For several years now, we have visited Santa Fe to attend its opera festival, usually attending three operas, and in one case, four. In some of those years, I have discovered operas or performances that profoundly affected me, such as my first Wozzeck with Hakan Hagegard in the title role, Rossini’s Maometto II, a revelation of what Rossini could accomplish as a serious composer, Symanowski’s King Roger-even La Traviata, which began with Violetta’s funeral cortege crossing the stage in front of the setting sun.
This year we took in three of the five available operas-The Golden Cockerel, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and Lucia di Lammermoor. Although I am glad I attended this year, none of the three performances made a profound impression on me. Here are my comments:
The Golden Cockerel. This operatic swan song from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, completed in 1907, but, because of the censors’ objections, not staged until after his death, is both a fantasy and a dark political satire. The libretto is derived from an 1835 Pushkin poem, which itself is from taken from a story contained in Tales from the Alhambra by America’s own Washington Irving. (Irving traveled through Spain with a Russian prince pal of Pushkin’s.)
Our pre-opera lecturer caused titters in the audience by describing The Golden Cockerel as a “tale of a vain and foolish ruler [Tsar Dodon, sung by Tim Mix] with two incompetent sons.” That, of course, was an oversimplification, because it left out the wise general Polkan, sung by Kevin Burdette, who loses his head for trying to talk sense to the Tsar, and the Queen of Shemakha, who successfully seduces him. Frankly, I was not that impressed with the music until the second act, dominated by the Queen, portrayed by Russian soprano Vera Gimadieva, whose elaborately ornate and seductive music accompanied her quasi-striptease. (She looked good.) Additionally, the choruses achieved power in that act, something I would expect from a Russian opera. Emmanuel Villaume conducted Rimsky-Korsakov’s colorful score with aplomb.
The opera’s title derives from a giant rooster, projected on a metal screen, sung by Kasia Borowiec, and summoned by the Astrologer, sung by very high tenor Barry Banks. The cockerel warns of an enemy attack on Tsar Dodon’s kingdom and finishes the opera by pecking the Tsar to death. One could say that everything ends happily, however, because the Astrologer, who has supposedly been executed, appears with the Queen in the epilogue, and explains that he and the Queen are the only two real people in the story, and the rest a dream.
The costumes were quite traditionally Russian and the set, with its multiple projections, was very effective. All of the singing was excellent. There is something unsatisfying about this opera, however, at least to me, and it is easy to understand why it is not presented often. I do recall, as a young man, reading rave reviews of Beverly Sill’s performance in this work, I assume of the Queen of Shemakha, with the New York City Opera. It is worth staging now and then when there is someone of that caliber or even of Gimadieva’s caliber in the role of the Queen, but otherwise it tends to be a bit too silly and not quite there musically.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. There was and still is a lot of excitement surrounding this opera on the life of Apple’s Steve Jobs, and Santa Fe Opera has even added an additional performance. I, of course, read some of the reviews prior to attending, which ranged from totally dismissive to declaring it a masterpiece, with a few in between. I would say I am in the middle category, finding this ninety-minute opera not bad, but not a deathless masterpiece either. I am, however, looking forward to more operas from composer Mason Bates since I believe he may have the talent to achieve something more enduring.
The libretto, by Mark Campbell, presents Jobs’ life not in chronological order but in eighteen scenes, going backward and forward in time. Its purpose is to show how Jobs (Edward Parks) evolved from a young revolutionary figure in the personal computer world, to a driven, not-very-nice guy, who almost drove Apple into the grave, to achieving great success with the I-Phone. His unpleasant personal relations with his girlfriend, Chrisann Brennan, (Jessica E. Jones) whose child he denies fathering, are examined, as well as his initial rapport and then breakup with the real computer guy, Steve Wozniak (Garrett Sorenson). At the end, he meets and marries Laurene Powell, (Sasha Cooke) who according to this libretto humanizes him. A key role in the opera, is the Buddhist teacher Kobun Chino Otogawa, (Wei Wu) who advises Jobs throughout his life and tries to get him to restrain his ego and volatile temperament. Unlike some of the critics, I had no problem with the libretto even though it left out important parts of Jobs’ career (Pixar anyone?) and even though it ended sentimentally with “his being saved by a good woman.” (Redemption by love is a great, if unoriginal, idea.)
