Stravinsky Double Bill at SFS

SFS/Stravinsky

Friday, December 9, 2005

Opera companies don’t stage double bills of one-act operas often, with the exception of the ubiquitous Cav and Pag, for the simple reason that it’s expensive: the operas may be short, but two production designs, two sets, and two casts still have to be paid for. So we’re lucky that this year’s installment in San Francisco Symphony’s series of semi-staged operas, heard at its second performance on Friday, December 9, consisted of Igor Stravinsky’s two marvelous one-act act operas, Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex. And we’re doubly lucky, because the performances demonstrate that Stravinsky was one of the great opera composers of the 20^th century. Set The Rake’s Progress, his only full-length opera, side by side with Le Rossignol and Oedipus Rex, and there is little room for doubt about Stravinsky’s place in the operatic canon.

Le Rossignol sets Hans Christian Andersen’s story of a Nightingale who enchants the Emperor of China and is a welcome guest at his court – until the live songbird flees, offended by the repetitive melodies of a mechanical nightingale sent to China by the Emperor of Japan. The Nightingale is banished from the court, but returns when the Emperor is dying, and saves him by distracting Death with her brilliant singing. Stepan Mitusov’s charming libretto, full of silly courtesans and stiff courtiers, provides plenty of opportunities for adorable stage business, of which director Patricia Birch took full advantage.

The music catches Stravinsky at a crossroads: he began to compose Le Rossignol in 1908 and completed it in 1914. In between came the three great ballet scores for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring. Le Rossignol opens with murmuring figure that sounds French, until you realize that it could also come from the world of Rite. The three acts don’t seem stylistically out of joint, though; however much Stravinsky’s music changed in those years, the basic elements were there at the start. It would be difficult to mistake Le Rossignol for anyone else’s work, from the transparency of the big orchestra and the novelty of its deployment to the composer’s use of complex rhythms to the underlying Russian-ness of the sound despite the overlay of pentatonic scales and other Chinoiserie.

Oedipus Rex comes from another sound-world entirely, a world more austere and more violent, as appropriate for the violence and tragedy of the subject matter. Stravinsky makes use of pastiche at various points in the opera – for example, in Jocasta’s aria, with its faint echoes of Viennese operetta – but the effect is ironic and sometimes almost nauseating, as in the chorus’s jaunty march of triumph at the news of Jocasta’s death and Oedipus’s self-mutilation. The chorus comes spectacularly to the fore in Oedipus Rex and functions as both narrator and character. For this production, director Carey Perloff put part of the chorus on stage, instead of in the terrace, to menace Oedipus and interact in other ways with the named characters.

As with the previous operatic productions, the singers were placed behind the orchestra on a smallish stage, with minimal scenery that was nonetheless beautiful, effective, and cleverly designed. Four square pillars decorate with a Greek key design framed the stage during both operas; for Le Rossignol, several reversible panels resembling a Chinese screen were arrayed across the stage. Cast members, or perhaps stagehands in costume, moved the panels as required, for example, to display the Emperor restored to health after being threatened by death. Above the stage, in front of the center terrace seats, hung what appeared to be a large gong. The gong proved to be transparent when lit appropriately, and some of the action of Le Rossignol was staged behind it.

And again the Symphony went out of its way to engage superb casts for the two operas. The young Russian soprano Olga Trifonova sang spectacularly as the Nightingale, whose music approaches that of Zerbinetta or the Fiakermili in difficulty. Trifonova met every challenge easily, articulating the complex lines perfectly and with a clear, silvery, perfectly projected tone that was ideal for the Nightingale. Paul Groves was a sweet Fisherman; local favorite Catherine Cook was typically funny as both the Cook and Death. Dancers Natalie Willes (Nightingale), Titus West (Death), and Joe Duffy (Spectre) were all lovely. (Oddly, no choreographer seems to be credited in the program.) In a delightful touch, three acrobats from The Vau de Vire Society (Fleeky Flanco cq!, Tracy Piper cq, Alexis Greene cq) portrayed the mechanical Nightingale. Saundra de Athos cq, Sonia Gariaeff cq, Valentina Osinski cq, Darla Wigginton cq, Harold Meers cq, Brian Frutiger cq, and Eugene Brancoveanu took smaller roles, all with distinction.

Oedipus Rex featured the marvelous Australian tenor Stuart Skelton, whose heroic, secure, and beautiful tone made him a truly noble Oedipus whose downfall was genuinely tragic. Michelle DeYoung’s sexy Jocasta slunk about the stage handsomely, warning Oedipus and all other listeners in warm tones not to believe the oracles, who always lie. Bruce Sledge sang movingly as the Shepherd, and his more lyrical tone contrasted beautifully with Skelton’s Heldentenor. Roger Rees was an impressive narrator, but the program notes say Stravinsky was skeptical of the utility of the part, and I have to agree: the narration interrupts the musical drama. Given the existence of program notes and projected supertitles, I wish the Symphony had dispensed with the part (and I also wish they’d dispensed with amplifying Rees, who sounded capable of making himself audible without artificial assistance).

Basses Tigran Martirossian and Ayk Martirossian took on three roles each in the two operas, and were marvelous in all assignments; sonorous, dramatic, involved.

The production team of Douglas Schmidt (sets), Dona Granata (costumes), and Kirk Bookman (lighting) came up with terrific and practical designs; I especially liked the chorus’s masks in Oedipus Rex and the royal touches of gold drapery added to the modern dress costumes worn by Jocasta and Oedipus. Directors Perloff and Birch made excellent use of the limited stage area and did great work with all of the singers.

Michael Tilson Thomas and the Symphony were at their superb best in this double bill. Thomas molded the drama nearly perfectly, capturing the witty lightness of Le Rossignol beautifully and leading a taut performance of Oedipus Rex. And special kudos to Vance George and the Symphony Chorus, especially for stunning work by the tenors and basses in Oedipus.