Tag Archives: Stage Presence

OPERA

The Bear (William Walton)

Angelique (Jacques Ibert)

Victorian Opera, Melbourne

Ollivier-Philippe Cuneo, conductor

Talya Masels, director

reviewed by Neville Cohn

In the minds of most opera-goers, mention of a double bill of one acters, calls I Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana instantly to mind. Opera Victoria, however, has put on a double bill that might well be completely new to many: William Walton’s The Bear and Jacques Ibert’s Angelique.

In brief, this is the plot of The Bear: A widow (Popova) is in deepest mourning for her  serial adulterer husband. She has become a recluse. Her butler Luka urges her to come out of seclusion. There is a visitor: Smirnov, a debtor who demands immediate payment of a loan to avoid his financial ruin. A fierce argument ensues, with a duel narrowly averted. Improbably, widow and debtor fall in love.

John Bolton Wood and Jessica Aszodi

Lavish laurels to John Bolton Wood who was a frankly marvellous Smirnov. His diction had a level of clarity that critics dream about but seldom encounter in reality, his stage presence a model of its kind.  And his face mirrored a myriad subtle emotions. Jessica Aszodi, too, could hardly be faulted as Popova – and Andrew Collis’ facial expressions and body language were comic inspirations.

Ibert’s Angelique, unlike The Bear, has very much less singing; a good deal of the script is spoken dialogue. A crucial character – Boniface – was to have been played by Samuel Dundas but illness compelled withdrawal. So, at very short notice, the role was taken over by not one player but two – James Payne and Adam Murphy.

Payne, clad entirely in black, stepped onstage from the wings to sing his lines and then silently withdrew. Adam Murphy, though, tackling the spoken word with a script gripped tightly in the hand, (there was no time to memorise it) brought the house down again and again. I cannot praise his characterisation too highly; I savoured its every ridiculous moment. As the hapless husband of a woman who is the ultimate harridan, physically violent and verbally abusive, his frantic desire to get her off his hands was a comic delight. For much of the time, Murphy had the audience in stitches of laughter.

Theresa Borg gave a bravura performance as Angelique. And no less satisfying a characterisation is that of Charlot by Gary Rowley. As the marriage broker trying to offload his dangerous client onto some unsuspecting victim, he rose to comic heights. No fewer than four husbands would return her in short order:

A capacity audience fell about as a weirdly garbed pageant of gentlemen proposed marriage to a human hand grenade.

Benjamin Namdarian was hilarious as The Italian, nursing a broken leg courtesy of the charmless Angelique; Paul Biencourt was a no less funny as a concussed Englishman – and Pelham Andrews, sporting a turban like some monstrous white onion, brought the house down as the King of Bambaras.. Even the Devil (Jacob Caine), in a demonic outfit, returned the goods complaining that Hell had been turned upside down by the appalling, vomitous Angelique.

Director Talya Masel’s directorial touch was everywhere apparent: an arm gesture here, an inclination of a head there, a sudden sideway glance; it added up to theatrical magic and I savoured every second of it. Certainly, the whole of this carefully considered production was significantly greater than the sum of its constituent parts.

This was an evening of utterly diverting silliness that would surely have melted the heart of the most curmudgeonly of opera goers.

Ollivier-Philippe Cuneo presided over events to excellent effect, extracting a consistently stylish response from his players both on stage and in the pit.

Harriet Oxley’s costume designs for Angelique were wondrously over the top.

This double bill had the stamp of distinction. It thoroughly deserves a long run and full houses. Bravo!

La Fanciulla del West (Puccini)

W.A.Opera Company and Chorus

W.A.Symphony Orchestra

His Majesty’s Theatre

reviewed by Millie Schuman

goldenwest-245 copy

Dario Volente. photographer: James Rogers

Compared to the dizzying amounts of money that go towards the running of the nation’s flagship opera company in Sydney, most of the provincial opera houses scattered around the country are obliged to do their best to mount worthwhile performances on the equivalent of a frayed shoe string. Yet, decade in and decade out, opera goers in smaller Australian cities are offered seasons that somehow defy fiscal logic to produce handsome performances using the very best local talent that modest monies can afford and importing the occasional singer from interstate or abroad.

It would have been a calculated risk on the part of the West Australian Opera Company to mount this production in the sense that it is a significant departure from its more usual, safe-as–we-go, policy of offering sure box office hits such as Carmen, La Traviata, La Boheme and Marriage of Figaro.

If, as I’ve been told, Fanciulla del West has never been mounted here before, then this rarely heard opera has arrived here 99 years after its premiere in the US in 1910.

Unlike Puccini’s many, more frequently encountered, operas, Fanciulla is almost totally devoid of memorable melody with virtually none of the inbuilt aria allure of, say, Puccini’s La Boheme, Turandot and Butterfly. But in dramatic terms, it packs a knockout punch and it is greatly to the credit of the WAOC that this crucial dimension of the performance was present to such a high degree.

Star of the evening was Argentinian tenor Dario Volonte as the Mexican bandit masquerading as Dick Johnson. Blessed with a supple, agile, finely trained voice, he was a joy to hear. He seems incapable of an ugly sound. That, allied to a convincing stage presence, made his performance memorable.

No less significant a player in this doomed scenario was John Summers as Sheriff Jack Rance, as thoroughly nasty a villain as one could ever encounter in opera. Clad in black, with a character to match, Summers gave a wonderful portrayal of the sinister Rance. Wearing his unpleasantness like an invisible cloak, he portrayed Rance as if to the manner born.

