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By Joel Kasow
PARIS, 6 September 2002 - Visits to Beaune's
International Festival of Baroque Music on two successive weekends in
July brought unalloyed pleasure. Christophe Rousset's annual excursion
into lesser-known Handelian realms this year focussed on Arianna
in Creta. The opera was composed in 1734, ten years after the
masterpieces Cesare, Rodelinda and Tamerlano, one year
after Orlando, to be followed by Ariodante and Alcina.
While not possessed of as many magical (in all senses of the word)
moments as any of those works, Arianna is skillfully crafted:
the orchestration is sumptuous, the new virtuoso castrato who sang
Teseo was given seven arias in which to display his considerable
talents, and some of the tunes are memorable. Sandrine Piau in the
title role (deprived of her final aria) once again showed that she has
few equals in this domain, able to float the lines of her languishing
arias but possessing the requisite fireworks for the aria closing Act
One. Kristina Hammarström's Teseo started off brilliantly, but
seemed to have run out of steam in the middle of Act Two, recovering
for her last aria in which she defeats the minotaur. Ewa Wolak's
cavernous tones as the unfortunate Carilda lacked femininity, while
Anna-Lise Sollied's soft-toned Alceste (a role later rewritten for
tenor) was the most committed singing I have ever heard from her. Ann
Hallenberg's expressive face and brilliant voice suited the role of
Tauride, able to ride the full orchestra. Les Talens Lyriques
occasionally lacked the precision we have come to expect, but two
performances a month earlier probably meant that rehearsals were kept
to a minimum.
A week later, Vivaldi's Olimpiade took
the stage, something of a rehearsal for upcoming recording sessions (part
of Opus 111's complete Vivaldi project). Because the opera is
quite long, it was decided for purposes of the concert to replace all
the secco recitative by a spoken narration, so that we were able to
hear all the arias and even the accompanied recitatives. The libretto
is based on Metastasio, with 21 arias (3 apiece, except Alcandro who
gets two and Aristea four) and one duet. The orchestration is strings,
basso continuo and two horns, with Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto
Italiano revelling in the sound they could produce. One might question
Alessandrini's galumphing ritardandi at the end of each aria, but that
is my sole quibble. The soloists were variable, Sara Mingardo (Licida)
taking a while to warm up but producing her familiar golden contralto
sound in the second and third acts. Roberta Invernizzi's biting
delivery of every one of Megacles's utterances remains etched on my
memory, lacking only fullness of tone at the bottom of her range.
Sonia Prina's heroine, Aristea, over-aspirated her coloratura, but the
dark quality of her mezzo is unusual. The high soprano of Laura
Giordano (Aminta) has a limited palette, while Mariana Kulikova's
Argene lacked accuracy. The two basses, Riccardo Novaro (Clistene) and
Sergio Foresti (Alcandro), possessed the wherewithal to do justice to
Vivaldi's not always simple writing. The evening was successful to the
point that I am awaiting the recording (scheduled for the autumn).
Vivica
Genaux in Rinaldo
The Festival de Radio
France and Montpellier is now in the position to include fully-staged
works among their offerings, thanks to the integration of the
Orchestra and Opera into a single organization of which René
Koering is the director. Koering's eclectic tastes have always
informed the Festival's choices, this year falling on Hary Janos,
La Donna del Lago, the world premiere of Offenbach's Rheinnixen
and Rinaldo. I do not know who chose Nigel Lowery as
producer-designer for the Handel, but my one single exposure to his
work (Fliegende Holländer several years ago in Amsterdam)
was sufficiently catastrophic that I find it difficult to believe he
can still find work. Rinaldo was Handel's spectacular
introduction to London, the story extracted from Tasso and showing the
Crusaders attacking Jerusalem. Lowery's notion was to transpose this
into a contemporary setting, so that we saw dolls strewn around, torn
to pieces by Armida and Argante, Rinaldo sporting a machine gun, but
all treated in a very joky fashion as was just about everything in the
work. I never thought I would have a good word to say about Peter
Sellars, but his staging of Giulio Cesare did at least have
the virtue of taking everything seriously, even the more light-hearted
moments, thereby underlining the drama of today while contrasting it
with that of another era. Did René Jacobs truly condone such
goings-on; there are surely more convincing ways of sustaining
audience interest, particularly in light of the major news event the
day of the performance: the bombing of the cafeteria at Hebrew
University in Jerusalem. Almirena sings "Lascia ch'io piango"
sporting a mermaid's fishtail, while several other of her arias had
her surrounded by a group of bobby-soxed dancers engaging in frenzied,
pseudo-Sellars semaphoring. The sign language was omnipresent, other
performers also required to expend their much-needed energy on such
puerilities. Lowery's sets and costumes were on the same infantile
level, while his "gags" (inspiring much laughter from the
audience, alongside much groaning) were barely worthy of Benny Hill.
Fortunately the musical level offered compensation, the execution
stylish and well-sung. René Jacobs and the Freiburger
Barockorchester kept everything moving, while it was clear that the
participants were giving their all. Vivica Genaux in the title role
was unkindly treated by the French press, primarily for lack of
conviction in her slow arias, but it must have been difficult to
believe in Lowery's notions. Miah Persson (Almirena) and Inga Kalnar
(Armida) were both revelations, the latter not only for her fiery
utterances but also the passion she brought to her lament near the end
of Act Two. Countertenors Lawrence Zazzo (Goffredo) and Christophe
Dumaux (Eustazio) demonstrated their art while also carrying on as
Lowery wished. Dominique Visse's cameo as the Mago Cristiano fit
smoothly into the proceedings. James Rutherford (Argante), the only
low voice of the evening, was not entirely up to the writing of the
part, also lacking dramatic credibility. The audio element will be
preserved by Harmonia Mundi.
For reviews of other
performances at the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier (Rossini's
Donna del Lago and the world premiere of Offenbach's Rheinnixen),
see the Diary of July 2002.
Joel
Kasow is the Operanet editor of Culturekiosque.com..
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OperaNet: Reviews