Showing posts with label Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 December 2015

ROH: Eugene Onegin ★★★★


Nicole Car (Tatyana) and Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Eugene Onegin) by Alastair Muir
Last week director of Opera, Kasper Holten announced his departure from his position at Covent Garden and return to Copenhagen in March 2017.  The news caused mixed reaction. Some relieved while others, like myself, upset yet, still, praising him for the impact he has made on the opera landscape since his appointment.

The Royal Opera house’s final opera for 2015 ends with Holten’s production of Eugene Onegin, which premiered in 2013 that was apparently unimpressive, founded on excessive symbolic and theatrical devices far removed from the original ‘seven lyric scenes’ written by Tchaikovsky.

Although I didn’t see the 2013 production, I was thoroughly satisfied by the opening performance last night. I found myself fully engrossed in the nostalgic and sentimental scenery and crafty directorship - undoubtedly Holten’s ideas. Perhaps some technical changes have been made since the first outing but the application of memory and knowledge through experience was effectively poignant, more so for the tragic tale from the verse novel of 19th century Russian author, Alexander Pushkin. 

Semyon Bychkov conducts the piece and he is no stranger to Eugene Onegin; it was the first opera he ever conducted in Leningrad when he was only 20 years old. The opera has sentimental value to him, deeming it as one of 'operatic loves', alongside Carmen and La Traviata. 

Familiar with the music he paces his baton with subtlety and fine, light tempo. Last night he refrained from conducting loudly too soon and only unleashed this when necessary, such as the death of Lensky, the letter scene and the doomed ending for Onegin.


Hvorosktrovsky (Onegin) and Michael Fabiano as his best friend, Lensky by Bill Cooper
The ROH orchestra perform the famous Polonaise fruitfully, and I found that the brass didn’t fall short on causing chills in the auditorium in the opening bars of Lensky's aria in the duel scene. Bychkov allows for a long pause between the last two scenes to differentiate the music and change in tone from the rest of the opera.

The opening scene is an echo of how the story will end. Anyone familiar with the ending of Eugene Onegin may see this is a mental test - to see whether the production delivers on building up to such a climactic and bitter conclusion. 

Set in late 19th century Russian high society, Mia Stensgaard colours the set with autumn hues. Katrina Lindsay dress the lead cast and ROH chorus, who sing gloriously, in handsome period costumes. 

The staging is set in a country estate seen from the inside. Large doors open and close to reveal various backdrops from autumn meadows and stormy winters just before the tense duel scene between two best friends. Faint visual images of written words are projected onto the stage for the letter scene where Tantyana shares her feelings to the oafish Onegin. 

Emily Ranford as the young Tatyana and the glorious ROH Chorus by Bill Cooper
The Russian tale behind Onegin is interesting. Lensky arrives with his friend Onegin, who inherits a neighbouring estate from his uncle, yet he has very little interest in running it. Onegin finds amusement flirting with Tatyana, and this is all it takes to rouse Tatyana’s imagination of a sweet romance between them.

Tatyana spends the entire night writing a love letter to Onegin and once delivered to him, her crush becomes gossip amongst society. He lectures and rejects her. To evoke Tatyana’s anxiety and misery, Tchaikovsky writes her music in a peculiar and complex fashion, different from Onegin’s dressed-down composition. 

Bright and excited young tenor Michael Fabiano portrays the charming poet, Lensky. Making his debut at the ROH, Fabiano wins the audience with his convincing performance as an honest romantic that turns into a hothead when he sees his lover, Olga flirting with Onegin. By the end of scene 4, audience are blown away by Fabiano as he leaves the stage in a rage, singing of his betrayal from his lover and best friend. (Someone behind me was so touched by his performance that she burst into tears.)

Russian's much-loved baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky returns to the Covent Garden after being diagnosed with a brain tumour and poor health this year, which led to cancellations of all pre-planned events through to August. Thankfully he responded positively to his treatment and returned back to the stage in September at the Met in their production of Il Trovatore. Similarly, he received much praise at the curtain call last night.

In good health he sung potently and dark-voiced as ever to project the Byronic Onegin. We got to see the best of Hvorostovsky in the final scenes where he begs for Tatyana to forgive him and love him again. Tchaikovsky cleverly changes up the music and gives Onegin more emotional intelligence in this tableaux in a passionate and alluring duet with Tatyana. Hvorostovsky lets loose and unleashes heavy passions as he kneels to Tatyana's feet, embracing her, unwilling to let her go.

Australian soprano, Nicole Car had sung the role of Tatyana at Opera Australia last year. She makes her debut at the Covent Garden where she also shines, showcasing her understanding of Tatyana's innocent tenderness and delicate predicament.  


During the opening scene, a younger version of Tatyana tip toes around with her head in books. Yet by the end of the opera, Car's soaring lyricism shimmers and reveals the inner feelings that had been tapped by Onegin. In the Letter Scene she gives the audience a moving performance with hushed expressions. However, in the closing scenes she presents a bolder and grown-up version of Tatyana with full-throated bursts, telling Onegin to leave her alone for ever. Here you can see one of the most momentous parts of the production - seeing Car and Hvorostovsky singing the words, ‘Happiness was within our grasp. So close. So close.’

