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Opera
by
Sergei
Prokofiev
Performed
by the Bolshoi at Royal Opera
House Covent Garden
Directed
by
Francesca
Zambello
Conducted
by
Alexander
Vedernikov
Lead
Violin
Alexander
Kalashkov
Renata
Tatiana
Smirnova
Ruprecht
Boris
Statsenko
The
Inquisitor
Vadim
Lynkovsky
Mephistopheles
Maxim
Paster
Faust
Alexander
Naumenko
The
Fortune Teller
Evgenia
Segeniuk
Agrippa
Roman Muravitsky
Mathias
Weissman
Nikolai
Kazansky
The
Landlady
Irina Udalova
Mother
Superior
Elena Novak
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The
Royal Opera House
Covent
Garden
25
July - 26 July 2006 |
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It must
be a dull summer in Moscow
and St Petersburg as their
greatest talents have moved
to London. The Mariinsky Theatre
(formerly Kirov) are installed
with Shostakovich at the ENO
and down the road the Bolshoi
and Prokofiev have just exploded
on to the stage at Covent
Garden. Prokofiev's Fiery
Angel was the last Opera he
wrote before he came back
to Russia and it was never
performed in his lifetime.
It opens the Bolshoi's summer
residence at the Royal Opera
House. Prokofiev became more
tuneful in his later career
but this is a startling and
bombastic work. There is little
or no rest for the audience
as the pace is kept up throughout
the score, brass arguing with
string in the pit and soprano
against baritone on the stage.
It is a story of obsession:
Renata is obsessed with a
former lover, Count Heinrich
whom she is convinced is the
embodiment of a supernatural
being who used to visit her
as a child, and Ruprecht is
obsessed with Renata. Is Renata
mad? Is she possessed by the
devil? Is Heinrich really
her lost fiery angel? Why
on earth is Ruprecht so besotted
with Renata? None of these
questions are answered by
Prokofiev and to say that
the plot is audacious and
mystifying is to paint too
clear a picture. There are
angels, devils, necromancers,
nuns, a child being eaten,
skeletons, demonic possessions
and exorcists piled one on
top of the other to leave
the audience audibly gasping
for comprehension. And there
is no effective resolution
- at the end of a huge climactic
scene when a chorus of nuns
seems half possessed, the
exorcist is defeated and,
in Francesca Zambello's production
Renata enigmatically ascends
the set in a steel cage, the
audience is left unsure as
to whether the opera has finished
or not. On the opening night
there was a stunned silence
when the curtain dropped.
However, the Bolshoi orchestra
was magisterial and the conductor
Alexander Vedernikov drew
a fantastic performance of
what is an extremely demanding
work. Tatiana Smirnova was
occasionally drowned out in
the brassy mÍlČe but had a
beautifully clear and steady
voice as the bizarre Renata,
which contrasted perfectly
with the doom laden colour
of the story and of the score.
When she holds the hopelessly
attached Ruprecht in her arms
after his injury in a duel,
she finally relents and tells
him she loves him in the sweetest
tones, but off stage the demon
chorus bays warningly and
the orchestra seems ready
to drag him down to hell.
The hair stood up on the back
of my neck.
Boris Statsenko provided an
accomplished performance as
Ruprecht, Vadim Lynkovsky
brought a rich bass to the
role of the Inquisitor, Maxim
Paster provided some hugely
appreciated light relief as
Mephistopheles and the chorus
of nuns was bewitching, sharply
directed and terrifying in
the final Act. However, despite
the brilliance of the orchestra
and the hugely accomplished
cast the opera was hampered
by the way it was staged.
Francesca Zambello moved Prokofiev's
16th century setting to the
1920s when it was written,
presumably to draw some parallels
with the Soviet era witch-hunts
which prevented it being performed
there in Prokofiev's lifetime.
This move simply cast another
layer of obscurity on an already
dense and troublesome opera.
The grandiose set of tenement
blocks towering over the stage
throughout the production
was a feat of engineering
but it proved to be an impediment
to the fluidity of the acting.
It was designed by George
Tsypin and Tatiana Noginova,
and Zambello is known for
her full use of the height
of the stage but the price
of lucidity was too much to
pay, when above all we need
to believe in Ruprecht's readiness
to sacrifice his soul for
a woman who is in love with
somebody else.
Despite the shortcomings of
the staging, it is exciting
to see this difficult, creepy
and rarely performed work,
and a treat to see the Bolshoi
at full stretch in this Summer
of Russia. And for those for
whom Mariinksy and the Bolshoi
is not enough, there is always
Kandinsky in residence at
Tate Modern.
Charlie
Taylor |
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