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NZ Opera’s Rigoletto: a tale of love, despair, anger and corruption

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Rigoletto (James Clayton) Image Jinki Cambronero

Rigoletto

Music by Giuseppe Verdi

Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave

NZ Opera, by arrangement with Opera Australia

Kiri Te Kanawa Aotea Centre

Until September 25

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

From the opening doom-laden chords through to the anguished sounds of the  final moments of Rigoletto the audience was carried along by the glorious music which conjured up feelings of love, despair, anger and malevolence as we follow one mans destiny, overcome by the deceitful and immoral world he lives in.

Tyrants, and  corrupt leaders have always had the ability to corrupt other people and surround themselves with equally corrupt yes men. Rigoletto takes us into that world of, deceit and amorality. It is a bleak world where the  occasional flicker of light and love is quickly extinguished

The first act opens with the Duke of Mantua and his courtiers cavorting in an impressive reception room with references to La dolce Vita of the 1950’s. It is a world where the dinner suits and fabulous dresses disguise the lecherous goings on.

We also encounter Rigoletto dressed as the court jester – a mixture of Ronald McDonald and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker as he peels off his make up surrounded by his various costumes. He is an actor who must play many parts, just as the other members of the Dukes court play  out their roles.

The first act’s dramatic opening is just the start of probably one of the most mature and intelligent productions of the opera and one which kept the audience enthralled.

One of the problems I have always had with the opera is the curse with which Monterone damns Rigoletto and the duke early on. The notion that he has been cursed preys on Rigoletto mind throughout the opera and when his daughter dies in his arms, he shrieks about the curse has been fulfilled. Of course, the evil Duke still lives, so the curse has not affected him.

In fact, Rigoletto himself is the reason his daughter has been killed, Rigoletto himself is the curse and she dies because of his deceit and immorality rather than anyone else’s.

The Duke and his various courtiers are not particularly evil. They act as many men of business or politicians, using or skirting the law in an amoral fashion. It is Rigoletto who embarks on a course of revenge with the decision to hire an assassin to kill the Duke.

The courtiers and the Duke are also upfront about what they do. It is Rigoletto who presents a façade at court as well as to his daughter, withholding the truth of his relationship with the Duke and his early life even from her.

This veneer which he presents is his undoing. His pretense of an irritating, sycophantic fool at court hides a deep-seated resentment. His lack of awareness of his involvement with amoral activities as well as presenting as a cloying and over protective father is his weakness, his flaw, his curse.

James Clayton in the role of Rigoletto has to convey Rigoltto’s complex set of attributes and flaws. His character never becomes over demonstrative, there is always a sense of him holding back in his expression of love, hate, contempt. It is too easy to have Rigoletto portrayed as a twisted character who is obviously deformed physically as well as mentally and Clayton carefully avoids this.

His “Pari siama” (How alike we are) when singing of the assassin Sparafucile is haunting in its exposure of Rigoletto’s awareness of his own wretchedness, his voice catches with shuddering emotion at just the right point. Then he superbly transitions to his singing as devoted father of Gilda.  This ability to capture his two personalities, the heartless and the warm showed in just a couple minutes showed a singer with able to convey deep psychological states with exquisite refinement.

Gilda (Elena Perroni and the Duke (Amitai Pati) Image Jinki Cambronero

As Gilda, Elena Perroni created a character which expressed all the conflicting emotions of a young woman exposed to the ache and desperation of love, the terror of kidnap, the embarrassment of talking to her father about her seduction and the confusion of being dragged into the adult world.

Her voice soars with emotional expression in arias such as “Care nome” (Dear name) where effervescent and passion erupt.

Amitai Pati sang gloriously as the hedonist Duke with just the right mix of bravado and self-awareness. In his role as Gilda’s lover his voice took on an elegant combination of romanticism and cynicism which helped create a fully rounded, disreputable character.

Maddalena (Sian Sharp) and Sparafucile (Jud Arthur) Image Jinki Cambronero

Jud Arthur’s Sparafucile was suitably threatening with his mundane approach to killing,. His silky voice resonated with darkness and menace, his body tense with suppressed nervous energy.

