Rodelinda - Handel
Mar. 3rd, 2014 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
motodraconisHandel! Baroque opera! People standing around in frockcoats and periwigs singing endlessly and interminably.
Handel.
Baroque Opera.
This is Handel as you didn't expect to see it!
The stage opens in some sort of Mussolini-style grim Italy, with much of the action occurring in a grubby cell, simultaneously to the tyrant Grimoaldo's creepy office, where he watches the object of his desire Rodelinda through a surveillance camera hidden in her cell mirror.
Having heard and been enchanted by a sneak preview of Iestyn Davis' glorious countertenor voice I'd gone berserk and downloaded from Amazon the chief arias to listen to obsessively on my phone. And listen I did. And love the arias I did. Over and over.
Yet, I was still nervous of the production. Three hours long! Potentially dreary and lacking in much action. Would I be able to cope?
Surprisingly well as it happened. Most of the arias are rather self-indulgent, with the same lyric repeated ad-infinitum, the repetition that non-opera lovers hold up as a reason to mock the genre. Most operas are not that bad - but this cliché in evidence in spades in Handel, albeit in exquisite form. So, in reaction to this stasis, the production ensured there was plenty going on. In Medea, this was achieved by lots of ballet. No dancers here.
Though admittedly, the stomping about got excessive in places. Here, the touching duet sung by Rodelinda (Rebecca Evans) and Bertarido (Iestyn Davis) was spoiled a little by too much clomping from the others in the scene. It is a gorgeous aria on the ear, but to hear it in English, directly understanding the words without having to flick eyes to the surtitles... it brought a lump to my throat. One of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.
I am realising that the sound of a countertenor is something I adore. In Death in Venice, the countertenor part was the only point where I woke up from staring at the dancing to listen in delight to the singing. (Which, frankly, happens rarely for me with Brittan.) Iestyn though... has an exceptional voice. Fangirl moment!
As the opera progressed, I started to wonder if it was unintentionally funny. That perhaps it was supposed to be taken seriously, but... was failing somehow. It certainly started dark and grim, but as the blood started to flow in the last act and the ridiculous weapons where brought out, sniggers began... becoming guffaws. And...
I fucking loved it!
Now this isn't going to be to everyone's taste. If you're more of a traditionalist, you'll probably be aghast. Sometimes ENO weirds out and the result is a disaster (Fledermaus) or the staging is so modern and visceral it's bloody genius (Carmen.) This reviewer from the Spectator sums up well the disjunct you might experience. But the next day I was in work, and my fellow opera-loving co-worker pounced on me. He's not a Handel fan but he'd loved it. His wife is a Handel fan and she loved it. I loved it. If opera wasn't so bloody expensive outside of the dress rehearsals I'd sign up to see it again like a shot.
My only regret was that I couldn't be sitting right up against the stage, to hear the double countertenor whammy of Iestyn and Christopher Ainslie right in my ear.
Fucking go and see it. It's fantastic!
Handel.
Baroque Opera.
This is Handel as you didn't expect to see it!
The stage opens in some sort of Mussolini-style grim Italy, with much of the action occurring in a grubby cell, simultaneously to the tyrant Grimoaldo's creepy office, where he watches the object of his desire Rodelinda through a surveillance camera hidden in her cell mirror.
Having heard and been enchanted by a sneak preview of Iestyn Davis' glorious countertenor voice I'd gone berserk and downloaded from Amazon the chief arias to listen to obsessively on my phone. And listen I did. And love the arias I did. Over and over.
Yet, I was still nervous of the production. Three hours long! Potentially dreary and lacking in much action. Would I be able to cope?
Surprisingly well as it happened. Most of the arias are rather self-indulgent, with the same lyric repeated ad-infinitum, the repetition that non-opera lovers hold up as a reason to mock the genre. Most operas are not that bad - but this cliché in evidence in spades in Handel, albeit in exquisite form. So, in reaction to this stasis, the production ensured there was plenty going on. In Medea, this was achieved by lots of ballet. No dancers here.
Though admittedly, the stomping about got excessive in places. Here, the touching duet sung by Rodelinda (Rebecca Evans) and Bertarido (Iestyn Davis) was spoiled a little by too much clomping from the others in the scene. It is a gorgeous aria on the ear, but to hear it in English, directly understanding the words without having to flick eyes to the surtitles... it brought a lump to my throat. One of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.
I am realising that the sound of a countertenor is something I adore. In Death in Venice, the countertenor part was the only point where I woke up from staring at the dancing to listen in delight to the singing. (Which, frankly, happens rarely for me with Brittan.) Iestyn though... has an exceptional voice. Fangirl moment!
As the opera progressed, I started to wonder if it was unintentionally funny. That perhaps it was supposed to be taken seriously, but... was failing somehow. It certainly started dark and grim, but as the blood started to flow in the last act and the ridiculous weapons where brought out, sniggers began... becoming guffaws. And...
I fucking loved it!
Now this isn't going to be to everyone's taste. If you're more of a traditionalist, you'll probably be aghast. Sometimes ENO weirds out and the result is a disaster (Fledermaus) or the staging is so modern and visceral it's bloody genius (Carmen.) This reviewer from the Spectator sums up well the disjunct you might experience. But the next day I was in work, and my fellow opera-loving co-worker pounced on me. He's not a Handel fan but he'd loved it. His wife is a Handel fan and she loved it. I loved it. If opera wasn't so bloody expensive outside of the dress rehearsals I'd sign up to see it again like a shot.
My only regret was that I couldn't be sitting right up against the stage, to hear the double countertenor whammy of Iestyn and Christopher Ainslie right in my ear.
Fucking go and see it. It's fantastic!
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no subject
Date: 2014-03-03 09:16 pm (UTC)I'm also actually wishing I could have seen the rest of no- orchestra THE RING (with a cushion!)
no subject
Date: 2014-03-03 09:48 pm (UTC)I'd have rather liked to see the rest of Ring too. Perhaps next time, now I know it was good, I'll splash out. Pricey though.
Co-worker is a big Wagner lover, I've asked him to tip me the wink if he spots something.
no subject
Date: 2014-03-03 09:34 pm (UTC)I've never heard Rodelinda but I generally love Haendel and I can stand long repetitions of arias (I've even listened to them in concert form, not staged.) I believe I'd loved it!
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