Review: Lyric Opera's "Les Troyens" sounds great, looks bland

This review originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

The Troy city wall, Act I
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

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Through December 3, Lyric Opera of Chicago is presenting its first-ever production of Hector Berlioz's mammoth 1858 drama Les Troyens. For many Chicago opera lovers, that makes it a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Which puts them one up on Berlioz.

As I wrote in my review of the 2014 San Francisco production of Les Troyens, by the time Berlioz died in 1869, only the last three of his five acts had been performed, and then only in a drastically truncated and badly produced version by the Théâtre Lyrique, the Paris Opéra having dithered over it too long. The first full production didn't take place until 1890, and even then it languished for most of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, taking on the reputation of (in the words of Berlioz biographer Ian Kemp) "a monster so unwieldy that it had to be split in two and trimmed to size."

Christine Goerke
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

That reputation wasn't entirely undeserved. Running around four hours and 45 minutes in Lyric's slightly trimmed version (a full-length production can run five hours and some change) and requiring a huge cast, massive orchestra, and (at least in the composer's original conception) elaborate stage machinery, Les Troyens requires both pockets and a talent pool of considerable depth.

The Lyric production certainly has that deep talent pool--and a good thing, since this modern dress version comes up short on visual impact. Troy is represented by a massive, semicircular, partly collapsed wall, mounted on a turntable and taking up the entire stage. Carthage is the same wall rebuilt and painted a bland white on the inside. The Trojan horse is literally a shadow of its legendary self, being reduced to a simple gobo that projects the horse's shadow on the ruined wall of Troy. The result is something less than the spectacle that Berlioz had in mind and that I had expected.

"Royal Hunt and Storm," Act IV
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

The story of Les Troyens begins on the eve of the fall of Troy, as the Greek army has apparently fled the scene, leaving behind only the fabled horse, which despite the dire warnings of Cassandra, the Trojans take into the city. The opera goes on to chronicle the fall of Troy, the suicide of the Trojan women, and Aeneas' tragic affair with the Carthaginian queen Dido. It ends with Dido's suicide and a chorus of vengeance by the Carthaginian people.

Through it all Berlioz (who wrote his own libretto, after Virgil's Aeneid) cannily mixes intimate solos and duets, massive choral scenes, elaborate ballet sequences, and vivid instrumental writing (he was, after all, a master orchestrator) in ways designed to keep the viewer engaged. Even without the visuals, this Troyens gives us the great sweep of historical events and the implacable hand of fate but never lets us lose sight of the intimate human relationships that are at the core of the story.

Susan Graham, Act III
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Heading the cast is mezzo Susan Graham as Dido, a part with which she has become strongly associated. When I saw her in the San Francisco production of Les Troyens two years ago, I wrote that her voice had a full, silky quality that, combined with her tasteful acting, made her character's heartbreak all too real. I see no reason to change that appraisal now.

Matching her in every respect was tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Aeneas. Although coping with a cold when we saw him, he displayed no signs of vocal strain. His long love duet with Dido in Act IV was flawless and his acting was never less than credible.

Susan Graham and Brandon Javanovich, Act V
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Soprano Christine Goerke was a deeply troubled Cassandra, almost physically incapacitated by the strength of her prophetic visions. The role is written for a mezzo, but Ms. Goerke was vocally powerful even if her lowest notes. Moreover, the migraine-level intensity of her prophecies made it easy to understand why they're deemed unbelievable, even by her doomed lover Chorebus. That role was sung with great authority by baritone Lucas Meachem.

Mezzo Okka von der Damerau brings a self-aware amusement to the role of Dido's sister Anna that made the character very engaging. Bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, who was so imposing as Dido's minister Narbal in San Francisco, reprises the role here with equal effect.

Christian Van Horn, Okka von der Damerau
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

There is a host of other fine performances in smaller roles, including tenors Mingjie Lei and Jonathan Johnson in the cameo roles of Iopas and Hylas, respectively. Each character has one lyrical spotlight aria, and both singers did very well by them. Bass-baritone Bradley Smoak, a familiar face at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, was properly fearsome as Hector's Ghost.