Nicole Car (Tatyana) and Dmitri Hvorosktrovsky (Eugene Onegin) in the final scene by Bill Cooper

Italian bass, Ferruccio Furlanetto sings brilliantly as Tatyana's husband. His performance is exceptionally precious in Prince Gremin’s aria.

There's smart ideas at work in Holten’s production, even though I felt the first scene was quite slow and visually uninspiring. The use of doubling characters with younger versions of Tatyana and  Onegin cunningly highlight the nostalgia of youth and its simplicity. While the remainder of Tatyana’s teared books, a tree branch from the death scene of Lensky and the corpse of his body, where Fabiano lies on stage for the remaining scene, are reminders of the scar of past experience, lessons learnt and the sacrifices made in this heart-breaking opera. 

Sung in Russian, the opera meant a lot to Tchaikovsky's personal life. The Royal Opera House is simultanously performing a sold out production of Tchaikovsky's family festive ballet, Nutcracker. Yet life was not as rosy for Tchaikovsky, and this work definitely demonstrates that. To truly understand the composer, one must see Onegin. 

Currently showing until the 7th of January - Click here to check dates and purchase tickets. (Alternatively, you can queue up for day tickets. Doors open at 10am.)

More opera reviews:
The Mikado currently showing at the English National Opera, Dec 2015







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Saturday, 20 December 2014

Royal Opera House: Un Ballo in maschera ★★


As we approach the New Year many will be reflecting on the wonderful moments they have experienced in 2014 including unforgettable theatre and opera performances. Unfortunately Katherina Thoma’ production of Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball), a co-production with Theatre Dortmund, won’t be one of them.

The production had its premiere at Theatre Dortmund in September this year and its poor reviews and reception were already warning sides of what was to come. This collaborative work can only explains how little the production, including Katherina Thoma herself, know of Covent Garden audiences and their tastes.

Picture a dull and dimly lit gothic stage, set before World War I, with flimsy stage panels and irrelevant moving statues. It’s a stale sight and this is the type of disappointing experience I had to endure. Even though there was much physical movement from cast, chorus and set designs, there wasn’t enough life to ignite the passions between our lovers of doom: Riccardo and Amelia.  
Soutra Gilmour’s gloomy set is a reminder of what those who dislike opera think opera is like – dull, unimaginative, unmoving and stuck in the dark ages. If such person was to see this, his or her assumption of opera would only be verified.

As we know, staging is an important element of opera that enhances the visual sensors for audiences but interchangeably is reinvigorated by talented voices and a captivating score. So how was the conducting for the evening? Much concern was raised on social media about Daniel Oren’s previous performance at Covent Garden with numerous operas like Carmen and Rigoletto (to name a few). This was my first time seeing Oren in action and I can only relate to those negative reviews I was cautioned of beforehand.  
Viewing from the upper slips, I caught a glimpse of the Oren with the ROH Orchestra and it felt as if Verdi’s magical score wasn’t being pushed or challenged. (I compare this to a recording of Georg Solti's conducting with the National Philharmonic orchestra with Pavarotti, Prince and Bruson, which is brimming with pathos.) For me, Oren was playing too safe and not taking any chances; yet this could highlight the misgiving others felt of Oren’s conducting generally. 
Moments of real melodrama were pulled back and if Oren was taking an exam on Verdi, it would seem that he had just scraped a pass. Verdi’s opera is a great tale of royalty, scandal, love and murder. This is a story about a King falling in love with his right-hand man’s wife (for crying out loud!) and the music just didn’t jump off the ground and poke me in the eye.
It was left to the vocal virtuosity of its cast members to do the hard work and knock audiences off their feet with their stage performance – but only just. If it weren’t for them I would have left earlier.    
Serena Gameroni as the cute minstrel Oscar was wobbly at first, like most cast members for a premiere night, but she yielded the stamina and silliness needed for her role. Her voice had moments of elegance and joviality but being that it was my first time seeing the opera, I wasn’t sure if she was funny enough. Renato (King’s right-hand man) sung by Dmitri Hvorostrovsky showed his true brilliance at the very last act and received a very loud applause from the audience for giving his all to such aria, Eri tu but not for necessarily feeling those emotions.

Ulrica, the fortune-teller, was sung by Marianne Cornetti  whose beginning notes in Act 1 were very much in character and encapsulated the ominous witch craft the role of Ulrica had to play, yet this was sullied by some poor stage decisions - she places her hands over an out-of-place Ouija board and summons the ghost of a would-be Batman. Jihoon Kim as Tom and Anatoli Sivko as Samuel were unflinching as conspirators against the king. Joseph Calleja as that king, was hypnotic yet not through and through.  

Calleja and Liudmyla Monastryrska bestowed short glimmers of romance on stage, but these were only short moments.  Monastryrska sung vigorously and struck awe into some high notes but there was nothing sustaining from either singers.
Period costume a dawn. Bad staging, bad conducting and hope shining only from its singers on a momentary basis. We can only pray that the singers’ voices and their characters develop as the production goes on. Possibly one of the dullest operas I have seen all year. Verdi’s melodramatic brilliance and contentious work, supposedly about the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden (1782) is soiled in this production by too many things. 
Productions ends in 17th January . For more information, please click here.
Photos courtesy of the Royal Opera House 
 



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