On the other hand, Mason Bates’ music was hit-or-miss. Some resembled John Adams’ style minimalism, and I loved the Jobs-Wozniak duet about Ma Bell when Woz invents a machine to make free long distance calls, but Jobs’ biggest aria and Wozniak’s denunciation aria of Jobs fell flat to my ears. The composer himself participated in the performance producing electronic noises in the orchestra pit. Mark Christie conducted the complex score.
The sets were fine, using projections, as is common these days, and the singing was excellent. I especially liked Sasha Cooke’s Laurene Powell Jobs and Wei-Wu’s Kobun Chino Otogawa. I note, however, that everyone was miked, so I cannot comment on vocal size. Because this opera is a co-commission with both Seattle and San Francisco Operas, this opera will be appearing there as well and the librettist and composer may make beneficial changes.
Lucia di Lammermoor. This was the one traditional opera that we attended and the only one I had seen before. The singing, in general, was excellent, but the sets almost destroyed the evening for me.
Starting with the singing, Brenda Rae, who had been such a moving Violetta in the Traviata we attended several years ago, was a very good Lucia. (But she was a better Violetta.) She is a good actress and handled the elaborate coloratura well, although I must say, her high note at the end of the first aria of the Mad Scene (“Il dolce suono”) was a bit brief. The Edgardo, Guatemalan tenor Mario Chang, possesses a rich spinto tenor that projected well. There is something lacking in his stage presence, however, and a lack of subtlety in his singing that made him not quite unforgettable in the role. Zachary Nelson’s Enrico seemed impressive at first, but during the eminently cuttable Wolf Crag’s Scene, he seemed to tire and the dryness of his baritone voice compared the rich voice of Mario Chang was quite apparent. In his scene with Lucia, he pulled a “full barihunk” appearing shirtless in getting out of bed, showing off his muscular body. (The direction hinted of an incestuous desire for Lucia). A highlight of the evening was the Raimondo of bass Christian Van Horn who sang with a rich, full round sound and acted convincingly. With Van Horn singing, I was glad they left in Raimondo’s scene with Lucia, which is sometimes cut.
It is hard to separate the directing from the set design because apparently the set designs by Ricardo Hernandez were intended to emphasize director Ron Daniels’ concept of a staging focusing on the individuals involved and not the historical era. The sets largely consisted of what looked to me like the ceilings of period buildings that were lowered to show society closing in on the participants. Unfortunately, they were minimalistic to fault and in some cases downright ludicrous. As an example, the supposedly haunted fountain was rightly described by one critic as looking like a giant Petrie dish, or as I would say, a child’s wading pool with clear plastic sides. No ghost worthy of the name would deign to haunt it. If you are looking for something gothic, this Lucia is not for you.
As for the music, Donizetti triumphed of course. Even a modern version of the glass harmonica was used to accompany Lucia’s Mad Scene instead of the more common flute. However, conductor Corrado Rovaris’ tempos were too fast for my taste and, at least where I sat, he drowned out the singers at times, bringing him a few boos from the audience during the final bows.
Next year, Santa Fe Opera will present Candide, Madama Butterfly, Doctor Atomic, The Italian Girl in Algiers, and Ariadne auf Naxos. I am definitely interested in attending the latter three operas.
The other joy of the NYC Golden Cockerel was Norman Triegel at the King. We saw it in Los Angeles. Sills was singing Queen Elizabeth in Devereau so we saw Carol Neblett in the Rimsky. I agree it is not a great opera, but it has grown on me over the years. We saw the Maometto and King Roger performances too and full agree with you.
Posted by: Konrad Kuchenbach | 08/13/2017 at 03:15 PM
I have read in a number of posts and reviews that the singers were miked in Jobs, however from my seat in the last row of the orchestra, they seemed no louder than any of the singers I encountered over the previous 4 evenings who had to sing over heavier orchestrations (if not electronic.). Since the performances are being recorded for a CD, is it possible that the mikes were present for this purpose and not amplification? I only noted floor mikes and not head or body pickups.
Posted by: Evan Gamsu | 08/12/2017 at 08:36 PM