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Gounod, Faust: Soloists, Orquesta Europa Musicale. Coro Premiere Ensemble. Ballet Opera de Limoges. Conductor: Vincent Monteil. Auditorio El Baluarte de Pamplona. 20.3.2009 (JMI)

Production from Opera National de Bordeaux.
Director: Jean Philippe Clarac & Olivier Deloeuil.
Sets: Philippe Miesch.
Costumes: Thibaut Welchlin.
Lighting: Giuseppe Di Dorio.

Cast:

Faust: Sébastien Guèze.
Marguerite: Sabina Cvilak.
Mephistopheles: Dimitry Ivaschenko.
Valentin: Javier Franco.
Siebel: Alexandra Rivas.
Wagner: Silvano Baztán.
Marthe: Ariadna Martínez.


La Asociación  Gayarre  de Amigos de la Ópera (AGAO) offers its second production this season, following I Puritani a few months ago, and this time the choice  falls to Gounod’s  Faust, commemorating almost exactly  (one day of difference) the 150^th  anniversary of its premiere in Paris. Without a doubt this opera is  one of the most frequently performed from the French repertoire but it comes back to  Pamplona after 57 years of absence. On this occasion it is necessary to recognize that AGAO has made a huge effort  to offer truly a representative Grand Opera, with a production from Bordeaux, an interesting cast, the presence of a ballet company and an almost complete version of the opera. The production was premiered in Bordeaux last year and I had the opportunity to write about it in these pages – see review.

In Pamplona  the musical direction  was  entrusted to the French conductor Vincent Monteil, who  had to struggle against some difficult elements and not always successfully. The very fast tempos he demanded at the kermesse could hardly be followed by the enthusiastic chorus, an ensemble with good voices, but one short on experience. The  Orchestra was also more a collection  of individual musicians than a true musical ensemble. Even so M. Monteil could steered the opera to a safe harbour, in spite of some storms.

The protagonist Faust was the young French tenor Sébastien Guèze (see an interview with Bettina Mara here) who made a strong impression despite his still immature interpretation. This singer, who is not yet 30 has  very positive qualities, although he still has  some way to go. The voice is pleasant, has very natural projection and the top notes  are all very easily produced. These were not the best circumstances to make a debut in so demanding role and  he showed a certain tendency to sing forte, as a consequence of his ardour. What really counts though is that the raw vocal material is there and that M. Guèze has a lot of  musicality. If he keeps on working hard and doesn’t try to run too fast, he should have a a very bright future. He seems to me to be the most promising French tenor of the new generation.

Slovenian soprano Sabina Cvilak arrived to Pamplona preceded by  very good reviews  of  her debut as Micaëla in Washington and Los Angeles. She is a promising soprano, who should also take care with the steps in her career. She is a light soprano (slightly more than that, in fact), who has a pleasant middle voice and  whose current greater problems are at both extremes  of the tessitura. Her lowest notes are almost inaudible and her top notes  can borders on a shout, going beyond that  in the  more dramatic passages on this showing She was an interesting Marguerite in the first part of the opera, whereas, completely understandably, she suffered somewhat in the second part,  which demands a voice of more  weight than hers. She is very promising, but she shouldn’t sing beyond her  natural repertoire, at least not for a while.

The young  Russian bass Dimitri Ivaschenko  was Mephistopheles and he gave a very convincing performance, being the best suited singer for his role,  in the cast. He is a familiar singer in the operas that AGAO produces and in this case he was much better than in his last appearance as Puritani’s Giorgio. He has good stage presence, and as ample and attractive voice in the center.  Ivaschenko is a good singer, who only he needs his  top notes to be better projected and less whitish. All in all, he was  a powerful and very interesting Devil.

Javier Franco was also a good Valentin. He is a pleasant baritone, singing and expressing quite well, although the voice has tendency to remain a little recessed. He strikes me as  singer who should be much more active in Spanish opera houses – casting directors please note. Alexandra Rivas offered a credible and well sung Siebel,  better in her high notes. She is currently one of the singers guaranteed to perform well  in secondary roles. By contrast, Ariadna Martinez was too  immature as Marthe.  She was actually  much too young for the role -  the libretto  has Mephisto refer to her as  “cette vieille impitoyable”.

There was a warm reception for all the artists, especially for Ivaschenko and Cvilak.

José M Irurzun


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