Sian Sharp was impressive as Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister and she added a sensual dimension to the final quartet when she sings with the Duke, Rigoletto and Gilda in a profound “Bella figlia” (Lovely woman).

The set designs by Michael Yeargan are impressive from the lavish palace interior to the brilliantly detailed house/ bar interior constructed on a revolving stage which helps concentrate the action.

This is a restaging of the work originally directed by Elijah Moshinsky and rehearsed by Shane Placentino who has done a splendid job in realizing the work.

As ever the New Zealand Opera Chorus was in great form and conductor James Judd deftly led the Auckland Philharmonia ensuring that the music added to the overall dramatic effect, dominating when it needed to but always allowing the singers the space to let their voices shine.

With this production director, designers, soloists chorus and musicians have brought together a seamless tale of brilliantly rounded characters with vivid emotions and contemporary relevance.

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Resetting the Coordinates of Performance art in NZ

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Resetting the Coordinates

An anthology of performance art in Aotearoa New Zealand

Edited by Christopher Braddock, Ioana Gordon-Smith, Layne Waerea and Victoria Wynne-Jones

Massey University Press

Published September 2024

RRP $65.00

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

In 2014 The Walters Prize  included a work by Kalisolaite ‘Uhila where the artist inhabited the Auckland Art Gallery precinct for several months, living as a homeless person – eating sleeping and communicating with visitors, staff and other destitute  people. The work  was intended to draw attention to the plight of the homeless.

However, going to the gallery to find the ”art” and the artist necessitated searching the art gallery, the nearby park and streets until I found him wedged into an overhang on the gallery’s roof.

This search seemed more like a game of hide and seek rather than being immersed in a social /political experience /experiment. At the time It seemed to only involve me and the artist, reflecting on an encounter.

That encounter is what can loosely be called an example of  post-object art or performance art which has been evolving in New Zealand since the 1970’s.

With that encounter and many others one can see that performance  art requires an audience as well as documentation as many of the events are transient.

Now an  anthology/reader of performance art in New Zealand, ”Resetting the Coordinates” has been published,providing an in-depth survey of the artists and artworks in the  performance area which have happened over the past fifty years.

At the core of performance art  is the audience and the performer/artist,  the works having a theatrical element to them in which artist often draw attention to time, space, and body,

The  goal of these actions is to generate a reaction with themes which are commonly linked to life experiences of the artist themselves along with social and political criticism.

Darcell Apelu:, New Zealand Axemens Association: Womens subcommittee president
2 August 2014, documentation of performance.
Courtesy Artspace, Auckland. Photo by Peter Jennings

The book records a number of the activities which occurred as described in the introduction by editor Christiopher Braddock,

“If, on 2 April 1971, you had journeyed out across the unsealed metal roads to the west coast of the Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland region of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand, venturing as far as the remote Karekare Beach, to the north of Whatipu Beach and the great Manukau Harbour and south of Piha Beach, you would have come across the mystifying scene of ten people arduously sweeping the beach with long-handled yard brooms. “

Organised by Phil Dadson and colleagues this was the first in a series of purposeless works of which Dadson said : ‘This was work for the sake of the work, no particular purpose, no rewards’ across a ‘pointless-to-sweep stretch of beach’ in ‘communion with the elements and the place’.

These activities often existed outside the confines of the mainstream contemporary art scene  and were often undocumented. Many of the names included in the anthology will be recognisable because of their wide-ranging practice, others however have had lower profiles.

Central figures have been Phil Dadson, Jim Allen, Annea Lockwood, Peter Roche & Linda Buis, Andrew Drummond, Daniel Malone, Shannon Te Ao and Lonnie Hutchinson. There have also been numerous other practitioners who are included in the book.

Christopher Braddock, one of the editors says “Mainstream art history tends to prioritise static forms of art that are more commodifiable and saleable such as painting and sculpture. Anthologies often prioritise these artforms, such as Michael Dunn’s “New Zealand Painting: A Concise History| published in 2004. Furthermore, large-scale anthologies can cement these institutional prejudices, such as Hamish Keith’s The Big Picture: The History of New Zealand Art from 1642 (2007) which largely ignores performance art.”

The book underlines the fact that performance art is a distinctive part of recent art history, with its activities presenting  social and political  approaches which  emphasises the  connections between artist, audience and art critic /  historian.

