Wednesday November 12, 2008 - A trio of one-act operas (rarities all) on themes of marriage are being presented by the Juilliard Opera Center. Unfortunately, none of the operas are about gay marriage, but the time for that may come eventually (I do not expect to live that long, however!)...
At any rate, James Conlon was on the podium tonight at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, leading a triple bill that he had personally devised following a long gestation period. He fell in love with Mussorgsky's unfinished opera THE MARRIAGE over two decades ago when he heard a recording of it; but he had great difficulty locating a score. Ten years ago he discovered Benjamin Fleischmann's ROTHSCHILD'S VIOLIN; Flesichmann was a pupil of Shostakovich who met his death at the age of 25 in the siege of Leningrad. It was Shostakovich himself who completed and orchestrated his pupil's opera. To complete his triptych, Conlon looked at the short operas of Ernst Krenek; since the Mussorgsky and Fleischmann works both deal with aspects of marriage, he chose SCHWERGEWICHT (Heavyweight, or the Pride of a Nation) about a young woman cheating on her husband.
The works were performed without intermission. A simple unit set is dressed for each succeeding work by stagehands clad in costumes from the period. On the cyclorama, film projections were especially effective in the Fleischmann where birch trees and fields illuminated the narrative. The Juilliard musicians played remarkably well for Maestro Conlon; these are demanding scores but the players took them in stride.
The Mussorgsky/Tcherepnin ZHENITBA (The Marriage)is based on a Gogol comedy. The lazy Podkolyosin has been considering getting married but he simply hasn't gotten around to it despite three months of frequent visits by the matchmaker Fyokla. After much discussion, he rises from his lethargy and goes to meet his intended bride. The opera is conversational and proved a fine prologue to bass-baritone Shenyang's huge success in the closing ROTHSCHILD'S VIOLIN. Shenyang was the 2007 Cardiff Singer of the World and is currently in the Met Lindemann Young Artists Program. Here he played the sleepy town councilor to a T, reveling in the low-key comic by-play and singing with firm, effortlessly sizeable tones. Renee Tatum was a warm-sounding matchmaker and Nicholas Coppolo as Podkolyosin's friend Kochkarev was bright-toned...and fastidious of demeanor. Nicholas Pallesen endured the many pratfalls which he took as Crenau, the clumsy valet.
Ernst Krenek's SCHWERGEWICHT (Heavyweight, or The Pride of the Nation). Photo of the composer, above. This score is colourful, full of rhythmic variety and jazzy, cabaret-style elements. The champion boxer Ochsenschwantz discovers is wife is having an affair with her dance instructor Gaston, but he is much too pre-occupied with the arrival of his new electronic training machine to take his revenge. Gaston changes the setting on the machine, nearly electrocuting the boxer. A government official comes with the news that Ochsenschwantz has been chosen for the Olympic team; the frantic athlete begs him to turns off the machine but the minister thinks the intense training will help him win an Olympic medal. So the boxer is left pedaling like a madman as the lights fade.
Paul LaRosa played off his jabs and feints with elan, and tenor Paul Appleby sang strongly as Gaston, a preview of his powerful performance as Rothschild. Tenor Ta'u Pupu'a was the very tall, goose-stepping government minister and sang with clarity and a nice zingy final top note.
ROTHSCHILD'S VIOLIN was composed to his own libretto by Benjamin Fleischmann and is based on a short story by Chekhov. Ivanov, coffinmaker and violinist in the town band, must make a coffin for his dying wife. He has hung up his violin and rejects calls by the townsfolk to rejoin the band, lamenting the passage of time and the bitterness of his life. When the downtrodden Rothschild comes back to again plead with Ivanov, the coffin-maker hands Rothschild his violin and he begins to play.
In this opera the Juilliard musicians played so impressively for Maestro Conlon. The work includes a big folkish dance interlude - with three excellent men from the Juilliard Dance Division - and concludes with a full-blown melodic 'hymn' which is at once sorrowful and uplifting.
Tenor Paul Appleby (above) sang the plaintive lines of Rothschild with great power and expressive beauty of tone. As he begins to play the violin at the end, the characters from all three operas slowly appear onstage, drawn by the sound of the music. The Fleischmann piece also featured a touching portrayal of Marfa, Ivanov's dying wife, by Julie Boulianne.
I hardly know where to begin in describing the profound impression Shenyang made in this opera. Having heard his winning Cardiff selections and his very impressive recital and scenes work as a Met Young Artist, I know that the voice is large, warm, and expansive of range and that he is a devoutly musical performer with a gift for languages. What knocked me for a loop tonight was his deep emotional connection to the character, especially in the long final monolog of regret in which Ivanov looks back on his life, feeling nothing but remorse. "My wife was with me for fifty years yet I never treated her kindly," he sings, looking down at her exhausted body. He has been selfish and treated people badly for no reason. Now it is too late to make amends. As the music expands in a passage of flooding lyricism, Shenyang poured out not only his voice but his heart. It was the thrilling climax of a beautiful interpretation.
TRILOGY will be given on Friday 11/14 and on Sunday afternoon 11/16 at 2:00. It's a musically rewarding experience and in the case of ROTHSCHILD'S VIOLIN a deeply moving one.
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