First off, let me apologize for my partially unexcused absence from posting my blog. I planned on composing my review of the Chicago Lyric Opera production of Die Fledermaus right after Christmas, but I became lazy as a result of the polar vortex that froze my mind and fed my procrastination. I will endeavor not to disappoint the throngs of readers that encompass my fan base.
With that, I attended the opening night production of Die Fledermaus and had listened to a few different productions of it in order to reacquaint myself with the goings on. I was especially fond of the 1990 Covent Garden production with Nancy Gustafson in the role of Rosalinde.
The operetta, Die Fledermaus, composed by Johann Strauss II, had its premiere in the spring of 1874 at the Theater an der Wien. Although the plot of Die Fledermaus is a bit convoluted, it surrounds the personal intrigues of a handful of individuals looking to have a good time at a Russian aristocrat's costume ball, consisting of a husband with a 7 year itch, his devoted wife, their scheming maid, a friend with a grudge, the local prison governor, the wife's ex-lover, a bored Russian Prince, a drunken jailer, and load of party guests, all arranged for the sole purpose of exacting revenge. Gabriel von Eisenstein has been ordered to jail for 8 days as a result of being held in contempt of court over a misdemeanor and his friend, Dr. Falke, sees an opportunity to get back at him for a prank that Eisenstein had pulled a few years earlier. Falke enlists the aid of Prince Orlovsky, who demands amusement, to strike at Eisenstein before his jail sentence. Adele, the Eisenstein's maid. is invited through her sister to the costume ball and claims that she needs leave to visit her dying aunt in order to attend the party. As one could imagine, the well spun lies of the attending party guests become interwoven and in spite of the plot holes that resemble I-94 after a long winter, the seemingly lost cause of all is resolved at the night's end, where it should have started. The Jail. In addition to the light hearted fun of Die Fledermaus, the operetta has a flexibility in the specific aspects of the action that help to keep the work fresh and new, which is vital for any production to remain in the standard repertoire.
The part of Gabriel von Eisenstein was sung by internationally renowned lyric baritone, Bo Skovhus. From his first entrance to the final curtain, Mr. Skovhus looked and sounded as if he was having a great time. No stranger to operetta, Mr. Skovhus' voice was ideally suited for the high tessitura of Eisenstein, a part that is sometimes sung by a tenor. He had little trouble singing in the upper part of his register and was one of the few singers who could be heard with little exception. Mr. Skovhus has a unique sounding lyric baritone voice that is tenorial in color with a slight silvery edge to it. He was full of energy and seemed to take delight in the giddy nature of the production. A critique of his performance would be that it was a bit one sided in that he was constantly shuffling around like a Heidelberg university student with his mates in a bierstube.
The part of Rosalinde in her American opera debut was German soprano, Juliane Banse. Ms.Banse's round and dusky soprano projected in to the large space of the Civic Opera House, but sounded strained and held in the top of her range which, in addition to being unpleasant, stripped the color from the sound. Ms. Banse's rich and rounded voice was nicely suited for her aria, "Klange der Heimat", in which her character is disguised as a Hungarian Countess. Her acting was a bit stiff, but in her defense, Die Fledermaus is not a character study or a psychological drama. There's not much to develop for the singers and are relegated to playing archetypes ornamented with shtick.
Also making her American debut in the part of the Eisenstein's house maid, Adele was sung by Austrian soprano, Daniela Fally. Ms. Fally has had plenty of experience in this role, evident not only in how natural she was in mugging for the audience, but how comfortable she was singing while moving around the stage. It was as if the role was written for her with the obvious highlight being that of "Adele's laughing song" in the 2nd act, which was a triumph. My overall disappointment with her, was not in any way her performance, but the size of her voice in so large a theater. It was hard to pick out while singing with the ensemble or having to project over the entire orchestra. Like her acting, I missed the color and dynamics of her voice because, once again, the Civic Opera House is so large and forces singers like Ms. Fally to abandon their musicality just to be heard.
The part of the foil, Dr. Falke was sung by Austrian Baritone, Adrian Eröd making his Lyric Opera debut. I was quite disappointed by his performance, both in singing and acting. I found the innate sound of his voice to be bland and he didn't sing with much musicality. He seemed to be of little energy throughout the production, especially in the 2nd act canon, " Brüderlein und Schwesterlein", which features the part of Dr. Falke. The staging of it did not help, as Mr. Eröd stood center stage with Adele's sister at his side. Each time he asked her for a kiss, I felt as though I had been given a glass of flat champagne.
