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Les Troyens at the SF Opera - or why do directors try to ruin great works of art?
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Posted on June 22, 2015 at 09:09:46 | ||
Posts: 3002
Location: No. California Joined: March 22, 2004 |
Saturday evening my wife and I attended the San Francisco's production of Berlioz' epic Les Troyens, which was co-produced with just about every major European house -Covent Garden, La Scala and the Vienna State Opera. I am a huge fan of Berlioz - one music critic (B.H. Haggin, if you must know) called Berlioz and Mussorgsky the two great originals of the 19th century, an opinion which is hard to dispute. I had never seen Les Troyens performed so for me this was an event not to be missed. A complete (and this was apparently virtually uncut) performance of Les Troyens is a substantial undertaking -it really is two operas (the Fall of Troy, and the Trojans at Carthage) in one. Wagner probably would have made a cycle of it - which actually wouldn't have been a bad idea - 4 operas based on Homer and Virgil. Too bad Berlioz didn't have a King Ludwig to support him. I have to report that the singing and orchestral playing was magnificent, and the production itself, as we find too often these days, was a mess. For some reason the concept was to show costumes based in 1855, from the Crimean War - supposedly to drive home the universal nature of the message, that humans keep making the same mistakes. I find this baffling - the Trojan War is epic…..iconic….and Jungian. Why the Crimean War? The costuming was quite distracting….the Greeks show up in Act II looking like British soldiers. The two griping soldiers in Act V have rifles and smoke on stage….again, why? Modern dress would make more sense to me than 1855- you know, Dido is a real woman, just like us. In Part II, the front of the stage was dominated by a model of Carthage set on a movable disc on the floor - cute but was in the way of the action, and key scenes in Act V (where Dido decides to kill herself) were done in front of the black curtain - I thought at first perhaps there was a problem with the curtain raising mechanism. It all reminded me of the Lohengrin production a few years ago where the director decided to move the action to the time of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution "because it would be interesting and different"…Criminy, why not write a new opera instead of disfiguring an existing one with half-wit ideas? Runnicles, of whom I have been critical in the past (overrated Wagner, for example), was magnificent in the pit, and drew wonderful execution from the orchestra, and the singing was good, and superb in the case of Susan Graham's Dido. Our Aeneas that evening was a replacement as Bryan Hymel was indisposed (don't have his name handy) - he was OK but it turns out that Aeneas really isn't that broad of a part, not the way Dido is. I can accept an "updating" of an opera if there is a thesis supported by the music and libretto that shines a new light on a work…..but this wasn't it. Still, it was a great experience for a chance to hear Berlioz' great music live. |
Oh, that gosh durn artistic freedom! ;-) nt, posted on June 22, 2015 at 12:24:41 | |
I've often wondered..., posted on June 22, 2015 at 16:47:35 | |
In the EU, do they call American productions "Ameritrash"? |
The Trojan Horse IS impressive - I'll give you that [nt] ;-), posted on June 23, 2015 at 00:15:56 | |
Posts: 26351
Location: SF Bay Area Joined: February 17, 2004 Contributor Since: February 6, 2012 |
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RE: The Trojan, posted on June 23, 2015 at 04:32:24 | |
Europe, birthplace of Lego? |
LOL! [nt], posted on June 23, 2015 at 09:40:57 | |
Posts: 26351
Location: SF Bay Area Joined: February 17, 2004 Contributor Since: February 6, 2012 |
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