SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Verdi,  Falstaff :at the Royal Stockholm Opera (New production) 24.2.2008 (GF)

Directed by Ann-Margret Pettersson
Sets by Lennart Jirlow
Costumes by Ann-Margret Fyregård
Lighting design by Hans-Åke Sjöquist

Cast:
 

Falstaff: Carl Johan Falkman
Ford: Anders Larsson
Fenton:  Klas Hedlund
Doktor Cajus: Magnus Kyhle / Jon Nilsson
Bardolfus: Ulrik Qvale
Pistol: Lennart Forsén
Mrs Ford: Hillevi Martinpelto
Nanetta: Ofelia Sala
Mrs Quickly: Ingrid Tobiasson
Mrs Page: Katija Dragojevic

The Royal Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Stefan Solyom

Sir John Falstaff - Carl Johan Falkman
 

Verdi’s late masterpiece Falstaff hasn’t been too frequent a guest in Stockholm. I saw the last production more than 30 years ago and it was old even then, having opened in December 1960. Since 1987 it hasn’t been seen at all. The new production, signed Ann-Margret Pettersson, was premiered on 16 February and I saw the fourth performance, which also happened to be the 100^th ever at the Royal Opera, the first production having opened on 16 November 1896.

Ann-Margret Pettersson has worked at the Royal Opera since 1967 and has a long list of successful productions behind her. I have very clear memories of many of them and I am sure this one will be added to that list. Working with the noted artist Lennart Jirlow, known for his colourful life-enhancing pictures, she has created a performance that is both burlesque and delicate, thus mirroring Verdi’s many-faceted music, which is a miracle of inventiveness. It is possibly his most complicated score and it moves along at breakneck speed for long stretches, while in between he surpasses almost anything he had written before in melodic beauty. Nannetta’s and Fenton’s music is heartrending and Mrs Ford has been allotted marvellous music where time literally stands still. Verdi himself was actually present in person on stage during the first scene at the Garter Inn, where he, having for quite some time watched Falstaff’s machinations through the revolving doors at the back, before he slowly entered and positioned himself at the bar, where he and Falstaff eventually drank to one another. Jirlow’s inspired and joyful mix of naivist and late 19^th century sets lent a certain fairytale atmosphere to the proceedings and the costumes, especially the ladies’ exquisite creations and Falstaff’s quite hilarious outfit when he came to woo Mrs Ford, contributed to a real feast for the eye.

Katija Dragojevic, Maria Streijffert, Silvia Moi
 

As in all buffo opera the comic elements can sometimes turn into slapstick but by and large this performance stayed within what could be characterized as good taste. The bullying of Falstaff, first when he is thrown into the Thames and then in the final scene in Windsor Park, was remedied by the fact that this Falstaff was more clear-sighted than most and when all the complications were sorted out he unmasked, not only the Black Hunter disguise but also his Falstaff wig, belly and clothes and there he was: Carl Johan Falkman, fit and trim, in shirt and slacks, showing that somewhere deep behind our various masks there is a real human being and only rarely do we get to know that being.

For Carl Johan – better known as Loa Falkman, this was a triumphant return to the Royal Opera stage, where he made his debut as early as 1973 and worked for many years – with some breaks for other assignments, most notably playing Escamillo in Peter Brooks legendary Carmen in Paris and elsewhere. From 1990 he has worked as freelance, primarily in non-opera context, and he has become one of Sweden’s most versatile actors and entertainers, praised for his participation in numerous movies, TV-productions, cabarets and musicals. He was, to mention just one thing, a fantastic Higgins in My Fair Lady a decade ago. Occasionally he has returned to opera, being a superb Wozzeck at the Royal Opera some years ago (also on CD) and I saw him as a tragic and deeply moving Rigoletto in Malmö about six years ago. Having recently turned sixty he has retained his voice surprisingly well, allegedly through not singing for many years, and what little he has lost is more than compensated for by his superb acting. He is a comic creature of course but most of all Falstaff is also a tragic person and his big monologues were masterpieces of expressive singing, chiselled out in the tiniest details.

Hillevi Martinpelto and Carl Johan Falkman

 

And his wasn’t the only great performance. Bardolph and Pistil, his constantly half-drunk cronies, were also created with fine sense for the burlesque and rarely have I heard so sonorous a Pistol as Lennart Forsén’s. Anders Larsson gets only better and better for each time I see him and his Ford was sung with rock-steady voluminous tone and with expression to match, that should earn him major roles in any of the ‘big’ houses. Klas Hedlund’s Fenton could hardly be bettered and I wonder if Stockholm has had a better lyric tenor since the early days of Claes-Håkan Ahnsjö – and that was more than 35 years ago. Magnus Kyhle has stepped into the shoes of Sven Erik Vikström, legendary character tenor for the best part of the post war years.

On the distaff side Hillevi Martinpelto added another Verdi heroine to her list. Her silvery voice is as yet unscratched by the ravages of time and as Mrs Ford she revelled in the comic possibilities of the role, being far from unwilling in the amorous encounter with the lustily slobbering Falstaff. Ingrid Tobiasson, in emancipated pantsuit, clearly enjoyed her task as intermediary for her fellow Missises and the guest singers Katija Dragojevic as Mrs Page and Ofelia Sala as Nannetta were also good. Mrs Page is really a secondary role – she has quite a lot to sing in ensembles but little of solo character – but Nannetta has some of the loveliest music in the opera and Ms Sala sported a light agreeable soprano.

Pier Giorgio Morandi conducted the premiere but since then Stefan Solyom has taken over and he kept the kettle boiling, occasionally on the verge of being over-heated. On the other hand a plodding Falstaff is among the most disheartening experiences one can be exposed to and this performance was truly alive, from the boisterous introduction to the intricate final fugue – Verdi’s farewell to his admirers.

The surtitles are in Swedish only and presumably this will be the state of affairs until a new opera house is built. But that is not imminent – it has not even been decided where to build.

Göran Forsling

Pictures © Alexander Kenney and Onna Heinonen

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