MARTINU ON DREAMING

Sara Jakubiak, Maestro Leon Botstein, Aaron Blake, David Cangelosi, Alfred Walker, Kevin Burdette, Rebecca Jo Loeb, Philip Cokorinos, Tichina Vaughn, and Raehann Bryce-Davis

Diehard opera lovers, fans of the rare, and a sprinkling of Czech nationals gathered in force last night at Carnegie Hall for a concert production of Bohuslav Martinu's Julietta, a 1937 opera based on a French play Juliette, ou La clé des songes by Georges Neveux. There must have been something very appealing about the theme for the composer to get it translated into Czech by Alex Zucker.

We speculated about the historical forces extant in Europe at that time--the insecurity of living on the same continent as a megalomaniac madman (What's old is new again!) making a dream world more appealing than reality. We thought at length about the surreal aspects of the story which gave the composer free rein to utilize massive orchestral forces in strange and colorful ways, developing new and wonderful colors with surprising rhythmic twists. 

We loved these orchestral colors, the French Horn fanfares, the use of the English Horn and the Bass Clarinet. Liberal use was also made of an accordion and there were sounds we could not identify.

The odd story concerns a Parisian bookseller (performed by terrific tenor Aaron Blake) who revisits a small coastal town where three years earlier he had become enchanted by a woman singing a love song, heard through an open window. There are some pretty strange things going on in this town; the citizens have no memories and live in the present. The railway station disappears. Michel gets elected to high office because he has memories--of a rubber duckie from childhood. 

The chief of police (astutely enacted by David Cangelosi) later becomes a postman and denies his earlier occupation. Everything is off-kilter, the way it is in dreams. So, we realize that Michel is dreaming. But was his earlier visit also a dream? One can only speculate; but credence is lent this theory by our own experience of returning occasionally to a certain place in our dream life that doesn't really exist.

Dreams are utilized in the theater quite often.  Think of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Pedro Calderón de la Barca's La Vida es Sueño. Although Eastern religions claim that what we call reality is really maya or illusion. Nonetheless, we are Westerners and see things differently.

In this libretto, an innkeeper tells stories to an elderly couple, which makes them happy. Is that not true today when many rely on film and other media to make life more interesting?

Act I sets the stage for the action which follows; Act II is surely more compelling as Julietta appears and seems to know and remember Michel. The music given to Julietta, so beautifully sung by soprano Sara Jakubiak, is the most lyrical of the evening. After a romantic reunion there is a spat and the frustrated Michel fires his pistol at the fleeing Julietta. But no one else hears the shot and there is no body. Visiting her home yields no further information. The resident denies her existence. Does this absurdity not resemble dreams of anxiety and frustration you may have had?

Act III brings things together. Michel is in the Central Office of Dreams and there are episodes of humor--a bellhop who wants to dream about the Wild West, a convict who wants dreams of a huge cell, a beggar who wants a dream seaside holiday. At the end Michel refuses to leave and becomes one of the "people in grey", madmen all, deniers of reality. How suitable for Hitlerian Europe!

The singers did yeoman's work in learning this extremely difficult language and managed to capture the rhythmic thrust of the sound as matched to the music. The vocal lines were not at all melodic, as is common in opera of the mid 20th c. The lines were often parlando and there were some lines spoken in English. Although there were no titles, libretti were distributed with the programs and house lights were left on. Most members of the audience elected to read along with the performance.

Aside from the outstanding performances of Ms. Jakubiak, Mr. Blake, and Mr. Cangelosi, we particularly enjoyed mezzo-soprano Rebecca Jo Loeb whose versatility animated a number of roles; equivalent versatility can be claimed by bass Kevin Burdette and bass-baritone Philip Cokorinos. The resonant bass-baritone Alfred Walker also fulfilled a number of roles to perfection.

Two mezzo-sopranos added significantly to the performance--Tichina Vaughn and Raehann Bryce-Davis who each assumed a number of different roles. The Bard Festival Chorale, directed by James Bagwell made significant contributions as well.

