Aug 29, 2009

Guth's Cosi - Salzburg 2009





Act 2, Last scene

 
Cosi fan tutte
 W. A. Mozart


Fiordiligi - Miah Persson
Dorabella - Isabel Leonard
Ferrando - Topi Lehtipuu
Guglielmo - Florian Boesch
Don Alfonso - Bo Skovhus
Despina - Patricia Petibon
Wiener Philharmoniker & Staatsopernchor
Adam Fischer Musikalische Leitung
Claus Guth Regie

Salzburg, July 30 2009, ORF2 broadcast





Claus Guth's Cosi, that was performed this summer in Salzburg, is set in a modern house near the woods where Don Giovanni was wandering in last year. The dark atmosphere is pretty similar in both productions but Don Giovanni was a masterpiece - and Cosi is just an accumulation of awkward moments.

The fault is on Guth obviously, who saturated this production with German expressionism, but also on the cast, who was not able - Isabel Leonard excepted - to convey Guth's vision.
But since the singing was overall good, I blame Guth again on that subject - for not simplifying his direction. If your ideas don't work with the cast you have, you must adapt. Mustn't you? The most obvious example lies with Don Alfonso. Guth's idea of Cosi is focused around Don Alfonso - portrayed as Gounod's Méphitophélès from Faust : dark and manipulative.

This concept first lost credibility when he added tons of expressionism - Konwitschny-style.
It then sank when Bo Skovhus was cast for the role - no insult intended, but he's definitely no Erwin Schrott. And I'm pretty sure this production could only have worked with Schrott as Don Alfonso. Well, I suppose this only means you can't be a genius all the time. Better luck next time.






Isabel Leonard
[superb "Amore è un ladroncello" in Act 2]
  Patricia Petibon
  Florian Boesch & Miah Persson


Further reading:
" Au Festival de Salzbourg, un "Cosi" sous hypnose mais peu hypnotique ", Renaud Machart for Le Monde with once again a brilliant review (Aug.8). Chosen extracts: " On pourrait dire que Claus Guth a les idées frappées au coin du nonsense : mais ses excentricités ont toujours un sens, caché ou évident, qui finit par convertir les sceptiques et par le distinguer des metteurs en scène dont l'art du détournement aboutit au cul-de-sac du raccourci abusif. A première vue, ce Cosi est de la même trempe. Il tente de boucler la boucle par des liens récurrents avec les deux autres spectacles salzbourgeois : Eros mène toujours les personnages au doigt et à la braguette ; la forêt de Don Giovanni, lieu de mystère et de sortilèges, est rappelée ; l'escalier monumental des Noces est réinstallé, mais dans une version de l'architecte allemand Mies van der Rohe pour une villa californienne des bords du Pacifique.
(...) Guth a eu l'idée de faire de Don Alfonso un hypnotiseur, vaguement sorcier, un peu John Travolta (mais pourquoi ces mouvements de danse ?), qui claque des doigts, frappe dans les mains (se reprend si cela ne marche pas) et manipule tout le monde.
(...) Cosi, apparemment si simple et si binaire, est pourtant le plus difficile à monter de la trilogie Da Ponte. De très grands, comme Patrice Chéreau, s'y sont même cassé les dents. La lecture de Guth semble plaquée artificiellement sur l'oeuvre, alors qu'elle semblait découler naturellement d'elle dans les deux précédents volets.
(...) En fosse, Adam Fischer (...) souligne adroitement les détails cachés de la partie orchestrale, ménage un cantabile permanent et des tempos sans excès. Tout cela est raisonnable, bien sous tout rapport, mais d'un ennui redoutable."

Aug 28, 2009

Decorum









Opéra Garnier Paris June 16, 2009

Aug 27, 2009

Le Peletier







Maquette de la salle Le Peletier, 1831 (the building was burnt to the ground in 1873) Musée de la Musique, Paris June 16, 2009

Aug 24, 2009

Bed of light







Palais Garnier, Paris June 16, 2009

Aug 23, 2009

King Roger


Paris June 16, 2009

A few words about Py's Idomeneo - Aix 2009







Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Idomeneo, Re di Creta

Idomeneo Richard Croft
Idamante Yann Beuron
Ilia Sophie Karthäuser
Elettra Mireille Delunsch

Rundfunkchor Berlin
Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble
Direction musicale Marc Minkowski

Mise en scène et lumières Olivier Py
Scénographie et costumes Pierre André Weitz

Aix-en-Provence - 10th July 2009 Arte live broadcast






Olivier Py's production of Mozart's Idomeneo for the 2009 Aix Festival, though pleasant and easy to follow, leaves me a bit disappointed. The staging, a mix of Pierre Audi-like aesthetics and Nikolaus Lehnhoff's iconography, lacks depth and is nothing close to a groundbreaking experience. Fantastic craftsmanship is on display continuously, but the staging remains desperately emotionless. And Neptune and his kitchen knife and hairy chest fails to bring any edginess to it. The ideas are all well-thought and well-polished, but the sets and costumes, all in B&W, create a cold scenery that is reinforced by the lack of any truly vivid actor's direction.


