John Adams : Nixon in China
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
John Adams
Maybe I'm stretching a point in covering the HD broadcasts of performances that are becoming a standard feature of the event year, but I think it's valid. It's live, I'm seeing it as it happens - my biggest grief is the sound quality, which is nothing like actually being in the house, and I'm not sure that's not at least half the cinema's fault. On the other hand, I'm grateful for the Met's HD broadcasts. With the Scottish Opera programme currently either unappealing, or inconveniently timed (I'm not going to be able to see "Intermezzo", which was the one opera this year that really interested me), this is the only live opera I'm getting to see this season, so I hope to enjoy what I can of it.
"Nixon in China" looks like it's here to stay. I'm not complaining; I've loved this piece from the start. Back in 1987, when it was created, I'd only discovered Adams' music a couple of years earlier. I never got the chance to see it live back then, or when ENO re-staged it this last decade (bad timing again), but I did see the filmed Houston Grand Opera performance, which was basically the same production. I was, however, a little surprised to see, 23 years on, that same production (more or less) re-surfacing for the Met's first staging of this opera. With the piece entering the repertory, and in such a prestigious house, I'd have thought there were grounds for a new production. Perhaps, with all the original creators still very much alive, there were too many proprietory interests for the Met to do anything other than treat it as a true premiere, rather than just a house first, or perhaps this is what happens to all new operas that actually get more than one or two outings in their first couple of years, that the first production remains the only production for some considerable time. Which is a bit of a pity, really, even though this is, fundamentally, a good production. Opera is performance art , and it thrives on the constant renewal of vision that different directors bring to any piece. You may not always like the results (and I've seen some doozies!), but the fresh blood is still necessary.
Fresh blood was also certainly necessary in the title role. The Met had summoned James Maddalena to resume the part he created, but the intervening years have not been kind to his voice, and I think he must also have been ill yesterday. To say his voice was in parlous state is putting it kindly, the top was cracking constantly, the timbre was thin and worn. He barely finished the first act, and clearly needed the respite that the second act provides. It was a great pity; his Nixon otherwise was compelling - he has, of course, very considerable experience of the role, and it shows - but the poor quality of his singing cast a heavy pall over an otherwise good, even very good performance.
If Robert Brubaker lacked a certain sense of authority as Chairman Mao, it was more than made up for by Russell Braun's singularly noble, and very finely sung Chou En-lai. Janis Kelly overdid the soubrette side to her Pat Nixon in the first act, a little too bright and bubbly, her soprano a little shrill, but then put things right in the second with warmth and a gently melancholy humour. Kathleen Kim flung her glittering coloratura into, and at, the fearsome part of Chiang Ch'ing with gusto. Adams conducted his own score to fine effect, maybe a little laid-back in some places where I would have liked a bit more energy, but at other times very concentrated and beautiful, particularly the start of Act 3.
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