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Wagner, Lohengrin: Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias. Coro de la Fundación Príncipe de Asturias. Conductor. Maximiano Valdés. Auditorio Príncipe Felipe de Oviedo. 14. 3.2008 (JMI)

Concert Version.

Cast:

Lohengrin: Robert Dean Smith.
Elsa: Nancy Gustafson.
Ortrud: Petra Lang.
Telramund: Hans Joachim Ketelsen.
Koenig Heinrich: Reinhard Hagen.
Heerrufer: Christopher Robertson.

It is not very usual to offer opera in Oviedo, other than the regular season of Opera Oviedo. Nevertheless, during this season the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (OSPA) has programmed two operas in concert version, this  Lohengrin  and next month Vivaldi’s La Fida Ninfa with Spinosi and The Ensemble Matheus on a tour through some other cities in Spain.

The musical Director of the Asturian orchestra, the Chilean Maximiano Valdés, seems to like German repertoire, since he is the usual conductor for Wagner and Strauss during the regular Oviedo opera season. His interpretation improving during this concert, starting the first act with an evident imbalance between brass and strings, due to the storm of sound that he required from the orchestra. There was also  lack of mystery and intimacy during the Prelude, but afterwards things went much better from the end of Act I onwards. This was a good musical reading, although more biased towards controlling the forces than showing much inspiration. The OSPA did well, apart the problems referred above in the first act. This is a very irregular orchestra, whose quality depends very much on the conductor, although they seem to be  very happy with Mr. Valdés. The large Chorus (almost 100 members) was a reliable ensemble, although despite the number of singers there still problems with  lack of strength at  more than one moment and their ensemble was not perfect. It looked like there were not enough rehearsals, but in summary, this was a good musical version.

Lohengrin was the American tenor Robert Dean Smith, without a doubt one of great the attractions of this concert, since he has been one of the best interpreters of the role  in recent years.  This type of Wagner role (Walther, Parsifal and Siegmund) is his best repertoire, although in lately  he has decided to take on heavier roles, which I am not convinced is a good decision from his part. His voice offers a timbre of great beauty and he is an outstanding singer, not suffering from the  Lohengrin tessitura. Recognizing that his vocal interpretation has been truly outstanding, I have found him less comfortable in the character than  on  the last occasions in when I  have heard him in this opera. I have the impression that his incursions in the more dramatic repertoire is affecting him and  I do not believe that he will continue with Lohengrin for much longer.

The American soprano Nancy Gustafson sang Elsa, and she seems ready to sing whatever they ask her for these days. To me she is never been other than a light lyric soprano, showing a lack of low notes and a very tight high register. The middle of her voice works better and her best point is her expressiveness. Unfortunately, there is a  more than worrying vibrato in her voice now also.

German mezzo soprano Petra Lang is nowadays one of the best interpreters of Ortrud. She is a singer of a rare intensity, to  whom it does not seem  to matter much whether she is on stage or in concert, since she never looks at the score and lives the character completely. She acts with huge intensity and is the centre of attention for  the audience, whatever she is doing. Her voice has a good quality in the middle of the range, being her top notes more metallic. The invocation to Wotan and Freia was spine chilling.

The veteran Hans Joachim Ketelsen was a sonorous and vociferous Telramund, and  Reinhard Hagen was a reliable King Henry when he did not need to use the upper register which is too tight. Christopher Robertson was a remarkable Herald, sonorous and musical. I thought it was bad idea to locate the singers on the side of the stage instead of singing at the front, surely not the best way to help them in this opera. A nearly full house rewarded Petra Land and Robert Dean Smith with a huge ovation.

José M Irurzun


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