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Drama short on interchange between characters, but performance has terrific talents on display
By Elaine Guregian
Beacon Journal arts and culture critic
Published on Saturday, Jun 07, 2008
Gloriously vibrant singing, the kind that makes you sit up and take notice, marked the Cleveland Orchestra's concert performance of the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's fairy-tale opera Rusalka at Severance Hall on Thursday night. This is the first time the orchestra has performed the rarely played opera, best known for a single tune, Song of the Moon, which star soprano Renee Fleming made a calling card.
The hall was crowded for Thursday's concert, led by music director Franz Welser-Moest. The orchestra's five fully staged performances in August at the Salzburg Festival (with the same international cast as in Cleveland) already are sold out. European audiences apparently are keen to hear the Clevelanders in the pit where the Vienna Philharmonic usually sits for summer operas at the festival, one of the world's most prestigious.
At Severance, the orchestra sat in a shallow, wide configuration, with basses at the back and winds peeking out at the sides. (In the case of the trumpets, right next to the audience and too loud at times, ''peeking'' might not be the right word.) This is how the orchestra will be arranged in the pit at the Salzburg performances.
The setup left room at the back for the high platform that the orchestra has used for singers in previous operas-in-concert.
The three Wood Nymphs (Anna Prohaska, Stefanie Atanasov and Hannah Esther Minutillo) opened the opera full tilt, with excitingly forward sounds and wonderful blend. In their ''ho-ho-ho'' call, Dvorak seemed to be telling the world that he knew a thing or two about Wagnerian style. But this opera has its own distinctive way of doing business.
Combining tales
The story is a blend of legends (including Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid story) about water maidens who hope (against reason) to marry a mortal. The writing in Rusalka is pastoral and rustic, full of the most charming stylistic turns of a composer we know for his Slavonic Dances and his New World Symphony. In many ways, the music sounds more like an operetta than an opera; the singers' lines are naturalistic, not decorated with a lot of showy ornamentation.
As a drama, with libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil, Rusalka is short on interchange between the characters. Rusalka convinces her father, the Water-Goblin (the excellent bass-baritone Alan Held), to let her go above the sea to be with the Prince. Jezibaba makes this happen with a spell, but because Rusalka is mute, the Prince becomes frustrated with her and turns to a Foreign Princess (Emily Magee, fiercely vampish with red hair, purple gown and commanding voice). None of the relationships work out in this tragic story.
The singers tend to stand and deliver speeches, instead of talking to each other. One begins to long for a character to react immediately instead of waiting for the whole monologue. With intermission, the opera runs about three hours.
An expected highlight, Rusalka's Song to the Moon, didn't quite materialize. Soprano Camilla Nylund was riveting when aroused to full force, but less so when singing the lyrical Song.
Works well overall
But the level of singing overall and the playing by the orchestra are at a very high level. Thursday's performance got an enthusiastic standing ovation.
Piotr Beczala's focused Italianate tenor as the Prince made a handsome impression. As the cruel witch, Jezibaba (a Czech name pronounced yeshi-baba), mezzo-soprano Birgit Remmert was an astonishing force to be reckoned with, distinguished by a gleaming tone that was its own threatening weapon. She had a sly humor, too, an asset in an opera that is slow-moving.
Other terrific talents on display were baritone Christopher Feigum, intense and exciting as the Gameskeeper, who sang with Eva Liebau, a soprano in the role of the Turnspit (kitchen boy). Karel Paukert coached the singers in Czech. English subtitles were projected above the stage.
Rusalka continues the Cleveland Orchestra's opera tradition in impressive style.
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com.
Gloriously vibrant singing, the kind that makes you sit up and take notice, marked the Cleveland Orchestra's concert performance of the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's fairy-tale opera Rusalka at Severance Hall on Thursday night. This is the first time the orchestra has performed the rarely played opera, best known for a single tune, Song of the Moon, which star soprano Renee Fleming made a calling card.
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