Linbury Studio, Royal Opera
24th October 2006
It’s not always easy disagreeing with the critics. It’s happened so often this season, I’m almost beginning to doubt my powers of operatic judgement. After all, most opera critics are a lot older than me, and have been listening to opera for a lot longer, and they get paid for what they do. If I write a review that claims all the critics don’t know what they’re talking about, I’m going to look stupid and arrogant, and completely lacking in operatic taste. Who’s going to pay any attention to what I write?
But that doesn’t change the fact that I do think the critics got this opera completely wrong. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I think I’m cleverer than the critics. It just means that I was in more of a position to enjoy this opera than they were, and there could be any number of reasons for that. This is an opera where you have to appreciate what is there, rather than picking at what isn’t. It’s not like any other opera I’ve seen before, so it’s quite difficult to categorise it. And it’s not always easy to know what’s going on.
It’s difficult not to attend an opera without expectations of what should be there – and perhaps the only reason I did was because the critics had rubbished it, so I wasn’t expecting anything except boredom. So they did me a favour. The story has a vague dreamlike quality – with striking moments of nightmare – so you do need to accept everything that’s happening, and not trouble too much about working out the mechanics of it. But there are plenty of operas like this. If I tried to work out some of the mechanics of Die Zauberflote, for example, I doubt it would be in my Top Five Operas for very much longer.
Bird of Night doesn’t seem that realistic either, but it was completely fascinating. It’s like a dark fairy story (actually, they’re all pretty dark if you think about them!) with weird and wonderful characters, not to mention some incredible animals, performed by dancers. Dominique Le Gendre’s music is full of emotions and atmosphere that all adds to the sometimes lovely, sometimes chilling story.
Betsabee Haas is enchanting in the central role of Appolline. Her acting was very involved, although Appolline was clearly an emotionally young fifteen year old, and if her singing wasn’t exactly operatic, her voice was very sweet, and perfect for the character. She sang the words very clearly too: in fact, all the diction was surprisingly good, with even the Trinidad dialect coming through comprehensibly.
Her mother Justine and intriguing godmother Nen-Nen were given powerful characterisations by Jacqueline Miura and Andrea Baker; Paul Whelan sang beautifully as her father Ti-Jo. Her evil uncle and aunt, Diego and Desiree, were both brilliantly acted by Richard Coxon and Liora Grodnikaite, but Coxon’s voice is more of a cause for concern every time I hear him. His top notes are sounding very rough and harsh, with a tendency to waver off-pitch. I hope there’s nothing wrong with his voice, but his lower notes have such richness, I’m wondering whether he ought to consider baritone roles in the future.
Liora Grodnikaite (formerly a Young Artist, and now the ROH’s first Jette Parker Principal) was remarkable. She was vocally on very fine form: the low, lyrical nature of much of her music was perfect for her dark, sensual tones, and she looked amazingly sexy and enticing. I might have considered turning lesbian if she hadn’t been so completely terrifying.
The singers performing the roles of the Narrators and Satan were Scottish tenor Mark Wilde and another former Young Artist, Grant Doyle. They both sounded gorgeous, and the two voices blended well together. It was just a shame they had so little to do.
Bird of Night was originally conceived as a short work, lasting about fifteen minutes. Stretching a short work into a longer one must have been a great challenge, but it worked very successfully: perhaps Le Gendre had a longer work in mind all along.
Cunning Little Vixen
primi-divi at hotmail.co.uk