jueves, 30 de septiembre de 2021
Manuel García llena, divierte y encandila a un auditorio: I Tre Gobbi en la Fundación Juan March.
lunes, 27 de septiembre de 2021
The janitor's beautiful Rossinian dream: La Cenerentola opens the new Teatro Real season.
Finally, the 2021-2022 Madrid operatic season begins with its first staged title, a new production of Rossini's La Cenerentola at the Teatro Real. Now that major operatic theatres worldwide reprise their activities, Spanish opera houses begin their second Post-Covid seasons. On the other hand, a very special opening: Rossini is back to the Teatro Real stage after 8 years, when a revival of their famous 2005 Barbiere was done in 2013. And also La Cenerentola returns to the Spanish capital, 20 years later the 2001 performances featuring Sonia Ganassi and Raúl Giménez. Now, these performances have been dedicated to the Spanish mezzo-soprano Teresa Berganza, a legendary performer of this opera. In addition, this is the 100th season in history of this opera house.
Last thursday, 23th September, this Cenerentola had its premiere in the season opening gala, with the attendance of Queen Sofía (alongside the most prominent Spanish jet-set), extremely high priced: from 65 to 593 euros. One could wonder if, after being won the International Opera Awards for Best opera house in 2019, now "el Real" aims to reach the glamour and exclusivity of the Bayreuth or Salzburg Festival opening galas by asking the audience such a price per ticket, when in the past it was even affortable to attend (I myself attended to at least three opening galas in past years, despite tickets are a bit more expensive than the rest of performances). At least, it was telecasted by the Spanish Television for those unable to attend the premiere cast, or even any performance.
All this said, This post should have talked about the performance sung by the second cast on September 26, 2021. However, due to a little domestical accident, which included a visit to the hospital, I had to miss it, much to my despair. As a result, I will talk about the premiere telecast.
Rossini's version of the Perrault original tale, seems to be more kind than the original. He had to make significative changes to it, but despite it seems a radically different story at the end, the essence is not transformed. The music is joyful, cheerful, and very inspired, including terrible coloraturas, making the spectator to leave the theatre smiling.
This opera based in the Perrault's Cinderella, returns in a production from the Oslo Opera, directed by the world-famed Stefan Herheim, known by his legendary Parsifal at Bayreuth, among other stagings. Herheim creates a classic and at the same time modern version of the story, setting the action in the fantasies of a cleaner at the Teatro Real. Rossini is here a major character, appearing here as god, and creating genius. At a first sight, it could seem an innocent version of a dark fairy tale, but Herheim's final goal is to put us down to earth: actually, both Cenerentola and the cleaner suffer a lot. All that joyful world of color and fantasy, is just to evade the hard reality the worker endures. Esther Bialas's costumes are vividly colorful and shining 18th Century gowns, but the most significative is Rossini's one: a black cape, with little wings and a purple shirt. Torge Moller and Fettfilm achieve a fantastic, musical ambiance with projected animations, which will be described later.
All begins with a darkened stage, only with Angelina (later called Cenerentola) dressed with her uniform, her cleaning cart, and mop. From a suspended cloud, Rossini descends and helps Cenerentola to become the protagonist of the tale she is reading, Cinderella. She introduces herself into a chimney, from which she would return already characterised, and accompanied by the rest of characters. When the overture ends, Rossini says: "Ancora no, maestro". Paradoxically, the singer portraying Don Magnifico is the same one portraying Rossini, as if the composer-creator-fairy , at introducing Cenerentola in the action, not only introduces her in the beautiful but also in the hard, ugly aspects, with such an abusing stepfather and sisters. As if not even in the fairytales everything is a bed of roses. The first set is a street, at whose bottom, a beautiful animated landscape in which a Disney-like castle raises, which happens to be Don Ramiro's palace. During a concertante, Teatro Real itself appears projected at the bottom. The second scene is the palace, set by a succession of the chimney frames, luxuriously decorated. Now the stepfather is dressed like his own character , and the male chorus is now the one dressed like Rossini, handling pen and paper to compose and leave music sheets around the stage. The banquet at the Act 1 finale is a crazy dance of tables (in which the characters have entered and leave their heads up, becoming the Rossini chorus' dinner) and tables. At the beginning of the second act, Magnifico, his daughters and a strange man covered with a mop wig are talking amicably, but one of the girls take the wig off, to reveal that conductor Frizza himself was covered with that wig. He reincorporates to the orchestra wig after arguing Magnífico was having a nap. During the storm scene, all the characters activate an old theatre machine to create the effect of thunders and fogs. At the end of the work, when Ramiro and Cenerentola are already betrothed, we don't see the stepsisters repented, only Magnifico. However, reality is knocking to our door: when Cenerentola finishes her aria, her luxurious white gown is coming off, the setting and characters disappear, and suddenly the mop, the cleaning cart appear again, and confused, the protagonist shrug arms. Everything has been just a dream!
