Premiere Opera
At the historic Bolshoi Theatre came last opera premiere season. “Carmen” by Bizet directed by Alexei Borodin and conductor Tugan Sokhiev was the most conservative performance in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Theater. It sounds quiet and pale colors listening and look JULIA BEDEROVA.
It’s hard to believe, but the music director of the Bolshoi Theatre Tugan Sokhiev presented his first job as a full-length Conductor the performance year and a half after his appointment. All this time the remote control for the orchestra of the Bolshoi it can be seen only rarely – in the concert version of “Maid of Orleans” by Tchaikovsky at the beginning of the season and a little repertory performances. And then, finally, stage premiere textbook opera scores. “Carmen” at the Bolshoi staged in the edition with recitatives, are four acts with one intermission, all built to give a huge spectacle compactness and agility, and pace seemed to intentionally meet this goal his impetuosity. Style orchestral sound familiar in the manner of the French Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, which employs Sohiev – disembodied, with good articulation and phrasing finely-drawn, with no fat and viscosity – as if imported into the pit of the Bolshoi. Overture sets the play transparent, light tone and rhythm of a lean, and we can say that with the amendments on the possibility of soloists and nuances of balance they maintained throughout the evening. Sohiev hears the music of Bizet almost always muted by the dynamics of how springy rhythmic structures, allowing zhantilnost sometimes, but right up to the final almost without letting appear sensual cantilena. The best pages of Bizet’s score this time are elastic, in Rossini ambulances and flexible ensembles orchestral episodes. The pace, if markedly sit down at the behest of the soloists, the gathering pace again as soon as the situation allows. Some fragments become so comical tones, for example, when the verses Escamillo solo part sounds at the same pace, and choral – quite different. Or when muted speaker meets ensemble choral mass – the culmination of many, and are welcome and suddenly the same time. In contrast to the Russian textbook meatiness is transparent sound called European, but not every Europeanism suggests dryness and lack of sensibility, obvious at the premiere.
Statement by Alexei Borodin, in general, too, perhaps, the most chaste show the feelings of all those ever seen. And by implication, accurate intonation and thoughtfulness he could look one of the best set in the Big drama theater directors. It is noteworthy that the new director Vladimir Urin spent his first season in the same spirit in which once started work Anatoly Iksanov, inviting the directors of the opera drama. Alexei Borodin, in turn, easily ignoring the smartly-exotic theme of “Carmen” and reduce the pathos of decoration, he focused on the intricacies of the drama of love and freedom. And in an attempt to avoid vulgarity not to remove all the talk about the feelings of the stage action, but offered to talk about it if you do not whisper it softly, gently, calm narrative language, leaving the opportunity to tell the most important music. And in this sense it is truly a traditionalist performance. And everything would be fine, if not a few “buts”.
The first thing that prevents chamber lyrical expressiveness of the performance fully manifested – is greed scenographic. Decorations Stanislaus Benediktova in its own interest, they seem to refer to Merimee, but dark brown scale, which are sustained and concise painting plywood construction, acquires depth only in the final, and until then does the action of a flat and seemed not quite cope with the volume the stage and the audience, turning the characters into dolls. The concept Borodina toy woven with theatrical verisimilitude, but the action is too close to the borders of puppet theater, which is most likely not anticipated. This costume characters (the artist – Valentine Komolova) like come here quite different from other performances of the theater. It is not “pink” Carmen in contrast to the “blue heroine” Michaela, but rather a total of cocktail costume traditionalism.
The second problem is easier. Stingy lyrical language direction, not without accuracy and symbolic expression (Borodin enjoys including cinematic lexicon, grabbing close-ups light or silent scenes), it would have sounded intelligibly by serious acting forces. But opera needs more vividly delineated roles. Therefore, where the figure coincides with the actor’s capabilities, everything goes (well, Michaela Anne Nechaeva, Borodin turned in a heroic Gerd, rivets attention vocally and scenically). And where the figure is stingy, and between him and the singer seemed invisible glass, where, for example, Jose (vocally uneven Murat Karahan) and then converted into an extra. A poster of an action insensitivity Escamillo (Elchin Azizov, winner impressively velvety baritone) prevents unintentional awkwardness. Carmen only a small degree becomes the center of the performance. In the middle register voice Agunda Kulaeva unstable high – it sounds nice, but the singer has to work much to enchant all. Perhaps, unlike Micaela it does not hurt a liking to become a director and function.
Probably, it would be difficult to wait for fine acting, rehearsing a play when three to five people at the party, and in the premiere compositions operate on two or three of the actor, unfamiliar with the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre to the same almost every night – in various combinations. In general, you can see how the tone and style of play contradict himself appointed to serve as the expressive, comfortable frame for good voice, where it is convenient to anyone. Chamber drama requires care and attention, while looking spectacular voice support. Without it, “Carmen” is becoming cautiously quiet narration itself, as if clinging action, lost in the dim decor, and the beauty of music by Bizet takes its not without effort, becoming more like your own portrait, executed in miniature technique.
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