DVD review
Khovanshchina, Mussorgsky
Camilla Nylund (Emma), Helena Jungwirth, Lana Kos, Anaïk Morel (Old Believers), Doris Soffel (Marfa), Klaus Florian Vogt (Prince Andrei Khovansky), John Daszak (Prince Vasily Golitsyn), Ulrich Reß (Scribe), Valery Alexeiev (Shaklovity), Kevin Conners (Kuzka), Paata Burchuladze (Prince Ivan Khovansky), Anatoli Kotscherga (Dosifei)
Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Bayerischen Staatsoper c. Kent Nagano
p.& d. Dmitri Tcherniakov video director Karina Fibich
Medici Arts 2072428 (174 minutes)
Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky
Tatiana Monogareva (Tatiana), Margarita Mamsirova (Olga), Makvala Kasrashvili (Madame Larina), Emma Sarkisyan (Filippyevna), Andrei Dunaev (Lenski), Mariusz Kwiecien (Eugene Onegin), Anatoli Kotscherga (Prince Gremin), Valery Gilmanov (Zaretsky)
The Bolshoi Theatre Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus c. Alexander Vedernikov
p. & d. Dmitri Tcherniakov d.(costumes) Maria Danilova video director Chloé Perlemuter
BEL AIR Classiques BAC046 (2 Discs – 176 minutes)
Dmitri Tcherniakov, director of both these DVD’s was given his first big break at the Mariinsky, aged thirty, by Valery Gergiev in 2001, who entrusted him with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Kitezh, hardly an easy first assignment. His startling take on that piece firmly established him as a major talent; since then his career has spread westward, via the Bolshoi.
In Khovanshchina, recorded live in Munich in 2007, no vestiges of historicity remain; instead we see present day society in a terminal state of terror and dissolution. The stage is divided into several separate grey areas, like neon-lit aircraft hangars, which ingeniously display the different threads and statuses of the characters in Mussorgsky’s incomplete work. Tcherniakov imposes unity by making the action take place on one day, subtitling the different spaces with helpful aides – naming characters, times and events in the manner of disaster movies, or the cult TV show ‘24’. Two of the uppermost stage areas are devoted to Tsar Peter the Great, and his half-sister, Empress Sophia, both characters that were part of Mussorgsky’s original conception, but were impossible to pass by the censor of that time; these silent presences transform as the opera progresses. Tcherniakov plays fast and loose with history, but Mussorgsky’s muddle does much the same, with inconsistent, even nonsensical characterization and non-linear events. The problem is that the relentless greyness of the design, mitigates clarity and energy and the piece emerges almost as an abstraction. Key scenes seem redundant: why a prolonged political discussion (Act 2) by three princely leaders? All are dressed in various muftis, so the contrast between progressive Golitsin, absolutist thug Khovansky and regressive religious leader Dosifei is not apparent. The (often cut) scene where Marfa is denounced by Susanna, a fanatical Old Believer, is altered into a mini crowd scene, with Susanna’s role divided between three singers. It is difficult to divine intent here as Marfa’s music exudes repose and spirituality, to see her bullied and beaten doesn’t work. More memorable – and startling – is the Dance of the Persian Slaves, recast here as a harrowing game of Russian roulette between Ivan Khovansky and his serfs. After Peter the Great’s bodyguards (Streltsy) are gunned down (a directorial plot change) the stage boxes retreat in a surprising theatrical coup and the triumphant music (manipulated here) fades, leaving a totally empty stage for the self-immolation of the Old Believers. This is totally static, the chorus and principals stand in terror, ecstasy and hope as a golden light emanates from the orchestra pit and suffuses the auditorium. The opera is capped with Stravinsky’s numinous final chorus – at which point the struggles and carnage of the earlier scenes seem entirely remote and we seem to have been through an experience more to one served up by Arvo Pärt or John Taverner. The opera is given in Shostakovich’s orchestration, but with cuts that resemble (more or less) Rimsky’s edition. Maybe Kent Nagano would have been happier with Rimsky’s orchestration, as his approach is swift, blended and lightweight, not doing justice to Shostakovich’s