MORTE (more or less)

 

Jorell Williams, Melissa Harvey, Maestro Neal Goren, Laurie Rubin, and Joshua Dennis

In the first scene of Nadia Boulanger's only opera La Ville Morte, one of the characters saw something he couldn't describe. That is exactly how we feel about the performance of said opera last night at The NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. As regular readers already know, we approach every opera  without reading advance materials. We have our very own criterion; let the work speak for itself. We would be surprised to find anyone in the decent sized audience who could have understood what happened onstage.

Upon returning home, we consulted Wikipedia (faut de mieux). "The story follows the lives and loves of an archeologist, Léonard, his sister Hebé, Alexandre, a colleague, and his wife Anne, amidst the ruins of Mycenae." 

It took us awhile to figure out how the characters were related. Hebé (performed by the fine soprano Melissa Harvey seems to have an affectionate relationship with Anne (played by the equally fine mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin). Two men arrive separately. One is the fine tenor Joshua Dennis (whom we have written about many times since he launched his career at the Santa Fe Opera), and the other is baritone Jorell Williams (whom we have also written about many times in the past dozen years).  The relationships described in Wikipedia took some time to figure out.

The libretto was based on a play written by Gabriele D'Annunzio. The story is as obscure as that of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande and if you are a fan of the Symbolist movement you may enjoy that sort of non-storytelling but we do not.

Still, Nadia Boulanger was a major star in the musical firmament, responsible for teaching many other composers, and this is the only opera she wrote. She wrote it with her mentor (and possibly lover) Raoul Pugno in the early years of the 20th c. but its performance was prevented by the outbreak of World War II. The score was lost and had to be reconstructed. Unfortunately, the orchestrator neglected to include a harp. Other than that we heard some really beautiful passages for the winds and something interesting going on in the string section of the chamber orchestra presided over by Maestro Neal Goren, so well remembered for his Gotham Chamber Opera. 

We recall spending many interesting evenings with Gotham Chamber Opera. Some we loved (Charpentier's Le descent d'Orphée aux enfers), Montsalvatge's El Gato con Botas, and a Martinú comedy called The Bridge) and a few we didn't relate to. We were quite disappointed when GCO folded and were particularly happy to witness Maestro Goren's conducting once more.

In sum, Dear Reader, the orchestral music was well worth hearing, even if it wasn't exactly what the composers wrote; we enjoyed hearing two male singers with whom we have a long history; we were pleased to be introduced to two female singers who were unknown to us. So, the evening was not a total loss. However, we and our two musician friends left puzzled and unsatisfied. That the work received significant applause (and was well received in Athens when performed by the Greek National Opera) did not make us any happier.

A word about the direction by Robin Guarino, whose interpretation of Haydn's Orlando Paladino we enjoyed about ten years ago--we think she did the best with a non-story and inscrutable characters whose lines were not those of real people. Andromache Chalfant's set comprised a rather bare room with a single chair, a room in the form of a box that was elevated and reached by a ladder and a metal staircase. In front of this at ground level were reams of white fabric meant to represent a few different elements. Also there was a table with gold artifacts, puzzling until we read in Wikipedia that the male characters were archaeologists. Jessica Drayton's projection design comprised some abstract motifs which added to the inscrutability. Candice Donnelly's costume design was nondescript.

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TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT

Thomas Richards, Jennifer Zetlan, and Abdiel Jacobsen (photo by Richard Termine)

One might think of Gotham Chamber Opera's newest entry in terms of Richard Wagner's concept of gesamtkunstwerk--combining poetry, music, singing, dancing, set design and, of course video projections.  Another way to perceive the work is, as our companion for the evening called it--a haiku of a Shakespeare play.  We thought of it as a meditation on Shakespeare's Tempest with contributions from the 18th and 21st centuries.

