Photo via
http://www.musicweb-international.com/ Liceu, Antoni Bofill
Most importantly and before i say anything else :
Muchisisismas gracias a todos los amigos de Barcelona! Por la cálida acogida, por la ayuda con las entradas, por los cafés y las charlas, por la riquísima comida, por la agradable compañía. Por hacerme sentir como en casa, solo que a temperaturas más agradables ;-) Por hacer que la visita a Barcelona me sepa a demasiado corto, por dejarme con tantas ganas de volver lo más pronto posible.
Cruzo dedos y espero de todo corazón que la ocasión que todos deseamos venga rapidoooooo para poder compartirla con vosotros en el Liceu.
Molts petonets!!!!!! *
Y ahora con la Carmen….
I started this opera season a bit later and somewhere else tan expected. Turns out the first full opera production I got to see this season was the Carmen at the
Liceu in Barcelona. Terrific choice as it turned out! And definitely more than just another Carmen.
It was an evening full of good surprises. Starting with the fact that the Liceu is likely to become one of my favourite venues. Based on recent experiences I didn’t expect a theatre that looked old to be so comfortable. Fact is of course the Liceu has been recently rebuilt from scratch after a fire destroyed the theatre. So it looks lush but is full of modern comfort and service. From the many elevators, the back-hugging seats, the pleasant temperature ( no boiling or freezing!!! Didn’t think that existed in an opera house…) , the modern café, the un-crowded and elegant toilets (yes, no mile-long cue at the ladies, fancy that! You actually have time for a chat in the interval!! ), the spacious shop (1+ on the ROH on that one) this place makes you feel welcome every step of the way. And so does the cheery and pleasant staff (equally as nice as the ROH one and it is the only place I have been able to say that so far) . And let me tell you about the acoustics!!!!!! Gorgeous!!!!!! No ceilings too low to cover the sound and in spite of being a 2300 seats house it is quite tightly packed around the stage so that the sound feels like almost coming from the centre of it.
Old world charm with today’s comfort, I felt spoiled!!! And I’ll look forward to treat myself again :-) By the way, the Liceu also sports a nice “choose your own place” internet selling system. Disadvantage is however that the whole season comes on sale at once; but it is one of those places where as a foreign traveller you have good access to, a sales system you can handle and where you can chose you rapport price-seat. Definitely a place to visit. Literally as well, apparently the tours are good and very interesting, it’s on my to-do list for next time. Among others I’d like to see if backstage or rather behind the curtain it is as well organised as in the hall :-)
This Carmen was different in more ways than one. For example, it is definitely something different to see a Carmen in Spain, directed by a Spanish director. So many Carmens dish up some kind of fake Spain that just feels kitschy. This wasn’t it, although it was as full of toreros and bulls as you could want it ;-) But not all bulls and toreros are the same. It’s an updated, profoundly authentic Spanish Carmen, just that it is sung in French :-) There are slight changes which might bother some, like for example they swiped almost all recitatives out and there is “a dos cuartos” in the chorus in the last act. But what it had lost in potentially badly spoken French dialogues it gained in fluency and tension. Don’t get me wrong, there are full extended versions I love, but in this case it worked better with the cuts.
There were cars on stage, big wooden bulls dominating dusty planes (loved the way light swathes of smoke blown on stage suggested the dust being kicked up by the singers’ steps ), chalk circles delimiting the arena , a flag pole, a telephone box and little else. Physically at least, but there was so much more added through lighting! It is one of the shows that I have seen where lighting stands out by a mile, effective, clear, highly natural and very creative. Shadows and light filled the space in amazing ways, reducing or expanding it according to the scene. It really can’t be described, it has to be seen (only one of the many reasons to buy a ticket for tomorrow’s cinema broadcast if you can go) .
It is also one of the few times I can remember sitting for 3 hours in an opera and feeling as if I am watching a movie. I keep coming back to the word natural, but that is how it was. No stop and go, seamless transition and most of all, development. Of course the director got lucky with this cast as well, as they are all willing and able to step into their characters. But there is great acting from the chorus as well! The fight of the cigarette factory workers was choreographed but real. There was enough violence to transmit the conflict and kudos for the chorus members carrying away their colleagues on their backs, in their arms, while being kicked and pulled at :-) I had to remember the similar scene in the Scala Carmen last December and the effect couldn’t be more different, one over-doing it and taking the scene practically out of the opera, the other adding the natural touch effectively.