These events often combined elements of anarchy,  humour, spirituality, repetition, the unplanned and unexpected.

There are a several chapters which examine the  history and development of performance art, some which look at the aspects of woman’s art practice, the development of Māori and Pacific based works, queer performance art and performance art in post -quake Christchurch.

There are numerous photographs and records of the activities which only give a limited appreciation of the performances such as Annae Lockwood piano burning while the multiple images of Andrew Drummond’s projects give some sense of the scale of his work.

CardboardConfessional_
Audrey Baldwin, Oscar Bannan, Bridget Harris, NeilMacLeod, Annemieke Montagne, Pat Parkin, Jennifer. Katherine Shield
2016, documentation of performance for the Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki programme,Ōtautahi Christchurch.
Courtesy Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki. Photo by Janneth Gi

Among the other projects included are the documentation project of the Christchurch “Cardboard Confessional” (2016) developed by Audrey Baldwin et al, Louise Potiki Bryant’s dance work “Te Taki o te Ua / The Sound of Rain” (2001), Jeremy Leatinu’u’s Queen Victoria (2013) where the artist contemplated statues of the queen,  Juliet Batten’s Women’s Project of 1985 at Te Henga Beach and Bruce Barber’s “Mt Eden Crater Performance  (1973) which was a collaboration with Solar Plexus as part of the drumming event initiated by Phil Dadson..

It is a fascinating book with lots of performances which have been rarely written about, seemingly lost to history but which tell us much about the social, political and spiritual examinations and soundings which artists have made.

The writers include  Natasha Conland, Gregory Burke, Ioana Gordon-Smith, Khye Hitchcock, Audrey Baldwin, Bruce E Phillips and Heather Galbraith

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Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

James Jin (violin), Xing Wang (piano) and Dominic Lee (cello)

Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival

Eden Arts

Mt Eden Village Centre Church

September 6 – 8

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Now in its ninth year the Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival organised  by the local community arts group, Eden Arts has presented high quality performances by some of the country’ s leading musical groups and major talent including NZ Trio and NZ Barok.

These concerts have been programmed by Simeon Broom, the Festival’s Artistic Director who is a violinist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra  and Cathy Manning of Eden Arts.

Its most recent concert series featured Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No 2, Dvorak’s Piano Concerto No 3, Debussy’s Sonata in G Minor for violin and Piano, Brahms’ Piano Quartet No 3 as well as a concert of works for trombone quartet including pieces by Beethoven, Bruckner, Chaulk, Webern Apon and Seroki.

The four major works on the programme all see composers responding to major crisis in their lives – personal, domestic  and political, using music as a means of self-expression as well as communicating their ideas and emotions.

The Shostakovich Piano Trio and Dvorak Piano Concerto were both played by Xing Wang (piano), James Jin (violin) and Dominic Lee (cello) giving each of the works a very different tone.

The Shostakovich was written in 1944 following on from his Symphony No 7 which was his reaction to the horrors of the Second World War and the Siege of Leningrad and which was his personal expression of his  resistance to fascism.

Some of these same aspects are to be found in the Piano Trio along with reference to his friend Ivan Sollertinsky who had recently died and who is credited with introducing Shostakovich to new music including the work of Mahler.

The opening, chilling tomes of the Lee’s cello  were followed by the lamenting sounds of Jin’s violin and the dignified piano of Wang. The trio became more animated with the anguished conversation between  the strings set against the ruthless tones of the piano. Here the strings seemed to be particularly raw expressing anger and torment.

The second movement began with a slightly more joyful tone with its dance-like melody but this soon became more excited with a harsh pizzicato sequence from the strings, soaring above the pianos more restrained sounds.

There followed a death knell, the cello paying homage to Sollertinsky with a passionate voice.

In the final section Shostakovich used a Jewish melody but the celebratory nature of the work was played as a dirge, full of an increasingly frantic distress.

The undertones of the mournful cello and the tense violin become something  of a metaphor for the lost and abandoned. Here Lee took on an active performance role lifting himself out of his seat in an agitated manner.

There is also a dark and brooding element in Dvorak’s Piano Trio  which may be a reflection of the composer’s grief over the recent death of his mother and the early death of  three of his children.

