Symphony Review: A Peerless "Peer Gynt" closes the SLSO season

L-R: Caleb Mayo, Marya Lowry, Robert Walsh.
Photo by Tyler Small courtesy of the SLSO.

Last Saturday and Sunday (May 3 and 4), Stéphane Denève conducted the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus along with a brace of guest performers in the Concert Theatre Works production of Henrik Ibsen’s 1876 epic play/poem Peer Gynt. It was a big, entertaining, crowd-pleaser—words one wouldn’t typically associate with Peer Gynt.

[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview.]

Although popular in Norway, Ibsen’s elaborate five-act verse play about the globetrotting adventures of the feckless and self-absorbed Peer has not traveled as well as the great dramatist's other works. The incidental music by Edvard Grieg (1843–1907), on the other hand, has become an international favorite, thanks to the composer's ability to create appealing themes and paint vivid orchestral pictures to accompany the play's action.

For writer/actor/director Bill Barclay, the music was the starting point. “This new adaptation,” writes Barclay, “tries to tame the story while going back to the wilder incidental score, mining for fresh bits of Grieg you’ve probably not heard before.” In the process, he boiled down Ibsen’s five-hour original to a fast-paced two hours or so (including intermission) that makes the story line even more absurd than it was originally but preserves nearly all Grieg’s wonderful music. That’s a win as far as I’m concerned.

Stéphane Denève conducts the SLSO.
Photo by Tyler Small courtesy of the SLSO.

One rarely, if ever, gets a chance to hear too much of the score, much less with a full symphony orchestra and the chorus. Their role is limited, but for the scenes in which they appear, essential. The Mountain King’s music in the first suite is always exciting, but to see it performed in its original context, with the singers, in their role as a gang of angry trolls out for Peer Gynt’s blood—“Slagt ham” (“Slaughter him”)—well, that adds a serious dose of menace you won’t get otherwise. Erin Freeman’s chorus can generally be counted upon for fine singing, but it’s less common to hear them engage in a bit of acting as well.

Speaking of which, several members of the chorus sang the smaller roles. They weren’t credited in the program, but an alert reader informed me that soprano Joy Boland was the singing voice of Anitra. If anyone else has some names, just leave a comment.

Up on the podium, Denève led the band in an equally dramatic performance of the orchestral score, some of which was being presented here for the first time. There was the usual fine playing of the many little solo bits in the score, including Kelly Lukic and Ann Choomack on piccolos in the storm and shipwreck music; oboists Jelena Dirks and Xiomara Mass in the famous “Morning Mood” sequence (a theme anticipated during the “Woman in Green” music, another bit of the score that never made it into the suites); and the horns under Associate Principal Thomas Jöstlein in pretty much everything.

I must also tip my hat to Principal Viola Beth Guterman Chu for her convincingly rustic playing of the first of the two “Halling” folk dance sequences in the “Prelude.” The second was taken by Nordic folk musician Vidar Skrede on a traditional Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, although I would have been just as happy to see Chu do both.

Vidar Skrede (L) with the cast of
Peer Gynt.
Photo by Tyler Small courtesy of the SLSO.

That brings me to the eight-member acting cast, all of whom wore the usual wireless body mics. Balancing them against the full orchestra could have been a bit dicey, but on the whole, it seemed to work, despite a somewhat noisy sound system and some issues with Peer Gynt’s mic, forcing actor Caleb Mayo to occasionally fiddle with it. Happily, it failed to spoil his spot-on portrayal of Peer’s insight-free self-absorption.

The whole cast did exemplary work, in fact. Robert Walsh was engaging as The Button Moulder who, in this version of the script, is a kind of omniscient narrator. Marya Lowry got her share of laughs early on as Peer’s mother Åse, but her death scene with Mayo was wonderfully touching. Risher Reddick’s Dovre King (Mountain King), a Bunraku-style puppet, was broadly comic—perhaps a little too much so at times.

Kourtney Adams was a sinuously seductive Anitra and Caroline Lawton a bawdy Woman in Green (a.k.a. the Dovre King’s daughter). Both also play multiple roles in the Ensemble, along with Daniel Berger-Jones. Will Lyman was the offstage voice of The Bøyg, an all-knowing gnome-like creature Ibsen imported from the fairy tale that formed the basis of his play.

Camilla Tilling as Solveig.
Photo by Tyler Small, courtesy of the SLSO.

There’s not much to the role of Solveig, the long-suffering “gal he left behind him,” but she does have a pair of beautiful songs toward the end of the play: “Solveig’s Song” (from Ibsen’s Act IV) and “Solveig’s Cradle Song,” sung to a dying Peer Gynt as the lights dim on the last scene. Soprano Camilla Tilling’s performances of both carried profound emotional impact. Her vocal technique was remarkable, most notably on that unforgiving pianissimo high A at the end of “Solveig’s Song.” She just floated up to it, seemingly effortlessly.

The SLSO program notes say that this Peer Gynt was “a new full-length adaptation for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra,” which explains why the total show time was a little over two hours (including intermission) vs. the 105 minutes (also including intermission) described at the Concert Theatre Works web site. I’m not sure what was added, but I can say that the first act (Ibsen’s Acts I and II) held together much better than the second, which crams Ibsen’s Acts III through V into around an hour or thereabouts. Even considering that a lot of plot has been jettisoned, it still felt almost telegraphic in its brevity.

The chorus and orchestra curtain call.
The chorus sang in English and Norwegian.
Photo by Tyler Small courtesy of the SLSO.

That’s really a minor gripe, though. The evening was brisk, bright, and obviously great fun for the audience. As a finale for both the season and the SLSO’s tenure at Stifel Theatre, it was an excellent choice.

The regular SLSO season resumes in September with the traditional Forest Park concert followed by the opening weekend and the newly renovated Powell Hall on September 26th and 27th. Meanwhile post-season activity continues through June 9.  Check the SLSO web site for details.