SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Mozart , Idomeneo: (Munich Version) (Concert staging) Soloists, Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi (conductor) Opera Seria Chorus, Barbican Hall, London 14.5. 2008 (GD)

Cast:
Idomeneo: Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Elettra: Emma Bell (soprano)
Idamante: Jurgita Adamonyte (mezzo-soprano)
Ilia: Kate Royal (soprano)
Arbace: Benjamin Hulett (tenor)
High Priest: Paul Badley (tenor)
Voice: Charles Pott (bass)


The programme for this performance clearly states that this was the Munich version of Idomeneo with the addition of Elettra’s aria ‘D Oreste di Aiace’. But even with the rediscovery of the original Munich performing score of 1780/81 (which was not available when the Neue Mozart Ausgabe score was published in 1972) it has not been possible to speak accurately of a definitive Munich Idomeneo. We certainly know from Mozart’s correspondence with his father that he was contemplating various cuts (especially in the the third act) to improve the flow of the drama. It is likely that these cuts were made for the premiere (29 January 1781), but then the cuts were more than likely restored by Mozart for the second or third performance in the February of that year. We know that Mozart liked to experiment with material to see how it shaped-up in performance, and how well a particular singer coped with a role. Mozart worked harder on this opera than any previous work, and retained a special affection for it. With this in mind it is difficult to imagine a scenario (in Munich) where Mozart would not similarly have experimented before he made his final decision.

Tonight,  Arbace’s wonderful third act recitativo and aria ‘Se cola ne’ (lamenting the fate of Greece and Idomeneo before the Gods) was cut thus depriving us of some wonderful music and adding to the imbalance of Arbace’s role in relation to the other characters. Even more surprising, and damaging,  was the omission of Idomeneo’s last aria ‘Torna la pace’ (a meditation on the rekindled peace he feels through the mercy of the Gods), which acts as a fitting prelude to the triumph of love and mercy proclaimed in the final chorus ‘Scenda Amour’, here given in the truncated version where the contrasted woodwind concertante mid-section is omitted. It is arguable that the omission of the third act duet,  ‘S’io non moro a questi accenti’ between Idamante and Ilia (a kind of reconcilliation of guilt, desire, and honour) will not seriously hold up the narrative/dramatic flow, but it also deprives us of Mozart’s magical insights into the art of the duet! Insights he went on to develop with unequalled genius in the great Da Ponte operas.

One of the most distinctive qualities of this  Idomeneo was the elegance and clarity that  Biondi achieved with Europa Galante, especially in the horns (valveless) and woodwinds: Mozart here providing an unsurpassed (for its time) richness and subtlety of orchestral sonority. The great third act quartet ‘Andro ramingo e solo’ (a conglomeration of the various conflicting desires, emotions of the four main characters) was exceptionally well balanced, with Biondi, violin in hand, turning to conduct the soloists. Here I don’t think I have heard the balance between soloists and orchestra better conveyed, with horns  in chromatic register, adding to the complexity of the drama.

Speeds throughout were on the fastish side. The only downside to all this lightness and elegance was an occasional lack of dramatic weight: as one commentator has noted Mozart was approaching a kind of proto-grand opera with Idomeneo in terms of its scale and dramatic seriousness, something that even Gluck never quite managed. This was evident in the overture which was crisp and light but lacked the sense of impending drama that the great Fritz Busch  or Peter Maag brought to it. Ilia’s opening G minor aria ‘Padre, germani’ ( a lament on her torn loyalty/desire between her slain father Priam, and her love of the ‘Greek’ Idamante) was not one of the vocal delights of the evening. Kate Royal projected lots of big voice volume but not much in the way of subtlety of mood and contrast. She has obviously not heard Senja Jurinac on record in this role. After this disappointing opening , the part consoling answer to the captive Ilias’ grief in Idamante’s ‘Non ho colpa’ (it’s all the doing of those fickle Gods!) was a delight, almost a compensation. The Lithuanian mezzo Jurgita Adamonyte replaced the indisposed Christine Rice at short notiice and she proved to be one of main delights of the evening. Adamonyte projected all the ambiguity between love (for Ilya with a note of vulnerability) and dutiful virtue. Her vocal register is somewhere midway between mezzo and soprano,  so she could manage the upper registers without a hint of strain,  mercifully eschewing all vibrato. She was a model of clarity and beautiful tone, also of pronunciation throughout.  In later revivals of Idomeneo Mozart gave the part of Idamante to a tenor but with singing of this quality I would happily stay with the mezzo version. I look forward to hearing/seeing Adamonyte as Idamante in a staged opera production.

