ON COLD MOUNTAIN

Isabel Leonard and Nathan Gunn in Cold Mountain at Santa Fe Opera (photo by Ken Howard for SFO)

You read Charles Frazier's best-selling novel.  You saw the movie with Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renee Zellweger. Do you want to see the opera premiering this season at the Santa Fe Opera?  Yes, you do! You want to hear mezzo-sopranos Isabel Leonard and Emily Fons create the roles of Ada Monroe and Ruby Thewes, two characters who bond in sisterhood and change each other's lives for the better.  You want to hear baritone Nathan Gunn as the war-weary defector W.P. Inman and you want to hear tenor Jay Hunter Morris as the slimy villain Teague. They were as excellent dramatically as they were vocally.

Will you want to see this opera a second time?  Probably not.  And why is that?  Like so many contemporary operas in English, the language itself has not inspired award-winning composer Jennifer Higdon to write any memorable vocal lines, indeed, not any melody whatsoever.  And what is opera without melody?  A play with music is what it is. We were reminded of the soundtrack of a film. We have only good things to say about Ms. Higdon's instrumental writing which is highly textured and interesting.  Even in its dissonant passages illuminating battles, it is accessible.  But the vocal lines are strictly conversational and without lyricism. They might as well have been spoken.

We sensed a number of missed opportunities. When Pangle and Storbrod appeared onstage with a banjo, we became all excited, hoping that Ms. Higdon would have chosen an unorthodox path by including a banjo in the orchestra and by employing some folk tunes indigenous to that part of the South. No such luck! And when apprentice soprano Chelsea Basler (in an excellent performance as Sarah) sang to her baby, her vocal line did not even begin to suggest a lullabye, although we heard some lovely sounds coming from the harp. When the group of men-starved young women (beautifully sung and acted by apprentices Heather Phillips, Shabnam Kalbasi, Megan Marino, and Bridgette Gan) try to seduce Inman and Veasy (Roger Honeywell), we longed for more seductive music.  We were thinking of the Rhinemaidens!

Miguel Harth-Bedoya's conducting cannot be faulted and the orchestra sounded crisp and clear. The chorus sang magnificently, as usual, under the direction of Susanne Sheston. We particularly enjoyed the chorus of dead soldiers at the end which was quite moving.

Dramatically, everything worked. Leonard Foglia's effective direction had us experiencing Ada and Ruby's hardship on the home front in alternation with Inman's frightening and tortuous efforts to evade the Home Guard and come home to the waiting Ada. Librettist Gene Scheer wrote some fine texts that added to the drama and hewed closely to the spirit of the novel.

The scenic design by Robert Brill was a chaotic jumble of wooden planks, appearing somewhat dangerous for the artists, but fortunately there were no mishaps.  The set  worked best when some planks were repurposed as a boat in which Inman is crossing a river, a boat which sank. David C. Woolard's costumes were superb, giving us a good picture of the stylish but helpless Charleston lady that Ada had been and the capable farm woman she became under Ruby's tutelage and exhortation.

As a matter of fact, the relationship between the two women was more interestingly portrayed than Ada's relationship with Inman. For the latter, there is only a brief scene of their meeting and then their final ill-fated reunion for which we yearned to hear a more lyrical and tender duet. (This parallels the construction of the novel, of course.) Still we were intrigued by the idea that two very different women could form such a loving and worthwhile bond.  Ada teaches Ruby to read and to appreciate some of the finer things in life while Ruby teaches Ada to be independent and strong.

As Ruby's father Storbrod, bass Kevin Burdette turned in his usual fine performance.  Tenor Jay Hunter Morris not only sang magnificently as Teague, but created a character of menace who chilled us to the bone.

The Civil War was indeed a disgraceful event in our nation's history and, after a century and a half has passed, we observe that the wounds have still not healed.  That makes the topic eminently suitable for a great American opera. Our dismay over the evils of war will always be relevant to contemporary times.  The topic of damaged lives strikes very close to home as we deal with veterans of wars in the Middle East. So this is a valid subject for operatic treatment.  We only wish that the music had reflected our musical history as well.

(c) meche kroop

ISABEL-BEL-BELLA

Isabel Leonard

Vlad Iftinca

It was a very personal and satisfying recital last night at Zankel Hall when Isabel Leonard and Vlad Iftinca collaborated in a way that honored Ms. Leonard's Argentinian-American heritage.  As a tribute to her Argentinian mother, the first half of the program comprised Spanish songs, some familiar and some new to us-- and happy discoveries they were.

Ms. Leonard has been thrilling us with her marvelous mezzo instrument, her musicality and intimate presentation since her undergraduate days at Juilliard.  She manifests the qualities that we so admire in any singer of songs; she invites the members of the audience to join her on a very personal journey, following the advice of James Levine who once, in a master class, advised her to sing songs she loves.  She addressed the audience with brief anecdotes and made good eye contact; she moved about the stage with ease.  We were instantly won over by these qualities.

Mr. Iftinca, well known from his work with The Metropolitan Opera and from his coaching at the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program is a stylish pianist and preternaturally tuned in to his singer and supportive in every way.  Together they make a fine team and reportedly chose the program together.

The songs were well-chosen to demonstrate a range of emotions.  The order in which they were sung was atypical and not organized by composer so that the audience applauded after each and every one.  We heard songs by Manuel De Falla, Federico García Lorca, Enrique Granados, Frederic Mompou, Xavier Montsalvatge, and Joaquín Valverde Sanjuán--a veritable banquet.  We have been hearing more and more Spanish music this year and are glad for it.  Some of them can be labeled (if you must label) as folk songs or zarzuela but it doesn't matter.  When sung by an artist they are all "art songs".  We particularly enjoyed it when Ms. Leonard used her lovely body in a little dance, as in Sanjuán's "Clavelitos", revealing her delightful personality.

Each song offered new delights, a graceful portamento in García Lorca's "Los Pelegrinitos", a soaring vocal line in the loving "Gracia mía", the wild dance of Montsalvatge's "Canto negro", a thrilling vibrato in De Falla's  "Preludios".  Mr. Iftinca brought out every flavor of Spain, particularly in the folk melodies of García Lorca.  There were no projected titles and one didn't want to take one's eyes off the stage but the mood of each song came through clearly, even if one did not understand the Spanish.  The two artists moved easily from irony to joy, from flirtatiousness to pensiveness, from heartbreak to anxiety.

The second half of the program comprised American songs, a tribute to  Ms. Leonard's American father.  Again, we heard songs one might label "cabaret" or "popular" but in Mr. Iftinca's hands and with Ms. Leonard's voice, they are all art songs.  Our personal favorites were Jennifer Higdon's "Hop and Toe Dance" (a New York premiere), Ernest Charles' "When I have sung my songs", Adam Guettel's highly accessible "How can I lose you?" and, above all Cole Porter's "Where, Oh Where".  Two world premieres were on the program and Ms. Leonard introduced the composers Glen Roven and Ben Moore.

As if this banquet were not enough, we were treated to three encores:  Rossini's "Canzonetta Spagnuola" with its thrilling trills and fleet runs, an hilarious aria from Offenbach's La Périchole, and "There's a place for us" from Bernstein's West Side Story.  Each one was graced by Ms. Leonard's unique communicative skills.  It is a rare art to be able to immerse oneself in the song and yet to retain one's own identity.

© meche kroop