By Rebecca Schmid
The story of Billy Budd, a Herman Melville story which became the basis for Britten’s now classic opera, revolves around a seaman whose allure is so strong that John Claggart, the Master-at-arms on an 18th century war ship, conspires to eradicate his presence. Fate takes a strange twist when Budd, reduced to a stammer at accusations of mutiny, accidentally kills Claggart and is sentenced to death.
The title character is so full of vitality and good will that the ship’s captain, Edward Fairfax Vere, knows he has sentenced an “angel of God” to hang. Amid the shadows of imminent death, the infinite seas where victory is nowhere in sight, the whipping of sea men conscripted again their will, Budd carries the potential to reverse the gears in a machine of war that has trumped the human ability to love.
The Deutsche Oper made a bold move by casting its young ensemble member, John Chest, as the title character in a David Alden staging which premiered in the German capital on May 22. The 28-year-old American baritone, in his role debut, does not have the vocal heft of more seasoned cast members (the menacing bass of Gidon Saks as Claggart, or the piercing, almost angelic tenor of Burkhard Ulrich as Vere).
But he projected the charisma and rugged innocence that convey how this character is able to throw an entire ship off course, now jockeying with the chorus of seamen in the first scene of Act Two, now singing a stoic farewell. The all-male cast held itself to high standards in matters of both sound quality and diction, with stand-outs including Tobias Kehrer as Lieutenant Radcliffe and Thomas Blondelle as the Novice, who tries to convince Budd to stage an uprising.
The chorus of the Deutsche Oper struck a powerful blend with the orchestra while executing Alden’s finely-tuned directions (and choreography by Maxine Braham) during numbers such as “O heave” and “Yes, lost forever on the endless sea,” as they tugged giant ropes across the stage. Sets by Paul Steinberg capture the doomed circumstances with towering wrought metal barracks, penetrated only by the all-white chamber of Vere which tunnels in seamlessly.
It is was a surprise that the wheels of a rusted, concave wall representing the ship’s cabin were so loud as to disturb the sea of brass during the interlude between the final two scenes. That being said, the brass struggled with clean articulation and synchrony in Britten’s percussive scoring. The orchestra’s dark-hued strings, under Music Director Donald Runnicles, compensated with a gripping atmosphere both in brooding undercurrents and eerie interlocking counterpoint.
At the Konzerthaus…
The Berlin Piano Festival, in its third annual iteration, offered a rare occasion to hear the up-and-coming pianist Francesco Piemontesi in his home city on May 19. He performed to a full chamber music hall of the Konzerthaus despite competition in the main hall, where Igor Levit performed a Beethoven Sonata as part of the series Zwei Mal hören (“Hear it Twice”).
To be sure, Piemontesi is also a young pianist with a lot to say. He combines meticulous technical assurance with a nearly philosophical introspection and attention to emotional nuance that is wonderfully suited to the so-called Wiener Klassik.
His interpretative skills were at their height in Schubert’s Sonata in C-minor, D.958 as he conveyed the mystery, joie de vivre, and eternal longing that smolder beneath the deceptively simple musical elements. He made the piece his own from the moment he tore into the chords of the opening Allegro, effortlessly moving into a world of dreamy reflection.
His use of rubato and pauses allowed the music to speak for itself without a hint of artifice—perhaps the greatest challenge for a performer. In the spritely but death-intoned Menuetto, he revealed a naïve joy and complete absorption in the music’s ambiguities.
In Mozart’s Sonata in F-Major, KV 533/494, Piemontesi created a nearly operatic drama, moving from exasperation to childlike delight in the minor mode reprise of the opening Allegro, then desperate beseeching to adamant supplication in the slow inner movement. Both the emotional depth and bold attacks revealed the influence of his mentor, Alfred Brendel.
While this listener prefers a rounder touch for forte passages, particularly in Mozart, Piemontesi captured the sense of desperation beneath the notes. His temperament was even better suited to Beethoven’s Sonata in E-major, Op.109, with its fiery outbursts and resigned calm expressing an infatuation with Maximiliane Brentano, the daughter of the composer’s friend Antonie Brentano.
Piemontesi rounded out the program with a selection of Débussy Préludes displaying his clean virtuosity and powers of imagination. He recreated the angry wind of “Ce qu’a vu le vent d`ouest” with vivid strokes while also bringing a gentle touch to the floating chords of “La cathédrale engloutie,” even if one might have wished for more impressionist pedalwork.
For more by Rebecca Schmid, visit rebeccaschmid.info.
Busy Week
Tuesday, April 1st, 2014By ANDREW POWELL
Published: April 1, 2014
MUNICH — In every book on time management, there is a chapter about giving your work to someone else. Delegation, they say, is a virtue: an assistant exercises new authority and the delegator accomplishes other tasks, perhaps in other places. Maybe in another country. Or two.
Take Valery Gergiev, incoming Chefdirigent of the Munich Philharmonic. He delegates like a pro, arming répétiteurs and conducting assistants — many of them from St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater — with preparatory guidelines to deliver “Gergiev” interpretations on a minimum of Gergiev time. This way, the Russian’s branded, in-person artistry reaches more audiences in more cities. Call it the productization of conducting.
Last December, leading up to and including an MPhil program here, Gergiev conducted a choral concert, three operas, and four Stravinsky works, with three different orchestras in three countries, all in one week.
