BBC Proms: Glydebourne: The Barber of Seville ★★★★

Taylor Stayton as Count Almaviva and Alessandro Corbelli as Dr Bartolo in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the BBC Proms 2016
Copyright: BBC/Chris Christodoulou

Glyndebourne has returned to the Proms for Rossini’s mad opera of disguises and shaved beards, where the smiles and double entendres never seem to end. It is the first time that the BBC Proms have added The Barber of Seville to its programme, performed as a semi-stage presentation, and as last night highlighted it proved to be a spectacular night of giddiness, charming music and theatrical comedy.

The opera, based on the first of a triology of plays by Beaumarchais, follows the journey of the Count (Taylor Stayton) as he seeks means to claim his love Rosina (Danielle de Niese), yet her brutish bore of a guardian Bartolo (Alessandro Corbelli) intends to marry her, and keep her for himself. But then, there is Figaro (Björn Bürger) – he’s the fixer. Together with the Count, Figaro assists him in his mission for love whilst getting themselves into numerous silly mishaps.

Both lead characters Figaro and the count, performed by Bürger and Stayton, are confident and animated - they play off well together. Vocally and theatrically they make a good duo, like jumping into each other’s laps, and harmonise with poise and lyricism. Corbelli gave a mighty and hilarious performance as the curmudgeon Bartolo, and was a great sport at it. In certain parts Corbelli had to sing fast and his vocal skills and timbre may have been compromised, but there’s an edge to his talents which makes him completely likable and amusing to watch.

Danielle de Niese as Rosina and Alessandro Corbelli as Dr Bartolo in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the BBC Proms 2016
Copyright: BBC/Chris Christodoulou

Niese, the wife of Glyndebourne’s chairman’s grandson, envisions Rosina to be a strong-willed cheeky flirt with eyes only for one man Lindoro, who the Count disguises himself as. Although her Rosina may bat her eyelids and appear tied to Bartolo's chambers, Niese assures the audience that Rosina has a spirit that wants to run free, away from a restricted married life with Bartolo's crankiness. Her Una voce poco fa was dynamic and entertaining; it called for a huge round of applauses as her voice was loud enough for the Royal Albert Hall to hear, yet I’ve heard stronger performers of Rosina’s pinnacle aria elsewhere. As she specified in an interview with Rebecca Franks, she is aware that Rossini wrote some parts of the opera for ‘super-high ranges’ and as she is a lyric, not coloratura, soprano, who sticks with the mezzo-soprano range, this inevitably causes some challenges for her.  Nonetheless her performance was an impressive one, which enthralled prommers, including the male prommer who she ran to – she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and jumped back on the stage again (well, that’s what I gathered from my seat).

Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola provided Rossini’s sweet scented score with a dash of stage pizazz. This was light-heartedly performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra demonstrated through delightful harps, graceful clarinets and lively strings which enchanted prommers. Mazzola and the LPO also played a part in the storyline frolics too, by breaking the fourth wall; passing Rosina’s love letter to the Count and Mazzola having fun with the grumpy Bartolo who seemed to think he knew more about music than the maestro.

Conductor Enrique Mazzola and Alessandro Corbelli as Dr Bartolo in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the BBC Proms 2016
Copyright: BBC/Chris Christodoulou

Joanna Parker’s costume designs seemed to set our opera somewhere in Seville in the 17th century, with vivacious and handsome colours yet there were slices of the modern shown through Stayton’s cool full-length jacket and Niese tightly fitted, glamorous dresses. 

Director Sinéad O’Neil's staging is a simple yet effective one. The performance at the Royal Albert Hall was clean, witty and infectiously fun. To think that the premier of the opera was a sham in 1816 baffles me as performances like last night, where there's a joke hidden in every corner of the staging, verify why The Barber of Seville is a popular masterpiece  - not only composed to entertain opera newbies. 

Danielle de Niese as Rosina, Björn Bürger as Figaro, Taylor Stayton as Count Almaviva and Janis Kelly as Berta in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the BBC Proms 2016

Copyright: BBC/Chris Christodoulou

If you would like more information about the BBC Proms and future events, please click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms

BBC Prom 59: Richard Strauss' Elektra **** [FOUR STAR]

BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBCSO) and conductor, Semyon Bychkov

 BBC Prom 59 [Sunday 31^st August] was dominated by Elektra (1909); the second of the two so-called  psycho-pathological operas of Richard Strauss following a lusty and staggering performance of Salome the night before [see link below.] Christine Goerke took center stage making her prom debut as the menacing and evil daughter Elektra while 120 musicians of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBCSO) gave a steadfast and prominent performance conducted by the seamless and precise Semyon Bychkov who is well-versed in Strauss' work.

It was in 1903 (or 1904 according to some musicologists) that Strauss had attended a performance of the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s play Elektra that spurred them to work collaboratively - for the first time - and transform it into an opera. Set in antiquity, it follows the terrifying path of a troubled daughter, Elektra who seeks revenge for her father’s bloody murder. 

Elektra is imbued with turn-of-the-century themes such as dreams, psychoanalysis, sacrilegious rites, and inklings of lesbian incest from the original works of Sophocles. However, there is no official source that suggests, either, Hofmannsthal or Strauss were familiar with Sigmund Freud’s work. 

The immediate entry into the opera involves - almost - all instruments diving in with dissonance and tension which presents the omnipresent and looming dead father similar to Mozart’s Commendatore in Don Giovanni.  The BBCSO had its largest orchestral size comprising of up to eight horns, eight clarinets including two rare basset horns and a full assembly of percussion instruments.

