Opera was always my first love, and even though in recent years I have found myself going to NYCB far more frequently than to either of our opera companies, I can still get a thrill when all the elements come together at the opera - as they did last night in a performance of Wagner's LOHENGRIN at the Met.
This is the controversial Robert Wilson production. The staging is very static; the chorus is largely stationary. The singers move in slow motion, using stylized hand gestures that sometimes recall old photos of the Nijinsky L'APRES MIDI D'UN FAUN. I would imagine it is quite strenuous on the performers and have heard stories of singers needing chiropractic treatment after a run of performances. The opera takes place against a (mostly) blue cyclorama with large panels of blinding white light drifting in and out at key moments. Aside from a throne for the King and an empty chair for the "tower" scene the only bit of stage decor is a large wing to represent the swan. You either love it or hate it.
Karita Mattila has a great role as Elsa and even though her voice seemed sometimes to be at the very limits of what she can do, the results were thrilling. Her silver-blue clarity fits the music, and the production, to a T. Margaret Jane Wray, once a lyric mezzo who went into soprano rep and was a fine Sieglinde a couple years ago was here trying out Ortrud; she sang most of the music with far more beauty of tone than we normally hear, but she did not have the easy top needed for her Invocation or her confrontation of Elsa at the wedding. Her final interjections were a bit more desperate than one wants to hear. Greer Grimsley, a sinister and almost alien-looking presence, hurled out his darkish tones with great passion and turned what is usually an ungrateful role into a key element of the evening. Rene Pape is simply magnificent, his beautiful basso voice just keeps flooding the hall. Young up-and-comer Charles Taylor took a few bars to warm up and then delivered the Herald's pronouncements with striking depth of tone.
Ben Heppner's been doing the Lohengrins this season and, much as I admired him in the role about 6 years ago, he has been going thru some ups & downs; on the recent broadcast he had some vocal cracks. So I decided to try the alternate, Klaus Florian Vogt, who was making his Met debut. You just never know these days what you are going to get in a 2nd cast or cover performance; the Met is apparently economizing by hiring less-than-stellar back-ups. And so I waited for Vogt's first lines with some trepidation, fearing he might be some old strenuous-sounding heldentenor-has-been. And then he literally caressed the ear with his sweet sound. It became clear that we were in for a very different-sounding Lohengrin than we are accustomed to. This was more a Tamino voice than anything remotely "helden". He used dynamics with skill, and his almost vulnerable quality gave the music an other-worldy aspect which truly suits the character. I'm sure there were people in the audience who wanted a more hefty sound, but for me it was a revelation. In his long Act III narration, Vogt seemed to enthrall the audience - you could hear the proverbial pin drop - as he unfolded the story of the Grail and the swan to the distraught Elsa.
Phillippe Auguin was replacing the recuperating James Levine on the podium and he drew a glorious account of the score from the orchestra and from the chorus, who can sound rather "elderly" at times - but not here. Concertmaster David Chan, one of the Met's treasures, is fascinating to watch from my extreme high-side vantage point.
The performance won an enormous audience response and the ovation that greeted Mr. Vogt seemed to take him off-guard. He stood there as if dumbfounded. People above me were pounding on their score desks and everyone was screaming "bravo!" at the tops of their lungs. This was reminiscent of the great ovations that were an everyday experience back in the Last Golden Age at the Met (60s - early 70s). It's been a while since a night at the opera seemed this thrilling. (Photo: Klaus Florian Vogt)
An amazing debut by Vogt! Most exciting debut since Ramey in Rinaldo 20-ish years ago.
When he began, I thought "wow, this is gorgeous, but what happens in II & III when he puts some pressure on it. But he was LYRICAL throughout. Wagner must be grinning in his grave.
I'm still euphoric the next day!
Posted by: zerbinetta | May 04, 2006 at 06:14 PM