Above: Lise Davidsen as Ariadne
Author: Oberon
Saturday March 5th, 2022 matinee - My favorite opera is always a joy to experience, even in a flawed performance; today, I brought my fellow opera-lover, Craig Salstein, along with me to the Met's matinee. Craig was seeing ARIADNE for the first time. The Met's very fine Elijah Moshinsky production has held up well since its 1993 premiere; this season's Met performances are the first since 2011.
Some people say it is unfair to hold current singers up for comparison to earlier singers we have heard in the operas thru the decades, but such comparisons have always been the case amongst dedicated opera-goers. I recall being frustrated, in my early days of attending performances, by older fans who found Beverly Sills' Lucia "...not as good as Lily Pons..." or told me that Victoria de los Angeles' Mimi could not be considered 'the greatest' if you'd never seen Bidu Sayão. But over time, I understood how they felt.
I admit to having been spoiled rotten by my previous performances of ARIADNE AUF NAXOS. In the title role, the voices of Leonie Rysanek, Carol Neblett, Johanna Meier, Jessye Norman, Stephanie Sundine, Deborah Voigt (in her initial outing in the role in Boston), and Christine Brewer still ring grandly in my ear.
My first Zerbinetta was Reri Grist: absolute perfection, and a tough act to follow. Patricia Wise, Gianna Rolandi, Kathleen Battle, Tracy Dahl, Kathleen Battle, Erie Mills, Ruth Ann Swenson, and Natalie Dessay have all come close to attaining Grist's level.
Bacchus is a killer role. James King sang the role in my first ARIADNE. And John Alexander had a great success with it at New York City Opera. Robert Dean Smith took a more lyrical approach to the music, with pleasing results, and Richard Margison made a striking vocal impression with his big, tireless sound.
The Composer, to my mind, should always be sung by a soprano. If you listen to Irmgard Seefried, Julia Varady, or Teresa Zylis-Gara on recordings, or think back to Evelyn Lear, Maralin Niska, or Olivia Stapp onstage, you can hear that a soprano voice has an advantage in this music. That said, such mezzos as Susanne Marsee, Tatiana Troyanos, Susanne Mentzer, Dame Sarah Connolly, Charlotte Hellekant, and Kristine Jepson have pleased me greatly in this great role.
A great conductor is essential to experiencing a great ARIADNE; Karl Böhm was my first maestro for this opera, and James Levine and Julius Rudel were both outstanding; but Kirill Petrenko at The Met in 2010 may have surpassed them all.
So as we sat in our balcony box waiting for today's performance to start, thoughts of all my past ARIADNEs ran thru my head. When the conductor, Marek Janowski, entered the pit, I tried to put all these memories behind me and give the current cast my full attention.
Maestro Janowski's interpretation of the score felt ideally-paced, and the orchestra played very well indeed. The overture was a highlight of the afternoon. But the performance, as it turned out, was somewhat erratic in terms of the singing. Lise Davidsen is everything you want in an Ariadne, and Johannes Martin Kränzle was perfect in the role of the Music Master. The other three principals succeeded to varying degrees, though none were in a league with Ms. Davidsen and Mr. Kränzle.
The smaller roles were all done to perfection. I was sorry to hear that Sir Thomas Allen, one of my all-time favorite operatic personalities, would not be appearing in the speaking role of the Major-Domo. The Met found a world-class substitute: Wolfgang Brendel, who last appeared here as Altair in 2007 in Strauss's AEGYPTISCHE HELENA. Endearingly, Mr. Brendel added some sputters and chortles to his interpretation, and he seemed genuinely delighted at the prospect of the fireworks display that would follow the end of the opera being presented by his boss: "...the richest man in Vienna".
Patrick Carfzzi was a voicey Lackey, and Thomas Capobianco (Officer) and Philip Cokorinos (Wigmaker) both made their mark. Brenton Ryan was a lively and well-sung Dancing Master. Sean Michael Plumb sang Harlekin's serenade handsomely, and his fellow comedians - Alok Kumar, Miles Mykkanen, and Ryan Speedo Green - sang and acted with gusto; Mssrs. Mykkanen and Green both capitalized on the outstanding impression they made earlier this season in BORIS GODUNOV. I should note, too, that the acrobats attached to Zerbinetta's little troupe were deft and charming.
