Mazeppa at the MET

[REG]

I wonder what kind of review this will get? I have mixed feelings about the
evening, and I know the opera fairly well: from the 54 Italian Maggio
Musicale, an incredible cut down but totally theatrical production by the
Helikon which I saw, and the Bolshoi production, seen here and in Moscow.
It's largely beautiful music, although I think in this one Tchaikovsky does
not fully convince in some of the more bellicose moments of the soloists -
it sits a bit uneasily, I think, between a vehicle for soloists and a choral
work. It has to be said at the outset that the production is typical Russian
modern, and even more Moscow modern, in my opinion, than Mariinski. That
means a kind of skimpy stab at modernism that looks as if the producer
hadn't much seen, or had the technological resources for anything past 1960,
and you just have to live with the limitations. It's not 'bad' in the sense
of Eurotrash, with gratuitous and irrelevant references thrown in - it's
just kind of awkward, big and simple scale symbolism - socialist realism
brought up to date, so to speak.

The orchestra sounded good, but a bit tired, I thought, as did everyone this
evening. Unboubtedly there's been a lot of last minute preparation, and even
the brass in Act III didn't really rouse, although they were significantly
beefed up in the orchestra pit. It's a long evening - not down till just
about midnight, with two very lengthy intermissions. The best in the cast,
in my view, was Putilin as Mazeppa. It's not a particiularly sensuous voice,
I don't find, but he had the role within him, and if he wasn't the
incarnation of Mazeppa, as I think Bastianini almost is, he is stagey
enough, and outwardly expressive enough to be very impressive. Burchuladza
sounded hollow voiced as Kochuby - an initially underpowered. You certainly
don't care when he dies (the raised floor of the stage is decorated with
symbolist skulls, and after the beheading the skull rolls downstage to
Marfa, who grabs it and runs around for the rest of the act as if she were
looking for the bathroom; the floor itself then raises so you can see the
'bodies' attached to the heads beneath the floor - THAT's the kind of
symbolism). I thought Larissa Diadakova as Lyubov very fine, and in
Putilin's league. The voice is really good-sized, and if she's not perhaps
the most genuine of interpreters, she also gets her role, and acts (or
overacts) as required. The disappointment to me was Maria, Olga Guryakova,
although she'll undoubtedly get the reviews. The role puts a big emphasis on
a soprano who can sustain a lot of singing above the break without tiring,
and this she can do. She's also young and winsome - more so in her solo
curtain call than earlier - and the sound is well produced and not
completely 'Slavic'. But there's little if any dynamic variation in her
singing, and no vulnerability conveyed, even in the final scene. She's
rather a cold fish, I think, kind of like Elizabeth Knighton, and so there's
a hole, in my view, in the critical middle of the opera. Without a touching
and incandescent Maria, the opera doesn't work - it becomes basically a
Western - and with a fine Maria we almost have Ressurezzione.

SO, late at night, there you have it, at least from me

[Alex Nathanson]

Thanks for the fast review REG. I am personally very fond of this opera
and I look forward to checking out this production.
I knew Putilin and Diadkova would be good. They do these roles
constantly in St. Petersburg. But I had higher hopes for Burchuladze.
My experience with him is that he is either hit or miss, and I thought
this role would be right up his ally. He was underpowered? I find that
odd because, say what you want about him, but you can't deny that his
voice is huge. My favorite part of the opera is Kochubey's execution,
and that prayer he says right before makes or breaks the evening for
me. Hopefully it will gel as the run continues.

btw, how was the tenor?

[REG]

The tenor, Oleg Balashov, was, I thought, second rate. The voice had the
same problems that Licitra does, only he didn't overcome them (a thick
middle, somewhat unworkable, and, unlike Licitra, no ring in the voice). I
must say that having listened again last night to the 1954 recording in
Italian, I find Poleri, for all the rawness of the voice, a more suitable
performer in the role. However, I have to say again that everyone last night
seemed tired and worn out, perhaps as a result of the rehearsal schedule,
although they are mostly all familiar with the roles and with this
production.

"Alex Nathanson" <alex...@verizon.net> wrote in message
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[Stephen Jay-Taylor]

"The tenor, Oleg Balashov, was, I thought, second rate." REG

Ah, the man we had here last year with the Kirov at the Barbican, singing
the Prince in "The Invisible City of Kitezh" and the title-role in "Oedipus
Rex" very badly. "So-so Slavic tinny tenor" was my assessment then.

When the Kirov brought their production of "Mazeppa" to the ROH four or five
years ago, it turned out to be the 1880s original, all skewed perspective
painted canvasses and drop-cloths that looked appalling, and an equally
grisly tenor in Victor Lyutsiuk, though Diadkova was excellent. Gergiev
conducted with customary brilliance and the Kirov band I well remember
playing like maniacs, though the work struck me as a thin, generic business.
Sorry the Met crew weren't on best form. Who was conducting ?

SJT

[REG]

It was the Gerg

"Stephen Jay-Taylor" <sjayt...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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