Eugene Onegin, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, February 2013

Artistic director Kasper Holten decided quite sensibly to take over the scheduled revival of an earlier production, and do something new. He was already endowed with some fine singers, so there were excellent performances here, including sympathetic conducting by Robin Ticciati.

Onegin, all imags ROH/ Bill Cooper

Simon Keenlyside sang strongly as Onegin though the production prevented him from giving a full portrayal of the character. His Tatyana was Krassimira Stoyanova, who sang powerfully, but the production curtailed her dramatic interpretation by having an actress/ dancer portray the emotive moments. No such problems for Pavol Breslik as Lensky, who sang superbly; I loved his sincere apology to Madame Larina after challenging Onegin to a duel while being her guest, and his soliloquy at the start of Part II before the duel brought the house down.

Among the secondary roles, Tatyana’s nurse Filippyevna was beautifully sung by Kathleen Wilkinson, Zaretsky (Lensky’s second) was strongly portrayed by bass Jihoon Kim, and Peter Rose delivered a stunning monologue as Prince Gremin. Glorious singing then from cast, and chorus too, and with eyes closed, like one man near me, it was wonderful.

The production itself was a bit too clever as the director plays with time, flashbacks, and a dream world. It all starts before the overture with the mature Tatyana showing silent grief, and Onegin appearing on stage during the overture. In Scene 1 when he and Lensky arrive at the house it is Onegin who enters first, and replaces a book in a cupboard he has never seen before. Then Onegin reappears in the letter scene, as he does in Cranko’s ballet Onegin, which the ROH is currently performing, and though Simon Keenlyside is one of the few top rate singers who can do ballet lifts, the choreography seemed unnecessarily melodramatic in an opera context.

Lensky

In the duel scene there are two Onegins, with Keenlyside as the mature one regretting the act, and an actor as the young one with a killer instinct. When Lensky is shot his body lies on stage for the rest of the opera, and in the final scene between Onegin and Tatyana, Prince Gremin appears as if in her imagination. Finally the young Tatyana and Onegin reappear as a bit of what-might-have-been, but to me a distraction.

Tatyana

Both Tatyanas wear a red dress throughout, with the mature one covered by a white ball gown in the last two scenes, and the chorus ladies in their voluminous black dresses reminded me of a Cromwellian Puritanism, which doesn’t seem to suit the story. The director has said part of his aim was to do it all on a tight budget, but in the past year I have seen enjoyably imaginative productions by Opera Holland Park and English Touring Opera, both of which work to very tight budgets.

As an opera director at Covent Garden, Kasper Holten has more to learn about sight-lines. Some of the action was entirely front stage-left and I met people who could not see it. Pity.

Performances continue until February 20 — for details click here.

Der Rosenkavalier, Royal Opera, a second view, December 2009.

This was my second view, on the last night of the run, and although Soile Isokoski was clearly better in Act I than she was on the first night, I found the whole performance underwhelming. Once again it was Lucy Crowe as Sophie who was the star of the evening, along with Peter Rose as a refreshingly young looking Baron Ochs, behaving like an ill-mannered frat-boy. I’m afraid I just wasn’t wowed by Ms. Isokoski as the Marschallin, nor by Sophie Koch as Octavian. In Act III it was Lucy Crowe who really pulled at the heart strings, showing how devastated her character Sophie felt by the evening’s charade. Yet it should be Octavian and the Marschallin’s moment. Octavian nearly tripped when stepping backwards, and his/her complete lack of reaction to this emphasised just how much the movements were unnatural and choreographed. However the trio at the end was gloriously sung, and well worth waiting for.

As for the conducting, there was plenty of variety from Kirill Petrenko in the orchestra pit, and I liked the colouring of Act I, with the disharmonious noise in the levée scene contrasted with other parts of that act. But I felt that some of the high points in the opera went missing, particularly the entrance of the Marschallin in Act III. Admittedly, Soile Isokoski lacked the required stage presence, but this is where the orchestra should really raise our emotions, and it failed to do so.

This production of Rosenkavalier is a good one, and I look forward to seeing it again at Covent Garden. As Octavian they might consider hiring Daniela Sindram who was outstanding in February 2009 in the production I saw at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. I would also love to see Kate Lindsey do the role if she adds Strauss to her repertoire, having just seen her as a very fine Nicklausse in the Met’s Hoffmann.

Review — Der Rosenkavalier, Royal Opera, December 2009

Wonderful period sets and costumes for this 1984 production by John Schlesinger, revived by Andrew Sinclair, are the background for an enchanting evening. With Russian conductor Kirill Petrenko giving Strauss’s music more colour than I ever remember hearing, this was a musical feast. The star of the show for me was Lucy Crowe as Sophie, the girl whose wealthy father wants to marry her off to the nobility in the form of the boorish Baron Ochs. He was very well sung by Peter Rose, who gave him just the right nuances, without going over the top. As the knight who rescues Sophie from this appalling mismatch we had Sophie Koch as a strong-voiced Octavian, but I would have preferred more masculinity in her portrayal. She compared unfavourably in this respect to Daniela Sindram, whom I saw doing the same part in Berlin earlier this year, but the presentation of the silver rose and the duet with Sophie in Act II was beautifully done. The Italian intriguers, Annina and Valzacchi, fed up with getting no payment from Ochs, turn to assist Octavian in taking him down a peg or two, and were very well played by Leah-Marian Jones and Graham Clark. In this production we see Octavian actually writing the letter to Ochs at the rear of the stage. This was all very well done, and I thought Act II came over brilliantly, helped of course by the simply wonderful set.

