By NATALIA DI BARTOLO Following excerpts of French and English translation
Bilbao, January 26, 2015.
Bilbao January rainy mist shrouded a retains all original and colorful beauty of a city that looks to the traveler as an abstract picture, where moving routes full of surprises…On one of these, the Euskalduna Conference Centre is a must. Beautiful wood inside, beneath a starry ceiling, the Spanish Theatre has seen unfold on its modern stage a show that was billed as an event and that as such it really proved to the public of the Basque city, as part of the opera season 2014-2015 by Abao Olbe: Werther, Massenet's masterpiece.
Werther is not the work of easy listening nor easy. The immense Hall of the theatre in Bilbao, filled to capacity, welcomed the instant heat on podium Grandmaster Michel Plasson, leading the mighty Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa.
And’ a Director with mysterious powers, the master Plasson…The Orchestra under his baton seem to become a soft modelling clay. Beautiful ductility demonstrated to Abao Olbe, she left shape according to the dynamics of one of the last repositories of unyielding Tradition Francais in the field of Opera.
Capable of watercolor chiaroscuro, of superimpositions of almost Fauve colours, of sonorous ripples on crystalline surfaces, as well as sudden whips to the soul or well-aimed and targeted jabs, Plasson's direction has, as always, proved to be a palette full of hues, nuances, changing expressions. Every sober movement of him has given rise to improbable as well as celestial sound emotions, every accent has been captured in full, every underlining has become a brushstroke. His sensitivity and, at the same time, his rigor meant that the masterpiece took shape and unfolded, with the fluidity studied by the great conductor and with the tempos calibrated by the extremely refined connoisseur. Everything that Plasson knows how to get from an orchestra was obtained in Bilbao and brought to the listener as if on a silver platter: the purest philological reading was combined with a variegated expressiveness of feelings that came to overwhelm the listener, particularly in the fourth act, where the deepest impulses of the human soul, expressed and claimed by Massenet's masterpiece, have reached supernatural heights. The whip that concludes the work then fully captured the viewer, with the violent force and power that the composer himself would have wanted. A well-directed Werther can also be judged by the punch line alone. And here perfection, right from the start, reigns supreme. No one in the world today directs Werther like Michel Plasson.
If all this is combined with the presence on stage of a Master of French singing such as the tenor Roberto Alagna, then truly anthology peaks are reached. The Plasson-Alagna combination is successful, it always has been, but maturity seems to unite the two great musicians in an ever closer bond, in ever more exciting results.
The two Maestros understand each other even just with a glance and seeing Plasson conducting is a spectacle, as is seeing and hearing Alagna sing conducted by him: the support given to the performers, first and foremost, by the Director is the most heartfelt and vigilant that the writer has ever noticed. Together they made the masterpiece.
Roberto Alagna was in Bilbao a Werther proud, never too sweet, determined, and almost heroic; exacerbated in his tragic submission to a foreign duty, even violent, against his will, in the expression of their feelings towards Charlotte. But at the same time helpless and alone, a desperate loneliness, that there was a tangible and was its climax in meditation absorbed the extreme action, from behind, in front of the window, in front of a Blizzard.
Roberto Alagna did just that Werther volitional power experience and Spanish with the maturity stage that you get only after you have trod the boards of the stage in 30 years of career. A Werther, one of Alagna, capable now of giving the character the life experience of a fifty and, therefore, all the nuances of which you may be able in full maturity, not only vocal, but above all of life: the same that happens even in the role of Roméo in Gounod: it's extraordinary how your item is now and always perfect such roles.
