The symbolic madrileño building of the Círculo de Bellas Artes, hosts a chamber music season, in which there was a must-see event: Francis Poulenc's La Voix Humaine, an opera for a soprano, with libretto by Jean Cocteau, based on his play of the same name. To perform, an accomplished duo: the Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci and pianist Donald Sulzen.
The beautiful, but a bit uncomfortable Teatro Fernando de Rojas, placed inside the enormous, skyscraper-like old building, was the venue of this opera night. Certainly, it has a charm and beauty undeniable for anyone who hasn't been here, but one wonders if its cozy hall wouldn't be more suitable for a cinema than for hosting concerts.
Lobby of the Fernando de Rojas Theatre.
This is a work in which a woman has a 45-minute telephone conversation, which is implied are the last ones of her life. A woman which is shown fragile, insecure, psychologically depending, who cannot imagine a life without her man. Much to her disgrace, the telephone line will suffer from cuts and accidental interferences which complicate this vital dialogue, giving rise to hilarious situations like an intruder woman listening and giving her opinion on the conversation. Any situation, dialogue between the protagonist and her "beloved" man is implied from her answers and conversation, as we can only see and hear her, apart from the music. Beyond this, Cocteau intends to reach the audience. Many of us have gone through the sadness, nuisance of ending a relationship, and the corresponding grief. However, many of those have the added difficulty of liberate, split up from a toxic, depending relationship. Some of them don't succeed at this. This is the case of this woman, who is implied to be beautiful, seductive, but unable to live without her partner. She had tried to kill herself before, and despite she tries to use this for saving her relationship, he finally leaves her and she has nothing to do but collapsing, implying she dies when hanging up the phone.
This work was conceived to be accompanied by an orchestra, but this version has a piano accompaniment. Despite not being the original, the piano gives it a touch of intimacy, and a very French taste. It is a work, like said in the handbill, which links musical sequences. They reveal the psychological, desperate, introspective and melancholical world of the woman, some as expressionist as Messiaen's music (and the orchestra version sounds even more expressionist) and other as intimate and romantic as a chanson. Piano gives the work this dark, personal ambiance which invites the listener to enter in the woman's world like no other accompaniment.
In this occasion, there hasn't been any staging, as it was a chamber music concert. Only an elegant, baroque stool with an orange telephone were present as scenical stuff. The piano was at the right corner of the stage (left for the audience).
Anna Caterina Antonacci returned to Madrid, at least I haven't seen her since her 2018 recital and her unforgettable rendition of Britten's Gloriana at the Teatro Real. Antonacci has a great scenical presence, very magnetic. A beautiful woman and gifted actress, she brings her versatile style, her amazing sense of theatre and her exquisite and sensitive singing to her wide ranging and not very conventional repertory. Her voice, nevertheless, appears sometimes tired, but still maintaining great moments like some high notes in forte, or her seductive middle register, still with that seductive tone. French diction is great, and when she uses the parlato, we hear a youthful, delightful voice, conveying the protagonist's vulnerability, which she turns into a beautiful middle-aged woman, so radiant which one wonders why has her husband left her.
Donald Sulzen, Antonacci's pianist, has given a brilliant performance. He plays Poulenc's music in such a sensitive, subtle way, giving it a chanson nature, fitting into a chamber music nature, involving the spectator into that evocating world of sequences, scales, melodies which transport the listener to the Parisian flat in which the woman is having her last conversation. Sometimes it reminds us the composer's vigorous "Trois mouvements perpetuels".
This sensitive, delighting opera night was awarded with enthusiastical applauses, and strong bravos for Antonacci, coming from the mezzanine. A temporary musical refuge from the Black Friday consumerist whirlwind waiting outside. Crowded streets with people shopping and admiring the new Christmas illumination of Gran Vía, as well as crowded buses, since they have been free for the weekend, to stimulate consumption. And why not, to attend a concert too.
My reviews are not professional and express only my opinions. As a non English native speaker I apologise for any mistake.
Most of the photographs are from the internet and belong to its authors. My use of them is only cultural. If someone is uncomfortable with their use, just notify it to me.
Any reproduction of my text requires my permission.
©️ Anna Caterina Antonacci portrait by Jason Daniel Shaw. All rights reserved.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario