A Night at the Opera

[LHC]

I am off to Eugene Onegin tomorrow - again with some trepidation but it seems extraordinarily self-indulgent of KH to produce a new Onegin when the older much praised production was only six years old !!! Especially in this era of major budget cuts - ancien regime like behaviour .

That lousy Don Giovanni production would have been a much better candidate .

My recollection is that the Steven Pimlott production of Eugene Onegin was pretty poorly received by most critics on its first outing. Indeed, it has received its best reviews only now it has been replaced.

[Barbirollians]

My recollection is that the Steven Pimlott production of Eugene Onegin was pretty poorly received by most critics on its first outing. Indeed, it has received its best reviews only now it has been replaced.

I was only aware of it from the revival under Elaine Kidd which as I recall was generally well received - notwithstanding - it cannot have been worse than that Don Giovanni .

[Barbirollians]

I enjoyed it immensely though musically it was magnificent the production was a mixture of the inspired and the misconceived.

Lensky lying dead on stage through the later scenes with the large branch he dragged on stage was bizarre. The doppelgangers were less irritating than they might have been but to my ears the music tells Tatyana and Onegin's true feelings better than this underlining. It worked best in the duel scene but the young dancer was a wooden actor .

Superbly conducted though and some exquisite wind playing . Ticciati is one hell of a talent on this showing.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

That lousy Don Giovanni production would have been a much better candidate .

Oh don't worry, we've seen the last of it!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I enjoyed it immensely though musically it was magnificent the production was a mixture of the inspired and the misconceived.

Lensky lying dead on stage through the later scenes with the large branch he dragged on stage was bizarre. The doppelgangers were less irritating than they might have been but to my ears the music tells Tatyana and Onegin's true feelings better than this underlining. It worked best in the duel scene but the young dancer was a wooden actor .

Superbly conducted though and some exquisite wind playing . Ticciati is one hell of a talent on this showing.

Ah, I was there last night as well, Barbirollians, having swooped on a Stalls Circle Standing ticket on Friday evening. The singing was even stronger than on opening night, Peter Rose now fully recovered from the flu which kept him from singing at the dress rehearsal. Simon Keenlyside was also stronger vocally, although some passages are still a stretch for him at the top of his range.

I'm afraid the jury's still out on Robin Ticciati. I know some who agree with you - David Nice at the Artsdesk, for example - but for me the strings were still too lean and dramatic impetus was slack at several points. Oh, to hear Bychkov conduct this orchestra in this score! I met one of the players on the train home and asked what it was like working with Ticciati. 'Interesting' was the underwhelming response. He clearly gets what he wants from them, but they're obviously unconvinced.

Krassimira Stoyanova delivered another fine Letter Scene, which I think was only enhanced by Vigdis Hentze Olsen as her 'dancing double'. I had the pleasure of interviewing Stoyanova last Wednesday:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=864:interview-krassimira-stoyanova&catid=15:interviews&Itemid=14

[Barbirollians]

Will have to agree to disagree about the dancing double in the letter scene . I found her throwing herself about distracting .

I really enjoyed Ticciati's way with the score . I found it passionate without being overwrought . I didn't notice any loss of impetus - what particular points bothered you ?

I agree about Simon Keenlyside and the top of his range . He and Stoyanova were at their best in the closing scene. There certainly seemed to be more warmth and colour in the last role I saw him sing , his wonderful Posa opposite Kaufmann in Don Carlos .

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I really enjoyed Ticciati's way with the score . I found it passionate without being overwrought . I didn't notice any loss of impetus - what particular points bothered you ?

Mostly string-related, such as the lack of weight in the opening Introduction, but also the climax of the Letter Scene, which Ticciati let pass without the great emotional release required at this point. The dances were possibly too light/ airy, although that bothered me less... as we didn't have any dancing represented on stage for most of the evening.

[Flosshilde]

I met one of the players on the train home and asked what it was like working with Ticciati. 'Interesting' was the underwhelming response. He clearly gets what he wants from them, but they're obviously unconvinced.

I've missed his concerts with the SCO (not because he was conducting, but because of the programmes), but did hear a MAhler 6 with the RSAMD orchestra, & thought it was stunning.

[kuligin]

I enjoyed it immensely though musically it was magnificent the production was a mixture of the inspired and the misconceived.

Lensky lying dead on stage through the later scenes with the large branch he dragged on stage was bizarre. The doppelgangers were less irritating than they might have been but to my ears the music tells Tatyana and Onegin's true feelings better than this underlining. It worked best in the duel scene but the young dancer was a wooden actor .

Superbly conducted though and some exquisite wind playing . Ticciati is one hell of a talent on this showing.

I totally agree about the production, it seems to forget that its the music tells us that Tatyana is a different person at the end of the Opera, we don't need doubles to tell us that. I hope this idea of leaving the props of the earlier Acts lying around does not catch on, goodness can you imagine how many bodies there would have accumulated by the end of Macbeth.

