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Seen and Heard International, 10/12/2020 |
by Jim Pritchard |
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Puccini: La Bohème, Bayerische Staatsoper, 27.11.2020 (im Internet-Stream ab 30.11.2020) |
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Jonas Kaufmann’s Rodolfo is a revelation in a vintage Munich La bohème for our time and all time
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Should opera productions have ‘best if used before’ dates? Maybe sometimes
yes, though watching Otto Schenk’s La bohème in this livestream from Munich
I mused, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’. It obviously seems to have
influenced John Copley’s Covent Garden production of blessed memory which
premiered in 1974, which – it is hard to credit – was five years after
Schenk’s La bohème was first seen at the Bayerische Staatsoper! Well, I must
admit Rudolf Heinrich’s sets – in video director Christoph Engel’s closeup
camerawork – looked rather tired and in need of refurbishment, but at the
end of one of the best Bohèmes – in the pervading circumstances – I have
ever seen and heard, this hardly mattered.
If you get the opportunity
to see this now or at any other time, you will find Puccini’s stage
directions literally transferred to the stage. It all looks as if it has
come to life from romantic paintings of nineteenth-century Paris. The
rooftop garret was realistic, and it seemed as if people really struggled to
live and work there. Then Café Momus – where artists gathered – might have
looked exactly like that on Paris’s Right Bank. Finally, the Barrière
d’Enfer for Act III was totally realistic with a gate, a tree (naturally!)
for Mimì to conceal herself behind, and a light dusting of snow. What sets
this production apart – if you forgive the pun – is that this faithfulness
to the text extended to the sensitive performances of all concerned and how
they truly brought this old warhorse to life for a jaded, old warhorse of a
commentator like me!
The four bohemians – a poet (Rodolfo), a painter
(Marcello), a musician (Schaunard), and a philosopher (Colline) – look as
though they have been genuinely striving for success in Paris for too many
years. The first tender moments leading to when Rodolfo and Mimì’s hands
touch for the first time and she exclaims a briefly shocked ‘Aah!’, are
brilliant. When Mimì lies dying in bed, Rodolfo tenderly cradles her, and –
because the interactions have been so sensitive to the emotions in Puccini’s
music – it makes her death deeply affecting. Nobody – and I mean nobody – in
this splendid cast just stands still, faces forward, and delivers! Even if –
like me – you think you have seen the opera enough times then do watch this
one because all the singing and acting is so dramatically credible that it
will make you relive Puccini’s familiar plot with fresh eyes and ears. (The
only suggestion of limited rehearsal time was the botched business with the
fake candles in Act I and the rather underwhelming bohemians’ shenanigans at
the start of the final act.)
Obviously, coronavirus pandemic
restrictions blight this performance which was filmed without an audience:
instead of a packed stage for Act II there are only the principal singers,
the toy seller Parpignol (Andres Agudelo), a young boy soprano and the
maître d’ of Café Momus who wears a face mask! The chorus must have made
their contribution from somewhere else; though with less numbers required
for Act III it is played out as normal with the men and women of the chorus
involved as usual.
This La bohème was extraordinarily well-cast with
all the singers perfect for their roles with a number whom I was seeing for
the first time. Rachel Willis-Sørensen was making her Munich debut as Mimì
and she was mightily impressive from her tender response to burgeoning
passion in the opening acts to Mimì’s death scene that was alarmingly
realistic – particularly for our current covid days – by operatic standards.
Andrey Zhilikhovsky’s rich baritone portrayed the entire gamut of the
emotions Marcello goes through, especially when he is put through the
wringer by his off-on-off-again lover Musetta. Sean Michael Plumb was a
youthful, exuberant Schaunard, and a real bass, Tareq Nazmi, was imposing
both physically and vocally as Colline, bringing considerable depth of
feeling to his Coat aria (‘Vecchia zimmara, senti’). Singing with
considerable musical insight, Mirjam Mesak’s glamorous Musetta was something
more than just ‘a tart with a heart’. Whilst retaining her materialism, this
Musetta seemed truly capable of genuine affection and selflessness. There
was no weak link in the cast with excellent vignettes from those with even
the smallest of roles.
However, the revelation of this La bohème was
Jonas Kaufmann’s Rodolfo and the mystery is why we have not heard him
onstage in this role since Zurich in 2011? Kaufmann has occasionally sounded
severely taxed vocally during recent years and in roles that perhaps do not
genuinely suit him, but here the years seemed to have fallen away and he was
outstanding. Most importantly, his totally natural Rodolfo was just ‘one of
the lads’ and part of an accomplished ensemble. Kaufmann’s ‘Che gelida
manina’ was lyrical, ardent, with expressive freedom, beautiful tone, and a
radiant high C. However, Kaufmann reminded us that the real tragedy in the
opera is not what happens to Mimì, but it is Rodolfo’s loss, and – because
of Kaufmann – his grief at the end must have moved even the hardest of
hearts.
In all this it could be easy to overlook Asher Fisch and his
splendid Bayerisches Staatsorchester. Fisch conducted persuasively, with
balance, focus, considerable detail, and great intensity where appropriate.
Undoubtedly, a La bohème for our time and all time!
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