The audience seemed enthusiastic about Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski as the Marschallin, but the friends I know who liked her were seeing this opera for the first time. Having seen far better Marschallins, such as Anne Schwanewilms in Chicago in February 2006, I’m afraid I was underwhelmed. I found her voice too harsh in Act I and she lacked finesse and flirtatiousness with Octavian, though she certainly sang well in the trio at the end of Act III. Unfortunately, Lucy Crowe who had sung so well in the last two acts, seemed to tire right at the very end and lost her pitch, but this was the first night. The other disappointment was Thomas Allen as Faninal, Sophie’s wealthy father, who was surprisingly lacking in stage presence and vocal gravitas. But Wookyung Kim as the tenor in Act I  sang like a god.

Altogether this was a success, and it may be that some of the weaker points will be corrected in later performances. Watch this space two weeks hence.

Review — Lulu, Royal Opera, June 2009

This extraordinary opera by Alban Berg is about a femme fatale named Lulu, whose actions cause the death of three husbands, and two other lovers. The opera starts with a short prologue in which a circus animal-tamer presents his charges, including Lulu representing a snake. The rest of the opera is in three acts only two of which were complete at Berg’s death in 1935. The third act was only orchestrated in 1979, by Friedrich Cerha, because Berg’s widow refused to allow anyone to complete her husband’s work on Act III after one or two famous composers originally declined. It was a pity it took so long, because the opera is a dramatic whole, as one can see from a summary of the main action.

The three husbands are: a professor of medicine named Dr. Goll, an unnamed painter, and Dr. Schön, in that order. Other lovers include Schön’s son, Alwa, and the Countess Geschwitz. At the end Lulu works as a casual prostitute in London, and all three husbands reappear as clients, one being Jack the Ripper, who kills her. Alwa and the Countess are also killed in random violence

Here are more details of the action. While married to Goll, Schön is Lulu’s lover, and he and Alwa visit Lulu who is having her picture painted. After they leave, Lulu has sex with the painter, and when Goll returns the shock kills him. Lulu then marries the painter, continuing her affair with Schön, who buys all the painter’s work to sustain them. When the poor fellow realises he’s a cuckold living on the money of his wife’s lover he kills himself. Lulu then ensnares Schön, breaking his engagement to someone else, and marrying him. Like Goll, he returns home to find her with lovers: his son Alwa, an athlete named Rodrigo (a bodybuilder, sung by the same man as the animal-tamer), a schoolboy, and the Countess Geschwitz. He hands Lulu a gun to kill herself but she kills him instead, and goes to prison for murder. The Countess helps her escape, and she goes off with Alwa. Lulu and Alwa live a high life in Paris, but she’s on the run from Germany and the athlete reappears, with a Marquis who is a pimp, wanting to blackmail her and sell her to a brothel in Cairo. Lulu then escapes to London where she lives as a casual prostitute, along with Alwa and an old man named Schigolch from her past life. In the final scene Lulu meets three clients, played by her three dead husbands, and the Countess Geschwitz reappears. The second client kills Alwa in an argument over payment, and the third one turns out to be Jack the Ripper, who kills Lulu, and on the way out kills the Countess.

This new production by Christof Loy was roundly booed at the end, and quite rightly. It looked more like a concert performance than anything else, with all performers in black suits or black dresses, and an almost bare stage. Apparently there was some mess going on at the extreme stage right, but it was not visible to half the audience, including me. That is a serious fault, of course, but there were plenty more. For example, you’d think the designer could manage to put Lulu in a dress on the occasion when one of her admirers sings of her lovely ankle and calf, but no — she was in a trouser suit with no shoes, and her trousers reached down to her heels. If that is merely a costume glitch, how about the fact that the painter dies by his own hand, and the surtitles confirm it, yet Alwa swung an axe at him, and he fell down dead.

As to the performers, Lulu was sung by Agneta Eichenholz, who showed no sexuality whatsoever. It was impossible to understand what anyone saw in her, whereas Jennifer Larmore as the Countess Geschwitz seemed most desirable, and mysteriously sexy. The best performer of all was Michael Volle as Dr. Schön; he was simply terrific both in his voice and stage presence. Schön’s son Alwa was well performed by Klaus Florian Vogt, and Schigolch by Gwynne Howell. Dr. Goll was Jeremy White, the painter was Will Hartman, the athlete/animal-trainer was Peter Rose, and the schoolboy was Heather Shipp. The marquis was very well sung by Philip Langridge, and the orchestra was beautifully conducted by Antonio Pappano, though some may feel the music was too rounded at the edges, lacking astringency, but this is a matter of taste. Musically it worked very well, except that Agneta Eichenholz seemed out of her depth as Lulu, but what ruined the evening was the production. The spoken dialogue was miked-up, while the singing was not, which created a strange atmosphere as performers switched from one to the other. I shall not go back for a second visit, and I only hope the same producer does a far better job with Tristan und Isolde in the autumn.