The group displayed an understanding of the work with its subtle nuances of tone and its dramatic chiaroscuro giving the work  an alternating drama, liveliness and introspection.

 The opening of the work was filled with swirling eddies of sound conjuring up images of landscape  that he evoked in many of his previous works. Here the , the grandeur of the vision expressed a contemplative mood.

The work was full of passage of tight  precision and the trio was able to  express the   passion in music with some delightful passages such as  the springlike opening of the second movement as well as some unexpected inflections and intricate rhythms.

The three instrument  developed and expanded these early melodies creating some languorous vistas  with some of the melodies beautifully expressed  by Lees’s cello which led to an unexpected conclusion.

Much of the playing of the violin and cello took on an elegance  which saw  the two  instruments  interweaving in a conversation which alternated between the formal and the combative.

Simeon Broom (violin), Katherine Austin (piano), James Tennant (cello)Helen Lee (viola)

Debussy wrote the Sonata in G Minor for violin and Piano in 1917 at a time when France was grieving its losses in The Great War and at a time when the composer was aware of his imminent death,

Simeon Broom’s violin soared and floated above Katherine Austin’s piano which went from the dramatic to the lethargic, her intrusions like  a scudding cloud and Broom’s violin explored some rapturous melodies.

The second movement brought some colourful and sprightly dancing  melodies from Broom with some jittery playing from Austin, the instruments vying for innovation and spectacle.

Austin delivered brilliant passages of insistent piano into which Broom inserted a bird-like romanticism and then some  marvellous playing involving double stopping and intricate playing.

For the Brahms Piano Quartet No 3 Austin and Broom were joined with Helen Lee (viola) and James Tennant (cello). The work  is filled with drama, yearning  and reflection as he was close to Robert Schumann and  was shocked by his mentors attempted suicide. But he was also drawn to Schumann’s wife Clara and probably felt conflicted about that relationship.

The work also captures much of his romantic angst which can also be seen in Goethe’s “Young Werther” and the paintings of Caspar Friedrich.

The opening sobbing sounds of the instruments and the plucked sounds of the viola suggesting tears set the scene for the work  with frantic strings morphing into a more contemplative mood.

There were passages where the piano alluded to joyful times as well as distant love. Then the strings erupted is waves of sound suggesting the turbulent life and mind of the young composer. There were also passionate outbursts creating an image of the lonely hero caught in a storm.

Many of the passage see Brahms creating a sense of light and dark, joy and sadness with soulful conversations between the cello and violin as well as a delicate romanticism  carefully outlined by Austins piano.

The work ends with some robust playing as the instruments seemed to spiral out of control with some  dynamic connections between the four players before  moving onto a reflective sequence and terse conclusion.

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APO’s Tristan and Isolde a magnificent musical experience

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Tristan (Simon O’Neill) and Isolde (Ricarda Merbeth) Image – Sav Schulman

Auckland Philharmonia

Richard Wagner

Tristan and Isolde

Auckland Town Hall

August 10

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Auckland Philharmonia’ s recent production of Tristan and Isolde was probably the highlight of this year’s programme. The opera, lasting over five hours is a marathon for audience, singers and orchestra and requires exceptional singers and players which this performance delivered.

With Tristan and Isolde Wagner began moving opera in a new direction  away from the traditional love story format, using opera to express ideas about the nature of love, sex. death and existence.

While Wagner may have been influenced by Schopenhauer’s ideas about love and the links between love, sex, and death the composer was probably more interested in providing some sort of rational for his infatuation and possible  adulterous  relationship with his patron’s wife – Mathilde Wesedonck.

The opera has a simple plot line – Tristan who had previously killed Isolde’s fiancé is taking her to England to marry King Marke but they become attracted to each other (partly due to having drunk a love potion). The king is told of their relationship and seeks to kill Tristan but who dies from wounds and Isolde expired from a broken heart. They presumably become immortal just as all Wagner’s later gods and enter Valhalla.

The opera really only needs the two main characters as well as  the music but Wagner gives it a narrative structure and a few other characters who provide contrast and  tension.

