Prom 45: 19.08.16 - Janáček: The Makropulos Affair

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Friday 19 Aug 2016
Royal Albert Hall

Leos Janacek: The Makropulos Affair
(concert performance; sung in Czech)

Emilia Marty ..... Karita Mattila (soprano)
Albert Gregor ..... Aleš Briscein (tenor)
Dr Kolenatý ..... Gustáv Belácek (bass-baritone)
Vítek ..... Jan Vacík (tenor)
Kristina, Vitek's daughter .... Eva Šterbová (soprano)
Baron Jaroslav Prus ..... Svatopluk Sem (baritone)
Janek ..... Aleš Vorácek (tenor)
Count Hauk-Šendorf ..... Jan Ježek (tenor)
Stage Technician .... Jiri Klecker (baritone)
Cleaning Woman ..... Yvona Škvárová (contralto)
Chambermaid ..... Jana Hrochová-Wallingerová (contralto)
BBC Singers (men's voices)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jirí Belohlávek, conductor
Kenneth Richardson, stage director

A dream team gathers for Janacek's late, great existential masterpiece The Makropulos Affair. This tragic satire is powered by a score that contains some of the composer's most extreme and alluring music.

The Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, acclaimed for her 'electrifying' portrayal of the opera's heroine, Emilia Marty, at the Met in New York, is joined by Czech singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra's Conductor Laureate Jirí Belohlávek.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07nmx60

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A concert performance, of semi-staged? The website is ambiguous.

[bluestateprommer]

Given how conversational the opera is (per JB just now), Kenneth Richardson might try to give the singers some sort of direction to give the performance the feel of a play, rather than just "park and bark". I can guess that at the very end, KR will make use of the side lights in the RAH to underpin the final aging of Emilia Marty / Elina Makropulos.

PS after the first half: the same kind of relatively smooth orchestral sound that JB tends to elicit in Janacek, like with his Jenufa some time back, shows up again here. But that's his style and I wasn't surprised. He has the orchestra sounding on very fine form. For the most part, the singers sound good, not a surprise with an all-Czech cast but one, although the cleaning woman at the start of Act II sounded a bit "fruity" in tone, if that makes sense.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was rather put off this by the predictable trailer on In Tune. First of all the inevitable plug for the BBC Singers, then Suzy talking to someone called "Sarah" - the chumminess of such conversations is unhelpful in rarely providing a surname (rather like contacting a call centre "Hi, this is Roxanne"). I presume it was Sara Mohr-Pietsch, but you had to be one of the clique to know this. In the end, all we really learnt was that it was fantastic/fabulous, etc.

[bluestateprommer]

The first reviews of this Prom are in, and they look good:

The Arts Desk: http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/pro...cso-belohlavek

Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/wha...-proms-so-far/

David Nice (not a particular acolyte of Belohlavek) was particularly over the moon in his review, calling this Prom "the most electrifying Proms opera since Nina Stemme and Donald Runnicles pulled it off in Strauss’s Salome". He also had special praise for Kenneth Richardson's direction:

"Never underestimate the role of a director in a concert performance like this. Kenneth Richardson and his (uncredited) design team did a fine job. Costumes were right, as the evening dress had palpably not been in the Festival Hall Jenůfa, and for once the back display, which reached an apogee of hideousness at the start of Wednesday night's Prom with mint-green toothpaste swirls against black for Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, had meaningful and well formed images. I liked the brief appearances of the telephone, the old portrait of Mattila when the question of a signed photograph arises, the booze for Marty's drunken revelations (just a pity that this last detail didn't yield to a portrait of Rudolf II when Marty narrates the history of the life elixir).

We also got green, as the stage directions indicate, at the start of the most exultant of operatic endgames, yielding to a magnesium flare as the elixir's prescription finally goes up in flames."

Rupert Christiansen in the Telegraph was not quite as enthralled with the staging, but still very much admired the musical values, and IMHO, wins points for a nicely snarky opening sentence about the original Czech title:

"Few operas more rigorously take the form of ‘a play set to music’ than Janacek’s adaptation of Karel Capek’s Vec Makropulos (the Czech ‘Vec’ being variously translatable as Affair, Thing, Case, Business or Stuff)."

Sounds like a good idea to get hold of a copy of the libretto from a recording and to give this one a listen on iPlayer.