I might not fully agree with all character portrayal choices, but some I thought were spot on. Most of all I liked Micaela! This one finally gets a personality, or is allowed to show one, from the fun-loving, camera carrying visitor to Jose’s regiment to the gutsy young women definitely pushing Jose out of the smuggler camp, rather than begging him to go. Just because Jose is not on love with her, doesn’t mean Micaela can’t be a women in her own right :-) And the youthful fun of her first encounter with Jose also worked well in the context and became an up to date, modern version of a relationship of childhood friends (she steals his cap and they take funny pictures of themselves:-)).
What I didn’t quite get was the second act where the tavern scene is replaced by a scene with just the 5 smugglers around a car at night in the fields. It works in context, but the absence mostly during the scene of larger groups of people made the intimacy of Carmen and Jose’s encounter a bit less poignant. You just don’t get that hard sudden shift from euphoria and loud noise to the heightened tension of the scene between just the two of them. Instead you get a kind of continuity of behaviour, with Jose and Carmen frolicking around just like the smuggler group right before. Which kind of makes their relationship less different from the others, as he already behaves just like them. Even when the smugglers come back to stop the fight with Zuniga, the girls calm Jose’s anger as if he were one of them. There is also much less hesitation in Jose’s action, he is neither as reluctant to fall in Carmen’s arms nor as reluctant to push her away twice. Generally it’s a case where the relationship with Carmen forms with more ease and less inner turmoil, as if they would belong together. This however makes the conclusion of the story more dangerous, violent, because as differences are not as obvious in the beginning you build a false sense of possible reconciliation and you never get a sense of real danger until it is too late. It’s made a slightly different take, but it works very well. You basically get lulled in watching the movie of the smuggler life unfold, almost like a documentary and then it literally accelerates into the precipice.
Other scenes were also altered from the usual context with striking impact. Escamillo and Carmen’s short last dialogue is not carried out amongst the masses but in a darkened arena, with a spot light on just the two of them, Escamillo down on one knee preparing for the fight. A moment taken from display to intimacy in a very simple way, but which conveys the intensity of the relationship perfectly.
Then there is the use of the cars! In getting rid of Zuniga (will not give details, don’t want to ruin the fun for people watching in the cinemas ;-)), in jumping up, down and around them during the fight between Jose and Escamillo ( Erwin and Roberto get definite brownie points for the enthusiastic workout!), in having Carmen slither along it to entertain Jose, etc :-)
There are the props that you don’t find in any libretto, like the phone booth or the flag pole, the wooden bull advert, etc. All not indispensable, but definitely entertaining and making the story more real visually. From the factory workers fighting over the first phone call to the soldier practicing to become a torero in the empty night field, they all add colour to the story.
Luckily, this was by far not all!!! With the story came the music and the singing!
What a great night for the chorus, including the girls chorus who represented the kids on stage. The slightly crescendo chorus before the exit of the factory workers into the square was one of the most beautiful I have heard in a while. The have good voices and were spot on and alive all throughout, at no point did they let the tension slip or slow and quite a pleasure to hear the chorus kick up some volume without sounding screechy at all, on the contrary, they sounded warm and full all the way, bravi!!! And bravi also for the committed acting from every single one of them.
Erwin Schrott was announced with laryngitis ( oh yes, we did have that “can we have your attention please – moment, where I couldn’t help but thinking, oh, no, what nooooooowww???!!!!”) but decided to soldier on. Hope he didn’t fall flat tired afterwards, he definitely threw himself into it. Good thing is after the aria, which comes first the rest is as much about acting as about singing. He sounded more comfortable with it than I heard him on TV from Scala, good for him! It’s not the same as the way he absolutely dominates his Mozart roles, but it works. And he is probably unbeatable at suggesting quite the right amount of assuredness, macho air, charm and irony to attract a Carmen and enrage Jose. With the dark suit and hat I couldn’t help but think of his upcoming tango CD. But then again, there is so much about torero movements that comes close to the elegance of tango dancing, so the comparison and similarity works when played out in Escamillo. The French probably needs some more work though :-)
Photo Liceu, Antoni Boffil
And finally in Marina Poplavskaya I found a Micaela to stand up for herself and from the crowd. Yes the character had personality, but so does she. Really refreshing, a Micaela who acted differently from what you expected and which drew your attention to her. And sung gorgeously! It just is the right package, the personality is reflected in the voice and vice versa. The duet with Alagna in the first act which I had been looking forward to proved to be all I expected and more. They both have very characteristic and individual colours of voice and her darker and his lighter version produced a really unique sounding duo, which they matched with perfectly intertwined piani. It definitely is one of the most interesting and beautiful versions of this duet I ever heard. And atypical in many ways, less remote and lost in thought, more emotional and engaged with each other, perfectly mirrored in their voices. Probably my favourite musical moment of the night.