Johan Reuter as Kurwenal, Simon O’Neill as Tristan, Ricarda Merbeth as Isolde and Katarina Karnéus as Brangäne. Image – Sav Schulman

The music describes the emotions and drama emanating from the two characters with the opening Prelude  and the closing  Liebestad or “love death song” sung divinely by Isolde over Tristan’s body.

The music of the  Prelude was used extensively by Lars van Trier in his film Melancholia expressing something of the same ethos as Tristan and Isolde with ideas about the nature of love, knowledge of our death and the end of civilization.

With Tristan and Isolde the two lovers embody different aspects of love  and this is expressed through their singing and their acting.

Act II which takes place over a single night presents an emotional landscape where we experience their unfolding  relationship with its deep emotional conflicts,

Their   duo “O eternal Night”, touches on a number of aspects of their love and the urgency of their singing  conveys a sense of bliss and transcendence.

O’Neill gave an impressive account of Tristan with potent stage presence enhanced by his stance and gestures. He was able to convey a sense of the nobility of love while  Merbeth’s Isolde expressed  the passion and emotion. With much of her singing her ferocious voice seemed to effortlessly express the conflicting emotions of anger and passion.

This was a semi-staged performance but Frances Moore’s clever staging  gave the performance some added drama with several of the cast making use of the various parts of the Town Hall.

Isolde made her final sensational entrance in walking up the centre aisle of the hall, Andrew Goodwin’s ship’s captain made a dramatic appearance singing from the Circle in Act I  and Katarina Karneus singing an elegant Brangane sang from the Circle, looking down on the couple in Act II.

Albert Dohmen gave a forceful performance as King Marke singing from up by the organ, towering about the orchestra and Jared Holt as Melot, Tristan’s one-time friend turned villain gave a nuanced performance with his long denunciation.

Johan Reuter gave an impressive account as Kurwenal, Tristan’s servant capturing the close ties between the two men with his sympathetic voice.

The orchestra provided the backbone for the opera and under the skilful direction of Giordano Bellincampi  provided sustained emotional and dramatic music, particularly  the opening Prelude which made for a magnificent  musical experience.

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Opera Australia’s “Tosca”

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Tosca. The Te Deum sequence Image. Keith Saunders

Opera Australia

Tosca by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Sydney Opera House

July 13

Performances until August 16

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Last Saturday’s performance of Tosca at the Sydney Opera House  didn’t go quite as planned. The role of Tosca which had been played by a now ill Giselle Allen  was to be replaced with Natalia Aroyan

Allen’s Tosca had previously been reviewed in Limelight where her performance  was described as “a wonderfully capricious creation; a haughty, self-absorbed prima donna one minute and tragic heroine the next”.

This was to be Aroyan’s first outing in the role but she has had several roles in other Australian Opera productions and has previously even performed with Dame Kiri te Kanawa.

From the first moment we hear Tosca calling her lover’s name from offstage to her bursting onto the stage any concerns about her abilities vanished. She revealed the power and lyricism the role requires immediately. We also heard the notes of the recurring love theme, sometimes calm, at other times agitated, mirroring Tosca’s changing moods. In this opening scene she also revealed other aspects of her complex nature, playfulness egotism, jealousy and romanticism, giving the audience one of the crucial aspects of the opera – a believable character who, she says “lives for art”.

Her voice in Act II traversed a huge range of emotion, – pure love, pain  and yearning while her soaring rendition of the aria“ Vissi d’arte ” captured an almost ethereal dimension.

In a sense she is the alter ego of Puccini who saw the opera a political work which had a strong political thread with a plot that revolved around the historical and political narrative of Italian nationalism. While the opera was originally set in Rome in the early part of the nineteenth century, Director Edward Dick has set the work firmly in the twenty-first century with laptops, CCTV and earpieces. All this provides a very clear reference to the growth of contemporary fascism.

The story , set in Rome still revolves around the tragic love triangle between Floria Tosca , the famous opera singer ; Mario Cavaradossi , a painter ; and Baron Scarpia , the sadistic chief of police .

The opera opens with the escaped revolutionary Angelotti (David Parkin) making a dramatic descent by a rope from the opening in a painted dome in the ceiling of a church. This oculus can be seen as a reference to the ceiling opening of the Patheon in Rome. Cavaradossi comes to his aid and in so doing implicates himself and Tosca in his escape and that knowledge is exploited by  Scarpia in order  to capture the escaped Angelotti, punish Cavaradossi and seduce Tosca.

