Seeking Anja Harteros...passionately! (II)

And there she was Tosca at Opera Bastille on last Saturday evening!

© E. Bauer / Opéra de Paris
Truly fantasic in this role, in all the feelings and complex situation she has to face, opposite the young man she loves and is loved, Mario the painter sung by a born tenor for the role: Marcello Alvarez, and the man she hates, Scarpia-Terfel, because of his  abuse of power on men he has to dominate and manipulate and on women he sexually fancies like  her, the young and sensual young singer, Floria Tosca.
Here in the first act, in this picture, she is openly in love and even coquettish, teasing the man she loves, but the bunch of flowers suggests her deeper prayer, heartbreaking, during the famous 'Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore'..at act II, where facing the floor of Scarpia's office room, she confesses her torments,  having to face a monster who wants her to offer him her body, to humiliate her deeply with this atrocious bargaining: her lover's life saved by her sexual consent.
'Diedi fiori agli altar. Nell'ora del dolore...'
The tempo was rather slow that evening at Bastille, it could be felt that the whole full house was suspended at her lips, intense attention and silence to follow a wonderful legato throughout this aria which began like a whisper and soared  gradually into an intense and utterly moving complaint. 
I knew I would be ovewhelmed by her singing and acting at that moment, but not to such an extent. The whole house broke up with tremendous applause at the end of the well known aria. I was relieved to see how much she was appreciated by the Paris audience after a rather long absence from this stage. (She last sang a complete opera in Bastille in 2003).
Act II showed how far good actors and singers can enhance a well -known situation into something truly thrilling and exciting even when the setting and costumes are very tarditional. Both  Bryn Terfel and  Anja Harteros are tall and dominating, so they were equally fighting for their aims with the same obstinate will, him almost like a feline, her, more mobile and fiercely tryng to save her lover she had just betrayed to stop his torture. Her 'quanto' was  so harsh and almost like a smack in his face. I was not sitting near the stage but with my lenses I followed their expressions: they were equally fighting in a rather animal- like fierce opposition. It was breathtaking with the orchestral outbursts. I had the feeling I was rediscovering this Puccini's opera. For once it was possible to hear all the violent lines she sings after her stabbing of Scarpia: 'Questo è il bacio di Tosca !' Her voice was tremendous, in high and low range. She was simply amazing! and so beautiful! because beauty, physical beauty, is also part of her presence on stage, in a quiet way, almost secret, 'sans tapage' !
Marcello Alvarez has sung this role all his life! His voice is clear and 'sunny' He was in great shape and delivered a fine E lucevan le stelle, in act III, but did not have much chemistry with Floria during the fist act!
The last scene with the light contrast made a strong impression: Tosca walks towards the wide open land in a strange light, and disappears. No jump for this P. Audi's vision of Tosca.
There was a standing ovation, well deserved for the three main singers and the whole cast. The season at Bastille seems  to start well! (although Tosca's rehearsals were accident prone: J.Ph.Lafont,  (Il Sagrestano), fell down the flight of stairs at act I and had to be taken to hospital, badly injured, and replaced by Francis Dudziak, while Anja Harteros twisted her ankle because she slipped on the stage floor last Tuesday and had to leave for the third act. But she seemed alright, hopefully, on Saturday) The orchestra was fine, leaving space to the singers, and very effecient at act II and III, I enjoyed the tempo of the arias which left the music breathe.  (Dan Ettinger was a discovery for me). I do not know if the  stage door had to be removed because of the high degree of security in Paris these days but I did not find the usual one I knew and did not find Anja Harteros... but hopefully I had the immense joy of discovering her Tosca!

 

Seeking Anja Harteros...hopefully! (part I)

Following my soprano- star means traveling to Austria, Germany and Paris.
Directly I arrived from England, I set off for Schwarzenberg. And I loved the journey, first flying to Munich from Lyon then taking a bus to Dornbirn and finally having a local bus through the mountain to this amazing village which does not look real!
The schubertiades 2016 opened with Anja Harteros and her dedicated pianist Wolfram Rieger.