Can there ever have been a stranger Bible class than that in the Polka Saloon in Act 1 with Minnie presiding over a remarkably orderly collection of miners, cowboys, assorted toughs and ruffians as students? Rather charmingly (and improbably), this scene has flashes of comedy; it’s the light relief that throws the ugliness of characters like Rance into bolder relief.

Fanciulla has often been slammed by American critics. I dare say that some of this ire stems from a silly parochialism, a belief that no one other than a true blue American should set an opera in the Wild West. Yet, no one has ever done it more imaginatively in the genre than Puccini. Its plotline boils down to a variant on the eternal triangle theme. Minnie – in an environment where there are virtually no other women – becomes a constant focus of fascination and desire on the part of the rough and ready crowd that patronises her establishment. Rance and Johnson are both infatuated with Minnie and the tensions between the three are skillfully exploited by the composer – and the three principals were almost beyond reproach in the playing out of the story. Vocally and theatrically, they came up trumps again and again.

Consistently in character, not least in conveying the tense rivalry between bandit and sheriff, this was memorable music theatre. Throughout, Anke Hoppner was vocally impressive as Minnie.

Many in the opera chorus, in their long, all-weather coats and akubra-type headgear, looked as if they might have been mates of The Man from Snowy River.

It was at times problematical to identify characters playing smaller roles, what with their sometimes luxuriant beards and moustaches, a task made more difficult due to often rather dim lighting which, I hasten to add, was entirely appropriate in generating a sense of locale and time.

Stuart Laing as the archetypal innkeeper, Tom Wood as Joe, James Clayton as the Wells Fargo man and Andrew Foote as the captured bandit Jose came across convincingly in smaller but significant roles, as did the snappily dressed David Dockery as Sid who narrowly averts being lynched for cheating at cards.

The all-purpose Act 1 set, cleverly lit, established and emphasized atmosphere. Occasionally, the set resembled a claustrophobic, concentration camp interior with an eerie – possibly inadvertent? – simulation of barbed wire. Clever use of projected period images also did a great deal to establish period and place. Indeed, the visual aspect of the production very substantially contributed to the overall impact of the production.

Puccini calls for a big orchestra and the WASO sounded very much on its mettle, with Aldo Salvagno doing wonders in setting meaningful, workable tempi and extracting a  host of Puccinian subtleties from his forces.

Sydney International Piano Competition 2008

 

Chamber Music and Concerto highlights

Pianists: Tatiana Kolesova, Konstantin Shamray,

Ran Dank, Charlie Albright, Hoang Pham

ABC 476 6960 (4-CD)

TPT: exceeding four hours

reviewed by Neville Cohn

 SIPCA Vol2

Mozart: Piano Concertos K466 in D minor; K595 in B flat major

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos No 2 in G minor; No 3 in C major

Beethoven: Piano Trio in B flat major, opus 97 (Archduke)

Brahms: Piano Trio in B major, opus 8

Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor

Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, opus 49

 

During the early years of the 20th century, recitals given by Polish pianist Ignaz Paderewski drew immense audiences. No musician since Liszt was as widely known as this striking figure with his immense shock of red hair and  powerful stage presence. He was the equivalent of today’s rock stars. He earned a ton of money and was lionised wherever he went.

 

This was the triumph of spin over substance, the elevation of a second-rater to demi-god-like status.

 

It could never happen now. In Paderewski’s day, there was nothing like the avalanches of music recordings (most of them of fine quality) that now routinely flood on to the market. So there were far fewer opportunities in Paderewski’s day for concertgoers to assess his worth in relation to recordings by other, far worthier, musicians. He got away with musical murder then. He could never do so now.

 

A 4-CD pack devoted to performances by laureates of the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition demonstrates unequivocally why Paderewski (and a host of other early 20th century pianists) would never have stood a chance in a contest where the least accomplished SIPC competitor would have been vastly more convincing than  Paderewski whose accomplishments included a stint as prime minister of Poland.

 

Perhaps the greatest factor contributing to the ever-rising professional standards of pianists  – and other instrumentalists and singers – around the world is the flood of fine recordings that have come onto the market. Inevitably, the many fine performances enshrined on compact discs is have raised expectations by listeners who would certainly not be conned nowadays compared to the state of affairs that pertained when Paderewski would routinely be received like musical royalty wherever he went.

 

Listen to Konstantin Shamray in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor. The skill with which he conveys the poetic, dreamlike nature of the piano part that ushers in and closes the first movement is that of an arrived master. And midway, he is no less convincing in evoking the essence of Prokofiev’s starkly abrupt, striding measures. I listened in wonder to the virtuosic brilliance with which he steers a sure way through the musical minefield that is the scherzo.

 

And in Prokofiev’s much better-known Piano Concerto No 3 in C,  Ran Dank sounds perfectly suited to its challenges, especially the opening andante-allegro where his playing oscillates between nimble, filigree-delicacy to virile poundings. Dank rises wonderfully to the challenges of the theme and variations. Here, Dank is invariably positioned at the emotional epicentre of the writing. The playing radiates joie de vivre. Dank is no less persuasive in the finale where there is a joyful coming-to-grips with the score.

 

There’s an abundance of chamber music here with Charlie Albright a particularly bright musical star in Beethoven’s Archduke Trio with Dimity Hall (violin) and Julian Smiles (cello).

 

This generous, 4-CD pack includes two Mozart concertos as well as chamber works by  Brahms, Mendelssohn and Ravel.