It was quite a feat. It was also, inevitably, a week of headaches, as the controlling artist jumped between scores on a near-daily basis. Featured: a postponement, a cancellation, anxious last-minute rehearsing, an opera company’s embarrassment, and, in Munich at least, shallow musical results.
The conductor’s devotion to the weightiest project of the week, in Warsaw, offers a clue about how much of what audiences hear in a “Gergiev” performance reflects his work.
Teatr Wielki had hired the Moscow-born conductor for a new production of a Tchaikovsky-Bartók double bill premiering on Dec. 13. Directed by Mariusz Treliński, the film noir versions of Iolanta and A kékszakállú herceg vára were a joint venture with the Metropolitan Opera, where they arrive next January under Guess Who’s baton.
The assignment came with hurdles, given that the opera company’s orchestra was little accustomed to Gergiev’s ways, the principal singers were mostly new to their roles, the compositional styles of the two pieces were unrelated, and the bill involved the Russian and Hungarian languages in performance by mostly Polish musicians.
All this considered, not delegating might have seemed the better part of valor. Indeed, if hearsay is accurate, the week was originally planned at a slightly less frenetic level of activity: just the Warsaw double bill and (on Dec. 18) the Stravinsky pieces in Munich.
The parties understood that of the Warsaw rehearsals Gergiev would lead only the final dress, on Dec. 11. Beyond the premiere, the hearsay has it that he was also to conduct the second performance, on Dec. 15, before heading to Munich. For the remaining dates of the brief run, Dec. 17 and 19, the Poles had engaged a second maestro, young Bassem Akiki.
The hearsay is credible because the non-updated website of Akiki, as recently as today (April 1, 2014), lists the two dates alone, and, when asked about the original slate for Dec. 15, Teatr Wielki did not deny the suggestion that the Russian conductor was at first scheduled.
But Gergiev gave Warsaw much less of himself even than this modest arrangement (Dec. 11, 13 and 15), and in Munich he appeared tired, possibly weakening the Dec. 18 concert. He conducted Teatr Wielki’s Dec. 13 premiere, and he flew to Munich on Dec. 16 to prepare the Stravinsky, only not from Warsaw.
“Unexpected circumstances did not allow maestro Gergiev to lead” the final dress rehearsal on Dec. 11, stated Teatr Wielki in an email response to questions (confirming a separate part of the hearsay), and so it was postponed to Dec. 12, when Gergiev was available. Besides distress for the cast, this change, according to the hearsay at least, caused the cancellation of an unrelated concert on Dec. 12.
The cast affected was: Tatiana Monogarova as Iolanta, Sergei Skorokhodov as Vodyemon, Mikolaj Zalasiński as Robyert, Alexei Tanovitski as Ryenye, Nadja Michael as Judit, and Gidon Saks as Kékszakállú.
“It is absolutely not customary for Teatr Wielki to schedule dress rehearsals one day before a premiere,” wrote the company.
Nor did Gergiev conduct the second performance of Treliński’s double bill. That fell to Akiki, even as company managers were trumpeting the participation of the celebrated conductor.
Instead he bolted, apparently with permission, for St Petersburg and rapid-switch programs at his own Mariinsky Theater: on Dec. 14 the Verdi Requiem and on Dec. 15 La traviata, both necessarily rehearsed by other hands. It was from the Russian city that he flew here.
Warsaw’s astoundingly patient company provided context for Gergiev’s arrangement, pointing out that “the process of rehearsing” (before the final dress) was the responsibility of a Gergiev assistant who “was in constant contact with” the boss. And, in a sign that any change of plan had been agreed: “Maestro Gergiev fulfilled his duties for Teatr Wielki.”
Meanwhile in Munich, normally communicative spokespeople grew taciturn, conceivably out of embarrassment about what they sensed was artistic dissemblance. Still unanswered by the publicly run MPhil are these easy questions:
— How many hours of rehearsal took place for the Dec. 18 Stravinsky program? How many were with Gergiev?
— What does the MPhil normally expect of a guest conductor, in number of days with the musicians and number of rehearsals?
Then again, the Munich Philharmonic has a long stake in this conductor (until 2020) and a bigger problem. He has become hot-to-handle due to his support for Vladimir Putin and his seeming confusion of homosexuality with pedophilia. On Dec. 17, amid Stravinsky rehearsals, he was grappling with testy questions at a news conference about these matters.
And the Dec. 18 Stravinsky concert? It brought fine musicianship with more than a hint of interpretive emptiness. Being a guest here, Gergiev can get away with such perceptions of disengagement, but he must steel himself for heightened subscriber scrutiny once he takes over.
Photo © Alexander Shapunov
Related posts:
Christie Revisits Médée
Gergiev, Munich’s Mistake
Maestro, 62, Outruns Players
Gergiev Undissuaded
Stravinsky On Autopilot
Tags:A kékszakállú herceg vára, Alexei Tanovitski, Bassem Akiki, Béla Bartók, Commentary, Gidon Saks, Iolanta, Mariinsky Theater, Mariusz Treliński, Mikolaj Zalasiński, München, Münchner Philharmoniker, Munich, Munich Philharmonic, Nadja Michael, Polish National Opera, Sergei Skorokhodov, St Petersburg, Stravinsky, Tatiana Monogarova, Tchaikovsky, Teatr Wielki, Valery Gergiev, Warsaw
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