Furthermore, his internalization of the characters has become so profound that singing Werther more and more costs him soul disturbances and sleepless nights. This is typical of the sensitivity of the great Artists, who even become hypersensitive and in whom vocal expressiveness and its transmission to the listener, who is fascinated by it, reach mysterious metaphysical heights. Once Werther has been embodied, then, as Maestro Plasson says, one remains Werther forever…
As for the technical data, the phrasing of the Sicilian tenor French, his diction, his legate were by the book. Not a smear, or a misplaced accent; not a crack: a Crystal voice, powerful, able to leap down to the bottom of the infinite Spanish audience and create an emission so calibrated that listen to pianissimo from the last row. Staggering the freshness of her voice, always perfectly suited to the part, which requires one interpretation on a high, since the first Act, the smoother. Still, there already, "Je ne sais si je veille…Or Nature…"cold and rich in nuances, it is certainly not easy. But, following the path of the score, vocal massenetiana becomes more fraught, the difficulties increase, we come to the third act to the virtuosity of one of the most difficult Arias of Opera of all time, but also one of the most famous and beloved: "Traduire… -Believe me reveiller…"The unfathomable depths of the human soul, come out in this passage with a strength arcana and shocking power to Abao Olbe. Moreover, certainly in the ears of the Spanish public could not echo the sounds of expression of other famous Werther. Alagna did not regret, indeed…his being French-speaking gave him the trump card, being directed by a great chance to give the utmost of own greatness. So it was and, at the end of the famous song, rave requests by bis and the applause, truncated only from unstoppable Plasson, demonstrated all the appreciation and the appreciation of the public. The fourth Act, on a highway suicide scene, apotheosis. Nobody in the world today interprets the Werther as Roberto Alagna.
A player of this calibre needed a proper ’ Charlotte…And found in the subtle, supple Elena Zhidkova. A haughty and Charlotte never sweet, supple and generous, scenically striking emotional expressions and harbinger of elegant vocally phrasing. To emphasize its propriety in the emission and its impressive projection, especially in felt letters, as well as Assembly, air admirable coordination with partner protagonist in duets.
Equally interesting performance of experienced Spanish baritone Manuel Lanza, who, embodying a Albert expressive and heard, has created effective and credible to a character that does not have particular skills to his liking.
All the other interpreters were pleasant and correct, including the pretty Sophie by Elena de la Merced, the well-characterized le Bailli by Stefano Palatchi and the two remarkable and well-coordinated Schmidt and Johann by Jon Plazaola and Fernando Latorre.
The little singers of the Gaudeamus Korala were delicate and well directed by Julia Foruria, who intoned the famous Christmas song with particular warmth.
All a group of performers who proved, therefore, high cohesion and professionalism, under the guidance of Director David Alagna, refined stage director, as well as excellent composer, brother of Roberto, who oversaw a Director of great beauty, having also the unusual ability to place each character in favor of Acoustics to the immense Hall of Bilbao.
His reading of the "pure" Werther is suggestive, a child soul, dressed in white, at the beginning, who exchanges his own purity, a candid veil, with appearance and convention, the hat given to himself. He returns pure in the third and fourth act, in the struggle for love, returning dressed in white even as an adult, but above all finding that veil at the end and then transfiguring himself in his tragic but never guilty death: a credible Werther, but in the same fascinatingly romanticized time.
The scenic setting again by David Alagna is very elegant, which was able to echo certain golden times of the Opera…Or, when on the stage were still objects. And even objects in Bilbao did not only scenes, but also directing. Glasses and bottles on the table thrown away from Werther at the second act; the carpet on the desk of the protagonist who becomes his blanket and shroud in the finale…all studied in detail, in the decorations and the presence of furnishings. A revival that really brought the audience admired the glories of the stages the years ' 50.
All contained in a sumptuous, monumental, also kept, skillfully illuminated by the lights of Aldo Solbiati and enriched by the elegant and symbolic colourist Louis Desiré ottocentesci costumes and also animated by numerous observers and by carriage and horse, as on a film set.
The production of David Alagna, already at the Regio in Turin in 2005, has enhanced so renewed and remarkable splendor, as had been seen recently in the Italian theatre DVD released on Deutsche Grammophon, sempre Roberto Alagna protagonist.
In growing exponentially over the course of the evening the enthusiasm of the already warm Spanish public of Euskalduna, which recognized a final Ovation awesome for power and durability, the Director and protagonist, United as always in a symbolic embrace that shook the entire audience, the two sponsors of the art of Opera Francaise of our days and in them and in all other interpreters and creators the qualitative value offered by a theater of international level as Abao Olbe in Bilbao.
