Christoph Willibald GLUCK (1824-1896)
Alceste (Paris version, 1776)
Dancers of the Companie Eastman, Antwerp
Bavarian State Opera Chorus
Bavarian State Orchestra/Antonello Manacorda
rec. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, 2019
C MAJOR 756804 Blu-Ray [135 mins]
When Gluck came to mount his so-called ‘reform operas’ in Paris during the 1770s, he made substantial alterations to the original Viennese editions of his scores, and nowhere were these revisions more drastic than in the case of Alceste. The dramatic concentration of the original Vienna version, with its emphasis on the contrasting and evolving emotions of the two principals, was diluted by the addition of the semi-comic figure of Hercules (imported from the original Greek drama) who rescues Alcestis from death; and this expansion of the plot entailed a wholesale rewriting of the final Act. In addition, as with his Paris versions of Orphée et Euridice and Iphigénie en Aulide, the composer added extensive ballet passages to the operatic drama in accordance with French taste of the period. This staging of the Paris version of Alceste goes a step further by integrating ballet into practically every aspect of the work, with dancers entering into even arias and forming arabesques around the singers throughout. Some purists may object, but by and large the choreographic additions do not detract either from the drama or the musical impact, and they do serve to enliven what can unfortunately sometimes appear to be a statuesque element in Gluck’s music which has throughout the ages attracted the complaint that the composer can be boring.
There are admittedly moments when these balletic antics go beyond the bounds of convention – there are even moments of what appears to be modern break-dancing when the chorus are rejoicing in the apparent salvation of their King from the jaws of death – but by and large these are few and far between, and the scene in Act Three at the Gates of Hell, where Hercules has come to rescue the self-sacrificing Alcestis, gains a real sense of horror from the sinister movements of the black-hooded dancers on stilts who hover over the protagonists like maribou storks hungry for carrion. Their movements even appear to involve members of the chorus whose actions are subsumed into the whole. Unfortunately elsewhere the scenic realisation by Henrik Ahr is basic and functional rather than striking, but then Gluck and his librettist Calzabigi have not really provided much for designers to sink their teeth into. The costumes by Jan-Jan van Essche, a sort of idealised Greek viewed through baroque spectacles, avoid the solecisms of modern dress and enable the singers to move gracefully about the stage.
The two principal singers, even in Gluck’s French revision, still have the greatest body of the musical work to undertake; and both here are excellent. There has been a tendency over the years to cast the role of Alceste with the most heavyweight of prima donnas – recordings have featured Kirsten Flagstad and Jessye Norman – and Dorothea Röschmann is not in that heroic league; but she has nonetheless plenty of strength for her grand aria Divinités du Styx (how much better is this title than the placid Italian Ombre, larve!) and rises magnificently to its peroration. She is also dramatically effective as she informs her husband of the price she has paid for his recovery. By her side Charles Castronovo is equally a source of strength and pleasure as Admète. Too many tenors in this role either succumb to self-pity and wallow in lachrymose sentiment, or adopt a politely ‘classical’ approach which consciously understates the whole principle of Gluck’s operatic reforms, which was to reinforce the emotional impact of the drama. Castronovo treads an admirable middle ground between Scylla and Charybdis, and does not scruple to deliver his lines with a real sense of venom against the gods when he realises that the price of his life is to be the death of his beloved wife. This, surely, was what Gluck intended.
Hercules, the third principal singer, does not appear until the final Act, but here Michael Nagy also takes on the role of High Priest of Apollo in the earlier scenes. His voice sounds rather lightweight for the brusque violence of the heroic strongman (a bit more bass resonance might not have come amiss), and one cannot quite believe that this rather polite figure could overcome Death is a wrestling contest as Euripides specifies in the Greek original. Similarly Callum Thorpe sounds rather unthreatening as “Un Dieu infernal” in the final scene. On the other hand, the other singers, including the raft of “coryphées” who act as soloists in the Greek chorus, are excellently suited to their various roles, with Anna El-Khashem floating many beautiful high lines over the textures. The direction and choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, with the occasional lapses noted above, are excellent, although I do question whether it was always necessary to envelop the solo singers in waving veils while they were actually singing. The chorus and orchestra under Antonello Manacorda are full-bodied and rich – not much truck here with baroque practices – but provide plenty of the drama that Gluck clearly envisaged.
The booklet notes (in English, French and German) are fairly minimal, but we are provided with a comprehensive track listing which clearly delineate who sings what at each moment (and there are 73 individual access points provided). Subtitles come in French, English, German, Korean and Japanese. The picture quality and dimensions are of the best modern standards, and Tiziano Mancini ensures that the cameras are pointing in the
right direction.
There do not appear to be any alternative video recordings of Alceste separately available at the current time; there is one included in a boxed set of three Gluck operas which was issued by Arthaus back in 2014 to celebrate the composer’s 300th anniversary. I have not seen this, but an excoriating review by Lynn René Bayley for Fanfare – she dubbed the Stuttgart production as a “stupid bone-headed concept” and was hardly more polite about the musical quality of the performances – hardly encourages further exploration. Earlier James Camner for the same publication had described the production as “as bad as I have seen for a Gluck opera performance” although he was more polite about its musical merits. An older DVD of a Paris production by Robert Wilson no longer figures in current listings, and although it was conducted by John Eliot Gardiner it was quite heavily cut (apparently in accordance with an edition prepared by Berlioz).
Those seeking a video presentation for their collections therefore have little choice except this one; and it is not unworthy of a work which is far from being the monumental bore that it has sometimes been dubbed.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Previous review (DVD):
Stephen Barber
Cast:
Dorothea Röschmann (soprano) – Alceste
Charles Castronovo (tenor)
– Admète
Michael Nagy (baritone) – Hercule, High Priest of Apollon
Manuel Günther (tenor) – Évandre
Sean Michael Plumb (baritone) –
Apollon, Herald
Callum Thorpe (bass) – Infernal God, Oracle
Anna El-Khashem (soprano), Noa Beinart (mezzo-soprano), Caspar Singh
(tenor), Frederic Jost (bass) – Coryphées
