A journey to South America affords even the
most seasoned traveler new and different experiences. For the last few weeks, I
have had the pleasure of traveling through many cities in that incredible
continent. And of all the memorable experiences I had these past weeks, none
came close to the two performances I had attended at Buenos Aires’ famed Teatro
Colón.
On Saturday, August 20th, the
Teatro Colón presented a
production of Puccini’s Tosca, based
on a concept by Roberto Oswald, the late opera director and set designer, and
conducted by Carlos Vieu. The great buzz of the production was that Argentinian
tenor Marcelo Álvarez, was returning to sing the title role of
Cavaradossi for a hometown crowd. Eva-Maria Westbroek sang the role of Floria
Tosca, and Carlos Álvarez - no relation to the tenor - played a thoroughly and
suitably evil Barón Scarpia.
The production itself was a traditional one.
This was no “concept” production to show off the cleverness of the director.
The set designer strived to recreate the locations of the three acts. At the
end of the first act, when the Te Deum
was being sung (with real incense!), the chorus of the Teatro Colón
was truly magnificent. This was opera with a capital “O”.
I was therefore able to focus my attention
entirely on the music, and I was not disappointed.
There is perhaps nothing more difficult than
performing for those who know you best. Marcelo Álvarez, I thought, was most
impressive from first note to last, and the audience roared its approval both
during and after the performance. I felt that Eva-Maria Westbroek gave a very
good portrayal of Tosca. I did think that her voice did not really blossom
until the third act, where she gave an intensely theatrical as well as musical
performance. I had a little trouble with her pacing in the famous Vissi d’arte, as I did not think that
she builds the aria towards a real climax. Even though the vocal demands for
the role of Scarpia are considerable, I believe the real challenge to the part
is more theatrical than musical. Carlos Álvarez outdid himself as Scarpia, both
musically and in his portrayal of this thoroughly evil character. His singing
of the famous line from Act One, “Tosca, you make me forget God,” in the middle
of the Te Deum, was most memorable.
Conductor Carlos Vieu was sensitive and
supportive in his guidance of the orchestra. I thought that principal
clarinetist Carlos Céspedes’ playing of the introduction to E lucevan le stelle was particularly
memorable in both beauty of sound as well as in pacing. The “pit” orchestra was
excellent, and I would rank it just slightly below the orchestras of Vienna and
Covent Garden.
I was thankful to have experienced the fabled
acoustics of the Teatro Colón, which was truly incredible. Every detail in
both the singing and the orchestral playing was audible. Even though I had
seats quite far up on the side, the sound was immediate and vibrant. This was
an experience I would not soon forget.
I returned to the theatre the subsequent evening
for a performance by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, whose visit to South
America, as I discovered with joy months ago, coincided with our stay in Buenos
Aires.
Going to the same theatre two nights in a row, I
was able to compare the acoustics of the venue for an operatic as well as a
symphonic concert. Although the sound was just as vivid on both evenings, the
acoustics of the Teatro Colón were even more immediate when the orchestra is
on stage.
The concert began with Antonin Dvórak’s Carnaval Overture,
Op. 92. I had heard Mehta conduct this very piece with the New York
Philharmonic on August 28, 1980, at the Lucerne Festival. If memory serves, the
New York orchestra had a brighter sound, and the Israel Philharmonic had a
mellower, more Central European sound. At the beginning of the performance, I
felt that the musicians were still getting used to the acoustics of the Teatro Colón, but the music gained much more vibrancy and lightness as the
performance went along.
Mehta and the orchestra continued with
Maurice Ravel’s Suite No. 2 from Daphnis
et Chloé. Although being brought up musically in Vienna, Mehta has always
been a convincing and idiomatic interpreter of the French repertoire, something
he credited his father for. It was a great reading of the Ravel’s work, both in
terms of how Mehta enabled the music to unfold naturally as well as in the
beauty of the Israel Philharmonic’s sound. In the opening evocation of sunrise,
I was bowed over by the beauty of orchestra’s strings. A work such as Daphnis et Chloé also
allows the wind soloists to shine, which they did.
After the interval, the orchestra played
Richard Strauss’ huge tone poem, Ein
Heldenleben. Mehta is perhaps one of the great conductors of Richard
Strauss today, and he had performed and recorded this work on numerous
occasions. This intimate knowledge of the score was obvious from the first note
to last, since he guided the musicians (and the audience) through this complex
score with the sure hand of a master storyteller. As much as the many musical
climaxes were overwhelming, it was the many intimate moments in the long work
that was, for me, memorable, like the oboe solo in Des Helden Gefährtin, which was especially movingly
played. The concertmaster’s playing of the work’s many solos was stunning. In Des Helden Weltflucht und Vollendung),
Mehta managed to hold our interest in the extended ending, until the sublime
ending of the work, which the orchestra played with a special sonic glow. Mehta’s
total absorption of the score was borne out by the fact that there seemed to
have been a connection between first note to last. There was a barely
perceptible moment of silence before the tumultuous applause began, growing
into the rhythmic applause that brought Mehta back for two encores.
Appropriately, Mehta and the Israel
Philharmonic gave the audience Dvórak’s Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 8, another
work that the conductor has conducted often. In this short work, I sensed the
chemistry between conductor and orchestra, since Mehta seemed to be hardly
“conducting” at all, but allowed the orchestra to let itself go with only an
occasional prompting. With the urging of the audience, Mehta ended the concert
with an overture, one to Mozart’s Le
Nozze di Figaro, which the orchestra played with all the lightness and zest
that the music calls for.
Comparing the two evenings’ performances,
one thing was apparent – the work of a very good conductor and that of a great
one. And Mehta is one of the great ones. Although only a spry 80-year old, the
conductor is now very different from the fiery and energetic musician of his
youth, I felt that in Ein Heldenleben,
it was almost as if he was telling his story of his own storied life.
Looking at the calendar of the theatre, it
appears that the venue is extremely well used, both by local companies as well
as by major orchestras and musicians. It is nice to know that Buenos Aires
remains one of the world’s great musical capitals. What a privilege it had been
to experience one of the great theatres of the world, and to hear a great
conductor and orchestra at work.