Riccardo Frizza, an accomplished Rossini conductor, succeeds at obtaining from the orchestra a genuine Rossinian sound, with an agile rendition of the Overture. His interpretation of the score conveys the joy and vividness of the composer's melodic universe, despite some slowness in his tempi. On the other hand, that slowness worked out well for the woodwind section, which gave a delightful performance in the Storm scene. The male chorus was excellent as usual, and their acting was even better, all of them dressed as Rossini, composing and singing, reproducing this staging intention of representing them as the multiplication of the composer's creative will.
Karine Deshayes, one of the most renowned mezzo-sopranos today, sings the title role. This singer has a somehow dark-toned voice, but despite its interesting sound, which can fit into the sad aria "Una volta c'era il re", it doesn't seem too powerful. And definitely it results cold for most of the many agile, cheerful funny and quarreling scenes during this work, as coldness was a key word for this performance. She seemed to have reserved herself for the famous finale, in which she managed well with the coloratura and some good high notes, but always not enough joyful for what this role seems to demand. However, this performance fits into the staging's darkness, with an adequate acting.
Dimitri Korchak is the prince Don Ramiro. An usual singer in this venue, Korchak has a lyric voice, proper of a leggero tenor, with a beautiful youthful tone. During his famous aria "Sì, ritrovarla io giuro" he revealed to cope with some difficulties, specially in high register, not being specially inspired in the second part, "Pegno caro e adorato", despite a nice pianissimo. He regained force and stamina for the last part, "Ritroveremo", closing with a good final high note, but with some effort.
Don Magnifico was sung by Renato Girolami. I cannot say his was a satisfactory night, despite he can sing the part, specially in the terribly difficult ultra-rapid rhythms in the score. The voice has not the authority this character invites to think about, because despite being ridiculous, Don Magnifico is still a nobleman. Singing seemed somehow light and lacking some volume, resulting in a not precisely unforgettable rendition of "Miei rampolli femminini". However, he improved in second act, specially in the duet with Dandini. On the other hand, each time he had to impersonate Rossini, he gave a memorable and convincing performance: the composer as authoritative and friendly at the same time, like we see him in his portraits.
The best singer in the night Florian Sempey as Dandini. This young French baritone has an interesting and emphatic voice, clearly sounding and with a nice dark tone. A bit reserved in his entrance aria "Come un'ape ne' giorni d'aprile" but he improved too soon, and even he stole the show in many times. Excellent in the duet with Magnifico.
It is always a pleasure to see the Italian bass Roberto Tagliavini every season in Madrid. In this production, his Alidoro delighted the audience with his beautiful singing in "Là del ciel nell’arcano profondo". His rendition was full of authority, style, an always brilliant low register, commanding the colorature and with a great legato, joining shining high notes with nice low ones.
Rocío Pérez and Carol García respectively as the wicked stepsisters Clorinda and Tisbe, were magnificent. Both sang well and acted even better their funny parts.
The select audience of this opening season gala enjoyed of a nice opera night, judging by the eagerness with they ovationed the singers. But also the thousands of viewers, who thanfkful to Teatro Real and TVE (Spanish Television) for this initative which takes opera to every Spanish home, making us able to enjoy Herheim's amazing staging and Rossini's magical music. A pleasant season opening.