The entire affair was directed and choreographed by Luca Veggetti, using four amazing dancers from the Martha Graham Dance company who impressed us with their dramatic intensity.  Peiju Chien-Pott stood out for her flexibility and breathtaking extensions, defying her peculiar costume of jeans and boots.  Abdiel Jacobsen partnered her effectively in some outstanding duets.  The other two dancers, Ying Xin and Lloyd Mayor were, for unknown reasons, swathed entirely in black which was unfortunate because they are very attractive performers.

Singing roles were taken by soprano Jennifer Zetlan, whom we had much admired in Two Boys at The Metropolitan Opera, and bass-baritone Thomas Richards, whom we would like to hear again, singing different material.

We are somewhat familiar with the music of Kaija Saariaho from her Amour de Loin which we saw in Santa Fe a few years ago. It may be very fine music but every time the program switched to songs of Henry Purcell from his 1712 version of The Tempest, we felt our taut nerves relaxing and our ears smiling. We particularly enjoyed Purcell's "Halcyon Days".

Purcell's songs are melodic and pleasing; Saariaho's belong to that category of post-modern composition that does not fall gently on the ear.  Many songs were declamatory and approached sprechstimme.  It is easy to evaluate a singer's quality in the Purcell (both singers were fine) but it was impossible to evaluate with the Saariaho. In one song, "Bosun's Cheer", Richards mentioned "roaring, shrieking, howling, and jingling". We wondered whether he was referring to the sea or to the sounds he was asked to reproduce!

The same issue occurred with the instrumental music.  The combination of period instruments conducted by Maestro Neal Goren sounded delightful in the Purcell songs. The Gotham Chamber Orchestra comprised a string quartet, a bass, a harpsichord and an archlute which we mistook for a theorbo.  (Following the performance we had just enough time to visit the Met's exhibit of Caravaggio's paintings of musicians and their instruments.  There were also real antique instruments under glass. Nice tie-in!)

We did not find the Saariaho delightful--interesting, dramatic, but not delightful.

The simple but effective set by Clifton Taylor, who also did the moody lighting, included a huge globe on which were projected images suggestive of a tempest at sea, and later showed images of the performers themselves.  Video projections were by Jean-Baptiste Barrière.

Costumes by Peter Speliopoulos did not amount to much. Ms. Zetlan was clothed in a shapeless shift that achieved the goal of timelessness without flattering her figure. Others wore street attire.

Gotham Chamber Opera is known for taking risks and this one seemed to please the audience in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum. We consider it a worthwhile adventure although not altogether pleasing.  Let us say rather that it was dramatic and interesting.

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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.

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THE RAVEN

Alessandra Ferri and Fredrika Brillembourg--Photo by Richard Termine

As part of the New York Philharmonic Biennial, the estimable Gotham Chamber Opera is presenting an avant-garde music-theater piece based on Edgar Allen Poe's chilling poem The Raven.  It can be considered a perfect piece for a festival--original, challenging and outside the customary artistic limits.  Two pages of the program were required for Conductor and Artistic Director Neal Goren and Director/Choreographer/Set Designer Luca Veggetti to explain their inspiration and artistic goals.

We were left wondering at what point in our cultural history music became sound, dance became movement, and singing became vocalizing.  The capacity audience seemed to appreciate the event to a greater extent than we did, leaving us feeling like an old fogey with our 19th c. ears.  The anxiety and horror of Poe's poetry was successfully conveyed but that was not enough to leave us feeling artistically fulfilled.

Toshio Hosokawa's music, while not to our taste, was beautifully played by the Gotham Chamber Opera Orchestra.  But watching the singer and dancer moving around the stage only made us miss Alessandra Ferri's luminous and deeply affecting dancing with ABT.  Mezzo Fredrika Brillembourg's vocalizing--at first, artificial speech, then sprechstimme, made us wonder at the enormous effort she must have made to learn the work.  As is common in contemporary music there was no melodic line to hold onto.

