Letter
from Bucharest
Don
Giovanni
at Braila
I
have always thought that the only way to stop the decay of the opera performance
would consist in the availability of a talented conductor, who respects and
loves the score and the libretto, of an intelligent stage director, preferably a
prestigious opera singer who respects and loves the score and the libretto; and,
last but not least, the casting of singers with beautiful voices, perfectly
trained from the technical point of view, doubled by a remarkable musicality,
mastering the style, who respect and love the score and the libretto. The common
denominator remains, therefore, the respect and love for the score and the
libretto. The productions in which Verdi is performed as Puccini, Mozart as
Verdi or Puccini as Wagner can not continue. The productions which only pursue
to shock the audience through so called “modern” elements which are in fact
only different forms of kitsch have become unbearable. It is not possible to
listen to Zerlina and Don Giovanni singing their sublime duo in a funeral
carriage, it is revolting to watch Oedipe elucidate the Sphinx enigma in a
brothel, it is outraging to turn Mefisto into a Pope, a cardinal or a bishop.
Actually, these mere aberrations are not related to “modernism” but only to
artistic impotence.
The
sine qua non condition of art in general and of the opera production in
particular is the creation of a catharsis, an event which has no longer happened
in our lyrical life for quite a long time. The public applauds an acute, a
shrill kept beyond the limits of good taste or eventually a voice with a
beautiful timbre. But when the curtain falls down, the audience leaves the
theatre as poor from the spiritual point of view as they had come, deprived of
that state of elation, of happiness, of release from the chains of mean
passions, of spiritual grace which, actually, is the purpose of art.
Or,
on Saturday, September 4, in Braila, during the artistic events occasioned by
the Hariclea Darclée International Voice Competition, I experienced the
feeling of reliving one of those lofty evenings of the glorious past of the
Romanian lyrical theatre and we all shared that state of catharsis, which we no
longer dared hope for.
We
attended a concert-show with the first act of Mozart’s
Don
Giovanni, created through the love, talent, skill, passion and artistic
force of Dame Mariana Nicolesco, this huge reservoir of creative energy put in
the service of art and of art lovers.
I
said that we attended a concert-show: the performers clad in a sketch of attire,
sketched a debut of acting performance. But, at what level! At what level of
professionalism, of profound insight of the character, of perfect union between
the gesture, the movement and the physical expression or the musical expression,
and the human essence surprised by Da Ponte’s talent and Mozart’s
overwhelming genius. Each element of the acting performance was loaded with
significance, with the quest of the human truth, with suggestions and symbols,
everything in perfect harmony, everything in perfect fluency, everything imbued
with the observance of the unique personality of each character. Obviously, the
score of this “opera of all operas” represents an inexhaustible source of
creative fantasy, offering to the researcher a huge range of potential,
authentic interpretations. Everything is to be able to search, without sliding
beyond the score and the libretto looking for funeral carriages, brothels and
other aberrations. The truth is to be found in the score and Mariana Nicolesco
has found in Mozart’s work the entire humour, the whole human compassion, all
the poetry and tragical character of the human condition which she rendered
simply and directly, because - as Boileau would say - what is clearly conceived
is clearly rendered. But Dame Mariana Nicolesco has done even more than that,
she found alternative versions. When, at the end of the show, the ovations of
the audience were requesting an “encore”, the entire finale of the first act
was resumed: it was entirely different from the first performance with different
colours, with a different significance, with a different meaning.
The
production was created with the contribution of the Chamber Orchestra of the
Romanian Radio, under the experienced baton of Maestro Marco Balderi, a
conductor who in spite of asserting his own views, does not stifle the singers,
who was overt and receptive to Dame Mariana Nicolesco’s musical conception,
characterized by rigour, poetry and the blending, like in Paganini’s violin,
of the smile with the tears.
The
singers have proved to have the artistic dimension which we all expected from
the laureates of the former and current editions of the
Darclée
Competition singing and performing their parts, not as young people at their
debut but as they really are: genuine, accomplished artists. Don Giovanni was
the winner of the Great Prize of this
edition, baritone George Petean. Pathetically young, aged only 23, the artist is
endowed with a particularly beautiful voice, he benefits from an impeccable
technique, performing skills and, what is essential for the character, from an
exceptional dramatic vein, to which he was able to confer the demoniac, damned
character, so adequate to Don Giovanni. Leporello: the Italian bass-baritone
Luca Pisaroni, a splendid voice, a commanding physical appearance, an admirable
technique, musicality and charm. His only shortcoming was the fact that he was
not Romanian, but Italian. However, let us hope that he would return ever more
often to the country where he obtained his consecration. Donna Anna: Doina
Dimitriu - soprano with a huge voice, with an admirable timbre, well known to
the opera fans thanks to her roles as the Queen of the Night in the
Magic
Flute or Marguerite in Faust. She
sang with passion and dedication. Because of Serban Bacila’s vocal
indisposition, the role of Don Ottavio was performed by the Polish tenor, Piotr
Rafalko, a laureate of the current edition of this competition. Like his
colleagues, he displayed the same musical intelligence in the service of a high
quality voice, well conducted from the technical point of view. Zerlina: lovely
Oana Andra, the young mezzosoprano with a voice like a silk velvet, with an
excellent vocal ability and performing resources, with a virtuosity perfectly
blending with her artistic sensitiveness, beautiful and charming. Masetto:
Octavian Vlaicu, a remarkable voice and a remarkable acting performance.
Together with Oana Andra, he was convincing, observing the nuances and the
style. In his turn, Ioan Ardelean performed the Commendatore’s part.
Last
but not least, Donna Elvira was the creator of this production, Dame Mariana
Nicolesco. The entire show represented an anatomy of the human passions. Each
performer illustrated a certain facet of the passion. But Dame Mariana
Nicolesco’s performance concentrated in a unique artistic act the entire
spectrum of passion: from pure love to sensual instinct, from compassion to
fury, from abnegation to jealousy, from poetry to distressing realism, from
truth to dissimulation, from vehemence to clemency. At the end of the show, I
heard the great actor, Maestro Radu Beligan saying: “Back to Bucharest I shall
order some new visit cards writing: Radu Beligan who saw and heard Mariana
Nicolesco in Donna Elvira”. Obviously, it was a great artistic privilege.
Expressing
my regrets for having missed the production of
Idomeneo,
I cannot conclude without mentioning what should represent the topic of a
comprehensive article: the splendid results of the Contest and Gala Concert of
the Laureates. The Hariclea Darclée
International Voice Competition was splendid. The concert performance with
Mozart’s Don Giovanni was splendid.
And this is what a great artist, a great creative force, a great Romanian
conscience can achieve.
Sorin
Bottez
