August 10, 2005
Scottish Opera Klinghoffer controversy
Scottish Opera will perform The Death of Klinghoffer by John Adams, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, on 23 August and three subsequent dates.
The work is about the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists who murdered the elderly, disabled Leon Klinghoffer, and attempts to see the tragedy from the point of view of both the Palestinians and the Israelis.
The production is said to involve machine-gun armed chorus members sitting disguised in the audience before storming on stage.
Scottish Opera has something of a genius for exciting controversy, and there is already a call by Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles for the production to be boycott.
news.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1741092005
Andy Karzas of Chicago comments on an opera list:
“What if someone in the audience had suddenly feigned a heart attack and interrupted the performance? And once the curtain came down and the medics had arrived the individual under discussion suddenly sat up and said ,’oh, I’m fine; I’m just using the same kind of shock tactics that the director employed in the performance.’ Could/should he or she be prosecuted?”
Interesting!
Posted by Simon Holledge at 04:49 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 27, 2005
Fidelio in Glasgow
For the last production of the 2004-5 season, Scottish Opera revived its 1994 production of Fidelio. The first performance on 25 May was a gritty, lumpy, choppy affair which finally won out against its flaws to deliver the powerful message of the drama.
The success of the evening was largely die to the supporting singers. Ulrich Dünnebach was a fine Rocco, singing with such beauty, elegance and good diction that the jailer could have been mistaken as one of the heroes of the drama. Sharper direction might have made it clearer that he was there for the money rather than to rescue Fidelio! Sarah Redgwick was an enchanting Marzelline with beautiful diction. No doubt a singer to watch in the future. Peter Sidhom was a manic, blustery Don Pizarro who shouted as much as he sang, but was absolutely effective as the villain.
Elizabeth Byrne has an attractive youthful voice, but from her first entry as Fidelio/Leonore it was apparent that she would be paying less attention to the text than the other singers. She also had a tendency to be shrill. For some reason the production did not include any transformation from the male Fidelio to the female Leonore (normally indicated by the soprano letting her hair down, donning a skirt or whatever) and poor jilted Marzelline may have been left wondering whether her Fidelio in the badly-fitting grey suit had turned out to be gay. As Florestan, Ian Storey produced ringing, dramatic tones, but without being able to sustain the music, and the words, to the ends of the lines.
The orchestra of Scottish Opera can often be the true hero of the night but on this occasion they were off form, with intonation problems and wrong notes. Richard Armstrong began the evening with a choppy account of the overture, and proceeded with a reading that was consistently dramatic, rather than smooth or beautiful.
The production was updated to a 20th-century ‘gulag’. A black, curtain-less set was used, divided into small, separately-revealed spaces, that was only opened up, full stage, for the prisoners’ chorus. This was effective, though it left the singers with little personal space to manoeuvre in, to the extent that it was possible to notice when they weren’t followed the blocking!
Unfortunately some short, over the top, effects spoilt the general austerity of the conception: simultaneous purple, yellow and red lighting of the climax to the dungeon scene and a sudden backcloth of incongruous skyscrapers right at the end of the opera. Simon Daw was credited, unusually, as ‘Revival Designer’, after Stewart Laing as ‘Original designer’, implying that the sets had been changed to some extent, while Tim Albery returned as director.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:57 PM | TrackBack
April 10, 2005
Hänsel and Gretel in Stirling
Hänsel and Gretel was performed in Stirling on 9 April 05 as the first leg of a ‘Scottish Opera on Tour’ production, bound for Aberdeen, Forfar, Ayr, Kelso, Inverness, Portree and Wick.
For touring requirements, the conductor Derek Clark has written a new, reduced version of the score for a 19-piece orchestra of ‘Soloists of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera’ (for the record: two violins, two violas, two celli, one double bass, one flute/piccolo, one oboe/cor anglais, one clarinet, one clarinet/bass clarinet, one bassoon, 2 horns, one trumpet, one trombone, one timpani, one percussion, and one harp).
I was wondering whether the diluted orchestration would sound disappointing in the theatre, but it didn’t. It was too good in fact, as the music in the reverberant acoustic (of the 872-seat Albert Halls/Main Hall) effectively overpowered the stage business. While it’s difficult to get the right balance when you are performing in a series of different venues, Derek Clark might be advised to adopt the practice (of R Strauss? Furtwängler?) of handing the baton to an assistant and walking around to hear how everything sounds from different parts of the auditorium.
None of the cast - Jennifer Johnston as Hansel, Claire Wild as Gretel, Miranda Keys as both the mother and the witch and Roland Wood as the father - were able to project musically or dramatically much beyond the orchestra, though Rebecca Bottone was charming as the Sandman and the Dew Fairy.
