SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL OPERA  REVIEW

J. Guridi, Mirentxu: Soloists, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi. Coral de Bilbao, Conductor: David Giménez Carreras, Teatro Arriaga de Bilbao. 22.6.2010 (JMI)

New production from Teatro Arriaga in coproduction with Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi.

 

Direction: Emilio Sagi.

Sets: Daniel Bianco.

Costumes: Miriam Ocáriz.

Lighting: Eduardo Bravo.

 

Cast:
Mirentxu: María Bayo.

Erraimundo: Andeka Gorrotxategi.

Prexen: Marifé Nogales.

Manu: Christopher Robertson.

Txanton: Fernando Latorre.

Old Shepherd: Axier Sánchez.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the première of this work, which also took place in Bilbao. The occasion has not passed unnoticed and the Teatro Arriaga decided, quite rightly, to mark the anniversary with this revival. I say quite rightly, because few people have had the opportunity to see it, at least during the last 30 years.

Guridi's work can be subject to much discussion regarding its location as a musical genre. Personally, I think it belongs to the opera, although the composer complicates things by referring to it not as opera or zarzuela, but as a ‘Basque Lyric Idyll’, whatever that means. Indeed, musically Mirentxu is not a very important work (even if Guridi considered it among the best he wrote) although it contains some pleasant moments, several of them based on Basque popular music. Unfortunately, its libretto is one of the worst I have ever read, with a silly love plot set in a pastoral, bucolic atmosphere. The protagonist begins the opera by singing to flowers and birds and ends in the same way, while she is consumed by tuberculosis. The characters have no dramatic interest as the work depicts a rural society where everyone is so good and pure that they can only be artificial characters.

It is Emilio Sagi who created this new production and he does it with good taste, placing the action in a forest. The costumes are well designed and there is excellent lighting. The stage direction is good but very little can be done with these characters since they lack any real depth. The musical direction was entrusted to David Giménez Carreras who seemed at home with the music, but I found it hard to understand why the orchestra gave what was probably the poorest performance I have ever heard from them.

The main character Mirentxu was played by María Bayo, a choice which seemed to me to be wrong. Mirentxu is a young girl who is discovering love as a teenager, as is her rival and friend Prexen, both of them in love with Erraimundo. María Bayo might easily have been the mother of both her beloved and her rival. Andeka Gorrotxategi was Erraimundo and he was well suited to the character. This tenor has improved in strictly musical terms and I found his voice quite interesting. He is a full lyric tenor but he has still to perfect his vocal projection.

Marifé Nogales did well in the part of Prexen, one of the characters that smell of sanctity in the work, since she puts the health of her friend Mirentxu before her love for Erraimundo. The voice is not large, but it is pleasant and she is a good singer. Christopher Robertson was a good Manu, the father of Mirentxu and uncle to Erraimundo and Fernando Latorre gave probably the best performance I remember from him as Txanton, Prexen's grandfather. Finally, baritone Axier Sánchez left a strong impression in his small role of the old shepherd.

The theatre was almost full and the audience gave a warm reception to all the artists.

José M Irurzun