breath);you could have melted on the spot there and then.
Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea is certainly a great work.... and I am surprised it is not done more.... it has all the dramatic impluses of a Shakespearian play coupled with this beautiful, beautiful music. This was a spare production that concentrated on the sheer theatricality of the piece and not some ornate set; with great performances all round and some truly great singing (from Alice Coote in particular). You walk away with the last duet 'Pur ti miro' echoing in your ears between the power-hungry couple of Nerone and Poppea; their voices intertwining , totally inseparable.... 'Io son tua, tuo son io (I am yours, you are mine).
L'incoronazione di PoppeaSynopsisFortune Sonya Yoncheva soprano
Virtue Simona Mihai soprano
Cupid Amy Freston soprano
Otho Iestyn Davies countertenor
Lucan/Soldier 1/Tribune/Friend Andrew Tortise tenor
Liberto/Soldier 2/Tribune Peter Gijsbertsen tenor
Poppea Danielle de Niese soprano
Nero Alice Coote mezzo-soprano
Arnalta Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke tenor
Octavia Tamara Mumford mezzo-soprano
Nurse/Friend Dominique Visse countertenor
Seneca Paolo Battaglia bass
Page Lucia Cirillo mezzo-soprano
Drusilla Marie Arnet soprano
Mercury/Consul Trevor Scheunemann bass
Lady-in-Waiting Claire Ormshaw soprano
Lictor/Consul/Friend Patrick Schramm bass
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Conductor Emmanuelle Haim
Director Robert Carsen