[pastoralguy]

Mrs. PG was very impressed with S M-P's Czech pronunciation! For a non Czech speaker it was very good and must have taken a lot of work to learn.

[makropulos]

The first reviews of this Prom are in, and they look good:

The Arts Desk: http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/pro...cso-belohlavek

Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/wha...-proms-so-far/

David Nice (not a particular acolyte of Belohlavek) was particularly over the moon in his review, calling this Prom "the most electrifying Proms opera since Nina Stemme and Donald Runnicles pulled it off in Strauss’s Salome". He also had special praise for Kenneth Richardson's direction:



Rupert Christiansen in the Telegraph was not quite as enthralled with the staging, but still very much admired the musical values, and IMHO, wins points for a nicely snarky opening sentence about the original Czech title:



Sounds like a good idea to get hold of a copy of the libretto from a recording and to give this one a listen on iPlayer.

Thanks for posting those reviews. It was a deeply rewarding evening at the RAH last night. A magnificent performance - particularly from Mattila - in the hall. I don't quite understand Christiansen's first point, since Janacek made such extensive alterations to Capek's play, including a complete change of focus from bittersweet comedy to grand tragedy. (As for his second point, I'm not sure it's meant to be snarky, since it's completely true! He could have added "Matter" to the list). By the way, the programme last night was a chunky affair that included a complete bilingual libretto in very clear print - there were no surtitles in the hall.

I'm so glad David Nice commented on the green lighting at the start of the final scene - not sure I've ever seen it used in the (several) stage productions I've seen of the opera. Belohlavek was on good form as were the orchestra apart from the horrible split notes from the offstage (in fact onstage) brass in the last few bars. Otherwise they were excellent, and Belohlavek was particularly attentive to balance (in this opera, Janacek was particularly concerned that the orchestra shouldn't swamp the singers).

[bluestateprommer]

Thanks for posting those reviews. It was a deeply rewarding evening at the RAH last night. A magnificent performance - particularly from Mattila - in the hall. I don't quite understand Christiansen's first point, since Janacek made such extensive alterations to Capek's play, including a complete change of focus from bittersweet comedy to grand tragedy. (As for his second point, I'm not sure it's meant to be snarky, since it's completely true! He could have added "Matter" to the list). By the way, the programme last night was a chunky affair that included a complete bilingual libretto in very clear print - there were no surtitles in the hall.

Tim Ashley's review from the Grauniad is now up, and addresses your point about surtitles:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/21/the-makropulos-affair-review-proms-2016-karita-mattila-jiri-belohlavek-janacek

"The screens could have been better used for surtitles, which we desperately needed: many in the audience were struggling in a half-darkened auditorium to follow the text in the printed programme and rarely watching what was happening on the platform at all."

But on balance, TA's review is very positive, especially with respect to KM, JB and the BBC SO (but TA also noted the split notes). (It's again a shock to see JB looking so different from the past, i.e. without his trademark bouffant hair [although I'll probably be in that state long before 70, if I get that far].)

I'm so glad David Nice commented on the green lighting at the start of the final scene - not sure I've ever seen it used in the (several) stage productions I've seen of the opera. Belohlavek was on good form as were the orchestra apart from the horrible split notes from the offstage (in fact onstage) brass in the last few bars. Otherwise they were excellent, and Belohlavek was particularly attentive to balance (in this opera, Janacek was particularly concerned that the orchestra shouldn't swamp the singers).

TA's evaluation of KR's use of the screens was less sanguine compared to David Nice:

"Richardson’s direction of the protagonists, in a narrow strip of space in front of the orchestra, was sparse and clear, but one rather wished he had left it at that and not opted to add back projections on the screens that run behind the players and chorus (the BBC Singers). Some were clever (one of Mattila’s standard press shots for the signed photo Marty gives Kristina), others clumsy (a glass of whisky when Marty gets drunk). Most were distracting."

If nothing else, it's good to read a diversity of opinions, although there is pretty much unanimity on the high-quality musical grounds of this performance, AFAICT. And for the R3 presentation, SM-P definitely gets points for her description of this opera as a combination of Bleak House and The Picture of Dorian Gray. We would almost never get this kind of literary allusion on this side of the pond ;) .