The dancers just irritated me, and I thought it totally emasculated the drama. Such a shame with such an excellent cast, only the final scene worked fully for me,at least until Gremin reappeared, I think Tchaikovsky's second thoughts are best here

I agree however with Il Grande Inquisitor that the conducting was not quite right, too fussy and concentrating on the details rather than the broad sweep for me, and I think the point about the strings is spot on

[aeolium]

For those who can't get to/afford the ROH production of Eugene Onegin, there is a broadcast to cinema on Wednesday 20th 7.15 pm (various cinemas across the country).

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

For those who can't get to/afford the ROH production of Eugene Onegin, there is a broadcast to cinema on Wednesday 20th 7.15 pm (various cinemas across the country).

I bet there will be a DVD release. Cameras were filming on Saturday evening, as well as the live cinema relay on Wednesday.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I hope this idea of leaving the props of the earlier Acts lying around does not catch on, goodness can you imagine how many bodies there would have accumulated by the end of Macbeth.

I wasn't keen on the stage clutter, although can appreciate that it represents Onegin's and Tatyana's shared memories which come back to haunt them. I thought it was cruel to leave poor old Lensky for dead throughout the whole of Act III!

[Barbirollians]

I enjoyed the lightness of the dances and I suppose any lack of warmth in the strings helped me to enjoy the lovely woodwind playing.

[aeolium]

I saw the cinema relay yesterday and, like others, was not greatly impressed with the production though a lot of the singing was excellent. I thought the flashback/memory theme was misconceived and poorly deployed. As Fiona Maddocks mentioned in her Grauniad review, memory is already there in the music, in the themes and motifs that echo through the opera, and it does not need to be spelled out in the action. I wondered whether the use of doubles was partly determined by the choice of Stoyanova for Tatiana in that she could hardly convince as a teenage girl in the first act. The use of a double in the letter scene meant she had nothing to do except sing (which she did very well) but then no double was used in the following scene when Onegin delivers his response, when Tatiana has little to do except listen. You would expect that that scene would have been better suited to the use of a non-singing double - particularly as the irony was that Onegin was rejecting the teenage Tatiana while singing to her older counterpart (whom he comes to admire and love later in the opera)!

There were other aspects of the production that did not work, for me. The consistent use of the four arches forced too much of the action into a small space in the foreground. I didn't like the way the chorus was always dressed in black, the designer mentioning something about this indicating the repression/constraint/convention of the provincial society. To me it just looked dull, a contradiction of Tchaikovsky's gloriously lyrical folk and dance music. Why did Gremin appear near the end of the opera, during the contretemps between Onegin and the married Tatiana - surely in reality that would have meant a certain duel? Why did Lensky carry a piece of wood into his duel scene and why was he left lying on stage for the whole of the last act?

Musically the evening was better, with very good singing all round. Some of Ticciati's tempi were on the extreme side, either very quick or very slow - for instance, the chorus of peasants' song was hard driven, obscuring some orchestral detail and not allowing the music to breathe. On the other hand there was some wonderful wind playing. I found myself remembering, like IGI, how wonderful Bychkov is in this music and how he would have brought out a fuller more lyrical sound in the strings. But there was still much to enjoy. Apart from anything else, Simon Keenlyside is such a fascinating character to watch on stage, whatever role he plays: his expressions and gestures.

[Barbirollians]

I saw the cinema relay yesterday and, like others, was not greatly impressed with the production though a lot of the singing was excellent. I thought the flashback/memory theme was misconceived and poorly deployed. As Fiona Maddocks mentioned in her Grauniad review, memory is already there in the music, in the themes and motifs that echo through the opera, and it does not need to be spelled out in the action. I wondered whether the use of doubles was partly determined by the choice of Stoyanova for Tatiana in that she could hardly convince as a teenage girl in the first act. The use of a double in the letter scene meant she had nothing to do except sing (which she did very well) but then no double was used in the following scene when Onegin delivers his response, when Tatiana has little to do except listen. You would expect that that scene would have been better suited to the use of a non-singing double - particularly as the irony was that Onegin was rejecting the teenage Tatiana while singing to her older counterpart (whom he comes to admire and love later in the opera)!

There were other aspects of the production that did not work, for me. The consistent use of the four arches forced too much of the action into a small space in the foreground. I didn't like the way the chorus was always dressed in black, the designer mentioning something about this indicating the repression/constraint/convention of the provincial society. To me it just looked dull, a contradiction of Tchaikovsky's gloriously lyrical folk and dance music. Why did Gremin appear near the end of the opera, during the contretemps between Onegin and the married Tatiana - surely in reality that would have meant a certain duel? Why did Lensky carry a piece of wood into his duel scene and why was he left lying on stage for the whole of the last act?


Musically the evening was better, with very good singing all round. Some of Ticciati's tempi were on the extreme side, either very quick or very slow - for instance, the chorus of peasants' song was hard driven, obscuring some orchestral detail and not allowing the music to breathe. On the other hand there was some wonderful wind playing. I found myself remembering, like IGI, how wonderful Bychkov is in this music and how he would have brought out a fuller more lyrical sound in the strings. But there was still much to enjoy. Apart from anything else, Simon Keenlyside is such a fascinating character to watch on stage, whatever role he plays: his expressions and gestures.

A very fair summary . Much to enjoy is right despite some of the production decisions . I liked the video backdrop use though.