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Poulenc,  Dialogues des Carmelites: Soloists, Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias. Coro de Ópera de Oviedo. Coro Intermezzo. Conductor. Maximiano Valdés. Teatro Campoamor de Oviedo. 22.9.2008. (JMI)

Production from Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam.

Director: Robert Carsen (original) Didier Kersten (revival)
Sets: Michael Levine.
Costumes: Falk Bauer.
Lighting: Jean Kalman.

Cast:

Blanche de la Force: María Bayo.
Mére Marie: Kristine Jepson.
Madame de Croissy: Viorica Cortez.
Madame de Lidoine: Pamela Armstrong.
Soeur Constance: Elena de la Merced.
Chevalier de la Force: José Luis Sola.
Marquis de la Force: Marc Barrard.
Chaplain: Dietmar Kerschbaum.
Mére Jeanne: Mercé Obiols.
Soeur Matilde: María José Suárez.
First Commissioner. Ángel Rodríguez.
Second Commissioner: Luis Cansino.
Jailer/Mr.Javelinot: José Manuel Díaz.
An Officer/Thierry: Alberto Feria.

Viorica Cortez as Madame de Croissy

Spanish PM’s Wife Executed On Stage!

Now in their 61^st season,  Oviedo’s of Asociación Asturiana de Amigos de la Ópera continues with the policy of opening its opera seasons with a new title. Elektra, Alcina, Il Viaggio a Reims and Tristan und Isolde were those that inaugurated the most recent seasons. This time the choice  fell to  Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites,  one of the few 20^th century  operas (Britten and Richard Strauss excepted) that has entered the main repertoire for some of the great opera houses. By choosing this opera, Oviedo follows in the footsteps of Seville, Madrid and Bilbao.

The production, the very well-known one  by Robert Carsen,  was seen at the Teatro Real in 2006 and in fact, there could be nothing more natural than staging it again, considering that it was awarded the Campoamor prize for the  best production in Spain for that year. It is another  fine effort  by  Carsen, with typically minimalist staging and  very good lighting and shows once more that he is an outstanding director. Having said that, I have always considered that the execution of the nuns in this staging is too symbolic  for a new audience, losing a good part of its impact.

As at previous season openers in Oviedo, Maximiano Valdés was in charge of Musical Direction with his Orchestra del Principado de Asturias. Valdés has always given interesting versions of the operas he has conducted in Oviedo and on this occasion there was no exception to that rule, although he did not seem completely familiar with the music and the dramatic tension fell at certain points. His orchestra gave a good performance however, as it  usually does for him.

Blanche de la Force was interpreted by María Bayo, who was very convincing. She lived the character with much intensity and  had only a few doubtful sounds in the work’s concluding sections.  Mère Marie was the American Kristine Jepson, who gave an outstanding performance in every  sense. She has  a beautiful voice, homogenous through all the tessitura, although occasionally lacking  some vocal weight. Elena de la Merced repeated her fine interpretation of Sister Constance  given  in Bilbao. She is a very musical light soprano, one of the most  interesting in Spain at the moment.

Sadly, Madame de Croissy was sung by Viorica Cortez, who is not up to the vocal demands of the role these days. She has been a wonderful mezzo soprano and a great artist in the past and in fact  is still an outstanding actress but her singing has lost some of its former quality. In much the same manner another American, Pamela Armstrong was a fine interpreter for  Madame de Lidoine, but in vocal terms  she left something to be desired. Her voice is too tight and actually not particularly pleasant on too  many occasions.

José Luis Sola  was a very reliable Chevalier:  this is a  tenor with a good future ahead of him and there was a good performance too from  Marc Barrard as Marquis de la Force. Mercé Obiol did not convince me as Mère Jeanne, while  Maria Jose Suárez was better as Sister Matilde. The rest of the cast was effective.

There was a full  theatre, comprising an audience  who did not seem terribly excited by the opera. Many were more interested in seeing Sonsoles Espinosa or Mrs. Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister’s wife, on stage as Sister Sacristine: she was exemplary in following the other nuns to the guillotine. The public applauded all of the artists although it was not an over - enthusiastic reception. The greatest  applause went to Kristine Jepson and  Maria Bayo.

José M Irurzun

Pictures © carlospictures

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