What an amazing evening in a cosy hall made of  carved wood beams, which gave to the piano and the voice, a gorgeous  full sound! Such intimacy is rather unique  ! the quietness of the audience was also surprising. We were only 300, and it was a full house!
The delightful evening started just at the end of our meal on a shady garden when Anja Harteros appeared walking calmly past on her way to rehearsal, it was striking seven at the church tower opposite. When she caught sight of her Munich fans she knows well, she stopped and beamed at us! With simplicity she embraced all of them and then we asked permission for some photos !  She was so simple and natural! Here is my photo, (it is a very precious one and if it is to be shared just ask me, and it would be good to quote Yvette - H /Schwarzenberg August 23 -2016).
This Lieder recital is part of the fabulous project to give in this 40th anniversary of the festival some 600 works of Schubert for piano by guest artists (this project started in 2015). Anja Harteros  and her  faithful pianist  (the same team on the 2009 cd where I discovered Anja's voice for the songs,  Am see, Wehmut, Seligkeit) have a great chemistry together. Since then they have given  recitals and Schubert lieder took more and more space. This August 23, it was my great pleasure to finally listen to these  jewels  under the beautiful wooden arches where the sound is full and warm. The songs from the program have been grouped :Goethe's poems at the beginning. Anja Harteros was in great shape, in full dazzling vocal form. My preference went to  Wehmut, Nacht und Träume, An den Mond. There were two encores, Seligkeit, breathtaking, and  a departing one,  Im Abendrot (Lappe), D 799) very contrastive with the joy of the previous one, which brought tears to my eyes... that was sublime ! greetings  and applause were tremendous !There were four hanging mics, a project to record all these Lieder in this place that is so far from  noise and pollution?

Futility?

This word sums up what I think about  my blogging on Opera passion.
Dismalness is all around  us and yet I carry on charging to various places to follow the stars... my stars.
Four days ago,  September 11th,  brought its load of sorrowful memories:  first, in 1973 Salvador Allende 's assassination and the Chilean coup d'Etat, an immense horror and so many missing people... then, 1993,  the Islamic attacks in New york, nearly 3000 deaths. Since then, so many terrorist attacks occured in Europe and elsewhere. Since the Paris and Nice attacks I cannot say that whenever we travel (and we did a fair amount of travelling with our grandchildren this summer) these  horrendous events are  not on my mind together with a repressed insecure feeling.
Of course it is futile to express all sorts of opinions about a singer, ( will she turn up for the show? will he manage to reach the high C? can we say it is her role debut if she sings only one act in concert? ... I prefer her in Verdi... and so on and so forth, which is even more acrobatic if it is on a discussion forum where agressivity is always around to reinforce arguments. Not long ago I left a forum for good, furious about one extremely agressive and overpowering eminent guest, I feel relieved now and what a waste of my time that was!)
And it is even more futile to spend so much money on always increasing price tickets and on fares to places like Munich, Berlin, Dornbirn, Schwarzenberg, Paris, Montpellier and perhaps Saint-Rémy de Provence ? But what is passion without all these drawbacks? Love is always excessive, passion is even more so futility has to be part of this game. To some extent though.
This nearly beginning ot the opera season I have to react, frankly I cannot stop wandering about to catch a new production of my favourite singers, mainly Anja Harteros, Mariella Devia and Karine Deshayes, Vesselina Kasarova,  Ludovic Tézier,  perhaps Charles Castronovo and Jonas kaufmann?  I will also travel for Hector Berlioz: oratorios, concerts or ballets, for Mozart too, and Debussy, Haendel, Bellini... the list is endless. As long as I am alive I have to feel the music live and accept the futility of the game. But I will have to be more selective. Aging and money spending are taking  good care of my futility.
The past events in Aix  reassured  me in my taste for new productions of Haendel like Il triomfo del tempo e del disinganno : actualised by Warlikowski with modern characters playing the four strong philosophic arguments, made the drama real and breathtaking:
Bellezza

Sabine Devieilhe

Piacere

Franco Fagioli

Disinganno

Sara Mingardo

Tempo

Michael Spyres

My special admiration goes to Bellezza, embodied by Sabine Devieilhe who has enherited

dramatic and singing abilities of a young Natalie Dessay. She has, in this particular vision, a tragic look  really unforgettable at the very end. As usual with Warlikowski 's universe, the video creates a world of its own which goes deeper into the libretto. And here I had the feeling it was a real achievement. The four singers are all wonderful baroque singers and the conductor E. Haïm and her baroque ensemble were stunning on that opening night. Of the four operas I attended (Cosi, Pélleas et Mélisande,Il Triomfo, Kalila wa dimna) Il triomfo is for me a triumph !

Modernised staging is their common characteristic. Cosi fan tutte was extremely clever on  historical point of views but also too trashy on the sexual side, going to unnecessary extremes. (But I fairly well know such behaviours were common during colonisation). The singing actors were all very good at acting  but uneven as  music performers. 

Pélléas et Mélisande had a wonderful team of singers: Barabara Hannigan and Stéphnae Degout. I

had already seen Laurent Naouri in Golaud and loved him in that difficult role. They all were fantastic singers bringing the poetry of the text in their voices. But Katie Mitchell's staging did not make me come into this dream. A pity because on the orchestra side it was a real journey into the depths of this tale.
The operas and concerts from Aix Festival 2016 are on free streaming on the web. I particularly enjoyed the tale rhythm of the the kalila-wa-dimna and the instruments. On the whole Mozart's new vision of Cosi was annoying because of its excess but quite logical when it is possible to 'dive' into Honoré's transposition. Mozart's was saved by his wondrous music!