From the first mention of Scarpia’s name we hear the ominous sequence of three, strident chords that represent the evil character. Sung by Gevorg Hakobyan he emanates ruthlessness and amorality with a sinister voice and the actions of a disturbed man. This is highlighted in the powerful Te Deum sequence at the end of Act I where the power of the state is linked to that of the church and the choir sings along with Scarpia as he fantasises about his seduction of Tosca.

Giselle Allen (Tosca) and Gevorg Hakobyan (Scarpia) Image. Keith Saunders

While Hakobyan conveys a narcissism and cruelty with a searing, caustic voice it is Young Woo Kim singing the role of Cavaradossi who was the standout performer of the opera with a powerful voice with which he conveyed a range of rich emotions along with a very honest portrayal of character.

The set in each of the acts is dominated by a large dome shape with an image of the virgin which works effectively and the oculus in the final act becomes the space from which Tosca plunges to her death.

In Act II the central feature of the set is Scarpia’s four poster bed which becomes the site of seduction as well as acting as a cage within which much of the strugglers between Scarpia and Tosca take place

The work really relies on its wonderful, evocative music, emotionally charged  with some poignant orchestral passages which requires a conductor who is aware of that emotional and dramatic range. In Johannes Fritzsch and the Opera Australia Orchestra all the great qualities of the music were delivered. 

With ten performances to go Tosca is one great reason for a short holiday across to Sydney.

Future operas at the Sydney Opera House

Brett Dean/ Matthew  Jocelyn, Hamlet, July 20 – August 9

Mozart, Cosi van Tutte, August 1 – 17

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Sylvia Jiang’s lively and energetic performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Sylvia Jiang

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Scheherezade

Auckland Town Hall

July 4

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The first half of the APO’s Scheherezade concert featured two works composed a century apart with Melody Eötvös’ “The Saqqara Bird” of 2016 and Prokofiev’s “Piano Concerto No 2 of 1913/1923.”

The highlight of the concert was the Prokofiev Piano Concerto played by Sylvia Jiang. She is a Chinese born New Zealander and Juilliard graduate  who was ranked as a Rising Star in the Asialaw Profiles of 2023.

Last year she performed Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto with the Auckland Philharmonia and later in the year she will also be making her debut national tour as a soloist with Chamber Music New Zealand playing seven concerts.

Prokofiev’s second Piano Concerto is considered to be one of the most difficult piano concertos to play. Thankfully Jiang appears to have not been told that and she never faltered in her exploration of the work even when she was faced  with the massive solo cadenza of the first movement.

This section saw Jiang playing vigorously for over 4 minutes before the orchestra joins in again.

She opened the work delicately creating  gentle, magical sounds along with the woodwinds and strings which hinted at a shimmering watery setting with the orchestra developing the theme and Jiang providing streaks of colour and drama.

This quiet lyricism didn’t last long and was soon interrupted by menacing sounds from the orchestra and a darkness emerged which overpowered the piano which then responded with some ferocious sounds.

This early interaction of orchestra and pianist highlighted the emphasis of the concerto. This was the sense of competition between player and orchestra. With most  concerti there is a collaboration between soloist and orchestra but with this work there was more of an antagonism and intervention.

This is in part due to Prokofiev s music where we hear a clash between romanticism and modernism which is an indication of the composer struggling with his own idea.

In playing the first movement solo cadenza Jiang seemed to be physically attacking the keys and her playing eventually revealed an emerging theme and she was rejoined with the orchestra which enveloped her with the gentler music which had preceded the cadenza.

The short second movement saw Jiang playing  with a  lively energy, butting up against the  savage and insistent tones of the orchestra.

The third movement which opens with huge swells of brass and percussion and a rustic theme where Jiang dashed off flashes bright notes inserting herself into the orchestral themes. Here again the pianist and orchestra were in competition, with the orchestra seeming to overpower Jiang who fought back with a relentless energy finishing the movement with a few quiet  notes of victory.

