Franco-Russo-Sino-Roman
The recording of this broadcast will be included in the James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met – CD Box Set
The evening begins with Stravinsky’s most famous work, Le Sacre du Printemps. This brutal reading, highlighted by intense rhythmic accents and beautifully phrased melodies. The depth of sound that Levine coaxes out of his orchestra is a wonder, aggressively regal at times, highlighting the native nobility of The Chosen One. The orchestra is almost mechanically precise, but also vibrantly emotive throughout the course of this wonderful performance.
Next on the docket that evening, and on the CD, is the rarely heard first opera by Stravinsky, Le Rossignol. Based on the children’s story by Hans Christian Andersen, this tale of a magical Nightingale that heals the Emperor of China is deceptively emotionally complex. Indeed, Puccini wasn’t the only major opera composer in the first decade of the 20th century fascinated with the Far East, as Le Rossignol is full of those sounds which we associate with the Orient.
It is striking in another way as well, though. Begun in 1908 and put aside until after the completion of his commissions from Diaghilev, which included Firebird and Le Sacre du Printemps, the score bears the marks of Stravinsky’s more romantic and folksy early compositional style, as well as some brutal and dissonant marks of his Primalistic phase which so famously peaked in 1913, especially noticed in the difference between Act I and Act II.
As the magical nocturnal fowl, Gianna Rolandi easily tosses of the long stretches of coloratura with a graceful agility and a beautiful, even timbre. Tenor Philip Creech doesn’t have the easiest or most aurally pleasing top register, but the sound is one fitting a weathered fisherman, who narrates the story throughout. Morley Meredith‘s blustery Emperor is best towards the end when he welcomes the Nightingale back to his kingdom with a sombre appreciation that is truly touching.
Last on the program is Stravinsky’s Opera-Oratorio Oedipus Rex. This very concise telling of the middle part of Sophocles’ Oedipus Trilogy is a noble piece of musical theater, with moments of regal grandeur that would make kings blush juxtaposed with the intimate psychological intensity of one of the world’s great pieces of drama. Not yet settled in his Neo-Classical style, the beginnings of Stravinsky’s evolution are very evident but not without direct application to the drama. Especially under the commanding baton of Levine, the score rings with beauty and power that reminds you of composers past, while still belonging entirely to Stravinsky’s own unique voice.
Anthony Dowell is the Speaker for the performance, and his finely articulate British accent lends an austere but somehow cold feeling to his summations of the action on stage; almost as if a Shakespearean actor were reading the nightly news. William Lewis‘ Oedipus has the bite and command that one would expect out of an Oedipus, although he has a slightly older sounding voice than I would expect from a young king. He still forcefully projects his full lyric tenor, and I don’t mean that as a slander.
Florence Quivar‘s Jocasta wonderfully illustrates the horrible turn of events that befall her in almost an instant with heartbreaking legato and a tone that ebbs from warm and sensual to saddened and defeated by the end of the opera. Special note should also be given to a wonderful turn by the Met Chorus in this piece.
I wish this would come out on DVD – from what I heard visually it was quite something to look at.
Just one small quibble; surely the title should be:
franco-russo-sino-greco?????
“Greco” would be a good addition, but “Roman” is appropriate since, weirdly, the libretto is in Latin.
The “Oedipus” libretto, I mean, of course.
I saw the revival in 2003, and I don’t remember it being especially thrilling visually. Bonnefoux’s choreography, in particular, was a bit of a letdown—he seemed to be trying to create a plausible re-invention of the Nijinsky/Diaghilev/Roerich original, but without actually restoring it. That approach was rendered somewhat moot in 1987 when Millicent Hodson completed her authoritative reconstruction for the Joffrey Ballet. That production has finally been released on DVD in a performance by the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra conducted by Gergiev with wonderful music and somewhat under-energized dancing. One hopes the Joffrey will release a DVD of their production, perhaps to commemorate the work’s centenary in 2013?
A quibble, but that’s not going to stop me! Of the extant three Sophocles Oedipus plays (I believe that scholars posit three three-play cycles, meaning we’ve lost six of them), Oedipus Rex is the first, not the middle, followed by Oedipus at Colonus, and finally Antigone.
And not to be tacky.. I haven’t seen whatever the film is called : Igor/Coco or Stravinsky/Chanel.Due on DVD Sept 28th, the opening is Le Sacre… and from the reviews the opening with Chanel in the audience really does capture the opening night that so scandalized everyone..and drew Chanel to Stravinsky. I thought the Joffrey Ballet did the same..so i’m with LittleMasterMiles on that one..why can’t everything be on DVD ???? We are spoiled with all that is coming to us, (the whole Levine thing, fantastic) and yet..give me more. I blubbered the other night all the way through South Pacific (!) something so familiar and now, so new. Put it on DVD !!!! Sorry. From BigBob to BabblingBob .
As a matter of fact, I saw Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky last weekend, and yes, the opening sequence with the 1913 premiere was the highlight of an otherwise fairly dull exercise in arty eurotrash. The costumes and backdrop were close to Roerich’s designs, but the choreography was far more classically inflected than Hodson’s reconstruction, which I can’t help thinking of as the “authentic” version. Even more bizarrely, the last reel of the film centers partly on Igor’s attempt to finish a new ballet score in 1920, but the music he is writing, both in the bits of the score we can see and the music played as he works, is clearly none other than Sacred du printemps all over again! It’s just plausible that he was simply recopying the score, but that would hardly carry the dramatic charge assigned to it. It’s really too bad, because they could have depicted him finishing up Les Noces, which would have made for a genuinely jarring experience for many filmgoers to whom Sacre is at least passingly familiar.
Well acc. to Robert Kraft, Stravinsky was continually revising Le sacre until the first publication in 1921, so it was plausible he was still refining it by the end of “Coco/Igor.” Agreed, Les noces or even the neoclassic Pulcinella would have been a refreshing change, since the sacre themes get beaten to death in the film, but since the filmmakers seemed fixated on the raw sexual energy between Coco and Igor, I guess its no surprise they didn’t look past sacre.
I have to say though, that opening sequence of the premiere is a lot better than that dull BBC “Riot at the Rite” recreation from 2005.