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Music
Claudio Monteverdi
Director
Chen Shi-Zheng
Conductor
Laurence
Cummings
Orfeo
John Mark
Ainsley
Eurydice
Ruby Philogene
Messenger
Wendy Dawn
Thompson
Proserpina
Stephanie
Marshall
Pluto
Jeremy White
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London
Coliseum
English
National Opera
15 - 28 April 2006 |
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Novelty
and experimentation characterise
an audacious new production
of Orfeo.
Hope does not always triumph
over experience in terms of
exposition, but vocally and
orchestrally, it is an achievement
of which composer Monteverdi
might have been proud. Arguably
the earliest great opera still
extant, Orfeo
was originally performed in
princely Mantua in 1607. Today's
show is a more cosmopolitan
affair: a co-production between
the ENO and the Handel and
Haydn Society, Boston and
the opera company's first
staging since 1981 it features
a new English translation
of Alessandro Striggio's libretto
by Christopher Cowell. Chinese
director Chen Shi-Zheng makes
his eagerly anticipated UK
operatic debut, bringing Tom
Pye on board as set designer
and Elizabeth Caitlin Ward
for costumes.
No one could accuse the multi-talented
Chen (also an actor and choreographer)
of lacking dedication or imagination
in his direction - he reputedly
rehearsed and researched exhaustively
for Orfeo. In addition, the
Java-based Orange Island Dance
Company was brought over especially
for these performances: founded
by Chen, their stated aim
is to combine traditional
Javanese dance with western
music. Thus we have the legendary
thwarted love of newly-wedded
Orpheus for his Eurydice -
her sudden death from a snake
bite and his subsequent descent
into the Greek underworld
in a failed attempt to recover
her - metamorphosised into
what suggests a modern holiday
setting. One was reminded
of a vitiated crowd of backpackers
adrift on an Indonesian beach
celebrating the funky nuptials
of one of their own - except
that the wedding guests' cruise-wear
was so understated that it
appeared that the chorus had
turned up to a rehearsal,
not a performance. In their
midst swayed Chen's imported,
bare-chested Javanese male
dancers and sinuous hand-maidens.
They moved exquisitely but
appeared contrived in the
context of the casual, beer-quaffing
westerners. Despite the picturesque
distribution of Balinese-style
temple offerings and pyramids
of sweetmeats, the stage itself
was altogether too austere
and lacked romance or cohesion
in its nakedness. Perhaps
it seemed the stuff of glamour
on paper, but up on stage
it could be bemusing - rather
haplessly counter-pointing
the tragedy of the opera's
Ovidian mythological heritage.
The transformative power of
music (let us remember that
our fabled hero's intoxicating
songs brought wild animals
to their knees and later charmed
the denizens of hell themselves)
was supposed to be at issue
here - even if diluted by
a gallimaufry of prop and
costume devices, often appurtenant.
Orfeo himself (the accomplished
John Mark Ainsley) was particularly
let down by his seemingly
random choice of belisha-beacon-style
fluorescent overalls, hardly
the garb of sun-worshiper
and groom. But caveats aside,
it would be cavalier not to
give this Orfeo the musical
plaudits it deserves. Acting
may not be Ainsley's long
suit, but this is his signature
singing role - not only has
he performed it in several
productions, but he won the
Munich Festival Prize in 1999
for his rendition of the charismatic
and highly demanding tenor
part. When seducing Hades'
boatman Charon with the opera's
pivotal aria, Ainsley's anguished
inflection is superb. The
messenger who gives voice
to the tale's tragic threnody,
Wendy Dawn Thompson, fervently
laments news of the poisoned
bride; while Pluto and Proserpina
(Jeremy White and Stephanie
Marshall) plaintively inform
their supernatural solos.
The latter are costume-cocooned
(literally) while in Damien
Hirst-style glass cases for
their entrance - perhaps a
knowing insect-like allusion
to the Metamorphoses of the
story's source? Alas, it is
far from clear.
Conductor Laurence Cummings
was responsible for the evening's
most stimulating collaboration
- that of the ENO orchestra
with the Orchestra of the
Age of the Enlightenment.
An authority on historical
performance he convinced the
former to play with baroque
bows and replacement strings
of gut in the tuning system
of Sixth Comma Meantone, with
a score transposed up a whole
tone for authenticity. He
writes that almost from the
beginning of rehearsal "the
sound was already unmistakably
Seventeenth Century". Congratulations
are in order for Cummings,
for the musicians rendered
a glorious composite of Monteverdi's
music, justifying the whole
enterprise and one trusts,
setting the scene for future
fruitful collaborations. Hopes
raised and ears primed, we
should watch this space.
Caroline
Kellett Fraysse |
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