She opened the fourth movement with a rapid-fire assault on the piano followed by a lethargic sequence where her fingers seemed to wander across the keyboard in search of a theme. Then as she managed to discover the theme the orchestra joined in, expanding and enhancing it.

Her playing at times seemed to be urged on by the energetic orchestra while at other times she seemed to strive against the orchestra.

In the final minutes of the work her playing returned to a simple romanticism before morphing into some frantic playing matched by an equally frenetic orchestra which overpowered the piano before the  final race to the climatic conclusion.

The “Saqqara Bird” refers to a bird/plane shaped relic found at Saqqara in Egypt in the late nineteenth century whose function was unknown. Melody Eötvös’ work explores the imagined reasons behind its creations and purposes and envisages it in search of its identity.

The work opens with the sounds of bird-like twittering from the woodwinds and strings which seem to be emerging from a dark forest of sounds conveyed by the blasts of brass and thumping drums.

Several of the instruments appeared to have been adapted or employed to create eerie sounds as though a backdrop to a fairy tale filled with shadowy beings.

In the middle section the woodwinds replicate  the sounds and movement of birds along with the ghostly forms leading to enigmatic encounters and discoveries.

The intriguing music ranged from sequences of unruly and strident sounds to the use of the simple single note which ends the work.

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The APO’s “Brahms and Bellincampi”

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Alexander Melnikov and Giordano Bellincampi Image. Sav Schulman

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Brahms and Bellincampi

Auckland Town Hall

June 6

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The opening of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No 1 is dramatic with the timpani delivering a tumultuous sound accompanied by ferocious strings. The intense opening  was intended by the composer to be a depiction and reflection on  Robert Schumann’s attempted suicide in leaping into the Rhine at Dusseldorf few years earlier.

For the first few minutes it was the orchestra which dominated  as pianist Alexander Melnikov waited for his entry. Showing what would be his intense approach to playing he seemed  restless as he contemplated the piano – leaning into it and caressing its surface as though communing with the instrument.

Following the stormy performance of the orchestra Melnikov made his entrance, referencing the orchestras’ dramatic themes but with simple and deliberate playing as though reflecting on the drama which had just occurred.

Much of the first movement saw him responding to the themes that the orchestra had explored with a bravura performance where he developed  the main theme, playing with a relentless  insistence.

Melnikov’s relationship with the piano continued, at times he appeared to be praying and at other times conducting. All the time he appeared to physically respond to the performance of the orchestra, his body moving reflectively in time to the music.

In the second movement his playing was almost lethargic inserting some delicate passages into the orchestras brooding sounds. Then in the third movement the music seemed to electrify him with some relentless playing which was  almost  Byronic, of the individual confronting his demons, loves and destiny.

His Brahms encore finished as a cell phone call came through in the hall, so when he was leaving the stage, he put his hand to his ear with the universal sign of “I’ll call you”, eliciting  further applause from the audience.

The other work on the programme was Brahms’s symphony No 2, a glorious pastoral work inspired by a holiday at the resort of Lake Worth in Austria. The work is full of images of nature and the heightened drama of the alpine  environment.

While it is a captivating depiction of the landscape there are  undertones of melancholy with the strings, timpani and brass creating a sense of disquiet.

The more reflective second movement conveys a sense of an emotional  journey and the delights of life. all leading to enlightenment.

Then in the third movement there were charming dance-like seqcnces followed by the dramatic fourth movement with its big crescendos punctuated by idyllic interludes, the audience kept in suspense as the work raced to its fiery conclusion.

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NZ Opera’s Le Comte Ory

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Le Comte Ory (Act I) Image Andi Crown

NZ Opera

Le Comte Ory by Gioachino Antonio Rossini

Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland

May 30 & June 1

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

If Rossini was still writing operas today his pick for a librettists would have to be Simon Phillips. The original libretto was by Eugene Scribe and Charles Delestre-Poirson, adapted from a comedy they had first written in 1817. While traces of the original can be detected in NZ Opera’s latest version it is Phillips’ new translation, re-write and update which dominates.

This update is what makes the work entertaining and significant. Phillips has taken something of risk in filling the libretto with colloquial speech but it makes for  a clearer understanding of the narrative and his contemporary references give the work an immediacy.