Emma Bell’s Elettra proved to be another highlight of the evening. As with Adamonyte, Bell’s vocal range as a soprano is not confined to one register. She is pre-eminently a dramatic soprano with the ability to encompass elements of the mezzo range, just right for Elettra. My only criticism of her was that in her great third act aria of suppressed rage and revenge ‘D'Oreste, d’Aiace’ (surely a prefiguration of the ‘Queen of the Night’s’ great second act aria ‘Der Hölle Rache’ from ‘Die Zauberflöte’) she slightly smudged her concluding wild coloratura scales. But overall,  she projected Elettra’s manic character with a degree of both vocal fire and empathy and blended well with the other soloists especially in the ensemble pieces.

Initially in Idomeneo’s first aria ‘Vedrommi intorno’ (a lament at the price he has to pay the Gods for his rescue at sea) I felt that Bostridge, although singing well, slightly over characterised his part; the danger of standing out as a star in an opera so dependent on vocal (ensemble) harmony. But as the drama progressed,  these initial perceptions were soon dispelled. In the later ensemble set pieces he both shone out as Idomeneo, and blended in completely with the other soloists. Particularly fine was his meticulous phrasing and characterisation in the great bravura second act aria ‘Fuor del mar’ (where Idomeneo compares his fraught condition to a shipwreck imposed by the Gods who also saved him from death).

Kate Royal’s Ilia improved after the initial disappointment of her opening aria. She blended well in the ensembles and was particularly affecting in her third act aria ‘Zeffiretti lusinghieri’ (where she calls on the zephyrs to convey her love to Idamante).

In a private performance at Auersperg Palace in 1786, Mozart, is known to have omitted Arbace’s role altogether. Arbace, as Idomeneo’s confidant, is more of a marginal role in the drama,  more important in maintaining a vocal balance, although he doesn’t appear in any of the ensemble pieces which is doubtless one reason why Mozart changed Idamante’s role to a tenor at this later performance. With the cutting of ‘Se cola ne’ tonight,  Benjamin Hulett didn’t have much to do apart from his second act act aria ‘Si il tuo duol’ (where he pledges his love and devotion to Idomeneo in his grief). He sounded no more than a vocally competent Arbace after memories of Schreier and Poell.

The sixteen strong choir (Opera Seria Chorus) sang excellently throughout the opera. I could have done with a little more fire and terror in ‘Corriamo, fuggiamo’ the frightful retreat from the terrifying sea monster which concludes the second act. Male members of the choir sang the ‘High Priest’ and ‘A Voice’; although Charles Pott’s ‘A Voice’ didn’t sound very much like a bass.

Although strictly speaking Idomeneo is an ‘opera seria’, arguably the greatest ever composed, Mozart took the work light years away from the formalism and dramatic strictures of former operas of this genre. The complex emotions of the father/son relationship and the threat of sacrifice and loss involved,  inspired in Mozart some of the most personal and poignant music he ever wrote.

With the complexities of editions, cuts and a full length brilliant ballet score (as in most concert/opera performances today not included here) there is probably no such thing as a perfect Idomeneo. Maybe only a fully staged opera production with all the omissions included and the full ballet in between the second and third acts with a Harnoncourt or Mackerras conducting would come close to the real thing.  But despite the cuts and an an occasional sense of an under - dramatised approach this  performance brought its own delights; not least Fabio Biondi’s perceptive and always attentive direction, the excellently lucid and clear articulation from‘Europa Galante and the vocal delights especially from Adamonyte and Bostridge.

Geoff Diggines


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