The production was confusing with lots of shrine-like white boxes around the stage, which eventually were opened up to form the witch’s gingerbread house, but there were amusing effects with puppets, broomsticks etc.
One of the reasons for staging this opera was to involve local children - in this case 15 of them - but they were controlled, static and limited in what they were allowed to do. Letting them loose on the production (rather like the 1999 Corsaro/Sendak Zurich production) would have made it more fun.
The hall was only about three-quarters full and contained few children. Perhaps it would be better to put it on at Christmas?
Posted by Simon Holledge at 06:23 PM | TrackBack
March 14, 2005
Scottish Opera: Andrea Chénier
I’ve never seen Andrea Chénier live and I was delighted to have the chance of hearing it, albeit in concert but with a first rate cast, performed by Scottish Opera at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on 13 March.
Composed by Umberto Giordano, with a libretto by Luigi Illica, it was first performed in 1896. Puccini’s Tosca, with a similar melodrama set in the same period and by the same librettist, followed four years later. While overshadowed by the later work, Andrea Chénier has some spectacular arias and lots of interesting orchestral colour.
One reason that it is not put on more often is the problem of finding a spinto or dramatic tenor to do justice to the title role, associated with powerful singers like Franco Corelli and Mario del Monaco. Franco Farina doesn’t have the most beautiful voice in the world, but he deserves every credit for getting the show on the road. His voice is dark and baritonal, with a constricted top that somehow squeezes out the higher notes. He made a fine job of his first act aria ‘Un dì, all’azzurro spazio’ but his final ‘Come un bel dì di maggio’ in the last act was effortful.
As the heroine Maddalena, Claire Rutter produced some ravishing sounds, while also proving completely equal to the powerful climax at the end of the work. Just a bit more text, a little more attention to diction, would have nailed the drama down perfectly, nevertheless ‘La mamma morta’ in the third act was splendid.
This is the first time I’ve heard the baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore live - a terrific singing actor. His portrayal of the bitter and ambivalent Gérard was not only beautifully sung, but also dramatically right inside the role, stylistically absolute right. The minor roles were also well sung without exception, and the chorus was excellent.
Conductor Richard Armstrong is the music director of Scottish Opera and was doubtless involved in the decision to put on the work, but while he is known for his Verdi, Wagner, Janacek, Strauss etc., unfortunately verismo doesn’t seem to be his thing.
Instead of the expected simple, bitter sweet, elegant, singing sound, we heard music that was precise, deliberate, unidiomatic, stolid, and symphonic in its seriousness. The orchestra played well enough with some fine solo passages, but overall the effect was just wrong - not verismo, not Giordano - as if the orchestra had been playing Debussy, or maybe Mahler, with great concentration, and then made a delicate transition into Andrea Chénier. Wrong style!
Note: excellent subtitles were provided - complete with stage directions - but so small they could hardly be read.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:38 AM | TrackBack
March 08, 2005
Semele
Best of the season so far: Handel’s Semele met all expectations with music and drama complementing each other perfectly. The new production was a witty, economical presentation which never asked more of the singers than was fitting. I saw it on 4 March.
If the production was conceived as a vehicle for Lisa Milne, Scotland’s young soprano star, the work proved equally suited to showing off the virtues of the company. The whole cast excelled.
The Glasgow-born early music specialist Christian Curnym led the Orchestra of Scottish Opera from the deep-set pit of Glasgow’s Theatre Royal in a lively and engaging reading of the score with some beautiful solo playing. Lisa Milne did not disappoint in the title role. She has a wonderful easy, pleasing, comfortable sound, and sings with musicality and good diction. It remains to be seen whether she has a distinctive enough voice to have a major career. She will soon be singing Pamina at the Met and at Glyndebourne.
Susan Bickley was excellent as Ino with very clear diction, perhaps less successful in the more formidable, and more demanding, role of Jupiter’s neglected wife, Juno. Jeremy Ovenden was an elegant, stylish and incisive Jupiter, particularly in ‘Lest she too much explain’ and ‘Where’er you walk’, and Kate Royal was effective and very funny as Iris, the Goddess of the Rainbow. Michael George as the Chief Priest, Cadmus and Somnus, and Arnon Zlotnik at Athamas were also well cast.
Semele originated as an oratorio rather than an opera, and that provided the starting point of John La Bouchardièr’s production. the chorus and soloists entered in concert garb and occupied two rows of collapsible metal chairs, however the composure of the main characters soon broke down and the drama took off.
