Photos: © Bregenzer Festspiele/Karl Forster
Oxana Arkaeva
Nobody is asleep in
Bregenz
„Turandot “at the
Bregenz Open Air Summer Festival August 9th,
2016
This year’s Summer Opera Festival in Austrian town
Bregenz presented a varied and hugely attended anniversary season. Located at
the picturesque site of the Constance Lake, the festival acts as a junction
point for the opera lovers from neighboring countries and vast national and
international audience. Highlighting G. Puccini's´
last opera “Turandot” in its renewal of the 2014/2015 seasons‘ production,
organizers of the festival presented an opulent, lavishly lightened show, with
impressive video projections and the one, that perfectly blends into the
surrounding landscape.
Each night, about 7000 listeners, equipped with
blankets and rain ponchos were carried away by beautiful scenery, great music,
and imposing stage settings. Remaining seated even during a small rain,
something that also happened on this evening, they enjoyed a majestic show with
acrobats, fire artists, a vast number of extras involved in martial fighters´
scenes and great singing.
Staging
Set directly in the lake and supported by 200 terracotta
warrior figures, the stage is divided into three sections.Chinese Great Wall at
the back with two massive towers at the both sides; Big, round, revolving stage with a large disk in the
middle; And small, private room at the front. The big stage is used as a
revolutionary as well as festivity square and as a macabre underground library,
where Ping, Pang, and Pong preserve the
chopped heads in the glass jars. The massive disc is lifted up, effectively
servíng as a surface for impressive video and light projections (Aron Kitzig and David Cunnigham).
Marco Arturo
Morelli, the stage director,
and designer confronts us with two entirely different, but nevertheless,
similar worlds: One of a lonely, sick, dying men and the other of a sick
society full of lonely, soul-dead humans. This lonely man is Puccini itself.
Restless and sleepless he feverishly trying to compose. With no inspiration
left, he interferes with the story, becoming the unknown Prince Calaf.
Morellis´ idea of the double Puccini-Calaf figure is a great achievement of
this production and casts a deep philosophical and symbolic light at Puccini's´ personal life and work.
Story and
Singers
To ensure the continuation of the dynasty, the
beautiful Princess Turandot must marry. Not inclining to do so, she refers to
the tragic story of Princess Lo-uling,
who was abducted, brutally abused and killed by a man. To escape Lo-uling´s fate, she requires all potential
marriage candidates to solve three riddles. An unfortunate loser is then
executed, and their headless body is thrown into the water from one of the
towers.
Confronted and frenetically celebrated by the grim,
masked crowd of walking dead creatures, (choreography Arthur Braun) the old Emperor Altoum who is in
a wheelchair (convincing is his portrayal by Manuel
von Senden) has enough of his daughters´ cruelty. To end the streams of
blood in his palace he forces her to stop the murderous quest. Hence he is not
enthusiastic about some unknown young men, who willingly declares to enter the
brutal competition.
Prince Calaf, reunited with his lost father, King Timur
(Gianluca Buratto with warm sounding
bass) who is accompanied by the slave girl Liù, is distracted by the appearance
of mysterious Princess Turandot in the floating by vessel. Charmed by her sent,
Calaf falls in love with her and seals his destiny by deciding to enter the
dangerous marriage contest, which he as the only
one wins.
Riccardo Massi as Prince Calaf gives an impressive performance
musically. A tall man, with commanding appearance and beautiful voice, the
tenor possesses italianita in the sound,
solid high notes, beautiful Legati and
great Puccini lines. His “Nessun Dorma”, calm in tempo, thoughtful in the mood
and with bombastic last "Vincero" marks a musical highlight of this
evening. However, as the double Puccini-Calaf figure, he often remained static,
which proves to be a disadvantage against his vocal performance. Morellis´ idea
to draw parallels between the characters of Calaf and Puccini could have
characteristically and from the acting endured more contour.
Associated with melancholic, full of passion melodies
that, once heard, will never be forgotten, Puccini created the whole series of
loveable, strong heroines, who’s stories never leave one unmoved. In “Turandot”
we are presented with not one, but with two female characters, who couldn´t
differ more: The Princess Turandot and the slave Liù.
The interpretation of the role of Turandot in this
production raises uncertainty. We do not exactly know whether we should feel
compassion for or despise her. The Turandot by soprano Erika Sunnegårdh is not a static opera diva, but a lonely, nervous,
restless, fragile and sad woman, who has a great fear of love. Thus the soprano
gives a corresponding vocal portrayal of this unfortunate Princess. Nervous,
restless in movements, she sings with edgy high notes and leaves us with the
wish for more legato and great Puccini lines. An excellent actress, she
considerably increases her vocal powers and gives a convincing performance in
the final scene.
Her female counterpart, the slave Liù was the best-portrayed character. Marjukka Tepponen presents the round, well-balanced, full-bodied
soprano. Initially equipped with the slight vibrato, she convinced through her clear acting and expressive singing. Besides
“Nessun Dorma", her last two arias
build another musical highlight of the evening.
The remaining three buffo characters, Ping, Pang, and
Pong sang by tenors Matija Meié, Taylan
Reinhard, and bass Grigory Shkarupa
(also in the role of the Mandarin) provided a lively, sometimes satirical, philosophical
acting, supported by pleasant voices and captivating acting.
Orchestra
To judge the vocal performance under the circumstances
of an open air production can be difficult and should be done with caution,
since singers´ voices have to pass through the acoustic filters, thus dealing
with possible timbre and vocal endurance challenges. Maestro Giuseppe Finzi however, achieved a
significant impact musically. Hidden from the audience, only perceived through
large screens and speaker boxes, the Vienna Sinfonie Orchestra and the choirs
of Prague Philharmonic and Bregenz festival choir (Luka´s Vasilek, Benjamin Lack) gave a memorable performance of the
well balanced, excellent sound and technical coordination (Gernot Gögele and Alwin Bösch). Especially
in both “Riddle” and “Love” duets Finzi underlined Puccini's´ gift as a brilliant singer-composer by supporting both
principal singers and by giving them an opportunity to demonstrate their vocal
abilities, their technical skills, and endurance.
Conclusion
At the end of the opera, we witness a transformation
of Turandot from cold-blooded Princess to an upright loving woman. Accepting
her defeat, she and Calaf, step out of this tragic story as the only winners.
On the front stage, we see Puccini-Calaf who, sitting in his barren room with
his hands tied. Powerless, he glances over at the lying on the bed, to see a dead Liù who just
sacrificed herself for Calaf. Facing death and watching the bombastic fireworks
and celebration show taking place behind him, this powerful image symbolizes
the transience of our life and of the impact of the great artist and his art that will survive its creator for
all times. Thus we are dismissed with the feeling of gratitude towards this
great composer, who, for all times, bestowed us with this fantastic music.
Highlighting G. Bizet´s most famous opera “Carmen”
with the premiere taking place on July 19 th.
2017, the next Bregenz Festival will be held from July 19th through
August 20th. 2017 and surely already now can be enthusiastically
looked for.
Cast, August
9th, 2016:
P