The chorus has a lot to do in Les Troyens, and Chorus Master Michael Black's singers deserve applause for singing with great clarity and force. Sir Andrew Davis leads a huge orchestra (including a sizeable complement of offstage players) in an authoritative interpretation of Berlioz's wonderfully varied and bracing score.

Mingjie Lei, Susan Graham, Brandon Jovanovich
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Ballet plays an important role in Les Troyens as well. The French always loved seeing dances in their operas, but Berlioz uses dance for narrative purposes as well as for sheer spectacle. The "Royal Hunt and Storm" sequence of Act IV is probably the most famous example, with Dido and Aeneas becoming separated from a hunting party during a storm and consummating their lover affair in a sheltered grotto. Unfortunately, director Tim Albery has tossed out everything leading up to that consummation, instead choosing to show (in his words) "multiple Didos and Aeneases living out her dream of a passionate affair with him."

Practically speaking, that involved choreographer Helen Pickett's lithe dancers dashing about in what came close to a parody of an orgy with an impressively three-dimensional forest projected on the wall as scenery. It doesn't match up with the story vividly depicted in Berlioz's music very well.

There's a lot to admire in the Lyric's Troyens, but in the final analysis the decision to make it drably contemporary robbed it, at least for me, of some of the epic sweep of the narrative. For information on upcoming performances, visit the Lyric Opera web site.

Opera review: The world premiere of "Bel Canto" suffers from musical and dramatic overload at Lyric Opera of Chicago

Act I opening
Photo: Andrew Cioffi

I haven't read Ann Patchett's popular novel "Bel Canto". So I have no idea whether the musical and theatrical overload of the opera version, which is currently having its world premiere at Lyric Opera of Chicago, reflects the style of Ms. Patchett's writing or that of composer Jimmy López and librettist Nilo Cruz.

Danielle de Niese
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Although generally well received by the audience the night we saw it, the sheer excess of the work had the unfortunate effect of calling attention to its own inventiveness at the expense of the narrative and distancing me from what should have been a compelling story. If felt self-indulgent, as though the creators were more interested in showing off their considerable gifts than in communicating with an audience.

Based on a real-life incident in Peru in 1996, in which guests at the Japanese ambassador's mansion were held hostage by terrorists for four months, "Bel Canto" changes the ambassador to the CEO of a Japanese electronics firm and adds the character of Roxane Coss, an American soprano whose music casts a healing spell on hostages and guerrillas alike. As in the real incident, the hostage taking drags on for months until the Peruvian army raids the house.

By the time that happens, in the operatic version of the story, insurgents and hostages have some to see each other less as opponents and more as fellow sufferers at the hands of forces beyond their control. When the Peruvian army bursts in at the end of the opera, they blast away at everyone in sight, with a callous disregard for "collateral damage" that leaves little doubt as to who the real villains of the piece might be.

Andrew Stenson and Danielle de Niese
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

This ought to be pretty powerful stuff. After all, despite the fact that Americans are as likely to be crushed to death by furniture as killed by terrorists, asymmetric warfare has been very much in the news lately, so this story should have real resonance.

Indeed, the opera has moments of real dramatic impact, especially in the more nuanced second act, and the gradual dramatic transformation of the guerrilla leaders from slogan-spouting bullies to sympathetic freedom fighters is nicely done. But for much of its three-hour length, "Bel Canto" did a better job of pushing me away than drawing me in.

Part of the problem is the sheer decibel level of Mr. López's score, which sounds like Richard Strauss filtered through John Adams. There are moments of genuine beauty, especially in the third act, but for the most part the score feels like a musical assault vehicle. I felt that the periodic flights of poetic fancy in Mr. Cruz's libretto, beautifully written though they were, had a distancing effect as well. Often delivered as soliloquies, I thought they tended to stop the action cold, even if they did offer valuable insights into their characters' thinking.