The daunting part of Alfred, the tenor who longs to romance his ex-lover, Rosalinde, was sung by Michael Spyres, who sounded as if he had no trouble jumping from interpolated high note to high note. Again, the character of Alfred does not require much acting skill, but Mr. Spyres was quite funny and didn't pile it on too much. Listening to him got me to thinking why those in charge of casting did not have him sing the role of the Duke in Rigoletto last season, instead of the tenor who cracked 2 times in his first aria alone.
Frank, the prison governor was sung by British baritone, Andrew Shore who was well suited for the part of the jovial middle aged man, searching for a little extra fun. Mr. Shore had no problem being heard and while many singers in this role tend to bark their way through the piece, he sang with line when it was called for and switched to a Rossinian patter in the faster sprech-stimme parts. Mr Shore was the best at inhabiting the rotund character of Frank and much like his singing, employing varying dynamics and colors without overdoing it.
The trouser part of Prince Orlofsky was sung by Mezzo Soprano, Emily Fons. After hearing a recording of this role being sung by a countertenor, I much more prefer it to be sung by a mezzo soprano, especially one with the dark color and warmth of Ms. Fons. She was faithful to the staid character of Prince Orlofsky which helped to create a nice counterbalance to the energetic Eisenstein. Ms. Fons' voice was perfect in the aria, "Chacun a son gout".
The remaining comprmario roles were sung admirably, given the little content that had been written for them. Ryan Center alumni, tenor David Cangelosi, sang the Basilio like role of Dr. Blind nicely. My one wish which has yet to be fulfilled is to hear Soprano and current Ryan Center member, Julie Anne Miller sing a substantial role and unfortunately, her only singing was in ensemble moments.
The orchestra and chorus sounded wonderful and although it was difficult to hear some of the main singers, I don't think that there was much that conductor, Ward Stare could have done given the type of production this was. The sets were very nice for the setting as well as the choice of having dancers during the 2nd Act party scene rather than the common option of having A-list guest singers come in to sing arias and duets. If I had my druthers, it would have been to switch the dialogue from German to English. I know that most all of the main singers are native German speakers, but the recurring problem throughout the performance was that the punch lines were projected for the audience to read before the performers spoke them which took away from the action on stage. For that reason, I think it would be better to have the dialogue spoken in the language of the audience who is listening.
All in all, the performance was quite enjoyable and a nice change of tune from the heavy productions that had come before this season.
The Lyric Opera's production of Richard Wagner's last operatic work, Parsifal, may explain why the composer was reluctant to let it out of his proverbial sight of Bayreuth, even after his death in 1883. It is based on the 13th century long poem about the Arthurian knight, Percival written by Wolfram von Eschenbach. The story takes place in northern Spain during the middle ages. The curtains opens on Gurnemanz and his fellow knights of the Monsalvat kingdom, who guard the holy grail. It is explained that the king, Amfortas, in looking to end the conflict between Monsalvat and the kingdom of the fallen knight, Klingsor, was injured with a Christ like wound to his side with the same spear that Amfortas had been entrusted to look after. He is stricken with eternal suffering and must perform ritualistic acts to honor and protect his Kingdom which causes him great pains. An innocent fool, hunting in the forest happens upon the knights and learns of the prophecy and how a chosen one will right the wrongs of the past and bring peace to the kingdom. The chosen one must remain pure and refuse the amorous advances of woman that may lead him astray from his quest, which is to procure the spear that pierced Christ during his crucifixion and return it to Amfortas.
With an epic drama as this, adapted in to an epic opera like Parsifal, one would expect the performances to be epic as well. Unfortunately they were not. Even though the cast was filled with star studded names and promising careers, the performance fell short of what it could have been. There were no major breakdowns or cast changes due to inability on the part of the singers, but it was a simulacrum of Wagner rather than a Bayreuth certified Parsifal.
Making his Lyric Opera debut in the marathon like role of Gurnemanz is bass, Kwangchul Youn. Mr. Youn's voice has a beautiful, deep, and rich tone which has no problem carrying over Wagner's expansive orchestral textures, but his vibrato is consistently unsteady and warbly in the middle register up through the passaggio which taints its innate beauty. This is a signature role of his and one of many that he has performed at Bayreuth over the past 17 years. An achievement that carries with it an extremely high expectation which, in my opinion was not present given how ungrounded he sounds. I wondered if this was something new given the fact that Mr. Youn has been singing the heaviest of Bass repertoire throughout his lengthy career, but in listening to older recordings of him, it sounds as if this unsteady vibrato is a signature of his as well.
