Nov. 1, 2004. 01:00 AM
Opera In Concert charges forcefully
through the bullring
GEOFF CHAPMAN
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Tension, thrills, tears, tragedies and emotional tempests — just
what’s needed on a Saturday night with the Toronto Maple Leafs in hibernation.
This lively occasion was the Canadian premiere by the
always-adventurous Opera In Concert at Jane Mallett Theatre, opening its 31st
season with a rare Spanish opera, El Gato Montes by Manuel Penella, a
composer ambitious enough to create his own libretto.
Technically it’s halfway between opera and zarzuela (Spanish
operetta) but there’s no great gap between Italian verismo opera and
this through-composed 1916 work, crammed with dramatic declamation, challenging
vocal lines, strong melodies and passion. It lacks only a key aria or two when
principals are about to expire, and employs a more unified vocal-orchestral
texture than the popular zarzuela form, which traditionally includes spoken
words as well as song.
El Gato Montes is a hot-blooded tale of a love triangle in the world of the
bullring that uses the vernacular of Andalusia, the region of southern Spain
whose language often is distanced from the official high-Castilian Spanish but
is well-understood throughout the Hispanic world.
The musical structure is unusual, but José Hernandez as
pianist and musical director conveyed the well-sprung rhythms and accents very
effectively, with a quiet fervour that made the absence of an orchestra almost
irrelevant.
As pianist he had to work hard, especially in a second half
that in a fully staged production has four scenes requiring different settings.
When he played the familiar pasodoble heard in bullrings today, the atmosphere
of the corrida was palpable.
Yet with just singers at music stands, a piano and an
enthused Robert Cooper-directed chorus, Opera In Concert really made the first
of two presentations work. Not too many operas require a chorus to act as
lively spectators at a bullfight, but in this case it was well-handled both on
stage and when choristers sang from the theatre lobby behind the audience.
Their work was both biting and incisive.
Not too many operas require fluency in southern Spanish,
either, but the cast for the most part was at least coherent — and in one
leading role Arlene Alvarado, a soprano of Hispanic background, was
convincingly persuasive. (At yesterday’s performance, the part was sung by
Leticia Brewer).
Alvarado as the youthful, fickle Solea who can’t make up her
mind who she really wants to marry, the rising star matador El Macareno, né
Rafael Ruiz (tenor Keith Klassen) or her first love, the mountain outlaw
Juanillo (El Gato Montes of the title, sung by baritone Sean Watson), was a delight.
She was warm and plummy in the middle ranges, sparkled at
the top of her big range, and totally at ease with the language inflections.
Her flair for the composer’s soaring vocal lines was most impressive, her arias
heightened the sense of her dilemma.
The experienced Watson, whose dangerous stage presence is a
given, was in shining vocal form, too. Always secure of line, his articulation
was clear and his singing intense. His was a winning delivery throughout,
particularly in soul-searching soliloquies.
As Rafael, Klassen was able to catch each phrase with
piercing immediacy and intonation was solid, although his vibrato and slightly
pinched tones meant his impact was somewhat diminished when higher emotional
temperatures were needed. Yet he unerringly hit the frequent high notes in his
taxing role.
Elsewhere, mezzo Margaret Maye was in excellent voice as a
colourful gypsy leading an appealing children’s chorus.
Bass-baritone Gerrit Theule as Father Anton possessed well-rounded
notes and a talent for bombast, baritone Trevor Bowes was well-prepared as
Hormigon and alto Liliana Piazza showed chaste coolness as Rafael’s mother,
Frasquita.
The three lovers are all dead at the end, Rafael gored by a
bull, Solea overcome by grief and The Wildcat slain by a gun. With Opera In
Concert’s vision, their lives were hugely entertaining.
November 2, 2004
Opera in Concert – “El Gato Montés”
The 1916 Spanish zarzuela “El Gato Montés”
by Manuel Penella was one of Opera in Concert’s most powerful performances in
recent memory. The date is the key, because Penella was clearly influenced by
verismo. Music director José Hernández is a vocal coach and pianist of note,
and both these considerable skills helped craft El Gato Montés into such a
stirring performance.
American lyric soprano Arlene Alvarado as
Soleá is a stunning discovery with a soaring, goose-bump inducing top, and warm
woody lower registers. Tenor Keith Klassen as Rafael is sounding like a young
Alfredo Kraus, albeit a bit of a pinched one. The vibrant and robust sound of
baritone Sean Watson, the wildcat bandit of the title, perhaps indicates Verdi
and Puccini somewhere in his future. Experienced Polish-born mezzo-soprano
Margaret Maye has rich, easy, plumy tones and deserves a bigger career in her
adopted country. The rest of the talented cast came out of the OIC Chorus and
all showed enormous promise.
I’m Paula Citron, arts reviewer at CLASSICAL
96.3 FM.