With some of the best music in the score, the trio of nymphs today gave much pleasure: Deanna Breiwick (Najade), Tamara Mumford (Dryade), and Maureen McKay (Echo). Ms. Mumford's beautiful timbre was particularly alluring: I wish she had been cast as the Composer today.
Isabel Leonard's Composer looked the part to a T, and her acting was truly convincing, especially as she briefly fell under the spell of Zerbinetta. Ms. Leonard's voice is too light for this music in the huge space of The Met, and she was tested by the role's upper notes. She did, however, make a beautiful thing out of the character's passage: "Sie verzehrt sich in Sehnsucht und wünscht den Tod herbei."
Brenda Rae had the full range for Zerbinetta's demanding music, and was impressive for the most part. The voice can be edgy, and lacking in the sweetness that can illuminate certain phrases. In the prologue duet with Ms. Leonard, they established a genuine rapport, both vocal and emotional. Ms. Rae's big aria pleased the crowd, and she entered into the spirit of the rather bawdy scene with her colleagues, allowing both Pierrot and Harlekin to get a hand up her skirt.
Brandon Jovanovich cut a handsome stage figure as Bacchus; he sounded fine in the more lyrical moments, but as the music becomes more strenuous, the tenor seemed at the outer limit of his vocal resources. It's a killer role, and rather ungrateful, and Mr. Jovanovich did what he could with it.
Above: Isabel Leonard as the Composer and Johannes Martin Kränzle as the Music Master
Following his successes as Beckmesser at The Met (two seasons) and as Bartok's Bluebeard with the NY Philharmonic, Johannes Martin Kränzle made a vivid impression today as the Music Master. Very much a stage creature, Mr. Kränzle never seems to act: he simply becomes whatever character he is portraying. And his singing is both powerful and alive with nuance. How I would love to see him as Wozzeck and Mozart's Don Alfonso.
Lise Davidsen filled the house with her rich, opulent voice - a voice that blooms as she goes on the ascent. The entire two-part monologue was thrilling, resounding gloriously at "Bald aber nahet ein Bote, Hermes heissen sie ihn" and also producing some radiant piano notes. As the soprano moved on to "Du wirst mich befreien...", the hall seemed filled a sense of rapture. Maestro Janowski wisely took a full stop after "Bei dir wird Ariadne sein..." as the audience gave the prima donna a sustained ovation. During the course of the opera's great final duet, Ms. Davidsen's voice sometimes took on a metallic tinge. She received thunderous applause during the curtain calls.
One letdown came near the end of the opera, where the nymphs (singing from the pit) reprise their heavenly "Töne, töne, süsse Stimme!" while Ariadne spins an ecstatic counter-song. In past years, the nymphs have been poorly placed in the pit and their singing has been muffled, while Ariadne's voice gleamed. Today, the nymphs were more cordially placed, but now Ariadne is too far upstage to be clearly heard. Maybe one day, they'll get it right.
Metropolitan Opera House
March 5th, 2022 ~ matinee
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS
Richard Strauss
Ariadne/Prima Donna.....Lise Davidsen
Bacchus/Tenor...........Brandon Jovanovich
Zerbinetta..............Brenda Rae
The Composer............Isabel Leonard
Music Master............Johannes Martin Kränzle
Harlekin................Sean Michael Plumb
Scaramuccio.............Alok Kumar
Truffaldin..............Ryan Speedo Green
Brighella...............Miles Mykkanen
Najade..................Deanna Breiwick
Dryade..................Tamara Mumford
Echo....................Maureen McKay
Major-domo..............Wolfgang Brendel
Officer.................Thomas Capobianco
Dancing Master..........Brenton Ryan
Wigmaker................Philip Cokorinos
Lackey..................Patrick Carfizzi
Piano Solo..............Bryan Wagorn
Conductor...............Marek Janowski
~ Oberon