Bizet : Les pêcheurs de perles
Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York
Gianandrea Noseda
It may be a century since the Met last staged The Pearl Fishers, but I seriously doubt that's any excuse for the miserable standard of French pronunciation throughout tonight's show. Apart from the Nourabad of Nicolas Testé, who was impeccable (and so he ought, being French), the French ranged from mediocre to execrable, including the normally excellent Met Chorus. The actual singing was satisfactory, but the text was incomprehensible, and the turgid French weighed the score down, rendering it a little lumbering, and undermining the naive charm of this music. The same was true of the central trio, particularly Mariusz Kwiecien, who was also a little dark-voiced for the role of Zurga, which was giving him occasional intonation problems. He's a fine singer, a decent actor, and admirable eye-candy, but a bit miscast here.
The other two fitted the bill, vocally at least, very well. Diana Damrau's lovely, silvery voice was ideal for Leïla. She was rather skittish, physically, in the role, which got slightly irritating, and I don't know whether that was her idea, or director Penny Woolcock's, but she was still a pleasure to hear, and the Act 3 duet with Zurga was full of fire. Matthew Polenzani was also on excellent form, his bright, sweet timbre perfectly suited to Nadir, and the aria "Je crois entendre encore" was sung with great control and intimacy, the top notes quietly floated out, without any grand-standing. All of the singing was finely supported by the orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda.
Penny Woolcock's production began with a very striking effect of the depths of the ocean, and three pearl fishers diving for pearls. I thought it was a video projection at first, until the interval where the effect was explained - actually, they should consider recycling it for the next production of Rheingold, it would work a treat for the Rhinemaidens! She has updated the setting, so the curtain rose on a modern shanty-town, but there was a timeless quality to it, the sensation of a society that has not really evolved all that far, with a population still steeped in their forebears' superstitions and beliefs, so there was nothing really jarring about the staging. It's a production I wouldn't object to seeing again - but only if the vocal plateau gets a grip on the French. That was an unpleasant surprise; I'm used to hearing the Americans do much better with their foreign languages. I've certainly heard the Met Chorus sing much more clearly in French (recent performances of Hoffmann or Carmen come to mind). Admittedly, Bizet's libretto is not an especially good one, but there's a delicacy about this music that demands clarity of diction; anything less, and the freshness and sparkle of the score is dimmed, and it's a pity to have so many good elements undermined by something so basic.
[Next : 24th January]
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