El hermoso sueño rossiniano de la chica de la limpieza: La Cenerentola en el Teatro Real.
martes, 21 de septiembre de 2021
Crítica/Review: La Filarmonica de Viena exalta a Gaudí en su Sagrada Familia, con Bruckner (ESP/ENG)
ESPAÑOL
Gracias al turismo y a la fascinación que despierta su arte, el español Antoni Gaudí se ha convertido en sinónimo de Barcelona. Se siente en muchos de sus más emblemáticos lugares, y su Sagrada Familia es la cima de esa expresión artística que inunda la capital catalana. Obra de un genio tan grande como religioso y sencillo, es famosa tanto por su singular riqueza arquitectónica y su única belleza plástica. La Ciudad Condal también se prepara para volver a la normalidad, al esplendor cultural que la caracterizaba antes del Covid-19, y en medio de este paulatino regreso a la normalidad, un evento histórico: la Orquesta Filarmónica de Viena, dirigida por el gran maestro Christian Thielemann, actuaría en la Sagrada Familia, en un concierto con una obra de encargo, y la majestuosa Sinfonía nº4, la "Romántica", de Anton Bruckner. Tras enterarme de que al parecer, solo un porcentaje pequeño de invitaciones se sortearon entre el público general, me sentí tan parte del público como los millones de televidentes que han podido seguir este concierto el pasado sábado por Televisión Española y otros canales europeos. Y por eso esta crítica que no tenía prevista. Hay que decir que la realización de las cámaras es prodigiosa: durante todo el concierto se alterna a la orquesta con un recorrido por todos los detalles de la catedral, de la luz entrando por sus bellas vidrieras, deslumbrando al Cristo que cuelga en la nave central, alternándose con imágenes de los bosques y paisajes catalanes.
La primera parte del concierto fue el estreno mundial de Elysium, del joven compositor canadiense Samy Moussa, una obra de la que se dice que tiene inspiración bruckneriana. Lo cierto es que la obra empieza con un majestuoso acorde, con intenciones tanto de ser posromántica, como cinematográfica, pero también disonante, un aspecto permanente en esta obra interesante.
La segunda parte fue la más esperada y publicitada: la sinfonía "romántica" de Bruckner. El compositor austríaco y Gaudí, así como sus obras, creadas con un año de diferencia, tienen puntos en común. Ambos comparten nombre. Ambos fueron hombres religiosos y sencillos. Ambos exaltan en sus obras la naturaleza: Gaudí se dedicó en cuerpo y alma a su templo en su etapa naturalista. Bruckner refleja en su sinfonía la belleza, pero también el poder de la naturaleza, desde sus bosques, su tenebrosa noche, y hasta sus cazadores. Dios, y su preciada creación impregnan estas dos obras fusionadas por este concierto. La influencia de Wagner es obvia en Bruckner, quien le admiraba, y llamó romántica a esta obra debido al romance medieval del que se hace eco el genio de Bayreuth. En sus cuatro movimientos, el compositor canta a esa naturaleza, a esa vida rural con la que se fusiona en las pequeñas aldeas y ciudades medievales, que tanto inspiró a los músicos germanos del siglo XIX.
Pese a la acústica del templo, quizá no la más apropiada para una obra de este calibre, algo que se nota en el empastamiento del sonido de los instrumentos, Thielemann demostró su buen hacer con una orquesta que no solo maneja magistralmente, sino que hace comprender por qué es la que mejor puede canalizar las intenciones del compositor. Desde el primer movimiento, con el bello paisaje de trompa que recrea el amanecer, la orquesta nos introduce en su mundo mágico. Las flautas vienesas seducen con su dulce y evocador sonido. Las cuerdas deslumbran en el poderoso tercer movimiento, el más bello de todos. En el cuarto movimiento, la orquesta se une para lograr una aún más estremecedora versión del mismo (ya de por sí estremecedor). El director de orquesta alemán consigue una interpretación muy en su linea: opulenta, de tempi lentos, pero en una versión romántica y muy germánica, más centrada en transmitir la fuerza de la naturaleza, así como su rotundidad, que en recrearse en la ligereza de los más bucólicos aspectos (que los hay) de la partitura.
