Dear List,
I attended two performances at the Liceu in Barcelona, Spain,
on February 29 and March 1.
The first was Elektra (by Richard Strauss). I have already posted about a
recent Budapest performance of this opera. I liked the Barcelona
performance somewhat more, because I liked the protagonist better, and
because the staging was not so disturbing. The opera (or at least what I saw
of it - from my seat not everything was visible) took place in a
sort of prison (or maybe concentration camp). A lot of women (in the
small roles) were dressed as prison guards. Others as nurses.
Once I got over this, I could disregard the staging and
could concentrate on the singers and the music. :-)
Deborah Polaski as Elektra gave a gripping performance. It is perhaps a
commonplace to say it, but she really WAS Elektra for me.
Some people were carping that her voice had gotten smaller.
I did not find it particularly small. Maybe she is
no real competition for the greatest Elektras of the last century,
but I enjoyed every moment of her performance.
A former great Elektra was now Klytaemnestra: Eva Marton.
The voice is not the same as 20 years ago, but the "Marton Voice"
still sparkled up now and then. And she is a great actress, too.
In Budapest I had seen Baltsa in the role, and I really
cannot choose between the two. Baltsa's Klytaemnestra had been more
demented, Marton's was more domineering. (I don't know how much
of this was due to the directors' concept.) I just couldn't take my
eyes off her.
After the performance we went to greet Ms. Marton, and she said
that with these performances she is retiring from stage. When we said
that it's a pity, she shouldn't retire yet, she answered that it's
better to retire while people still say that it's a pity...
The Chrysothemis, Ann-Marie Backlund, was the substitute for a substitute,
so it is perhaps not fair to criticize her for being too light-voiced
and sometimes inaudible.
The Orest (Albert Dohmen) and the Aegisth (Graham Clark) sang and acted
very well.
I found the orchestral sound a bit too tame and anaemic (conductor:
Sebastian Weigle).
The next day we heard Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia in concert form.
With these concert performances, 61-year-old Edita Gruberova debuted
in the role of Lucrezia. (She will sing it on stage next year in Munich.)
Neither her looks, nor her voice betrayed her age. She was in top form.
She gave textbook examples of belcanto "tricks" like trills, messa di voce,
high notes, and what I loved the most: at the end of the prologue, a
looooong fil di voce (someone timed it and said that it had been longer
than Caballe's), all in the service of expression.
As with all great Lucrezias, I had a problem with one thing only:
how can someone who sings so beautifully, become a killer? :-)
Jose Bros as Gennaro sang very expressively and beautifully. I have always
liked the sincere passion with which he sings. Ildebrando d'Arcangelo was a
cultivated Alfonso, though perhaps a little more volume and expression would
have made his performance even better.
With this performance I became a fan of the great contralto Ewa Podles
who sang the trouser role of Orsini. In the radio broadcast of the 26th I
heard some unevenness in her voice, but in the theatre I realized that
the broadcast just hadn't done justice to this gorgeous voice.
Some say that Orsini is not an optimal role for her because it
sits too high - well, what I heard in the Liceu has convinced me
of her greatness. Vocal beauty, technical mastery and expressiveness are
united in this great singer. (I had already heard her on several recordings,
but those hadn't completely prepared me for what I heard live.)
The smaller roles were also well cast, the chorus was also fine.
It was apparently a well-rehearsed production. Maestro Stefan Anton Reck
held everyting under control, served the singers well, and sufficiently
emphasized the dark sides of the plot.
The audience was in a delirium: 35 minutes of ovations at the end.
At the umpteenth bow Gruberova indicated in a pantomime that she would
like to go to eat and drink. In vain, the audience didn't stop applauding
and cheering. After coming back a few more times to bow, she waved the
audience to silence, said that we are the best audience in the world, then
she sang "Addio, addio, speranza ed anima" from Rigoletto, and this was
when the audience finally let her go.
You can read a German review of these performances at
http://www.welt.de/welt_print/article1759213/Gefeierte_Diven_im_UnRuhezustand.html
You can download the radio broadcast of the Feb. 26 "Lucrezia" performance and
see and hear the ovations in video clips through the links posted at
http://www.gruberova.com/news.htm
Best regards
Kati (Katalin Szabo)
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