Hanover State Opera (live streaming), 10/11/2020

 Bizet/Lange : Carmen

Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover

Stephan Zilias

Until full orchestras can reassemble in the pit, and choruses appear on stage, there are likely to be a lot of very unusual productions of certain operas, attempting to compensate for the restrictive sanitary conditions in the most effective and innovative fashion that can be contrived.  I'm not terribly surprised that the first of these that I've seen comes from a German house, they have a long tradition of bold (not to say eccentric) productions.

Doing Carmen without its chorus is.a very tall order, so Hanover has taken it a step further, and practically recomposed the opera.  Marius Felix Lange was not only invited to 'downsize' Bizet's score, both in terms of orchestral forces, and in terms of time (since performances now are usually done without interval), but also to provide original music to replace cut sections of the Bizet, and bridge other sections.  Where Bizet is used directly, even there Lange's hand can be heard at times - the Habanera veers gently off-course into alternative keys from time to time.  The orchestral reduction is very good, on the whole, down to 21 players, including a significant percussion section which, somewhat inevitably, brings to mind the Shchedrin arrangements.  Where he does stay true to Bizet, however, the smaller forces remain effective.  Some of the Halévy dialogue is still there, other passages (and other sung passages) are replaced by a German narrative, mostly from José's point of view.  

The setting is a tangle of metal struts, the underside of some kind of abandoned stadium, a harsh, urban-industrial landscape, in which the few soloists, and half a dozen dancers evolve in ugly modern dress (that looked rather 80s to me).  The most picture-postcard Spanish it gets is the Act 4 entr'acte, which the dancers occupy with a particularly strong number that is distinctly flamenco-inspired.  On the other hand, Lange interjects a couple of songs with a sort of folk-like quality to them, in Basque and in Caló, which are remarkably effective, though startling.  Escamillo remains a toreador, but the military condition of José and Zuniga is rather blurred.  Carmen keeps her two girlfriends, but the two smugglers, Dancaïre and Remendado, have been excised.

This version, for all its apparent oddities, does stay very faithful to the essence of Carmen, notably to the original novella, in highlighting José's inherent brutality.  There are moments early on when Carmen reacts with fear to violent gestures or noises, curling up in a ball with all the hallmarks of an abused, or formerly abused woman, while there are other times when she's the independently-minded woman more commonly depicted in this role, and the final duet keeps all its terrible power.  I'm not fond of the spoken interjections that replace the off-stage chorus, I don't think they were necessary, and they break the rhythm, but it still works.  I doubt I'd particularly care to see this production again, but it is still Carmen, and the exercise has to be applauded.

Evgenia Asanova (Carmen) and Rodrigo Porras Garulo (Don José)
Carmen, Act IV, Hanover State Opera (2020, screenshot)

Musically, the cast was a pleasure to hear.  The French all round was a bit accented, but quite clear.  Evgenia Asanova, if you stopped looking and just listened for a minute or two, wasn't always as vocally committed to her role as she was physically, but the quality of the voice was pleasing, clear and smooth.  Barno Ismatullaeva's Micaëla startled at first, because when she began, she almost sounded like more of a mezzo than Asanova, the voice very dark-timbred, but she brightened in tone as she went along, and the Act 3 aria was delivered sweetly.  She's a little fruitier and more mature sounding than might normally be expected, but it worked well enough.  Rodrigo Porras Garulo has a fine tenor voice, though tonight there was a bit of a rasp right at the top that suggested he was perhaps a little under the weather, otherwise this was a strong, edgy José, and he contrasted very successfully with the smooth, seductive baritone of Germán Olvera's Escamillo.  Both Frasquita and Mercédès were good, very characterful, but Nina van Essen's rich mezzo voice stood out from the pair.  The evening was completed by fine playing of the members of the Lower Saxony State Orchestra, under the crisp and well-timed direction of Stephan Zilias.

[Next : 14th November]