© Natalia Dantas
From Roberto Alagna ' of Official page on Facebook @roberto_alagna @ABAO_OLBE
WERTHER (Bilbao). REVIEWED by Natalia Di Bartolo for Opera&Opera Magazine (03/02/2015). “A stunning vocal freshness, the resolved force experience, an overwhelming power, a proud and heroic Werther”
Excerpt (translated from Italian):
“[…] The Plasson combination - Alagna has always been winning, but maturity seems to unite more closely even these two great musicians, with a still more dazzling result. […] Bilbao, Roberto Alagna was a proud, never too watered-down, Werther determined and almost heroic. […] Roberto Alagna is appropriate this Spanish Werther with the resolved force experience and a scenic maturity that can only be achieved when there is a thirty-year career behind. Werther of Alagna is able today to offer the character the life experience of a man in his fifties and, therefore, the nuances that can be able in full maturity, vocally as humanly: this same maturity that are also found in the role of Gounod's Romeo: it is extraordinary to note as his current voice is always perfect for such roles. […] It is specific to the sensitivity of the great artists to be able to postpone its sensitivities on his vocal expression and transmit it to an audience that is as fascinated... As said Plasson, once it has embodied Werther, one is Werther for always [...] Not a defect in the franco-sicilien tenor phrasing and diction: a voice Crystal, powerful, able to project easily but a program that also allows to hear the pianissimo of the last line. The freshness of her voice is amazing, it is always perfectly suited and it allows an interpretation force whose intensity continues to grow since the first act. […] 'Translating '.… Why wake me up... » L’ @ABAO. Opéra de Bilbao, Alagna has succeeded in this air to express the unfathomable depths of the human mind, with a mysterious force and overwhelming power. In addition, the Spanish public had certainly in the ears of other famous Werther. Alagna he did them not regret. […] During the evening, the enthusiasm of the public Spanish, warm, went crescendo up to an impressive ovation at the end.”
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WERTHER (Bilbao). REVIEW by Natalia Di Bartolo for Opera&Opera Magazine (03/02/2015). “An amazing vocal freshness, the resolute strength of experience, an overhelming power, a proud and heroic Werther”
Excerpt (translated from Italian):
“[…] The association “Plasson / Alagna” has always been a winner partnership, but the maturity seems to unite more and more closely these two great musicians, with an ever more dazzling result. […] In Bilbao, Roberto Alagna was a proud Werther, never watered down, determined and almost heroic. […] Roberto Alagna mastered in this Spanish Werther with the resolute power of experience and with a maturity on stage that you only can get when you have thirty years of career behind you. Alagna’s Werther is able today to offer this character the life experience of his fifties, and therefore all the nuances a singer can bring when he is realizing the full potential of his art, both vocally and humanly: the same maturity which was also found in his performance as Romeo by Gounod. It is extraordinary to hear how his current voice is still perfectly suited for such roles. […] It is the nature of the great sensitive artists to be able to convey their hypersensitivity through their vocal expression to a fascinated audience … As Plasson said, once that you have embodied Werther, you are Werther forever […] Not a single imperfection in the French-Sicilian tenor’s phrasing and diction: a crystal voice, powerful, easily projected, but a rendition that also allows to hear the last line’s pianissimo. The freshness of his voice is amazing, it is always perfectly suitable and allows an on-stage performance which intensity is steadily rising since the first act. […] “Traduire .. Pourquoi me réveiller…” At the ABAO. Opera de Bilbao, Alagna has succeeded in this aria to express the unfathomable depth of the human spirit, with a mysterious force and overwhelming power. In addition, the Spanish public had certainly other famous Werther still in mind (and ears). Alagna did not live to regret them. […] During the evening, the supportive Spanish spectators showed a great enthusiasm, which grew crescendo to an impressive ovation at the end.”
Natalia Dantas
Foto Pagina Fb Roberto Alagna, Martine Garnier, AA.VV.
Video ABAO OLBE Bilbao