[Simon B]

Tim Ashley's review from the Grauniad is now up, and addresses your point about surtitles:

"The screens could have been better used for surtitles, which we desperately needed: many in the audience were struggling in a half-darkened auditorium to follow the text in the printed programme and rarely watching what was happening on the platform at all."

This I heartily agree with. The presumed obstacle is that only a fraction of the audience would be able to see them due to a combination of angles and distance. Plus there will always be those who object to surtitles on the grounds of distraction and sometimes even on principle. They may be rather more distracting when conveyed on the Proms Multi-Function-Laser-Display (© Humph) than the more discreet displays suspended above the stage used almost everywhere else.

However, it is such a bind following a printed libretto IMO (whether the £5 a pop Proms version or e.g. the one I printed from an internet source for the Janáček) that anything would be better than nothing. Inevitably, the more wordy and briskly dispatched the libretto, the harder it is to concentrate on anything other than not losing your place. I found it a struggle to keep up with Boris Godunov, didn't bother with a libretto for Bluebeard (which disproved my assumption that I knew the upshot well enough for it not to matter) and found that there's something about Czech which made it relatively easy to keep track. I'd still rather have been focused entirely on the stage though. Plus, the sound of 5000 pages being turned every 30 seconds isn't exactly optimal!

It is true that until relatively recently you had to either follow a paper libretto, learn the whole thing in advance or just lump it, everywhere. However, recent experience of pretty much any other venue (i.e. with surtitles) points up what a shortcoming the lack of them at the RAH is. All counterarguments seem a bit "Grit and iron filings for breakfast and down the blancmange mine for 27 hours a day - those were the days" to me... Apart from anything else, it's a few hundred less trees being cut down for each concert with a libretto!

[makropulos]

However, it is such a bind following a printed libretto IMO (whether the £5 a pop Proms version or e.g. the one I printed from an internet source for the Janáček) that anything would be better than nothing. Inevitably, the more wordy and briskly dispatched the libretto, the harder it is to concentrate on anything other than not losing your place. I found it a struggle to keep up with Boris Godunov, didn't bother with a libretto for Bluebeard (which disproved my assumption that I knew the upshot well enough for it not to matter) and found that there's something about Czech which made it relatively easy to keep track. I'd still rather have been focused entirely on the stage though. Plus, the sound of 5000 pages being turned every 30 seconds isn't exactly optimal!

It is true that until relatively recently you had to either follow a paper libretto, learn the whole thing in advance or just lump it, everywhere. However, recent experience of pretty much any other venue (i.e. with surtitles) points up what a shortcoming the lack of them at the RAH is. All counterarguments seem a bit "Grit and iron filings for breakfast and down the blancmange mine for 27 hours a day - those were the days" to me... Apart from anything else, it's a few hundred less trees being cut down for each concert with a libretto!

Totally agree with you (and with Tim Ashley). And it's worth saying that the programme books for this concert ran to well over 100 pages - so quite a forest required.

[arthroceph]

I myself was listening absentmindedly, mainly because I didn't know the opera at all,
and found the story tricky .. almost science fiction territory. Anyhow, it was during the interval talk
whe Nigel Simeone when talking to Louise Fryer called Janáćek's music, musical cells which evolve into
different things ... how angular it could be, the 4ths and 5th intervals ... I work in cell science so this was riveting
and I really pricked up my ears for Act 3 and knew I had to get myself a copy ....

[makropulos]

I myself was listening absentmindedly, mainly because I didn't know the opera at all,
and found the story tricky .. almost science fiction territory. Anyhow, it was during the interval talk
whe Nigel Simeone when talking to Louise Fryer called Janáćek's music, musical cells which evolve into
different things ... how angular it could be, the 4ths and 5th intervals ... I work in cell science so this was riveting
and I really pricked up my ears for Act 3 and knew I had to get myself a copy ....

I'm so glad you liked the talk and my attempt at a description of Janacek's music in this opera - as you'll have gathered, I do think it's a work in which you you can hear the evolution of his musical ideas particularly clearly. It's fascinating to hear you drawing parallels with cell science!

[arthroceph]

makropulos you catch me by surprise, but kudos to you ... if there were any other biologists listening, you would have similarly turned them onto the work, which undoubtedly is the objective of the talks. Thanks and congrats!

[Master Jacques]

I'm rather late to this party, but will put in my two penn'orth!

