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Opera Canada, December 4, 2018 |
By: Gianmarco Segato for Opera Canada |
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Verdi: Otello, Bayerische Staatsoper, 28. November 2018 |
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Bavarian State Opera’s Otello: Gerald Finley’s Iago shines in misguided staging
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Bavarian State Opera’s new production of Otello (seen Nov. 28th) would seem
to have all the ingredients for a compelling take on Verdi’s distillation of
Shakespeare’s tragedy: top soloists Jonas Kaufmann (Otello), Anja Harteros
(Desdemona) and Gerald Finley (Iago); beloved General Music Director Kirill
Petrenko in the pit; superlative Staatsoper Orchestra, Chorus and Children’s
Chorus; Director Amélie Niermeyer, whose new interpretation focuses on
Desdemona’s plight rather than sympathizing with the title character.
It was owing to Petrenko’s leadership that the performance was a
triumph. The conductor literally danced on the podium, inspiring clarity of
detail — or sublime force, depending on the dramatic requirements. The warm
sounds emanating from the pit rarely overwhelmed the singers, leaving room
for listeners to delight in the contributions of individual sections and
instrumental solos.
Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley was the
evening’s vocal star. Many feared the so-called ‘lieder specialist’ might be
overwhelmed by such a dramatic role, but in this house, with this conductor,
he displayed no vocal difficulties. In fact, his vast experience with the
subtlety required by lieder repertoire did him great service; he sang the
entire role as if it were a song; vocalism functioned to illuminate the
text. As a result, his vocal risks —straight-tone singing; extreme
pianissimi; parlando effects — all served to delineate a twisted personality
whose sole purpose is to bring about Otello’s demise. Even when singing in
what some might perceive as falsetto (when a singer doesn’t fully engage his
breath support), Finley’s sounds were organically connected to the rest of
his vocal production and therefore, filled the hall effortlessly.
Likewise Anja Harteros , a practiced Verdian, used her bright, rich tone to
illuminate Desdemona’s plight, going from loving wife to wrongly accused
adulteress. Problematic issues, however, were experienced around her
diction, which lacked clarity and point, to say nothing of the great
liberties she took with the score, especially the lingering fermate (pauses)
and momentum-sucking rallentandi (slowing down). These became especially
jarring in the great love duet that ends Act I, as well as the grand,
sweeping line launching the Act III concertato (“A terra!… sì…ne livido
fango”). In such a derailing of musical momentum, she was, alas, joined by
her Otello, Jonas Kaufmann.
The celebrated German singer has, of
course, been lauded as the role’s next great exponent. Kaufmann’s opening
“Esultate!”—the ultimate test in vocal fortitude for any dramatic
tenor—pinned the audience to their seats, so penetrating, triumphant and
gob-smackingly beautiful was the sound. One hoped the rest of the evening
might be as compelling. However, almost immediately, we were subjected to
his micromanaging of quiet, piano tones to such an extent that that one lost
track of the overall musical phrase, forcing Petrenko to put a brake on the
proceedings. The quality of these soft tones was even more disconcerting;
they sounded disembodied, completely detached from the more robust sounds he
is capable of, only audible when the orchestra was at its quietest. Such
vocal eccentricities might have been easier to accept had Kaufmann’s
dramatic interpretation been more compelling. Whether his choice, or the
director’s, his Otello hardly started out as a strong leader. With a
physicality lacking commitment and half-hearted gestures, his descent into
jealousy and suspicion seemed too abrupt.
Kaufmann was not helped by
GI-Joe style costuming (by Annalies Vanalaere) that connoted the position of
Private instead of General, reflecting the director’s desire to examine
notions of power and intimacy. The neutral design palette (gray, ecru, black
and white) decorates a set which offers variations on Otello and Desdemona’s
bedroom. At certain moments, like the Act III concertato, this ‘bedroom’
setting is projected on a scrim, spins around, advances and retreats to
signify the chaos of this relationship and its effect on the greater
society. The setting is nondescript, but offers the potential of a canvas on
which to illuminate the iconic tragedy.
Yet the director makes it
impossible to distinguish the hierarchy of this society, robbing the
relationships of the tension they require to move the drama forward in a
meaningful way. Iago sports pajama-like, wide-leg trousers and a t-shirt
throughout. Otello’s uniform seems more suited to a low-ranking soldier. In
stripping away all social context, Niermeyer offers her singing actors, and
the audience, little clue as to why Iago’s hate would force him to incite
Otello to murder his wife. Indeed Finley works magic with what he is given,
but comes off as little more than a highly-disturbed social misfit who
happens to have access to his leader.
Verdi’s late works, Otello and
Falstaff, are as close as late 19th-century Italian opera came to Wagner’s
through-composed Gesamtkunstwerks where the drama begins with the
orchestration, into which vocal lines are seamlessly knit. In Munich, half
of this equation worked to perfection while the other was decidedly at odds.
As for the drama itself, in order to give Desdemona more agency, Niermeyer
interprets the title character as being damaged from the start. Iago
required so little effort to break Otello that all the subsequent plot
machinations were merely a matter of form. This felt like another admirable
attempt to reclaim a 19th-century opera heroine, which may sound good on
paper, but in practice, is incredibly difficult to achieve. Opera Canada’s
March issue will include a feature article dealing with this very timely
topic.
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