The witty ‘nouveau baroque’ production used outsized 18th-century costumes, cosmic projections, clever use of some grainy video, and some very effective props. Semele luxuriated and frolicked on a giant pillow for ‘Endless pleasure’, then appeared resplendent in gold for ‘Myself I shall adore’ while Iris, who first appears as a pink-wigged ice-cream seller in the initial ‘oratorio’ titillates Somnus, God of Sleep, by revealing some spectacularly reflective underwear. The big dramatic moments including Semele’s scorching at the sight of her immortal lover’s true appearance were all handled effectively and economically.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 07:35 PM | TrackBack
February 10, 2005
Scottish Opera: The Knot Garden
Scottish Opera’s new production of Michael Tippett’s The Knot Garden opened in Glasgow on 19 January. I saw it in Edinburgh on 3 February. It is a difficult opera - probably the most inaccessible piece I’ve been to since Karl-Birger Blomdahl’s science fiction opera Aniara at the Stockholm Opera when I was 17. I went into the Knot Garden ‘cold’, having failed to to get hold of a text beforehand, and was able to catch very few of the words, despite the fact that it’s in English.
I would have appreciated surtitles. The allusions to Shakespeare’s The Tempest may be obvious, but the continually changing orientation of the characters is confusing without understanding all the words. The orchestral music is fascinating, but always seems to have priority over the vocal writing, with the singers often struggling to make themselves heard over the climaxes.
Was Scottish Opera fearless or foolhardy in presenting this work? Not perhaps the obvious choice for a financially-strapped company under political siege! Nevertheless the production by Antony McDonald was excellent and all the singers, Peter Savidge, Jane Irwin, Rachel Nicholls, Andrew Shore, Hilton Marlton, Derrick Parker, and Rachel Hynes were committed and effective, even if they didn’t succeed in making the vocal writing sound very beautiful. Richard Armstrong, the Music Director of Scottish Opera, did a fine job. He seems to be more at home with cerebral 20th-century works like the Tippett than he does with mainstream lyrical Italian and German works.
Posted by Simon Holledge at 09:18 PM | TrackBack
February 03, 2005
Theatre Royal
Glasgow City Council is considering handing over the Theatre Royal to a commercial company to lessen Scottish Opera’s liabilities.
It’s good to run theatres and performing arts companies seperately. Theatre managements can concentrate on running the venue as efficently as possible, while leaving the performers to concentrate on performing. The latter can be flexible and rent venues as appropriate. (This is a system I am familiar with in Japan, where no company owns any venue.)
However we are not going to see a long-term solution to the problems of Scottish Opera and the Edinburgh Festival without a new, well-designed, fully-equipped, multi-purpose, 1,800 to 2,000 seat theatre, (price tag 80 to 100 million pounds). Such a building could be a national institution, rather like a museum or art gallery, vested with a responsibility for encouraging the performing arts and its own budget.
thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=122612005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:37 AM | TrackBack
December 13, 2004
Scottish Opera Tosca
Opera companies are constituted in different ways. Some are dominated by conductors, other by directors, occasionally they are run by singers, or even ex-carpenters or stage hands. Some are based on a famous building, others on a chorus, or a fine ensemble of soloists, or an orchestra. The point is that there has to be something at the core of a company to give it life.
After the performance of Tosca by Scottish Opera in Edinburgh on November 30, I’m delighted to say that this politically-battered company does have a core - an excellent orchestra.
Conductor Guido Ajmone-Marsan inspired a consistently beautiful and dramatic reading of the score from his players. The chorus also acquitted themselves well, though they don’t have a lot to do in Tosca, except for the impressive Te Deum ending to Act I.
The main weakness of the performance was the drama direction - there didn’t seem to be any! The blocking was awkward, singers sauntered on and off with little feeling for the tension of the drama, and the action was not synchronized with the text: enter a relaxed Angelotti (who should be in fear of his life), sings ‘Ecco la chiave!…’ pauses, goes to wall, picks up key etc. etc.
The principals were strong rather than subtle, but rose to the big moments. In Act II, John Hudson as Cavaradossi sang an impassioned ‘Vittoria! Vittoria!’, and Elena Zelenskaya delivered a fine and studied ‘Vissi d’arte’. Unfortunately Hudson and Matthew Best as Scarpia sang the Italian with so little fluency, and such awkward phrasing, that one wished they were singing in English. Given that the action was so unfocussed, it is likely that they didn’t entirely understand what the words meant. Zelenskaya may be in a different class, but unfortunately she made little attempt to act the role as well as sing it.
The staging was set in the Fascist period, rather than Napoleonic times. This made little difference as the locations are unchanged. However there were some over-the top touches to liven up the old war-horse. Scarpia was in bed with a prostitute at the beginning of Act II, despite the fact it is early evening and he is waiting for Tosca. (He is obviously insatiable!). Also at the end of Act Three, the Castel Sant’Angelo was lit up by rockets, like a firework display. The Americans had arrived!
This was my first visit to the Dress Circle of the Festival Theatre, it’s notable how much better the acoustics are there than in the stalls.