More on the subject:
- "Olivier Py en fait un peu trop avec sa mise en scène d'"Idoménée" de Mozart, à Aix-en-Provence", Le Monde, Marie-Aude Roux
- "Festival d'Aix: Olivier Py débute dans Mozart avec un "Idoménée" bien bâti", Le Point
- "L’«Idoménée» choc d’Olivier Py", Libération, Eric Dahan
- "La frénésie d'“Idoménée” selon Py", Télérama, Fabienne Pascaud
- Olivier Py's interview by France Soir

Aug 19, 2009

Opéra des rues 2009





Festival Opéra des Rues
Paris 12e et 13e arrondissements
4-6 septembre 2009

Aug 14, 2009

Before the show


Arena di Verona July 15, 2009

Aug 9, 2009

Il Padrino



Riccardo Muti
Salzburg Festival August 6, 2009
AP Photo

Aug 8, 2009

Pagliacci, Orange

I Pagliacci
Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Dramma in due atti (1892)
Libretto Ruggiero Leoncavallo

Nedda - Inva Mula
Canio - Roberto Alagna
Tonio - Seng-Hyou Ko
Silvio - Stéphane Degout
Beppe - Florian Laconi
Orchestre National de France
Choeurs des opéras de région
Georges Prêtre, direction
Mise en scène, Jean-Claude Auvray

France 3 live broadcast of the Aug.4 performance
Chorégies d'Orange

 

If I had the opportunity to choose an opera to stage, I would choose Pagliacci.
First of all, for very personal reasons, I love "le Théâtre dans le Théâtre" or, in this case, "le cirque dans l'opéra". It automatically carries, for me, a deep sense of Absurd that is longing to be explored. Yet I haven't seen any production of Pagliacci that focuses on this aspect. This one included.

Can you imagine what a director familiar with Harold Pinter's work would do with such a piece? Clearly Jean-Claude Auvray never heard of Pinter.

His one big idea, changing the end of the opera by having Canio kill himself is the ultimate misreading of the libretto. This is not an opera about death, although Nedda and Silvio actually die, this is about life. Canio's life. And his rebirth, after killing his unfaithful wife and her lover.

There is so much to explore in this piece without altering its meaning, and yet Auvray chose the easy path - making it more dramatic (or totally idiotic) by having Canio commit suicide. Les mots me manquent. How did he dare? It is so hard to really read the libretto, written by Leoncavallo himself, and try to play with lines such as Canio's "Il teatro e la vita, Non son la stessa cosa." ?


The conduction of Georges Prêtre was fortunately on a whole different level. There was a very cinematographic feel to it and it blended the music perfectly with Orange's Théâtre Antique.
At one point during the love scene between Nedda and Silvio, with the wind blowing in Inva Mula's hair, I felt like I was watching a movie from the sixties (which only shows how different a live performance and a broadcast really are, regardless of the size of the TV screen).

In any case, Prêtre's conduction was fresh and truly vibrant. The contrast between his music and the physical appearance of this now very old man is really mind-blowing.

As for the cast, Inva Mula gave a forgettable performance - not bad, but not particularly exciting as well. Roberto Alagna was not very convincing either, but substituting singing with shouting hardly ever is. And his "Recitar... vesti la giubba", the highlight of the score for me, fell terribly short I'm afraid.

Song Hyon Ko was the best of the cast. His singing was full of colours and nuances, the voice was well-placed, and the acting was convincing enough. A really interesting portrayal of Tonio by Ko.

Aug 7, 2009

" Genial grace "





The search for the next generation of great conductors is an endless quest that is often very frustrating and can lead to long desperate moments. And then, once in a while, the Graal is here, almost palpable.

And I'm not talking about Gustavo Dudamel. Hell no.

My top of the list is Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Even NY Times' killjoy Anthony Tommasini was impressed with his NY debuts. Isn't that a miracle in itself?
" Conductor Embraces His New York Moment " NY Times, Anthony Tommasini, August 5, 2009

Aug 3, 2009

Saldi


Bologna July 19, 2009