The two women, dressed in identical dull gray pants and sweatshirts (Costume Design by Peter Speliopoulos) were sometimes apart and sometimes together, leaning on one another or entwining in some manner.  The most visually interesting moment of the hour-long work came when Ms. Ferri's shadow seemed to walk away from her as she lay curled up on the floor--a piece of staging legerdemain.

The manner in which the poem was recited and then sung did not make the words clear and the lighting was such that the projected titles were unclear.   It was an advantage to have been familiar with the poem.

There was a "curtain-raiser" of music by André Caplet based on another story by Poe entitled Conte fantastique: Le Masque de la Mort rouge.  Caplet's music, while not particularly melodic, offered interesting textures and was, again, beautifully played by a string quartet augmented by harp. The style was impressionistic and reminded us of Ravel.  We are indeed a big fan of this expressive instrument and Sivan Magen made it sing with gorgeous ascending and descending scales and shimmering arpeggios.

Unfortunately, we do not enjoy every event we write about but we would never dare to criticize its merit because it is not our taste.  We save our brickbats for poor performances.  This work may be exactly your cup of tea and you are invited to comment below if you wish.

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MUSIC THAT CHARMS

Cullen Gandy, Daniel Curran, Yungee Rhie, Jamilyn Manning-White (photo by Richard Termine)

Pluto, god of the underworld, never permitted an arrival to his domain to return to the world of the living; no, not until Orpheus, encouraged by his father Apollo, used his prodigious gift of song to soften the heart of Pluto and charm him into releasing Eurydice.  At the Gotham Chamber Opera's production of Charpentier's 1686 work, La descente d'Orphée aux enfers, we the audience are charmed by the gift of song.

In a master stroke of site-specific staging we are invited into St. Paul's Chapel, the oldest continually inhabited building in New York, to hear one of the oldest surviving operas.  Although this is not the first opera to be based on the myth of Orpheus, (that honor goes to Peri's 1600 version) nor the most frequently performed (that honor likely goes to Gluck's l762 version) nor the favorite of early music fans (that honor might go to the 1607 Monteverdi version) it was well worth the gorgeous production it received from Gotham's completely effective production team comprising Stage Director Andrew Eggert, Set Designer Julia Noulin-Merat, Costume Designer Vita Tzykun, Lighting Designer Mark Stanley, Choreographer Doug Elkins  with projections by S. Katy Tucker.

The set was simply a slightly raised platform with a white scrim obscuring the sight, but not the sound, of eight early music specialists producing the most gorgeous sounds, conducted by Neal Goren.  The circular staircase and the balcony were put to good use for the gods Apollon, Pluton and Proserpine.  Apollon was magnificently sung by rising star baritone John Brancy, costumed in golden tunic with a curly blond wig.  Pluton and Proserpine, costumed in black with steampunk influence, were finely sung by appropriately booming bass Jeffrey Beruan and the scintillating soprano Mary Feminear.

That staircase was also used for Orphée's descent to the underworld.  Daniel Curran's winning tenor was persuasive in expressing the many moods of the young bard--joyful at his impending marriage, grief at losing his bride, imploring as he pleaded for her release.  Since the third act (in which he loses her again when he disobeys the instructions to not look back) was either never written or was lost, we the audience can leave without despair.

We have witnessed happy shepherds and nymphs celebrating the impending marriage in charming dance and song.  We have witnessed poor Euridice (lovely soprano Jamilyn Manning-White) felled by a snake bite and Orphée's grief.  We hear Apollon's advice and Orphée's pleading his case.  We thrill to Pluton's majesty and Proserpine's hard heart softening.  We see the happily reunited couple climbing out of Pluto's realm. We are satisfied without the tragic third act.

The contrast between the verdant first act and the threatening second act, which takes place in the underworld, were effectively conveyed by projections on the scrim and the spectacle of three bad boys suffering torments that were relieved by Orphée's singing.  Light-hearted shepherds were transformed into agonized souls by virtue of vocal color, scary makeup and tattered costumes.   Until we recognized the superlative voices of Cullen Gandy and Mr. Brancy, we would never have identified them.