But the main event was the orchestra which played magnificently under the baton of Leon Botstein, who loves discovering neglected works. Julietta has not been heard in the United States before. Martinu was a prolific composer who left Czechoslovakia in 1923 for France where his music certainly acquired a degree of Gallic influence. This work premiered in Prague in 1938 but was also translated into French. Shortly afterward Martinu came to the United States, bringing the score with him. Strange that it had to wait nearly 80 years to be brought to the stage of Carnegie Hall. Thank you Maestro Botstein!

(c) meche kroop

A CLOSE SHAVE

The cast of Martinú's Comedy on the Bridge at Gotham Chamber Opera
(photo by Richard Termine)

We cannot think of another company who could have brought out all the crazy humor and satire in Czech composer Bohuslav Martinú's twin bill.  We didn't know opera could be so much fun.  But opening night of Gotham Chamber Opera's double bill at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater of John Jay College was just plain down and dirty FUN.  But it would be a mistake to shortchange the substantial underpinnings.  Sometimes the best way to learn is with humor, not with preaching.   We laughed.  We learned.

In Alexander Bis we are transported to a highly stylized Parisian home populated by absurd characters and surreal situations; the acting is equally stylized in a cartoonish manner.  An adorable maid (mezzo Cassandra Zoé Velasco) is dusting everything in sight with a shocking pink feather duster, the only spot of color on the highly stylized black and white set.  A portrait of a man, portrayed by bass Joseph Beutel, hangs on the wall; he comments on the action and interacts with the singers.

Alexander, the man of the house, (baritone Jarrett Ott) is testing his wife's fidelity by shaving his beard and pretending to be his Texas cousin.  His wife Armande (soprano Jenna Siladie) sees through the disguise but is wildly attracted to him.  At night in his arms she has a nightmare involving murder and some devils prancing around in red unitards with pink tutus.  (I kid you not!)

This good faithful woman, having had a taste of "infidelity" is now tempted by an athletic man she had previously rejected. An audience favorite, Oscar (tenor Jason Slayden) arrives on a bicycle in a wild and colorful costume.  Poor Alexander in his jealousy has created what he feared.  We got it.  We loved it.  We wanted to see it again!

The second one-act opera on the program was Comedy on the Bridge.  In this opera, the characters are not as absurd but the situation is.  Poor Popelka (the versatile Ms. Siladie, well remembered and reviewed by us last summer in Santa Fe) is crossing a bridge from a town which she has visited to find her soldier brother in an enemy camp.  Her "safe conduct" gets her past the sentry of the enemy town but the "friendly" sentry at the entrance to her own town will not admit her.  He is decidedly unfriendly!  So the poor girl is stuck on the bridge in a "no man's land". The two sentries are amusingly costumed in identical costumes of black and white, except the colors are reversed--even the beards.

Soon she is joined by the lecherous married hops farmer Bedroň (Mr. Beutel)  who imposes himself on her.  He is also stranded in "no man's land".  Next comes her fiancé Sykoš (Mr. Ott) who, convinced she has cheated on him, breaks off their engagement.  Next to arrive is Eva, Bedroň's wife (mezzo Abigail Fischer), who is ready to divorce her husband for philandering.  Finally the school master Učitel (Mr. Slayden) arrives, stumped by a riddle.  The running joke through the opera is the rigidity and close-mindedness we observe in the sentries, small people given great powers.  

When bullets start flying with great orchestral impact, the five trapped townspeople make peace with one another and by the end of the opera there is a happy ending.  We cannot help but think about the ridiculous aspects of war and of bureaucracy.  But we are thinking this with a big smile on our face.

The operas were wisely cast with talented singers who threw themselves into their roles with appropriate style, guided by James Marvel's impressive direction.  Every bit of stage business was motivated and the interaction between the characters, while absurd, made sense within the context of the absurd situation into which they were thrust.  Alexandre Bis was performed in French and the diction of the lower male voices surpassed that of the high female voices.  (That seems to always be the case).  The second opera was performed in Czech which delighted us no end.  The words, although not understood by this non-Czech-speaker, lined up perfectly with the music and delighted the ear.