Anthony Roth Costanzo
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Perhaps the biggest issue for me, though, is the rather artificial staging by director Kevin Newbury. In his "Anna Bolena" for Lyric last year and his "Eugene Onegin" for Opera Theatre of St. Louis back in 2010, I was struck by his tendency to place his principals in static poses, facing downstage, and generally adopting cliché operatic attitudes. There's a great deal of that in "Bel Canto", with characters nearly always singing towards the audience rather than interacting with each other. Even in the intimate third act love scene in which Roxane and the Japanese CEO Kasumi Hosokawa finally consummate the love affair that has been brewing for months, the characters have virtually no contact with each other until the final clinch.

That said, there are many outstanding performances in this cast, and that goes a long way towards making up for the production's other issues. Soprano Danielle de Niese does truly heroic work as Roxane Coss, a role that requires great vocal and dramatic range. So does tenor Andrew Stenson as Gen Watanabe, Hosokawa's translator, whose doomed love affair with the guerrilla Carmen (mezzo J'Nai Bridges in another compelling performance) is the "downstairs" parallel to the "upstairs" romance between his boss and Roxane.

Jeongcheol Cha
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Tenor Rafael Davila is very effective in the ultimately tragic role of the guerrilla leader, General Alfredo, and Korean bass-baritone Jeongcheol Cha makes Hosokawa a very sympathetic character, struggling with the language barrier that prevents him from expressing his love for Roxane. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo shines in the small but heartbreaking role of the fighter César, whose voice flowers under Roxane's tutelage, only to be cut short by a soldier's bullet. Bass Rúni Brattaberg also makes a strong impression in the cameo role of the Russian ambassador Fyodorov, although his odd comic relief scene late in the opera feels tacked-on and irrelevant.

In fact, there's really not a single weak link in this 24-member cast (19 singers and five non-singing actors), which is very much to Lyric Opera's credit. "Bel Canto" is a big piece that requires a deep talent pool, but Lyric is clearly up to the challenge.

David Korins's big, realistic, multi-level set is impressive, but it takes up so much room that action is mostly forced downstage. That makes for some cramped and confusing stage pictures and sometimes makes it difficult to tell who is singing when the entire cast is on stage (as it often is).

As the siege wears on, the fighters play socccer
Photo: Andrew Cioffi

Mr. López's score sounds highly demanding, but under the baton of Lyic's music director Sir Andrew Davis the orchestra gave a powerful account of it. The brass and percussion sections, in particular, got quite a workout. Even at its noisiest, though, the orchestra never overwhelmed the singers, which is a tribute to Mr. Davis's skill.

One interesting final note: projected English text has now become so ubiquitous in opera houses that Mr. Cruz apparently felt comfortable creating a libretto in which characters often sang in their native languages, secure in the knowledge that it would all be translated in the end. Eight different languages are heard here including Japanese, Latin, and Quechua, an Amerind language spoken in Peru and neighboring countries. It's an illustration of how technology has changed the way opera is done these days.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of "Bel Canto" continues through January 17th at Chicago's magnificent Civic Opera House. For more information: lyricopera.org.

Opera Review: A big, bright "Merry Widow" at Chicago Lyric Opera

Act I opening waltz
Photo: Andrew Cioffi

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This weekend, I caught one of the last performances of Lyric Opera of Chicago's early Christmas present for opera lovers: a production of Lehar's durable 1905 comic operetta "The Merry Widow" that was as bubbly as champagne and as bright as a Christmas tree. With colorful sets and costumes, delightful dancing by the corps de ballet, and great performances all the way around, this was a tremendously entertaining show.

If you've never seen it either on stage or in one of its many film incarnations, know that the story of "The Merry Widow" revolves around Hanna, a youngish widow from the fictional Balkan nation of Pontrevedro, who became a millionaire when her much older husband died on their wedding night. Living the high life in Paris, she's actively courted by young men with their eyes on the twenty million franc prize, but she secretly yearns for her first love, Count Danilo, who was forbidden to marry her many years ago by his snobbish family.