The Makropulos Case is perhaps the best example of a great opera that really needs to be performed in the vernacular (so here, in English) if it's to have a cat in hell's chance of being understood for what it is. The dialogue is so subtle, witty and sharp that the opera's lost unless you can follow every nuance. That accounts for the mistaken comment - in my opinion - which defined it as "tragic" compared to the "comic" original play - believe me, Janacek's version is amazingly faithful to Capek's tone as well as his content. The playwright was initially sceptical, but finally amazed by how marvellously the composer had managed to capture the sense of his work.

I happen to loathe surtitles with a vengeance; but in this case there is such a lot of fast, forensic dialogue, that if you're forcing an English audience to listen to it in a language which only a tiny proportion can follow, then there is something to be said for them.

On the other hand, they'd have to go so horribly fast that nobody would have attention left for the music, the singers or the orchestra!

That's why an English-speaking cast, and no surtitles, would have been infinitely preferable - and perhaps cheaper. I think the disappointingly disengaged Mattila (an affected and insular performance, from the dramatic point of view, I think) might have made more sense in English than she did in her occluded Czech, which one Prague-based friend of mine said she couldn't really follow at all.

But then, this was pretty clearly a dry run for a swift CD issue with this Czech cast and conductor - doubtless on a label such as Onyx, probably sooner rather than later.

I thoroughly enjoyed Belohlávek's fluid, if perhaps marginally under-characterised, way with the score (I'm still mourning Mackerras!); and nothing but praise for the quality of the supporting cast, right down to the superb - and immediately recognisable "types" - of the Charwoman and Stage Techie. Pity Mattila wasn't quite in the zone...

[makropulos]

I'm rather late to this party, but will put in my two penn'orth!

The Makropulos Case is perhaps the best example of a great opera that really needs to be performed in the vernacular (so here, in English) if it's to have a cat in hell's chance of being understood for what it is. The dialogue is so subtle, witty and sharp that the opera's lost unless you can follow every nuance. That accounts for the mistaken comment - in my opinion - which defined it as "tragic" compared to the "comic" original play - believe me, Janacek's version is amazingly faithful to Capek's tone as well as his content. The playwright was initially sceptical, but finally amazed by how marvellously the composer had managed to capture the sense of his work.

I happen to loathe surtitles with a vengeance; but in this case there is such a lot of fast, forensic dialogue, that if you're forcing an English audience to listen to it in a language which only a tiny proportion can follow, then there is something to be said for them.

On the other hand, they'd have to go so horribly fast that nobody would have attention left for the music, the singers or the orchestra!

That's why an English-speaking cast, and no surtitles, would have been infinitely preferable - and perhaps cheaper. I think the disappointingly disengaged Mattila (an affected and insular performance, from the dramatic point of view, I think) might have made more sense in English than she did in her occluded Czech, which one Prague-based friend of mine said she couldn't really follow at all.

But then, this was pretty clearly a dry run for a swift CD issue with this Czech cast and conductor - doubtless on a label such as Onyx, probably sooner rather than later.

I thoroughly enjoyed Belohlávek's fluid, if perhaps marginally under-characterised, way with the score (I'm still mourning Mackerras!); and nothing but praise for the quality of the supporting cast, right down to the superb - and immediately recognisable "types" - of the Charwoman and Stage Techie. Pity Mattila wasn't quite in the zone...

The crucial change is at the end of the play/opera. In the play, Marty laughs the whole thing off in a slightly whimsical way, whereas in the opera there is an unquestionably tragic conclusion. So you won't be surprised that I don't agree with some of your first paragraph. The cast was terrific, and Mattila very much one of those - were you in the hall? All I can say is that she made a tremendous impact, vocally and dramatically, in the stalls - far from disengaged, I'd say. Agree about the rest of the cast. And I'd also agree that doing the whole thing in English is a good idea, but there was a complete Czech-English libretto in the programme, so the audience could, if it wanted, follow every word.

Yes, Belohlavek was neat and tidy (and got excellent balance), but his conducting didn't have the superlative dramatic thrust (and ear for orchestral detail) that was always such a thrill with Mackerras, over his more than 40 years of conducting this opera. JB was perfectly good, and I too enjoyed his performance, but there was a vital spark about CM's performances of this work that made them exceptional (and unforgettable).