mercoledì 1 gennaio 2014

A Better Fit in Music and Vision 13 ottobre



A Better Fit

Wagner and Britten in the Umbrian Hills,
reported by GIUSEPPE PENNISI


As indicated in previous reports, the Sagra Musicale Umbra has had a 'spiritual' emphasis since its very beginning nearly seventy years ago. As this year theme is 'The Transfiguration' (see Joy for the Soul, 29 September 2013), the Sagra gave special attention to Wagner and Britten. On the one hand, both composers dealt with religious subjects, and with various forms of 'transfigurations'. On the other, 2013 marks the bicentenary of Wagner's birth and the centenary of Britten's.
Perugia, the capital of the Umbria Region, does not have an Opera House. Also, the Sagra is a concert not an opera festival. However, the management and the artistic direction were able to use scarce resources most effectively: two concerts were dedicated to Wagner and a fully staged Britten 'parable' (written for church performance) was produced in a very old Templar Church.
For scheduling reasons, I missed the initial concert in the attractive Morlacchi Theatre where the festival was inaugurated on 15 September 2013 by the Prague Philharmonia conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek with a Wagnerian concert featuring excerpts from Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung (as well as Beethoven's Symphony No 7).
I attended the second Wagnerian concert on 21 September: a piano recital with transcriptions from Parsifal and Die Walküre, plus an encore devoted to the final scene of Tristan und Isolde. At the pianos (two are required for Die Walküre) were a young and successful Italian conservatory professor, Alessandra Gentile, and a well-experienced German pianist, Cord Garben (with a long Deutsche Grammophon discography).
Alessandra Gentile and Cord Garben playing Wagner at Sagra Musicale Umbra. Photo © 2013 Adriano Scognamillo
Alessandra Gentile and Cord Garben playing Wagner at Sagra Musicale Umbra. Photo © 2013 Adriano Scognamillo. Click on the image for higher resolution
There were two interesting features: firstly the place: a lovely modern theatre built by a textile entrepreneur (and philanthropist) in an old medieval village with a stunning view of the countryside.
Secondly, the Parsifal piano transcription was nothing less than a gift from Engelbert Humperdinck to the Wagner family after the composer's death. The transcription of Die Walküre is the work of Hermann Behn, a successful Hamburg lawyer and a good pianist. During the concert, projections cast paintings by Arthur Rackham and Willy Pogany. Thus visual art was married with music.
The Sagra's most awaited performance, however, was a new production of Britten's Curlew River in the Templar Church of San Bevignate, at the bottom of the hill where Perugia stands. Just a few months ago, the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma performed Curlew River in the Ara Coeli church near the Capitol; I suggest that readers refer to the review written at the time for general information on the opera (Deeply Moving, 1 July 2013). Here, I focus on differences between the productions.
Firstly, the atmosphere was quite different. Rome's Ara Coeli church had a highly decorated rich baroque interior. The Spartan San Bevignate church has only a few recovered pieces of frescos on millenarian stones. It seems a better fit for a story of poor pilgrims crossing a river in the Middle Ages.
A scene from Britten's 'Curlew River' at Sagra Musicale Umbra. Photo © 2013 Adriano Scognamillo
A scene from Britten's 'Curlew River' at Sagra Musicale Umbra. Photo © 2013 Adriano Scognamillo. Click on the image for higher resolution
Secondly, in Rome the audience was set in the traditional theatre manner and, as a result, after row five it was not easy to follow the action.
Thirdly, in Rome the conductor James Conlon placed the small ensemble (seven players) on the right side of the end of Ara Coeli nave, while in Perugia, Jonathan Webb had the percussion on the right side just under the apse and the other six on the left: due also to the smaller size of the church, this provided a stereophonic sound.
A scene from Britten's 'Curlew River' at Sagra Musicale Umbra. Photo © 2013 Adriano Scognamillo
A scene from Britten's 'Curlew River' at Sagra Musicale Umbra. Photo © 2013 Adriano Scognamillo. Click on the image for higher resolution
Fourthly, in Rome, the stage director (Mario Martone) opted for a highly stylized approach, whilst in Perugia Andrea De Rosa provided a very dramatic action: the audience could almost see the river (a sand platform), the ferry boat, the tempest (a sudden opening of the main door on a windy night). The main difference was the 'Madwoman' (the main protagonist of the drama); in Rome she was cast as a poor beggar, in Perugia as an aristocratic looking lady dressed in a flashy red kimono wearing white make-up and a band covering her eyes that made her completely blind -- a very dramatic effect.
Vocally, in Rome the four main characters were all native English speakers, in Perugia only Mark Milhofer was British but the others (Raffaele Del Savio, Mauro Borgioni, Roberto Abbondanza) also had good diction. It was a very moving performance. Britten's tonal music merges with Japanese themes, achieving many different musical tints -- from Gregorian chant in the initial chorus to the celestial peace of the final bars.
Copyright © 13 October 2013 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome,
Italy

Nessun commento: