23 May 2011

An interesting Verdi Requiem

We generally get to hear the Verdi Messa da Reqiem in Ottawa every three or four years, usually presented by the National Arts Centre Orchestra or the Ottawa Symphony in collaboration with the Ottawa Choral Society and perhaps one or two other local choruses. Onjce every three or four years is a minimum requirement for any city where great music is important.

This year, seemingly coming from out of the blue, we got another production, this one hosted by the Ottawa Classical Choir, a group previously unfamiliar to me. Under the artistic direction of soprano Maria Knapik, it is a small ensemble, probably too small to do the Requiem on its own. Also involved were the Choeur Tremblant, Montreal's Chanteurs de Ste-Thérèse and the New World Philhamonic Chorus and Orchestra, all under the direction of Michel Brousseau. All this took place in Southam Hall in which the audience included an impressive number of ambassadors and other diplomats, though the audience was otherwise not very large.

There were perhaps 170 singers on stage, including the four soloists the score requires. They produced an appropriate volume of sound and had a reasonable level of discipline. The orchestra was a little smaller than the National Arts Centre Orchestra, professional sounding, but not outstanding. I can't resist adding that, in the never-ending battle between the strings and the brass that every small orchestra experiences, Verdi's substantial complement of horns, trumpets, and so on, won victory upon victory.

The vocal soloists were competent but, with the glowing exception of soprano Knapik, they weren't especially impressive.

Two operas in four days!

Well big deal, right? If I lived in New York I could attend four or five operas every week. If I lived in Toronto I could see four back-to-back productions four times a year, not to mention the operatic presentations of outfits other than the Canadian Opera Company. I couild probably see more than a dozen, and that's without even going to nearby Hamilton.

But no, I live just outside of Ottawa, and I can't think of anywhere I'd rather live. (Of course, if someone were to put a gun to my head and a big wad in my pocket, I might agree to set myself up in Paris.) In Ottawa we get two fully-produced operas each year and one opera in concert. They're usually pretty good, and sometimes outstanding.

Salomé

Then there is the Opéra de Montréal. Driving from our area to the Place des Arts and back makes for quite a long evening, yet every now and then it's worth it. Late in March Alison and I hit the road to see the company's new production of Richard Strauss's Salomé. It's among my favourite operas, certainly in the top ten. A few years ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek article on it which you can read here if you are so inclined.

About ten years ago Karita Mattila sang Salomé in Montreal. It wasn't an outstanding performance, but it was remarkable for the no-holds-barred portrayal of the depraved princess. The Montreal crtics described it, accurately and approvingly, as "pornographic." A year or two later she sang the role in an Opera Lyra Ottawa production which, while fairly effective, didn't quite earn the porn label, rather to this critic's disappointment. This year, a new Salome, starring Nicola Beller Carbone, came to Montreal. She has sung it all over the place, including in Geneva, where the photograph below was taken.

Nicola Beller Carbone in a Swiss production of Salomé.

She says that it's her favourite role, and she seems to be the current top choice among people who can afford to go jetting from one Salomé to another. She has the voice for it, beautiful and powerful, combined with a body and sense of movement that make her plausible as tlhe object of someone's sexual obsession. The famous dance was elaborate, stylized and, until the last few seconds, curiously chaste. But then she burst out of her trappings totally nude and wagged her chest in Herod's face.

This isn't intended as a comprehensive review and I won't comment much about the excellent supporting characters or the unique and effective production design. But I do want to mention John MacMaster's portrayl of Herod. This is exactly his kind of role. When he sang Rhadames in an Ottawa production of Aida, I wrote that he sang well enough but was "a little chubbier than we normally imagine battle-hardened generals." Time has only added to his bulk, but would we want a svelte singer portraying the dissapated tetrarch?

Then there was the conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin with his Orchestre Métropolitain in the pit. Given all N-Z has accomplished in recent years, being named Music Director Designate of the Philadelphia Orchestra, his gig in Rotterdam, his work at the Metropolitan Opera and on and on, his heading Montreal's "other" orchestra might be considered one of his lesser glories, but it is a glory nonetheless. This was reportedly his first Salomé, but it was of the highest musical order.

Lucia di Lammermoor

You can have a number of things wrong in a production of Salomé, but if the lead soprano is good enough it may all work out in the end. You could probably say the same thing of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, an opera that is not among my top ten by a long shot.

Opera Lyra Ottawa's recent production was strong in almost every respect. The risible action of much of the opera was no worse than it needed be; the good things about the opera, Act I, scene ii and the Mad Scene in particular, were very good. Tyrone Paterson's conducting was pretty good too and I especially appreciated that he didn't allow time for applause after the cadenza in the Mad Scene, thus preserving the dramatic momentum.

Lyubov Petrova's execution of that scene was superb dramatically and musically. The flute obligato, presumably by Joanna G'froerer, was beautifully matched to the singing.

By the way, the flute is almost always used in productions of Lucia, but the composer's original choice was the glass harmonica, an instrument that must sound eerily effective in the scene.