massive effects and lacking grandeur and spirituality. The cast is strong: Anatoly Kotscherga wields powerful stage presence as Dosifei, no inward cleric, rather a bullying fanatic on a par with the princes. It is a shame his upper register occasionally wavers in intonation, and his moments of stillness are too external, lacking a true sense of line. Paata Burchuladze (Ivan Khovansky) is a deceptively comradely tyrant, making his moments of anger and insanity truly disturbing. John Daszak’s Golitsyn seems vocally ill at ease, and Doris Soffel, with a chest voice worthy of Marlene Dietrich, makes Marfa more a siren than a priestess – her renunciation of the world isn’t convincing. The performance is rapturously received. Might it be that the vast scenic concept does not transfer well to DVD? Certain camera angles, awkwardly taken from the side revealing approaching/departing thighs of the chorus seem to bear this out. There are no extras on the DVD, which is a shame, as anyone coming to the opera for the first time will be lost. I found an interview with Tcherniakov on the Bayerische Staatsoper website which clarifies some things – this should be in the package. There are moments of brilliance here, but it just doesn’t add up – rather like the opera itself.
Tcherniakov’s 2006 production of Eugene Onegin for the Bolshoi replaced a classic that had been a pillar of their repertoire for sixty years. It gained publicity as the subject of a furious open letter from Galina Vishnevskaya, denouncing it as an act of vandalism and vowing never to set foot in the Bolshoi ever again, even moving her planned 80th birthday celebration from there. This DVD is taken from live performances of the Bolshoi at the Palais Garnier in Paris in 2008, and has, as an extra, a fascinating interview with Tcherniakov and the cast. I’ll put my cards on the table straight up: this production deserves to live another sixty years. Gone are the sequence of interior and exterior scenes. Rather, the action is confined to a large period room, dominated by a long table and chairs, and a chandelier. For the Moscow scenes the same room is transformed into a casino, or a ritzy restaurant. The opening scene, often slow moving, is here totally engrossing, and powerfully evocative. Madame Larina presides at the head of the table, an outsize presence (a tour de force acting performance from veteran Bolshoi diva – and notable past Tatiana – Makvala Kasrashvili) who seems to embody characteristics of both her daughters. The whole family dynamic makes sense in a way that I have never seen, awash in nuance worthy of Chekhov. The big chorus of workers near the beginning, usually presented as a divertissement that is out of scale with the intimate tenor of the work (in fact Stanislavsky and others cut it), is played as an answering contribution by a guest at the table to the opening duet for the Larin sisters –a brilliant solution and packing a powerful emotional and nostalgic punch, giving us a chance to witness the Larin family dynamic. work. Just to see the nurse (Emma Sarkisyan) contain the Larin ladies’ emotional volatility is a masterclass in acting and psychology. Lensky (meltingly voiced by Andrei Dunaev) is cunningly refashioned into an ageing academic, whose passion for Olga is tolerated and made fun of by her from the start, and Onegin is kindlier than usual, but repressed. Even some of the more controversial departures from the text make emotional sense, such as Lensky singing M. Triquet’s poem for Tatiana’s name day, the non-duel, and Tatiana confessing her turmoil to her husband at the opening of the final scene. It all works, because it is attuned to the emotional truth in the music. In short we see a parade of flawed human beings, heightened by being presented as opera – close to ideal I’d say. Tatiana Monogarova is surely as definitive a Tatiana as Vishnevskaya was: a disturbingly awkward presence, commanding stillness worthy of Garbo, with creamy tone and supple phrasing – the letter scene is engulfing. The comments from the performers in the extra say it all: they are all convinced by this revitalization of a Bolshoi chestnut. The DVD direction picks up on as much nuance as it can. Essential viewing for all opera lovers.
[first published in OPERA magazine]
JULIAN GRANT 2009