The performance was a perfect example of all elements coming together with nary a weak link.  The Gotham Chamber Opera is known for producing unusual chamber works in unusual venues.  Our New Year's wish is that all future productions be as effective as this one.

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MOZART FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

When the curtain rises on Gotham Chamber Opera’s  Il Sogno di Scipione we see three bodies in bed together.  Since Mozart wrote this work (opera seria?  cantata?) as a probably randy adolescent, one could readily conclude that he would have loved it.  The libretto by Metastasio comprises an allegory in which two goddesses vie for the attentions of Scipione, a Roman general--dry stuff indeed for our epoch until brought to sexy life by director  Christopher Alden.  Fortuna (Susannah Biller) and Constanza (Marie-Eve Munger) are two very sexy ladies. The blond (natch) Fortuna is tempestuous and vain; we know this because she is obsessed with her hair, makeup and glamorous outfits, designed by Fabio Toblini.  Constanza, the brunette, is also beautiful but she is loyal and spiritual; we know this because she rises from bed and performs a succession of yoga poses.  We can guess who wins; it is the Enlightenment after all.

The two coloratura sopranos chosen for the roles are both goddesses of the dacapo aria, not only beautiful to look at but exciting to hear.  The fioritura was rendered perfectly; these ladies are fearless and tackled Mozart’s high-lying tessitura with open throats and brilliant sound.  Tenor Michele Angelini was also a knockout as the eponymous hero; he has a lovely sound and an effortless way with phrasing.  He “wakes up” in paradise and in bed with two goddesses, completely bewildered since he fell asleep alone in a palace in Africa.  He reacts like Everyman; he lights up a cigarette.  (The awkward moment of watching someone presumably a non-smoker try to smoke onstage was matched only by Fortuna trying to walk in stilettos!)

Scipione’s dream includes not just the two goddesses but also some meetings with his deceased forebears.  Publio was magnificently sung by tenor Arthur Espiritu hobbling around on one leg and two crutches, having been injured in a prior African campaign.  His diction was remarkable and not a word was slighted.  Scipione’s father, excellently sung by tenor Chad A. Johnson arrived via wheelchair pushed by a nurse, suffering from spasticity and seizures--neither of which impaired his lovely singing.  However, one wondered about these directorial decisions since physical impairments are supposed to be left behind when one enters paradise!

Leaving aside a few over-the-top choices, most of the direction leavened the material considerably and the stage business mostly suited the characters and the text.  I would have preferred to see Costanza less interested in the cosmetics that so occupied Fortune, the better to have limned her character.

The epilogue was finely sung by soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen.  It adds nothing to the tale but somehow the dog must be wagged.  In Mozart’s day it was written to flatter a patron and in our day was used to flatter the patrons of Gotham Chamber Opera.  On the plus side, it gave the audience an opportunity to hear more of Mozart’s glorious music and Ms. Willis-Sorensen’s superb singing.

The simple set by Andrew Cavanaugh Holland comprised a mattress on the floor, some tangled sheets, a lamp and a mysterious wardrobe from which Fortuna drew a plethora of far out costumes seemingly designed for some provocative role-playing.  Additionally, the two forebears made their entrances and exits in similar fashion.  The chorus entered through the windows.  Lighting by Allen Hahn added to the excellence but a chance was missed to reflect the dark storm with appropriate effects. Happily, Neil Goren, Artistic Director of Gotham Chamber Orchestra, conducted his fine orchestra; the harpsichord was played by Keun-A Lee and Sibylle Johner played the cello continuo.

Gotham Chamber Opera is filling an instrumental  place in the New York City musical scene and has a most excellent home at the John Jay College where the intimate size of the auditorium gets us as close to Mozart as we will ever be.  Congratulations all around!
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