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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.
This is the second instalment of the Bear at the Movies.... predominately looking at the MET's live simulcasts of their productions. Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust directed by Robert Lapage definitely ticks all the boxes of opera production in terms of stars and production values what with Susan Graham and Marcello Giordani, Robert Lapage's intricate conception and James Levine conducting; so why was I left underwhelmed.
Well it was not John Relyea's Méphistophéles, he was suitably devilish and raffish in his role though perhaps with less gravitas than previous productions I have seen. Susan Graham's Marguerite was truly emotional; great vocal acting but not quite as impressive as a production with Vesselina Kasarova I have seen. Still she shone out this night with her emotionally intense singing. I was disappointed with Marcello Giordani's static Faust with his beautiful but almost unemotional rendering.
It was the staging that took centre stage with it's acrobats (demons crawling up and down the extensive set), the exquisite video projections (a flock of birds in flight or Marguerite's image in flames), the intense choreography (soldiers walking backwards in slow motion).... This opera does need these sort of production values but they somehow took over to the detriment of the acting.... Visually it was stunning... with the set almost film like in it's grid set up. The video projections which reacted to the singers' voices was technically marvellous... and perhaps that was the problem; all pyrotechnics and no true emotion.
Again the live film direction was flawed... such an epic production with events occurring all over the stage should have meant a wider angle of the whole stage. Unfortunately we had more close-ups than wide shots.
All in all an epic production which was clearly defined, and dazzling but lacklustre apart from Susan Graham's impassioned performance....
La Damnation de Faust - Saturday Nov 22nd 2008
Faust Marcello Giordani
Méphistophéles John Relyea
Brander Patrick Carfizzi
Marguerite Susan Graham
Director Robert Lepage
Conductor James Levine
Well, I couldn't very well miss the first live MET opera performance in the season straight to our cinema screens.... Richard Strauss' Salome, a revival of the 2004 MET production.
The MET have truly revolutionized the watching of opera. You feel very much as if this was some sporting event.... limbering up before going on stage... wishing everyone good luck... it did lead to some anticipation. What wasn't so successful was the wince provoking skit when Deborah Viogt accosts Karita Mattila as she exits her dressing room which ends with Mattila saying 'Let's go and kick ass'... great Mattila! And really the rest of the filming of the opera was no better....the filming was just too intimate. I just don't want to see saliva in the midst of an important scene. Furthermore, the camera crew had got a little too excited in anticipation about the 'Dance of the Seven Veils' I feel and we were left with some unfocused shots.
I have to freely admit that Strauss is not one of my opera favourites and Salome is certainly difficult to like. It is an ugly story with ugly characters. Where the lead character performs a striptease for her step-father and rolls around on stage with a severed head you know that this is not a happy story. But of course it is intensely dramatic, the orchestration drips with lushness and the libretto can be achingly beautiful.
Mattila's performance was insanely intense and if the camera had not been shoved in her face all the time I might have been able to believe Mattila's portrayal of a young Salome; teasing and coquettish. Mattila's 'Dance of the Seven Veils' was fine.... an interesting take on this famous of stripteases; Marlene Dietrich like Mattila teased off her suit until the final unveiling where we see Herod's reaction rather than breasts. I preferred it that way... at least for film. Thankfully there was no embarrassing flitting about in floaty things. The final 'severed head' scene was truly disturbing and beautifully sung; I could not reconcile the sight of the severed head and the words from the libretto.
"If you had seen me you would have loved me. I am thirsty for you beauty. I am hungry for your body. Not wine nor apples can appease my desire."
Beautiful and disturbing or silly and salacious. I still cannot decide.
Salome - October 11th 2008
Salome Karita Mattila
Herodias Ildiko Komlosi
Herod Kim Begley
Narroboth Joseph Kaiser
Jochanaan Juha Uusitalo
Conductor Patrick Summers
Production Jurgen Flimm
