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Sydney Arts Guide, 13 August 2023 |
Annabelle Drumm |
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Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Sydney, 9. und 12. August 2023
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JONAS KAUFMANN IN LA GIOCONDA @ SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE |
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Sydney Opera House is currently celebrating its 50th Anniversary and, to add
to the festivities, Opera Australia offered a concert version of La Gioconda
by Ponchielli last night (9 August 2023). It was a superb cast of mostly
international performers including world famous tenor, Jonas Kaufmann
accompanied by the Opera Australia chorus and orchestra.
All were
under the baton of Pinchas Steinberg, former Permanent Guest Conductor of
the Vienna State Opera and currently Chief conductor of the Budapest
Philharmonic. Performing in the Opera House Concert Hall meant they could
also make use of the organ with added a great boost to the audio.
La
Gioconda is an opera not often heard in Australia for several reasons. It
requires six extraordinarily powerful and versatile singers. Also, the
staging demands are super big budget so, you are more likely to find it
playing at La Scala and the Met. Composed by Amilcare Ponchielli, the
storyline is based around a play by Victor Hugo from 1835 “Angelo, Tyrant of
Padua”. Similar to the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the original story is based
around a male lead with the pretty girl and her mother as secondary
characters. The opera flips the focus of Hugo’s play and the story revolves
around the pretty girl, La Gioconda, instead. There are plenty of great
dramatic opportunities including one moment where La Gioconda is wielding a
dagger, swearing vengeance against her rival and in the next moment, on
seeing her mother’s rosary given as a gift to protect the rival, spins on a
dime and does all she can to save the rival’s life.
The music bounces
between glorious, lush, romantic orchestration and true Grand Opera moments
with the singers blasting the roof off the auditorium. It’s exhausting for
any performer and a relief they have several days off before the second
performance. Even without all the theatrical staging, this is one big opera
which will leave you musically satisfied.
It’s worth reading the
story before you go as all the visual clues you might normally find in an
opera with sets and costumes are missing from this concert styled version.
Set in Venice in the 1600s, the famous Carnevale di Venezia celebrations are
in full swing. The irony appears within the first scene where the chorus
sings “long live the Doge” yet, the Doge’s palace holds torture chambers and
“stifling prisons” behind the gold and marble facade. The Inquisition is
underway which means anyone can very easily be targeted and the suspicious
townspeople will call for their execution.
In the opening scenes the
story runs slowly and clearly, introducing each character and their relation
to the others. Conductor Steinburg’s interpretation of the music was very
pleasing though, at times, overpowered the soloists making them hard to
hear.
The Opera soloists With promotion of the performance centred
around Jonas Kaufmann, he must be mentioned first. The singer has been
suffering a mystery bacterial illness for several months which caused him to
cancel many performances around the world and the reviews for those where he
performed have offered sympathy. Compared to hearing him at his last
appearance here in Sydney, he was singing at about 2/3rds volume, sounding
cracked and blocked. When crescendos were required, Kaufmann threw
everything he could into his singing which left one wondering how much of
him would be left by morning. Even watching from a non-professional singer’s
point of view, it was uncomfortable seeing him put such a strain on his
body.
After interval, his vocals came a little clearer. The fine
quality is still there to be heard and appreciated albeit in a scaled down
version. His demeanour on stage was simply as one of the team and he stood
back to give his leading lady the larger cheer at the end of the night.
The title role was played by Spanish soprano Saioa Hernández, student of
Monserrat Caballé and Renata Scotto. Hernández regularly appears at La Scala
and the Royal Opera House and is a hard hitting, powerful performer. We
marvelled at her coping with the vast range required for the role, she was
easily heard over the orchestra and chorus. Her dramatic skills altered for
this “in concert” version of an opera which aided the story telling though,
more interconnection with the other singers, particularly with the character
of her mother, would have felt more compassionate. At times she felt
isolated from the rest of the cast.
The classic baddie of the story,
Barnaba the spy, was performed by French baritone Ludovic Tézier who has
worked extensively with Kaufmann and even released an album with him of
Opera duets. The audience loved this singer who was clear in his dramatic
choices and easily covered the vocals of such a challenging role. He begins
and ends the opera firstly setting the scene, then stepping into the drama.
Tézier, sensitive to the limits of each singer, would expand to fill the
stage with his presence when working solo, then bend his output to match
whomever he was singing opposite in each scene. He received tremendous
applause at the close of the opera which was well deserved. We look forward
to seeing him again some time.
The only Australian in a leading role
was mezzo-soprano Deborah Humble who has worked extensively in Europe.
Playing the role of La Cieca, mother of La Gioconda, she seemed to be the
only one given lyrical, gentle arias out of all the cast. Humble’s dramatic
choices made her character very relatable with a rich, clear voice whilst
remaining vulnerable. Her artistry was excellent. This is an artist we’d
love to see in more Opera Australia productions representing the country
that the company holds within its name.
Playing the role of Laura,
the rival of La Gioconda, was Polish mezzo-soprano Agnieszka Rehlis. Known
for her Verdi roles made her an ideal choice for Ponchielli’s work. Her
introduction to the audience was subtle and easily forgotten but her more
memorable work grew and expanded as the opera progressed showing her to be
completely capable and a great asset to the cast.
Laura’s husband
Alvise (Angelo in Victor Hugo’s play) was played by Ukraine raised bass
Vitalij Kowaljow. If you have the Netrebko/Villazón DVD of La Bohčme at
home, Kowaljow played the role of Colline in that production. 15 years on
from that filming, he is in fine form and played his sinister role
beautifully. The music in his aria “Si morir ella de” has a rambunctious
lilt which reminds one of the Golden Calf song of Don Giovanni. You can feel
the galloping demons presiding over Venice and their elite families causing
havoc for anyone who gets in the way.
The Music Although La
Gioconda isn’t often heard complete in Australia, there will be tunes you
recognise which are often presented in concert form and on solo albums. The
tenor’s “Cielo e mar” and the soprano’s terrifying “Suicidio in quest fieri
momenti” are a couple of examples. Best known music from the entire opera is
the ballet from Act III “Dance of the Hours”, an instrumental work that is
used frequently by ballet schools around the world and featured in the
original Disney film “Fantasia” complete with dancing hippopotami,
ostriches, elephants and alligators.
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