Past Production Reviews
7Wirth has accompanied Thomas Hampson in recital, and the baritone played the role of Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses for which Littell wrote the libretto. Their intimate knowledge of Hampson’s voice and artistry undoubtedly contributed to their creation of the character of Vermeer, in which they provided the singer with a role that is the perfect capstone to his long career.
L’excitation d’une création mondiale suscite toujours des attentes. En particulier celle de Girl with a Pearl Earring à l’Opernhaus de Zurich cette saison. Stefan Wirth, compositeur suisse de 47 ans, jouit d’une réputation certaine ; Thomas Hampson et Laura Aikin ont rejoint l’aventure et le petit génie discret de la mise en scène (et excellent librettiste) Ted Huffman rempile à la réalisation scénique. Girl with a Pearl Earring rejoint aussi la liste des œuvres lyriques qui trouvent leurs origines dans une double filiation littéraire et cinématographique, puisque le livret est extrait du roman éponyme de Tracy Chevalier (1999) et surtout de son adaptation cinématographique de 2003 (Peter Webber avec Scarlett Johansson dans le rôle de Griet).
English National Opera’s cast and conductor serve Luisa Miller well. Alexander Joel, having previously conducted it in Braunschweig and Hamburg, knows all its beauties and qualities and brilliantly makes the best possible case for it. He is a maestro totally at home in the opera pit. And leading the cast irresistibly, Korean tenor David Junghoon Kim as Rodolfo sang and acted thrillingly – with excellent singing too from James Creswell’s Count Walter and the towering Soloman Howard as the Count’s agent Wurm, outstanding bass voices impeccably deployed.
Alexander Joel’s fine conducting, sensitive to the ebb and flow of Verdi’s paragraphs and moulding them into potent enactments of human conflict, makes the strongest possible case for the work in this new ENO production. He is aided by some outstanding singing: Elizabeth Llewellyn brings a warm, generous tone and touching empathy to the title role, while David Junghoon Kim, a recent Jette Parker Young Artist, adds another triumph to his early-career successes with a confident, impassioned Rodolfo.
Pittsburgh Opera expended its best efforts on this production, and audience reception at the premiere on April 29, with Gibson’s great-grandson in attendance, was far more positive and enthusiastic than is usual here for a new or unfamiliar work. The Summer King is a compelling theatrical experience and a serious, thought-provoking addition to the repertory. There are some weaknesses, mostly in the libretto. While the action moves swiftly in a cinematic succession of flashback scenes, some segments go on a little too long, and there is a confusing assortment of supporting characters, several taken by a single singer. The final scenes, following the protagonist’s death are anticlimactic, detracting from the impact of the situation. The score is quite strong. Sonenberg’s eclectic aural landscape incorporates jazz, ragtime, swing, even extending to mariachi in a scene where Gibson goes to Mexico to play for the Veracruz Azules. Sonenberg’s vocal writing is demanding—he favors extremes of the range—but almost always idiomatic and gratifying. Alfred Walker sang colorfully in the leading role of Josh Gibson, capturing the player’s contrasting sides while swinging a bat with ease and confidence. In an aria that describes his wife’s death in childbirth and his determination to concentrate only on “the game,” the versatile baritone expressed the gamut of feelings, later managing to convey the less likable aspects of his character. Veteran mezzo Denyce Graves, as Josh’s girlfriend Grace, stole the show every moment she was onstage. At fifty-three, her low range remains a grand phenomenon, although her high notes are not quite in the same realm of richness. But that’s irrelevant given the way Graves illuminates the stage and makes her audience feel that she is making direct one-on-one contact with each of them. Her solo turn, in which Grace laments the dreary life she must return to when she leaves Josh, brought the emotional level of the show to its highest point. The sheer beauty of Sean Panikkar’s tenor sound enhanced the role of Wendell Smith, the journalist from Pittsburgh’s black newspaper, The Courier, and this most appealing artist made the most of every word and phrase in a memorable solo about “lightning,” the quality that sets Josh apart from the others. That scene has a counterpart in Act II, when Josh’s friend Sam, movingly portrayed by dark-toned basso profundo Kenneth Kellogg, compares Josh to Moses, “the Summer King,” who led his people to the Promised Land but could not enter it. Jacqueline Echols sounded shrill but was touching as Helen, Josh’s ill-fated wife; Jasmine Muhammad was fetching in both sound and presence as the coquettish Hattie. Multiple smaller parts were handled with expertise by tenors Martin Bakari, Norman Shankle and Raymond Very, along with resonant bass-baritone Phillip Gay.
Pittsburgh Opera has given its all to this show: a multi-racial chorus and large cast in which each principal is individually excellent but fits into the dramatic scheme, superb musical realization under Antony Walker, scenic designs by Andrew Lieberman that allow flash changes, and direction by Sam Helfrich that moves the action fleetly to its inevitable ill-fated conclusion. In the title role of Gibson, baritone Alfred Walker swings a bat with the same ease and naturalness that allows him to manipulate his burly, resounding baritone voice. He can be tender in a love duet with his young wife Helen (bright and edgy coloratura Jacqueline Echols), heartbreaking in an aria describing her death during childbirth, and yet, in the second act, elicit the viewer’s admonition for the character’s dissolution and self-destructive behavior. Portraying Gibson’s girlfriend Grace, Denyce Graves at 53 retains the booming chest tones and riveting persona that made her Carmen and Dalila world-class enactments for more than two decades. When this woman is on the stage, everything around her disappears into her own luminosity. The third principal, honey-voiced tenor Sean Panikkar, plays Courier journalist Wendell Smith, who describes Gibson’s gift as “lightening” – a quality that each of these three singers possesses in abundance. Deep-voiced bass Kenneth Kellogg is an asset as Gibson’s sympathetic friend, Sam Bankhead, while Jasmine Muhammad’s luscious soprano enhances the lines afforded to the flirtatious Hattie. In multiple assignments of smaller parts, high tenors Norman Shankle and Martin Bakari, dramatic tenor Ray Very and bass Phillip Gay all do yeomen’s work, although the proliferation of humanity that surrounds the opera’s central figure is too often overwhelming.