In the role of the conflicted seducing sorceress, Kundry, is dramatic Mezzo Soprano, Daveda Karanas. Ms. Karanas possesses a bright and brilliant sound that, for me lacked the depth of color needed for this role. Ms. Karanas who is still at the beginning of an international career sounded a bit immature for a role that would better suited for her later on. Her voice was uneasy and strained in the top of her range, especially when having to be heard over Wagner's wall of sound. In all honesty I do prefer a mezzo voice similar to that of Waltraud Meier, although she too, had difficulty in the upper range of this role.
Playing the titular role of Parsifal was tenor, Paul Groves. When I first read the brochure for the 2013-14 Lyric opera season last winter, I was surprised to see that Mr. Groves was going to be singing Wagner, as I remembered him to be more on the Lyric side. After hearing him in this role on opening night, my initial thoughts were confirmed. Mr. Groves has a lovely voice with a beautiful tone, but it is a suit that is not tailored to his abilities. His voice has difficulty battling the huge orchestra and for the most part could barely be heard when singing in his upper register. Once again his voice is beautifully agile, but it does not have the qualities and size even for a lighter Wagnerian role such as Parsifal.
World renowned baritone, Thomas Hampson sang the role of the wounded King, Amfortas. Much like the wound in Amfortas' side, it pains me to express the following. Mr. Hampson's performance was for the most part, well executed vocally, with some difficulty in forte sections, which may have been due to the fact that his voice (not to sound like a broken record) does not carry the size needed for Wagner, even though Amfortas is not necessarily a huge role, in weight and scope. Another contributing factor may be with the fact that Mr. Hampson comes across as extremely focused on the dramatic side of his performance which takes away vocally. There were times when the character's affliction seemed to effect Mr. Hampson's singing, as he sounded strained when faced with the task of projecting over the orchestra in his upper range. In the end, I enjoyed his interpretation and I must say, that it is awfully difficult to not like Mr. Hampson performances. Call it an eternal affliction if you will.
In my humble opinion, there were two "Wagnerian" ready singers in the cast and Tómas Tómasson who sang the role of Klingsor was one of them. Unfortunately he was the only one that encompassed every aspect of what a Wagnerian performance should display. His voice projected nicely and his singing adhered to the style needed for the role of the evil King.
Runi Brattaberg in his Lyric debut, sang the role of Amfortas' father, Titurel. It is a small part, but once again, Mr. Brattaberg's tone was lacking in depth which didn't help projecting in to the large opera house. His tone was insecure and warbly which begs the question; What is a Wagnerian sound in the 21st century?
The singers who comprised the Flower-maidens sounded beautiful and had wonderful blend with each other. The music in the 2nd Act when the Flower maidens appear adds a wonderful layer to Wagner the composer. When one thinks of Wagner, a French horn or a horned helmet comes to mind. What's interesting is that the music in this section, although complex and thick in texture, remains light and melodic emphasized by the voices it was composed for. Once again, the singers who made up the Flower maidens did a wonderful job. Additionally, the staging of the scene literally brought out the colors and feel of the music as well as the drama depicted in the story of Parsifal meeting "Flower Maidens" in a garden after having defeated their lovers in battle.
The Lyric Opera Chorus was wonderful, especially the virile sound of the men in the 1st Act. As was the case in Lyric's production of Otello, the director had the chorus off stage in a few sections, which left me wanting as they were at times covered up by the large orchestra.
Sir Andrew Davis, no stranger to conducting at the Civic Opera House, was at the helm once again which made the orchestral interpretation all the more disappointing. The ensemble itself sounded wonderful, but I felt that Wagner was left to conduct the piece himself, while Sir Davis was, how shall I put it...
...administering communion.
