Opera North: Káťa Kabanová

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

.

... congratulations to whoever here got the diacritics right for Káťa .

Nice!

Although, Opera North itself avoids the issue by referring to the work under its "translated" title Katya Kabanova; and ... err ... y not?

[Conchis]

Forumistas might not have seen this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=275&v=ChEed9Jua3s

(I hadn't noticed that Sian Edwards is conducting - that will mean that both productions of the opera I've seen will have been conducted by her [a quarter-century or more apart].)

I last saw her conduct the English CO in.....1999! She seemed to vanish after er less than happy time at ENO.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well - that was rather splendid. -ish.

The orchestra and conducting were everything I could have wanted from this astonishing score (the sounds Jancek creates from the instruments ... )
The production, the lighting, set, and costumes were all superbly judged to serve the work, and the singers' movements were much better than the stiffness that rather let things down in The Magic Flute (some "opera-singer 'nonchalant sauntering' " aside).

The singing ...

... yes, the singing. It was good ... but the best singing came from the smaller roles; Dikoy (Stephen Richardson), and Kudryash (Alexander Sprague - the offending saunterer-in-chief) particularly. Katya herself is a phenomenally difficult singing role - so much in the higher register of the voice, and yet requiring so many nuances of expression.
Stephanie Corley had many moments that were thrilling, but she was obviously pushed to the limits of her technique, and there was a strained "beat" to much of the singing - and she didn't make me feel as devastated as the role demanded.

Mind you, neither she nor any of the singers were helped by the inept English translation - which tried to be "realistic" (a couple of "bastard"s and "lazy sod"s at the start) but was all too often banal, and the English syllables ill-fitted to the rhythms of the text. And the on-screen surtitles were needed - the temptation to guess what the text was from just listening to the voices led to some distracting new ideas about what was going on! (There was a wonderful note about how superbly Janacek matched language - the rhythms and intonation of speech - to Music in the work in the Programme Booklet, of all places - it was almost as if the entire use of this translation was intended to demonstrate what a bad idea it is to perform this work in anything other than the original language!)

No interval - the whole opera played almost straight through, but (annoyingly) breaks in the Music for scene changes within the Acts (the score allows this, but the sweep of the Music is interrupted) which confused some members of the audience and led to a few desultory patters of applause. The Grand Theatre was also only about a half to two-thirds full, too - more comfortable for those who did turn up, but rather disspiriting.

Splendid-ish, nontheless; it's a fantastically varied and powerful score, and hearing this superb orchestra guided by a conductor who has this Music in her blood and bones would have been enough to make this a magnificent experience - and there was a lot more to it, too.

[Pianoman]

Thanks for that - just posted this to a mate who's just told me he's got tickets for him and his mrs for next week...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks for that - just posted this to a mate who's just told me he's got tickets for him and his mrs for next week...

Some of the "onlinely-available" reviews of the first night are even more favourable:

https://bachtrack.com/review-opera-north-katya-kabanova-janacek-corley-bray-shipp-february-2019

https://theartsdesk.com/opera/katya-kabanova-opera-north-review-%E2%80%93-grim-tale

... there's a review in The Stage, too, but you have to subscribe.

[Conchis]

The Guardian gave it a 3-star review which I don't think cohered with the reviewer's detailed analysis (musically excellent, a few doubts about Tim Albery's production).


Seriously, even if the singers' Czech pronunciation was hopelessly band, I don't think anyone would mind that much!

[Bryn]

The Guardian gave it a 3-star review which I don't think cohered with the reviewer's detailed analysis (musically excellent, a few doubts about Tim Albery's production).


Seriously, even if the singers' Czech pronunciation was hopelessly band, I don't think anyone would mind that much!

Why would singing an English translation have to be done with Czech pronunciation?

[Conchis]

Why would singing an English translation have to be done with Czech pronunciation?

The point being, this version is sung in English, but many (on here) have objected on the grounds that one of Janacek's principal achievements was his musical setting of the Czech language.

Seeing as this production has subtitles, it might as well be sung in Czech, even if the singers' pronunciation is deficient.

[Conchis]

Saw it tonight in Salford - not a place I'd go to unless I had a bloody good reason for so doing.

As a performance, I really couldn't fault it. Strong cast throughout and Sian Edwards quite superb in the pit. Why don't we see more of this trail-blazing conductor? Covent Garden ought to be using her regularly.