greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley) (09/29/84)
I think opera on video has definite possibilities, but that,
to be effective and worth repeat playings, productions would
have to be rethought and restaged for this medium.
Laserdisks are available of opera productions from Covent
Garden, the Arena di Verona, and now the "Live from the Met"
series which have already been telecast. So far, I've found
them all unsatisfactory in varying degrees.
The first thing the someone needs to do is decide on
repertoire, NOT in terms of the "20 Favorite Operas" type
list of names, but rather in terms of the current generation
of performers and their specialties. In other words, rather
than haphazardly selecting names of operas that sell tickets
and records and trying to match them up with the names of singers
and conductors who sell tickets and records, to try and
find which are the current PERFORMANCES of given singers
in particular roles which are of an outstanding quality and
worth archiving.
"Aida" is far more popular than any of Janacek's works.
We are currently, however, hard-pressed to come up with an
outstanding Aida, Rhadames, and Amneris (although the
conductor situation looks somewhat better) who can provide
memorable vocal as well as visual impersonations. The
woefully inadequate Verona production emphasizes this.
We do have Elisabeth Soderstrom doing outstanding vocal
and dramatic portrayals of Janacek's "Jenufa", "Katya
Kabanova" and Emilia ("Makropolous Case"). We also have
(as has been proven in live performances in San Francisco,
the Met, London, and Vienna) the singers and conductors
whose resources are fully up to the supporting roles.
We'll have to catch Soderstrom fast, if it's to be done
at all, because she's already at an age where an end to
these performances is in sight.
The best step so far is the London (Covent Garden)
production of Britten's "Peter Grimes". The entire cast
have performed this work together (including the L.A.
tour this past summer) for a number of years and have
worked themselves into a closely knitted ensemble. Topping
them is Jon Vickers' towering assumption of the title
character - a majesterial interpretation vocally, musically
(in rhythm, shaping and continuity as opposed to the purely
"vocal" production of sounds), and dramatically.
Sutherland's "Lucia", available on laserdisk from the Met,
might have been a plausible choice for preservation - 20
years ago. Never a great actress, we now have perpetuated
stock gestures (of the type which make people laugh at
opera), a dumpy figure and very matronly face, and, most
sadly, a worn and frayed remnant (although still expertly
used) of the wonderful voice that made one accept the
dramatic lapses. Does anyone really want to have a permanent
document of this kind of performance?
Much the same applies, in varying degrees, to "Live From the
Met" (and planned for videodisks) productions featuring Leontyne
Price and Renata Scotto. No disrespect meant with regard
to the past achievements of these ladies.
Similarly, I sense some marketing whiz deciding that Te Kanawa
and Domingo together in Puccini's "Tosca" will sell like
hotcakes (after all, she sang at Prince Charles & Lady Di's
wedding so people know her). Anyone who knows voices and
has seen Kiri Te Kanawa knows that she is at her best visually
standing still and looking regally melancholy, and
that her voice is best suited to exquisite purity (like
Mozart's Countess in "Marriage of Figaro"). This is exactly
the opposite of Puccini's tempestuous heroine who raves,
weeps, stabs a man to death and jumps off the top of a building;
and whose voice has to peal out thunderous high C's as well
as slamming out chest tones two octaves below.
There is also the fact that most "grand" operas depend on
the visceral impact of big voices (and orchestra) heard live,
in conjunction with the visual splendour of impressive
sets and costumes, all of which are diminished to the point
of being unrecognizeable on a television screen (even with
Beta or VHS HI-FI) and on home stereo components.
There are a number of operas which would specifically benefit
from the close-up treatment video offers. These are operas
which are difficult to present effectively in an opera house,
and are often less popular (and, vicious circle time, less
likely to be produced for video because of it). I'm thinking
of Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande" (whose moods and subtleties
are foreign to the straw-wig reality of the theatre), the
aforementioned Janacek works (and others of his) and
Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" (please, in the original and
not Rimsky-Korsakov's rewrite). "Boris" may seem like an
odd choice because of the crowd scenes and famous large-scale
"Coronation" scene, but, in fact, the majority of the opera is
taken up with intimate scenes where people's thoughts are
expressed in private dialogue (and monologue) often with a
delicacy and subtlety that are usually lost in large opera houses.
In short, sticking lights, microphones and video cameras in
front of a typical stage production just won't do.
- Greg Paley