Anyone familiar with Wagner knows that it's going to be a long night. All the more reason to use those orchestral moments to bring out the dramatic subtext as Wagner intended. There were so many missed opportunities in dynamic shading alone, it was as if, Sir Davis thought that the sounds swelled on their own. In Act 3, we see an unknown knight appear on stage. Wagner gives us the dramatic tension as long as the conductor gets the orchestra to create it with a sforzando/mp that crescendos and back again into a diminuendo as we, the audience question what is to come next. I feltas though I ordered a decadent 3 scoop hot fudge sundae, only for Sir Andrew Davis to bring out a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The best vanilla ice cream I've had in a long time, but still only vanilla ice cream.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sparse staging of John Caird and design of Johan Engels & Duane Schuler. They did less when there were more bodies of stage and more with few. The dull green scape of Act I set the tone which then gave way to the spectacular brightness of Act 2 with the Flower Maidens which I felt did great justice to Wagner's music. The evil Kingdom of Klingsor was a mixture of the famous Bayreuth stagings of Tristan & Isolde of the 60's fused with modern touches and classical theater representation. It was dramatic in its visual presentation without overshadowing the fact that opera is first and foremost an aural medium.
If one truly wants a strong idea of what this opera may have been intended to sound like, after hearing the Lyric Opera's production, I would suggest listening to the 1962 recording at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus for which is was composed with true Wagnerian singers conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch, who incidentally worked with Richard Wagner's son, Siegfried, at Bayreuth.
When thinking of how opera connects with modern audiences the word "classic" sticks out in my mind. A classic is something that stands the test of time because of how it relates to the common audience member regardless of where or when it is performed. Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly, currently in production at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, is one of those classics.
There are so many universal elements to this gut wrenchingly beautiful piece composed by Giacomo Puccini, ranging from American colonial interests to the individual desire for love & family. The story of Madama Butterfly is centered around that of the 15 year old former geisha, Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly) and her hope to for a secure life. That opportunity appears in the form of an American naval officer, B.F. Pinkerton. In a not so subtle criticism of American foreign policy as well as its egoism, Pinkerton sung by tenor, James Valenti, pays a marriage broker to procure for him a furnished house including an obedient, young Japanese wife. Unbeknownst to Butterfly, Pinkerton has no intention of staying for the 999 years that he has leased the house for. His plan is to return to the United States and find a real American wife. Butterfly is filled with nothing, but hope, faith, and love for her soon to be American husband. She has renounced her old way of life and culture for a new one, that of a dutiful wife. All of these assumptions, which she believes to be truth and law are only a cruel illusion that she will be forced to confront.
The cast was a mixture of beautiful delight and unrealized potential. B.F. Pinkerton is sung, by American tenor, James Valenti, making his Lyric opera debut. Valenti has sung at many of the world's largest opera houses, including The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and The Royal Opera house to name a few. With that in mind, I had high expectations upon his first lines. He has a rich and round lower register that quickly loses depth and color as he moves through the passaggio in to the upper part of his voice. His voice seemed unsteady with the tessitura that often remained in between the middle and upper register. Valenti's voice was often drowned out by Puccini's thick textures and plush orchestral sound, especially when having to sustain high notes as in the tenor's first act aria, Amore o grillo.
An obvious and expected delight was soprano, Amanda Echalaz also making her Lyric Opera debut. Her voice is full, rich, and more than big enough to project over the orchestra in to the expansive hall of the Civic opera house, yet bright and connected as to bring out the beautifully expressive lines that were written for Butterfly. Ms. Echalaz's singing was quite expressive and dynamic. She employed a wonderful use of portamento which she used to bring out the wide range of emotions that Butterfly experiences throughout the entire opera. There were a few moment when having to sustain climactic high notes that, what I can only speculate as wanting to ensure that she would be heard, sounded a bit pushed, but not so obvious as to detract from the moment. The voices of Ms. Echalaz and Mr. Valenti did not seem to be well suited, apparent in the long duet, ending Act 1 (Bimba, Bimba, non piangere). Hers was consistent from bottom to top and had no problem being heard, while his was not only hard to make out during climactic sections when the orchestra was playing forte, but was at times out matched by Ms. Echalaz.
Mezzo-soprano, Maryann McCormick playing house servant, Suzuki, not only blended wonderfully with Butterfly during their Act 2 duet, ( Il cannone del porto! also known as the Flower duet), but easily held her own in most every moment she sang. She showed a great deal of range in both her singing and acting. I enjoyed the warmth and depth of her voice that projected through the orchestra, but didn't lose any lyrical line. Like the others, Ms. McCormick sounded a bit tight on her sustained high notes against the plush sound of the orchestra.
The part of Sharpless was sung by British baritone, Christopher Purves, who like Ms. Echalaz and Ms. McCormick, had a strong, rich sound that projected rather easily over the orchestra. I was delighted to hear how solid and grounded his upper range was without barking or breaking up the vocal line. The one slight criticism I had was the lack of dynamics in his performance, although it didn't take much away.
