Chorégies d'Orange, 09/07/2018
Boito : Mefistofele
Chœur de l'Opéra Grand Avignon
Chœur de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Chœur de l'Opéra de Nice
Chœur des enfants de l'Académie de musique Rainier III (Monaco)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Nathalie Stutzmann
There are some operas you only really discover through seeing them live. I've known Mefistofele, via CD and DVD, for years, and always loved it, but I'm not in the habit of listening to my music through earphones, nor with scores in hand. So the Prologue, with its radiant hymns, came as a revelation, the way the texture of the music shifted as the material is deployed through the various parts. If you're putting on an opera with a significant choral contribution at Orange, you need numbers; numbers means coordinating the forces of several (usually local) disparate opera choruses, and that can pose problems, but not here, and not for choral coordinator Stefano Visconti (also director of the Monte-Carlo Opera Chorus). The coordination, and the sound, throughout, was faultless, a superb choral mass effortlessly delivering the most extreme responses, and whose off-stage interventions were as pitch-perfect as the on-stage ones.
The production, by the Chorégies's new artistic director Jean-Louis Grinda, was a revised version of his production for Monte-Carlo in 2011, and on the whole worked very well in Orange, with little real scenery, but ingenious use of fairly straightforward video effects, and a good deployment of the chorus when they were on. Although he had staged it ostensibly in modern dress, it didn't feel modern, but timeless, which is wholly appropriate for any treatment of the Faust legend. I was slightly less impressed by Mefistofele's UFO (as a stand-in for his cloak), although I gather that originally the performers were supposed to get on or in to this structure and be lifted up, but that a technical mishap on the first night prompted a significant re-think of the issue!
Erwin Schrott took the title role, a rock-star Mefistofele in black leather. This is a singer I've seen via event cinema, and found only moderately interesting, but tonight I was impressed by the quality of timbre of his voice, he produces a truly beautiful sound when he wants, and the top of the range is splendid. On the downside, he resorted to parlando effects a bit too much for my taste, and, more important, I still don't think he's a true bass, the very lowest part of the register is lacking. However, there was charisma to spare, and a good deal of very fine singing.
Boito wanted his two soprano roles to be taken by the same singer, which can be a bit of a challenge, because they are quite different, both vocally and temperamentally. Apart from the fact that she's a popular habitué of this festival, I don't understand why Béatrice Uria-Monzon was cast. While her Elena was satisfactory, the richness of her timbre suiting the character, and her vibrato more acceptable in this music, she's not a convincing Margarita. The vibrato is intrusive, the voice sounds too mature, and "L'altra notte" was completely lacking both in pathos and in fantasy, with the vocalises that are meant to evoke a bird on the wing, flying free, stilted and uninspiring.
Jean-François Borras, on the other hand, was pretty much ideal as Faust. Physically, there's nothing special there, but in a kind of self-effacing way that leaves plenty of room for the voice to convince where the body maybe does not. He sang with a fresh, strong, sure tone, and a very pleasingly sweet timbre. Outside these three main roles, there's not much for anyone else, but Marie-Ange Todorovitch made the most of her cameo as Marta, Margarita's duenna, having fun with this cougar personality who has set her sights on the devil himself.
Also making a stellar contribution was Nathalie Stutzmann at the helm of the Radio France Philharmonic, in superb form. Stutzmann was keeping a firm grip on proceedings, but with a sort of calm assurance that kept some of Boito's more excessive moments in line, without ever undermining them. The orchestral colours were as fascinating as the choral ones, Boito's scoring really brought to life in loving detail, a vital contribution to an imperfect yet inspiring performance of a rarely heard gem.
[Next : 1st August]
Chœur de l'Opéra Grand Avignon
Chœur de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Chœur de l'Opéra de Nice
Chœur des enfants de l'Académie de musique Rainier III (Monaco)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Nathalie Stutzmann
There are some operas you only really discover through seeing them live. I've known Mefistofele, via CD and DVD, for years, and always loved it, but I'm not in the habit of listening to my music through earphones, nor with scores in hand. So the Prologue, with its radiant hymns, came as a revelation, the way the texture of the music shifted as the material is deployed through the various parts. If you're putting on an opera with a significant choral contribution at Orange, you need numbers; numbers means coordinating the forces of several (usually local) disparate opera choruses, and that can pose problems, but not here, and not for choral coordinator Stefano Visconti (also director of the Monte-Carlo Opera Chorus). The coordination, and the sound, throughout, was faultless, a superb choral mass effortlessly delivering the most extreme responses, and whose off-stage interventions were as pitch-perfect as the on-stage ones.
The production, by the Chorégies's new artistic director Jean-Louis Grinda, was a revised version of his production for Monte-Carlo in 2011, and on the whole worked very well in Orange, with little real scenery, but ingenious use of fairly straightforward video effects, and a good deployment of the chorus when they were on. Although he had staged it ostensibly in modern dress, it didn't feel modern, but timeless, which is wholly appropriate for any treatment of the Faust legend. I was slightly less impressed by Mefistofele's UFO (as a stand-in for his cloak), although I gather that originally the performers were supposed to get on or in to this structure and be lifted up, but that a technical mishap on the first night prompted a significant re-think of the issue!
 |
| The Prologue of Mefistofele - Chorégies d'Orange, July 2018 (© Bruno Abadie, 2018) |
Boito wanted his two soprano roles to be taken by the same singer, which can be a bit of a challenge, because they are quite different, both vocally and temperamentally. Apart from the fact that she's a popular habitué of this festival, I don't understand why Béatrice Uria-Monzon was cast. While her Elena was satisfactory, the richness of her timbre suiting the character, and her vibrato more acceptable in this music, she's not a convincing Margarita. The vibrato is intrusive, the voice sounds too mature, and "L'altra notte" was completely lacking both in pathos and in fantasy, with the vocalises that are meant to evoke a bird on the wing, flying free, stilted and uninspiring.
Jean-François Borras, on the other hand, was pretty much ideal as Faust. Physically, there's nothing special there, but in a kind of self-effacing way that leaves plenty of room for the voice to convince where the body maybe does not. He sang with a fresh, strong, sure tone, and a very pleasingly sweet timbre. Outside these three main roles, there's not much for anyone else, but Marie-Ange Todorovitch made the most of her cameo as Marta, Margarita's duenna, having fun with this cougar personality who has set her sights on the devil himself.
Also making a stellar contribution was Nathalie Stutzmann at the helm of the Radio France Philharmonic, in superb form. Stutzmann was keeping a firm grip on proceedings, but with a sort of calm assurance that kept some of Boito's more excessive moments in line, without ever undermining them. The orchestral colours were as fascinating as the choral ones, Boito's scoring really brought to life in loving detail, a vital contribution to an imperfect yet inspiring performance of a rarely heard gem.
[Next : 1st August]