De este modo, Thielemann y la Filarmónica de Viena conquistan España con este concierto, con los catalanes como privilegiados espectadores, en el marco de un proyecto que pretende llevar las sinfonías de Bruckner a grandes catedrales europeas. Para el maestro, pensar en nuestro país le invita a imaginar una catedral. Nada más catedralicio, entonces.
Aquí puede verlo en la web de RTVE.
Y aquí en Youtube.
ENGLISH
Thanks to
tourism, and the fascination his artistry raises, the Spanish architect Antoni
Gaudí has become a synonym of Barcelona. You can feel it in all its most
emblematic places, and his Sagrada Familia temple is the height of that Modernism
which spreads all over the Catalan capital. The work of a genius and at the
same time a very religious man, it is famous by its singular rich architecture
and decoration, as well as its well known aesthetics. The second biggest city
in Spain is ready for returning to the normality, and to regain all its former,
trendy, cultural splendor which makes it
famous worldwide. A great occasion to shine has been the historical visit of
the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the German maestro Christian
Thielemann, in a concert at the Sagrada Familia itself, last Saturday. After
noticing that only a small part of the invitations were raffled among general public, I felt myself part of a bigger audience of millions of spectators who
followed the event on Television. The telecast was accomplished: realization alternated
the images from the orchestra playing with a tour throughout the building,
recreating in its most beautiful details, playing with the light, creating
beautiful images, and also with landscapes of forests in Catalonia.
The first part of the concert was a commissioned work, Elysium, by the Canadian composer Samy Moussa. A powerful piece, beginning with a Majestic chord, said to have brucknerian influences, with evocation of post-romantic style, as well as an even cinematographic language, but also reaching disonant chords, which became constant in this, on the other hand, interesting work.
The second
part was the most awaited and publicited: Anton Bruckner’s 4th Symphony,
called “Romantic”. The Austrian composer and Gaudí have too much in common. Both
have the same name. Their respective works were created just with one year
difference. Both were very pious men. Both praise nature: Gaudí devoted himself
to his masterpiece during the naturalist
stage of his work: and Bruckner portraits
the beauty of nature in his symphony, as well as its powerful forests, nights
and even hunters. God and his precious creation are present in every aspect of both
works, fusioned in this concert. Wagner’s influence is visible in Bruckner, who
admired the Bayreuth genius. In the four movements, Bruckner praises that
nature sung by medieval romance, which inspired German composers during 19th
Century.
Despite
the acoustics of the temple (maybe not the most appropriate for this music),
which affects the instruments’ sound, making them to sound a bit thick, Thielemann
has shown his artistry in front of this orchestra. He not only knows and
commands it well, but also makes us to understand why the Vienna Philharmonic
is the most suitable orchestra for this composer. His rendition has that style
which become typical of him: majestic, with slow tempi, but in a romantic
interpretation. It has that Germanic touch more focused on conveying the force
of nature more than the lightness of bucolic aspects (which can be found in
many moments) in the score. Since the first movement, in which horns depict the
dawn, the orchestra introduces us in this magic world. Flutes seduce with their
sweet and evocating sound. Strings dazzle in the third movement, the most
beautiful one, and give goosebumps in the fourth one, becoming thrilling, breathtaking.
So, Thielemann
and the Wiener have won Spain over with this concert, with the Catalans as
privileged spectators, as part of a project aiming to perform Bruckner’s
symphonies in major European cathedrals. Indeed, for the maestro to think of
Spain involves to imagine a Cathedral. Nothing more suitable, then.
Link to watch the concert on Televisión Española.
Las fotografías no son de mi autoría, si alguien se muestra disconforme con la publicación de cualquiera de ellas en este blog le pido que me lo haga saber inmediatamente. Cualquier reproducción de este texto necesita mi permiso.