The pimp-like Goro was sung by veteran tenor, David Cangelosi who did a wonderful job with the characterization as well as injecting tension in moments of calm.
The comprimaro parts were sung by current and past members of the Ryan Center young artists program. In general, the men were overmatched against the large orchestra, making it hard to make out their lines. In their defense, most of these parts were written for confrontational moments for which Puccini wrote thick textures at forte, punctuated by deep percussion. The two stand outs for me were baritone, Anthony Clark Evans (Prince Yamadori) and Laura Wilde (Kate Pinkerton).
I had heard Anthony Clark Evans sing before years ago on a You Tube recording of his college recital and was really impressed, so I was excited when I read that he had been a Metropolitan Opera council finalist, but was singing in many of this season's productions. Laura Wilde's beautifully colored voice blended nicely in the small moments she had and I wished to hear more of her.
The orchestra did a wonderful job of bringing out the sweeping lines and varying textures of the score, although I would have liked it if conductor, Marco Armiliato would have shown more sensitivity to the young singers of the cast by restraining the volume a bit so as not to cover the vocal line. Chicago Tribune music critic, John Von Rhein mentioned in his review of the production, that some of the singers were either inaudible or had no "top". I would adamantly disagree with that characterization and go so far as to say that a statement of that nature is an overstatement and perhaps even more so, disingenuous. Obviously an opera such as Madama Butterfly performed in a venue as big as the Civic Opera house demands larger voices that can both carry over a large and project to the back row, it is still the voice that drives the action. If young singers or voices that are not Botha like size are employed, then it is the responsibility of the conductor to adapt.
The sparse set was both stylistically appropriate and effective given the directorial staging of the singers. There was enough open area to allow for comfortable movement or showing the repressive eyes, evident in the renunciation of Cio-Cio-San by her family in Act1. A red crescent pathway served as entrance and road to home for Madama Butterfly. The lighting was subtle, yet powerful as it fit the mood, colored by the score.
I am Fiato Forte, an opera enthusiast living in Chicago who, until last year, had fallen out of touch with that world as a result of life's strings pulling me in various directions. As time passed I found myself missing the experience of going to the opera as if we were two close friends who had fallen out of touch with little awareness. I began listening to familiar operatic standards on You Tube which quickly gave me a renewed sense of excitement for opera as well as Classical music in general. I began to think about it during mundane errands and preschool drop offs. I came across classic voices that I had loved before and discovered others I should have known all along.
As I continued my rediscovery period in opera, I found myself having silent debates with the opinions that I had held 10 to 15 years before.
"Although I love the beauty in Fritz Wunderlich's voice, I am annoyed at the cracks in his technique...Yes, Dmitri Hvorostovsky is wonderful, but he bears down on his voice in the middle register and has a tendency to sound nasally when singing an 'E' vowel in the lower part of his voice...I totally agree with you "Young Fiato", Maria Callas does sound like a chicken no matter how much emotion she gave in performance..."-You get the picture.
After some time swimming in the aural waters of my computer's lackluster sound system, I decided that for all my armchair pontifications, that opera is meant to be heard live without artificial amplification which meant I needed to crack open the wallet and head back to the Colosseum that is the Civic Opera House in Chicago. With a name like, Fiato Forte, you may be envisioning a finely cultured individual that is impeccably dressed and financially independent. If that is your assumption you'd be hitting 1 out of 3 and that is being generous. I would purchase season tickets for 1/2 the performances of the 2012-13 season which included Simon Boccanegra, Werther, Rigoletto, and La Boheme. I found myself with an offer for a free ticket to Don Pasquale and of course jumped at the chance. All in all, I was pleased with the productions of last season, but far more critical of individual performances than I had been in the late 90's when I was a regular at the Lyric.
The season ticket brochure arrived in March of this year with the upcoming season of productions and cast lists. It was then that I decided to upgrade to the entire opera season and give my critique of each production, no matter how brutal or ignorant I may come across as to the reader. I took my cue from George Bernard Shaw who, for two years, wrote a newspaper column as a music critic under the pseudonym, Corno Di Bassetto. His goal was to give honest and straightforward feedback to the general population of London in part, to encourage a well informed common opinion in the late 19th century. Although I am no George Bernard Shaw, in time I hope to gain readers and engage in some dialogue on the subject of opera no matter how much we may differ.
Thank you
sincerely,
Fiato Forte