And what about this music, written between the two World Wars?  We loved it!  It was consistently accessible and varied in tone, unlike so much music of the 1920's and 1930's.  To call it pleasing and tuneful is not to damn with faint praise.  The tone of the music always seemed to highlight the character of the singer and the situation. We particularly liked the emphatic battle music and the tender music for Popelka.  Neal Goren's conducting left nothing to be desired and the orchestra performed with verve and pizazz.

Production values were impressive all around.  We couldn't imagine a better set design than that of Cameron Anderson with effective lighting by Clifton Taylor.  Fabio Toblini's costumes were marvelously designed and always suited the characterizations--witness Popelka's charming peasant dress and Oscar's wildly bizarre costume.

How exciting to discover a composer largely neglected in the United States but probably given a great deal of attention in Czechoslovakia.  We wouldn't hesitate a minute to see more of his works.

© meche kroop

WHO IS SILVIE?

Nathaniel LaNasa and Silvie Jensen

Silvie Jensen is a versatile mezzo-soprano who has made quite a name for herself in many genres: opera, lieder, oratorio, and commissioned new works.  We were fortunate to be invited to enjoy her artistry in a private recital at Norton Hall--up close and intimate as lieder recitals are best enjoyed (and should always be, were it not for financial considerations).

The first half of the program was devoted to Schubert, and if there was ever a better composer of lieder we cannot think of one.  His setting of Franz Schober's "An die Musik", which opened the program, is the perfect tribute to the musical arts and an expression of the poet's gratitude.  Ms. Jensen sang it with consummate depth of feeling and communicative skills such that we were reminded of our own gratitude.

We are accustomed to hearing Die Winterreise sung by men and rarely hear it performed by a woman although there is a recording of it sung by Christa Ludwig.  Last night we heard Ms. Jensen sing several selections from it and pushed aside any judgments and just listened to the music.  Her artistry was such that we completely forgot the risk she was taking. Accompanied by the fine piano partner Nathaniel LaNasa, we were swept away to the lonely wintry landscape through which the poet plods, trying to escape from the despair of a broken heart.

Count on Schubert to limn a dozen shades of grief.  In "Gute Nacht", we hear the poet's disappointment as he sets out on his journey.  The song is strophic but our two artists made each verse sound new.  In "Der Lindenbaum" the gentle opening yields to the forceful pianistic and vocal depiction of "die kalten Winde" which chilled us, even in the warm room.

Both artists are experts at coloring the words.  The self-pity of "Wasserflut", the nostalgia of "Auf dem Flüsse", the false cheer of the dreamer in "Frühlingstraum", the menace of "Die Krähe", the morbidity of "Das Wirtshaus", and the mysterious resolve of "Der Leiermann" were all communicated.  Even in the repeated notes of "Der Wegweiser", there was not a hint of tedium.

We must add that Ms. Jensen's German diction was flawless and permitted us to pay full attention to the performance and none whatsoever to the translations.  Her French was just as fine in a cycle of songs by Poulenc entitled La Fraicheur et le Feu.

Although we do not understand Czech, we loved the sound of it and the delightful folk melodies of Bohuslav Martinu who wrote in the same time period as Poulenc.  We particularly enjoyed the charming "Touha" with its frisky piano part, as well as the lament "Smutny Mily".  We would love a second hearing of these songs.

Finally, Ms. Jensen and Mr. LaNasa performed selections from Britten's settings of folk songs.  We always love hearing the tale of "The Brisk Young Widow" and "The Salley Gardens" in which the poetry by W.B. Yeats inspired a lovely vocal line.

We were completely satisfied by this recital; but there was an encore that added a special thrill.  We never would have foreseen the smoky seductive timbre with which this cool Nordic beauty invested the "Habanera" from Bizet's Carmen.  Let us just say WOW and be done with it.

Although we understand that rehearsal time was short, we found the teamwork to be impressive.  Both Ms. Jensen and Mr. LaNasa are excellent interpreters and matched each other beautifully in their phrasing and dynamics.  We would gladly hear the two of them tackle the entire cycle of  Die Winterreise.  Perhaps next Winter?

© meche kroop