Wagner : Der fliegende Holländer
Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Andris Nelsons
I think I have reached the stage where I'd give my eye-teeth to see a production of "Dutchman" done the old-fashioned way - period costume, something that looks like a harbour, and an actual acceptance that this is a ghost story of sorts. This re-staging of Tim Albery's 2009 production is another modern dress one, that answers absolutely no questions, and in particular suffers from a distinctly bathetic ending. It's not a Senta-hallucinating-the-whole-thing reading, but that just makes it worse.
The staging was very dark and very gloomy - which was not inappropriate, but I was glad to be in the cinema, where the camera helped the eye keep track of things, However, apart from one genuinely inspired piece of stagecraft in the arrival of the Dutchman's ship in the first act - a great, looming, black shadow almost devouring the stage as it crosses - there wasn't much to look at, and there was little sense of place, or of atmosphere.
Thank goodness for the music. First and foremost, Andris Nelsons drew superb playing from the Royal Opera orchestra from start to finish, rich with detail, lovingly shaped, evocative and inspiring. Time after time, he would bring out some little element to illuminate the moment, or the vocal line. The orchestral version of the hornpipe was masterly, while the evocation of the fair wind, coming as it does to shake up the apparently predictable conclusion of the Dutchman/Daland duet in Act 1, was an exquisite ripple of winds and strings.
I would probably have been happy just listening to the orchestra, but the singing was well up to par, from principals to the very substantial, and very good chorus. "Dutchman" is a chorus-opera, of course, without that half the effect is lost, and the ROH chorus was mostly on top form. One or two rough spots in the first act, but the women at their sewing sounded very fine, and the clash of the crews in the last act was quite effective.
Senta's hapless boyfriend, Erik, is a fairly ungrateful role for a tenor; he rarely comes across well, but Michael König did his best to make him sympathetic, with a sweet, sure tone. The other tenor in the opera, the Steersman, was in the capable hands of Ed Lyon, somewhat put-upon, both by his captain and his crew-mates, but even-tempered nonetheless. At the start of the evening, an announcement was made that Peter Rose was under the weather (if you'll pardon the expression) but would sing nonetheless, and he craved our indulgence. He didn't need it, he sounded fine to me, a forthright, slightly blustery Daland. Mind you, I'm not surprised he had the cold, nor Terfel before him in the run - there's a very shallow ditch of water stretching across the front of the stage in which most of the soloists have to paddle at some point or other, and I think I even saw it raining on stage at one point. Mr. Lyon, who gets thoroughly soaked towards the end, had better watch out for himself.
Bryn Terfel has been singing the Dutchman for a decade, maybe more, and he suits the part well, both vocally and dramatically. The character is introduced with a long monologue, a magnificent sing when properly delivered, but your perception of him is indelibly influenced by how well or how badly the performer has accomplished this task. Terfel's first words, "Die Frist ist um", sent a shiver down the spine, dark with resentment and despair, a despair of both salvation and damnation, an endless, repeating cycle from which he sees no escape, yet cannot help hoping for one. The meeting with Senta had a touching fragility to it, well-matched by Adrianne Pieczonka, and if Terfel did not completely dominate the proceedings, it was because of the Canadian soprano's contribution.
This has to have been the most beautifully sung Senta I have ever heard live. Pieczonka negotiated the role effortlessly, her timbre silken and luminous, with a warm, light vibrato that had an almost caressing quality to it. The production didn't, to my mind, really give her much indication as to what to do with the character, so she played it very simply and directly, in the absence of any other motivation, and as a result this was not quite the slightly deranged, obsessive-compulsive Senta that is pretty standard fare these days. It did, as already mentioned, leave us with a less than satisfactory conclusion, but that was hardly Pieczonka's fault; she did everything she could with what she had been given, and hearing singing of that calibre in this role was quite magical. Terfel was as good as expected, but Pieczonka was a revelation.
[Next : If I can find a cinema, 1st April. Otherwise, 11th April]
[ETA : I found a cinema. 1st April it is.]
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