Although filled with glaring stress and intense musical chords underpinning the instability and uncertainty of the tale of Elektra, there are harmonies fully illustrating by the BBCSO, such as D minor for Orestes, Elektra’s lost brother sung by Johan Reuter, and E flat for Chrysothemis, their slightly subdued sister performed by Gun-Brit Barkmin. In this evening’s performance, compared to the last, all singers memorised their lines and brought primed distinction and verve to Justin Way’s semi-stage.

(Left to Right) Johan Reuter, Dame Felicity Palmer, Gun-Brit Barkmin and Christine Goerke

Goerke had already sung the same role at the Royal Opera House last year which made her the optimum choice for the BBC Proms. Her vocal agility was unflagging and constant; one could hear the killer instinct of a tormented Elektra throughout. While her voice echoed, from where I sat in the Royal Albert Hall (RAH), her music still towered over. 

Barkmin also moved the audience being Elektra’s docile, yet spirited sister as a strong soprano. She didn’t, however, match Goerke's prowess, particularly at the last scenes were their voices seemed to clash. Yet, irrespective of this, Barkmin still held on until the very end despite how vocally demanding her role was.

Dame Felicity Palmer as Elektra’s mother, Clytemnestra entered in like a Hollywood star in a diamanté queen’s black robe to resemble a superstitious and guilt-stricken mother. Palmer’s fashion was fitting as her previous experience as Chytemnestra shone through and peaked; it was a delight to hear her and see her on stage as Goerke’s antagonist.

Reuter also showed a full-proof Orestes in the musical climax scene with Elektra. Although Robert Künzli as Clytemnestra lover, Aegisthus and Jongmin Park as Orestes’ tutor had smaller roles, they still managed to prove their merits as operatic performers while the five maids (Katarina Bradić, Zoryana Kushpler, Hanna Hipp, Marie-Eve Munger, and Iris Kupke) sung with vim and vigor. 

The score of Elektra is earth-shattering and musically booming; this is ignited by the dissident blend of countless instruments which amalgamate dissonance with melodies. With Semyon Bychkov’s precision, the BBCSO successfully conveyed Strauss’ intriguing opera which was filled with quiet, subtle hushes and victorious brass instruments to build up wicked suspense. An example of this is when Orestes and his tutor kill Chytemnestra and she screams. It is the trilling strings and abrupt instruments that turn up the volume and violence which discernibly supplements Strauss’ fixation with female voices and the female psyche.

An shortened version of my review of Prom 59: Richard Strauss Elektra: 

http://www.ldncard.com/blog/prom-59-strauss-elektra/0038

 Review of Prom 58: Richard Strauss Salome

http://www.ldncard.com/blog/prom-58-strauss-salome/0036 

Information on the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, events and ticket bookings

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms

BBC PROM 49: RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES

Proms 49 welcomed the Finnish husband-and-wife team, Chief conductor Sakari Oramo and Anu Komsi with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for a family event filled with fantasy, imagination and Russian Fairy Tales.

Tonight was the UK’s premier of Jukka Tiensuu’s (a well-known Finnish composer) Voice Verser (2012) which is a humorous piece composed for the power of voice. Two trios were located in the arena with prommers either side of the orchestra consisting of wood wind and brass instruments.

The first of the three movements was called Desparia and it depicted no other but an air of despair, eeriness and dreariness through highly chromatic scales and gibberish notes from Komsi.

Notes of sadness and tensions were created by the shrilling of violins, repetitive glissandos and unsettling sounds of what one could interpret as mischievous rats. In slight confusion, Desparia ending with Komsi emulated loud cries of moaning which left the audience possibly dumbfounded, yet amused at the same time by its riveting versatility.

Come was even stranger where Komsi began scat singing, laughing cheerfully and operatically which is where her coloratura abilities slowly seeped through – she sung a high F and a high ‘A, three octaves above middle C’ as she told the proms at an interview. She also blew kisses at the audience which made them giggle in silence, as part of the piece.

The last movement Riiti (ritual in Finnish) was a massive stamp on the ground and a camaraderie ‘Hei’ from the BBC Symphony Orchestra with pounding cellos, basses, input from a celesta and flutters from flutes and clarinets that took the piece to the unknown heavens through sheer excitement and tensions. 

It concluded with all musicians sighing loudly of relief. Komsi sung with finesse: despite being challenged with high notes, she handled them effortlessly.

The proms also premiered Karol Szymanowski’s (1882-1937) Songs of a Fairy Princess (1933) where Szymanowski was motivated by his travels to North Africa (Algeria) and Tunisia in 1914. Although he composed three songs for the original voice-and-piano set, our evening’s conductor, Oramo had completed the cycle with three refined pieces with Golden Slippers, Song of the Wave and The Feast.

Komsi's vocals swirl throughout the piece yet, the focus was the subtle floating Middle-Eastern music and fairy tale elements. Flickering woodwind, piano arabesques, highly pitched flutes and soothing violin solos were heightened by twinkling percussions to resemble the princess’ slippers. It is a truly mystical piece; one cannot decipher where Szymanowski and Oramo’s composed parts begin nor end.

However, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s moving Scheherazade Op.35 (1888) won the most applause for the night influenced by Glinka-sized orchestra: chirpy piccolos, brass instruments, a pair of woodwind, timpani, percussion, harp and trilling strings. It is the story of a heroine who saves her life by telling her husband, the Sultan magical stories, mostly The Arabian Nights.

Divided into four pieces including The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship, it conjures the most fascination: feat and victory for our storyteller. The development of bassoon solos, then by oboe soon overtaken by tender strings and violin solos enrich the grandiose and curiosity of this masterpiece.

Admittedly, the first piece to open the evening was by Maurice Ravel, The Mother Goose Suite (1911) which did not fit in with the programme. The child-like serenity, the use of Chinese ‘chopstick’ patterns, soft Javanese percussion instruments and pentatonic scales were enchanting, but less dramatic and at a glacial pace compared to the other movements.