The Canadian Opera Company: Strauss: Arabella. At the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto.
Better late than never, as the saying goes.
According to the most recent data based on opera performance statistics the past five seasons, Richard Strauss’s Arabella is ranked 146th in popularity worldwide, with 127 performances in 31 productions. It’s more popular than Guillaume Tell (#153), Ariodante (#157), Lulu (#173), and La Juive (#183), all acknowledged masterpieces of the lyric theatre. Yet Arabella has never been staged in Canada until now. It has taken a long 84 years for it to arrive on our shores.
It was well worth the wait. The performance last evening was scintillating in every respect. Yes, I’m a total Strauss nut, so I may be just a tad biased. I’ve seen this opera many times, in Europe and the US, and the show last evening compares well with the best. This work is standard repertoire in Europe — in just the last couple of seasons, I saw it twice, at the Semperoper Dresden and Bayerische Staatsoper, both times with the great German soprano Anja Harteros.
It begs the question — why has it taken so long to come to Canada? To begin with, musically it’s a hard nut to crack, especially for a non-German speaking audience. The use of surtitles at the FSC is crucial, given how the piece is conversational and text-driven. The orchestral writing is very challenging, requiring huge forces, brass-heavy, dense in texture, with quick-silver modulations and surprising harmonic shifts. One can well imagine the effort just to learn the notes! And great singing actors are an absolute requisite.
Arabella naysayers are quick to point out its longueurs in the plot, how silly it is, as a sort of bad German Harlequin Romance. Is there a more ridiculous case of mistaken identity than the one involving Matteo and Zdenko/Zdenka? Coupled with the ridiculously high music that Matteo is given to sing, it proves once and for all Strauss hated tenors. But I dare say that the piece is so absurd that it almost has its own weird charm. Such shenanigans are allowed as long as it’s sung, according to the great Anna Russell!
Now to the performance. The handsome, traditional production comes from Santa Fe Opera (also seen in Minnesota Opera, but I believe it was built in SFO). It’s a great choice for the COC. Given the opera is ‘new’ to Canada, you wouldn’t want anything too outlandish. The set consists of three curvilinear walls that rotate and reconfigure between acts to create different effects, quite cleverly done. The period costumes, vaguely updated to 20th-Century, are gorgeous. Tim Albery’s stage direction is appropriately middle-of-the-road and non-controversial.
Several very fine vocal performances last evening, especially by the two leads. Polish baritone Tomasz Konieczny, whom I had just seen in Munich this summer as Herzog Adorno in Die Gezeichneten, shows why he’s the definitive Mandryka today. His gorgeous, evenly produced, clarion baritone, complete with a powerful top, was indefatigable. Dramatically, his Mandryka is layered and nuanced, with just the right combination of macho coarseness (Mandryka is rich but uncultured) and vulnerability. We are extremely lucky to have Konieczny here, and let’s hope the COC will bring him back.
Canadian soprano Erin Wall, who sang the title role in this very production in Santa Fe five years ago, was once again a poised, silver-toned Arabella. Her Act 1 duet with Zdenka was gorgeous. Elsewhere, her Acts 2 and 3 scenes with Mandryka (“Sie wollen mich heiraten” and “Das war sehr gut”) were lovely. Dramatically she was on the cool side, slightly reserved, underscoring the regal, aristocratic quality of the character. If I were to quibble, her costumes and wig were more suitable for a society matron than that of a young woman.
In a role debut, Canadian soprano Jane Archibald (Zdenka) made the most of her few moments in the sun. An acting as much as a singing role, Archibald conveyed a suitably desperate, hysterical air to the character. In her Act One duet with Arabella, Archibald’s silvery timbre blended perfectly with Wall’s. Her pianissimo high C that ended the duet was singularly impressive. As her love interest, Matteo, American tenor Michael Brandenburg has uninteresting music to sing. He coped well with the relentlessly high tessitura, tackling the top notes with confidence and ease if not beauty of tone.
Canadian baritone John Fanning made a welcome return to the COC, playing Waldner the slightly befuddled father expertly. He was well partnered by German mezzo Gundula Hintz, who made a huge sound as Adelaide. The large supporting cast was well taken by a mix of Canadian singers and imported guests, with former COC Ensemble soprano Claire de Sévigné a standout as Fiakermilli. I’ll stick my neck out and say Fiakermilli does not represent Strauss at his melodically inspired best. Her music is almost a parody, several notches below that of Zerbinetta regarding quality. Kudos to de Sévigné who managed to make the role come alive.
Perhaps the most notable achievement last evening was orchestral. This score was completely new to the COC Orchestra — in fact a couple of members of the orchestra have privately mentioned to me that it was arguably the most challenging of all scores to learn, perhaps even surpassing the Ring in difficulty if not length. Fortunately, it is in good hands. German conductor Patrick Lange, last in town for Madama Butterfly, has done a remarkable job in shaping the COC forces into a cohesive and fluent whole, playing with passion, verve, gorgeous colours and idiomatic style. It shows that the COC Orchestra is every bit as capable as the best on this side of the pond. Now, isn’t it time to tackle Die Frau ohne Schatten?
Six more performances on Oct. 10, 14, 18, 20, 22, 28, 2017. www.coc.ca
#LUDWIGVAN
Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and reviews before anyone else finds out? Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for all the latest.
- SCRUTINY | Opera Atelier’s All Is Love Makes Triumphal Return - April 15, 2024
- SCRUTINY | From The Heart: Ema Nikolovska And Charles Richard-Hamelin Offer Unique Program At Koerner Hall - March 26, 2024
- SCRUTINY | The Glenn Gould School Spring Opera Presents A Superb Dialogues Des Carmélites - March 22, 2024
