Thursday, July 17, 2014

Moving (if somewhat manipulative) Orphée from La Monnaie

I really want to write a full-on review of this performance. But, as so often is the case, I am not 100% sure how I feel about it. I feel manipulated; but I'm not sure I mind. 

Overlaying a new story over an established plot is not a new idea. That's what great directors (sometimes) do. While Romeo Castellucci is no Stefan Herheim, I believe he has an interesting and effective new way to approach Orphée et Eurydice. Castellucci equates Eurydice's plight to the story of Els, a young Belgian woman suffering from Locked-in Syndrome, or a pseudocoma. She is completely paralyzed, and seems comatose, but is fully aware of here surroundings; and with accommodation, she can communicate. The story of her condition and how her family has responded is quite moving; so moving that it actually threatens to overtake the opera completely at some points. 

While I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this production, I am 100% sure that I need to see and hear more from mezzo-soprano Stéphanie d'Oustrac! She is an amazing singer/actor. In what, for the singer, is essentially a concert performance, she evokes Orphée 's full range of emotions. The other thing I am 100% sure about is that her performance of Che faro senza Eurydice is the most startling and moving performance of the aria I've ever heard. 

I am of two minds about providing a spoiler here, but I think the moment will be as effective if you are forewarned, so here we go. Throughout their dialog, Eurydice is behind the screen (on which the overlaid story of Els is projected); and Orphée, as he has been cautioned against, never looks back at her. When finally, he does look back, she dies (of course); and the huge screen behind him goes completely white. 

At the end of his recitative there's a total blackout. And then, a solo string quintet introduces the big aria. There is just enough light for the instrumentalists to see their music. Orphée is in total darkness until the final return of the main melody. Most singers take this opportunity to weep and wail; Stéphanie d'Oustrac gives us  a whimper of total despair and resignation; and it's magnificent. (And she adds no ornaments!)


Director Romeo Castellucci doesn't mess with the ending the way Wieland Wagner and, years later, the Brothers Alagna did. Eurydice lives in this production; but the implication is that she lives on in a pseudocoma, just as Els does. So Eurydice is back; but for Orphée, life with his wife will never be the same.  

I have quibbles with some musical choices here. Conductor Hervé Niquet races through some of the choruses and orchestral interludes (perhaps due to timing with the video projections?); the chorus and orchestra sound pretty scrappy; and I'd stick with a grown-up soprano as L'Amour. However, Sabine Devieilhe and Stéphanie d'Oustrac are outstanding in the title roles.

This video will be streaming at the La Monnaie website only until July 29, so go watch and listen.  (I guess this ended up being kind of a review after all, didn't it?)

6 comments:

  1. I will have to make it to the end of this production one of these days and hear that great Che faro. I agree with you about the conducting. It was way too fast right from the get-go. I'm sure they could've worked the visuals around a more listenable tempo. Also Amour annoyed the hell out of me (but he usually does; you can tell the opera is a hybrid, chap wants to be serious and restrained and has Amour in a pivotal role...). SdO is totally committed but not a favourite voice. I still think it was a great idea but the whole thing is a mixed bag. An outstanding one.

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    1. To skip to the "highlights", Eurydice appears at 55 minutes in. The duet is very lovely. She dies around 1:10, and Che faro (actually I should be calling it, "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice") starts at 1:11.

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  2. I really like d'Oustrac too - she was in a production of Berlioz's Les Troyens (as Aeneas's son) and a few other French things that I have seen here and there.

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    1. She's not got the most gorgeous voice (although it's not ugly) but she is totally committed!

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  3. I finished watching it. Whew, still emotional but less so now that I had a few weeks to get used to the concept. Indeed Orphee and Eurydice's duet was very lovely and the highlight of the show for me. The final chorus was also very poignant, in a sense it made more sense than usual (I always like it but knowing that operas normally end with a final chorus the impact tends to lessen). In the context of that Met overspending discussion over at operaramblings it made me think about how a production can have a very strong impact without being fussy (Gluck would approve).

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    1. It really got to me that O and E are not ever physically reunited on stage. (Does she reappear at all? I missed my last chance to re-watch the opera and it's gone from the webz -- for now)

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