Act II folk dancers
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Now a minor official in the Pontrevedrian embassy trying to drown his torch for Hanna in champagne and grisettes at Maxim's, Danilo is ordered by the ambassador, Baron Zeta, to woo Hanna and marry her, thereby keeping her millions from leaving the country. But, of course, Danilo's pride won't let him say those "three little words" to Hanna.

You know where this is all going, right?

There's also a subplot concerning Zeta's young wife Valencienne and her brief fling with a young Frenchman, Camille de Rosillon, and a recurring gag about the inability of Danilo's assistant, Njegus, to keep a secret. Needless to say, all ends happily with a big party at Maxim's.

Nicole Cabell
Photo: Devon Cass

When we saw the show Nicole Cabell had taken over the role of Hanna from famed soprano Renée Fleming for the show's closing weekend, and while her voice hadn't quite the power I would have preferred, it was uniformly lovely throughout its range. Those soft high notes in "Vilja," for example, were crystal clear. She was also a fine actress, making Hanna both seductive and self-mocking.

Noted baritone Thomas Hampson was a delight as Danilo, with a big voice and excellent comic sense. The quarter-century age difference between him and Ms. Cabell (Ms. Fleming is closer to his age) is something I found myself having to willfully ignore at first, but the two of them worked so well together than I was able to suspend disbelief without much effort.

For me, some of the best work was done by the supporting cast. Soprano Heidi Stober and tenor Michael Spyres were consistently bright and engaging as Valencienne and Rosillon. Bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi (the hilarious Dulcamara in Opera Theatre of St. Louis's "Elixir of Love" last summer) was the essence of comic pomposity as Baron Zeta and actor Jeff Dumas's Njegus was a classic study in comic timing. Baritone Paul La Rosa and tenor Jonathan Johnson also had many fine moments as Hannah's ineffectually dueling suitors Cascada and St. Brioche.

Act III, Heidi Stober and grisettes
Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Michael Black's chorus has a lot to do in "Merry Widow" and they did it quite well. The opera was sung in English (witty translation by Jeremy Sams) and while projected text was available, the chorus's diction was good enough to make it largely unnecessary.

The many dance sequences were smartly choreographed by director Susan Stroman, whose substantial Broadway experience was evident in the canny theatricality that permeated this production. Down in the pit, Lyric Opera's music director Sir Andrew Davis led the orchestra in a flawless reading of Lehar's unforgettable score

"Merry Widow" left closed on Sunday, December 13, but Lyric's season continues with the world premiere of "Bel Canto" (based on the novel by Ann Patchett) and, starting in January, Verdi's "Nabucco". For more information: lyricopera.org.

Soul music

Photo by Melanie Winning

Who: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis with violinist Tasmin Little
What: Music of Delius, Elgar, and Beethoven
Where: Powell Symphony Hall
When: March 1 and 2, 2013

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The score of Elgar’s 1910 Violin Concerto carries the Spanish preface, "Aqui está encerrada el alma de ....." ( "Herein is enshrined the soul of ....." ). Is it a secret love letter to the wife of a member of Parliament or even, as Elgar biographer Jerrold Northrup Moore suggests, a tribute to several of the composer’s closest friends? And does it really matter anyway?

The answer to the first question appears to be "we don’t really know," but the answer to the second, in my view, is "no." With the exception of program music, where there are explicit non-musical reference points, a work has to stand or fall on its own merits. Biographical detail can provide illumination, but it can’t be a sine qua non.

I bring this all up because while it’s useful to know that the concerto was dear to Elgar’s heart, it doesn’t make the work any more approachable for me. Yes, it’s filled with much that is admirable and even moving. The second movement, for example, is often ravishingly beautiful and the remarkable accompanied cadenza in the finale, with pizzicato tremolando strings in the background, has an unearthly quality for which I find myself unable to find adequate words. But ultimately the lack of differentiation among the concerto’s themes, at least to my ears, renders it structurally murky and makes it feel overwrought and over-long.