Same kind of more urgent tone in their interaction and in her aria in the 3rd act. Fearless and decided (de armas tomar la Micaela esta ;-))). Well done Marina for giving power to Micaela. The public reaction also showed that she made her character much more likeable, including vocally.
I had heard quite a bit of quibbles about Uria Monzon’s Carmen, but I found she warmed up nicely after the Habanera. She is no longer as even and as in control of her instrument as she might have been maybe some year ago, but her Carmen is still a good option. She gives a convincing portrayal, although for some reason not really engaging enough for you to sympathise with her. She doesn’t quite build the necessary tension in her relationship with Alagna’s Jose and this unfortunately fails to make her his equal in this Carmen. It’s a pity because this is called Carmen after all and she should be more of a centre of attention. With everyone else around bringing an extra something to the role, musically and in character, her otherwise good Carmen doesn’t quite shine as bright, as much as I wish I could say otherwise.
And yet again I bumped into a Carmen where the Jose outshines his Carmen (ladies, you need to start standing up to these guys! ;-)) Whatever Roberto has been doing lately or not doing, he should keep at it :-) I’ve liked him for many years now, but I have to join the chorus and say: Roberto, you sound gorgeous! And I mean it in an absolutely positive way when I say like 10 years ago! In comparison to his ROH Jose this was from a different place. He was comfortable all the way and stayed away from the dramatic edge up until the end, where it came with force and energy, and for that all the more effective. And this way we got to enjoy that which Roberto does best, sing sing sing, which ease, warmth, lyricism and in those mezza voce tones which are his alone. And they are now as brilliant and as fresh as one can almost not hope to hear them again after quite a few number of years of career, but there they were. (Honestly, if I could have, I would have begged him to sing one more Romeo now, for all of us who would love to hear it again from him… ) In any case, considering that I have heard his Jose a number of times this year, this was by far, far the best of them and centred in that place where he is best and where we all love him to be. And he was jumping on cars, and fighting with Schrott and pulling Carmen around and slashing her throat… chilling. I though the idea of Jose slowly pulling Carmen’s inert body towards him in the centre of the area was the most beautiful picture for the ending.
There is no doubt about the fact that he was the star of the show, as we all in the public agreed and took pleasure in showing :-) I’ ve never seen him do anything else then give it his all on stage and when it works out this well, all the more reason to celebrate, as he is truly amazing.
All would have not been as well rounded without a great night from the orchestra and all other members of the cast. And a conductor that stayed away from kitsch in the pit as well and drove proceedings with conviction and energy. The cellist alone could have made my day with his solo! I know locals have complained about their orchestra sometimes, but they were in great form the other night!
And by the way, the undoubtedly talented and knowledgeable director is a guy who goes by the name of Calixto Bieito. Someone who as far as I was able to see, in spite of general opinion, is not at all out for gratuitous provocation, who I am sure doesn’t always produce things that one can relate to or agree with, but who obviously knows a lot about storytelling and also knows how to inspire others to become storytellers themselves. We shall see about other productions, but for this Carmen, very well done indeed! And special thanks to his team for creating costumes that fit the story and complimented the singers and for that impressive light work!
If you can, go to see this at the cinema on the 13th!
9 October 2010 - Carmen Liceu
Conductor Marc Piollet
Stage direction Calixto Bieito
Scenography Alfons Flores
Costumes Mercè Paloma
Lighting Xavier Clot
New co-productionGran Teatre del Liceu / Teatro Massimo (Palermo) / Teatro Reggio (Torí)
Cast
Carmen Béatrice Uria-Monzon
Don José Roberto Alagna
Micaela Marina Poplavskaya
Escamillo Erwin Schrott
Frasquita Eliana Bayón
Mercédès Itxaro Mentxaka
Le Dancaire Marc Canturri
Le Remendado Francisco Vas
Moralès Alex Sanmartí
Zuñiga Josep Ribot
Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu
Cor Vivaldi-Petits Cantors de Catalunya
You can listen to the gorgeous, wonderful, heart wrenching, romantic, etc , etc rendition of Schubert’s Mullerin Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch gave on the 31st of October at the Wigmore Hall tonight on Radio 3 – Performance on 3.