In his liner notes for the 1993 recording of the concerto, Michael Kennedy quotes Elgar as describing the work as follows: "It's good! awfully emotional! too emotional, but I love it." Perhaps a little less love and a bit more rigor would have helped.

That said, you could hardly ask for a better performance than the one we got Friday night. Soloist Tasmin Little and conductor Sir Andrew Davis are major exponents of the work and their commitment showed in every note. Ms. Little, resplendent in a golden gown, attacked the music with a fierce and even (at times) grim concentration that yielded a presentation rich in poetry and virtuosity. Sir Andrew, for his part, led the orchestra in a nicely paced and lovingly shaped collaboration (you could hardly call it accompaniment, given how well Elgar integrated the solo part with the orchestra). Conducting without a baton, he shaped phrases with his hands in a way that was remarkable to watch. No wonder their 2010 Chandos recording has garnered critical raves. For those who, like Elgar, love the Violin Concerto, this was a performance not to be missed.

For me, though, the real highlight of the evening was the Beethoven Symphony No. 4 that followed intermission. Whether or not you go along with the "Music History 101" notion that Beethoven’s even-numbered symphonies are lighter in tone than his odd-numbered ones, there’s no getting around the fact that the fourth is all a-bubble with good humor. From the lively Allegro vivace that follows the highly dramatic opening Adagio of the first movement, to the comical little descending passage for bassoon that interrupts the coda of the finale, this is music by a composer young enough to be optimistic but mature enough to have mastered his craft.

Sir Andrew gave us a performance that was cheerfully boisterous without sacrificing the drama of that opening Adagio or the beauty of the second movement. The musicians played at their usual high level, which meant that the many little star turns Beethoven devised for the woodwinds sounded especially fine. Congratulations to Mark Sparks (principal flute), Barbara Orland (acting co-principal oboe), Scott Andrews (principal clarinet), and Andrew Cuneo (principal bassoon) for their solo work and, while I’m thinking of it, to associate principal timpanist Tom Stubbs as well for his reliably precise work.

The concert opened with an exquisitely nuanced Walk to the Paradise Garden, originally composed by Frederic Delius in 1907 to cover a long scene change in his opera A Village Romeo and Juliet. This portrait of the intense passion of the doomed lovers has since taken on a life of its own on the concert stage. It’s quintessential Delius, with shimmering strings and a pervasive sense of pastoral beauty, all of which came through wonderfully in this performance, including some nice solo work by Ms. Orland and associate principal clarinet Diana Haskell. Sir Andrew even allowed a moment of silence at the end that felt just right. Well done.

Perhaps the best thing about Friday night’s concert, though, was the obvious joy with which Sir Andrew approached the entire business. This was apparent, for example, during the curtain calls, when he ran back into the orchestra to shake hands with individual players and repeatedly encourage the musicians to stand up and take their well-deserved bows. This is a man who takes immense public pleasure from music making and, as a result, inspires it in the audience as well.

Next on the calendar: Soprano Tony Arnold and pianist Peter Henderson perform Messiaen’s Harawi on Wednesday, March 6, at 7:30 PM at the Pulitzer Foundation. The regular season resumes on Friday, March 8, at 10:30 AM and Saturday, March 9, at 8 PM with Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. David Robertson conducts with soloist James Ehnes. For ticket information: stlsymphony.org.

TPTBT (The Place to Be Tonight): Friday, March 1

Who: Violinist Tasmin Little and the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Sir Andrew Davis
What: Elgar's Violin Concerto, plus music by Delius and Beethoven
Where: Powell Hall
When: tonight and Saturday at 8 PM
Why: "Acclaimed by The Guardian for her 'wistful, poetic and powerful' performances, violinist Tasmin Little makes her St. Louis Symphony debut with Elgar’s Violin Concerto, one of the last great romantic violin concertos." And, as some have suggested, a love letter to the wife of a member of Parliament. Guest conductor Sir Andrew Davis is one of the great champions of British music. The program also includes Delius's "Walk to the Paradise Garden" from A Village Romeo and Juliet as well as Beethoven's lively Symphony No. 4.

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