His new libretto avoids having to deal with  the issues of misogyny which are always there in Rossini’s works. It also avoids the contentious issue in the original of having one group of men going off to fight the crusade in Palestine.

Examples of his language updates include someone being referred to as “not a happy camper” “Stuff this for  a caper, I’m buggered” says The Coach after  one adventure, “He really found my chi”  exclaims of one ecstatic young woman  and at the point when Ory is unmasked the entire cast gives a sustained  “What the F…K”

There are lots of rugby references including mention of a John Eales award – this reinforces the idea that Ory’s team is Australian as New Zealand players would not engage in such dastardly undertakings.

The setting for the opera is moved from medieval France to New Zealand, probably the Central Plateau where we find the wives of a rugby team who are off on an international tour staying at a wellness centre in the Chateau Whareora.

Adjacent to the wellness centre is a campsite where Ory and his rugby teammates have set themselves up with the dodgy intentions.

Ory uses this base to  establish himself as a guru / advisor on matters of the heart in an attempt to woo Adele, the sister of the owner of the centre who is away on tour .The team’s personal physiotherapist, Isolier is also in love with Adele and tries to thwart Orys undertakings.

This conflict between pure love and the profane is actually more about a form of selfishness and narcissism which Ory shows in both words and deeds.

The opera revolves around lots of deception, disguises and sexual intrigue where the only character, Count Ory, seems to be in control, yet he is the one who constantly fails ,

Manase Latu as Ory captures the characters inflated sense of self with a bravura performance, parading around the stage in his orange Buddhist robes, behaving like a faith healing tele evangelist.

His voice had the richness of the glib politician / priest with touches of both wit and seriousness, brilliantly captures the suave veneer. In the first act he was great as a Dalai Lama character. Partly his acting, partly the libretto but his character comes over as flawed and despite his belief in his charms and sexual prowess he is never in control of his endeavours.

Emma Pearson as Adele displayed a range of emotional responses with her iridescent voice which at time conveys a sense of rapture.

Hanna Hipp as Isolier played an ambivalent character in taking on  the traditional ‘trouser role’ of female playing male as well as that of a bi-sexual woman in her relationship with Adele. Her duo with Ory was riveting with its mixture of the comic, and sexual friction.

The various duos are performed superbly while the septet at the end of Act I was a great showing off of their voices as they slowly morphed into what sounded like a delightful barbershop singing group.

Andrea Creighton’s Ragonde fulsome voice was a quiet force. Moses Mackay as Raimbaud displayed a fine sense of the comic and Wade Kernot as the Team Manager had a genial style with a nice flexibility of tone.

The sets and costumes by Tracy Grant Lord worked well in defining place and character but some of the costumes worn by the locals in Act I seem to have been borrowed from an amateur production of Oklahoma.

For a little-known opera this production offers originality, riotous performances  with  some of the country’s best voices. The APO conducted by  Brad Cohen brought Rossini’s sparkling music to life, particularly the two overtures.

St James Theatre, Wellington June 13 & 15

Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch June 27 & 29

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NZ Opera’s “Le comte Ory” to tour three centres

John Daly-Peoples

Manase Latu as The Count in rehearsal Image: Andi Crown

NZ Opera

Le comte Ory by Gioachino Antonio Rossini

Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland May 30 & June 1

St James Theatre, Wellington June 13 & 15

Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch June 27 & 29

John Daly-Peoples

Rossini’s penultimate comic opera, Le Comte Ory has many of the qualities of his other operas with great melodies virtuosic singing and an anarchic plot. However it has  generally been overshadowed by his other works such as The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola and has not attracted contemporary audiences. Recently however it has had a revival and been produced by a number of the international companies including the MET and Garsington Opera.

The gloriously ribald work was first performed in Paris in 1828, when it ran for over 400 performances. Rossini amalgamated some of his previous work  and  vaudeville components were altered and expanded into the two-act comic libretto with six extended musical numbers from his “Il Viaggio” recycled into the new score. At the time it was hailed as one of his wittiest and most seamless and sophisticated works.

The operas tells of  a libidinous aristocrat attempting to seduce the virtuous Countess Adele and other women while their menfolk are away. In his various attempts, he dons outrageous disguises but continues to fail in his amorous endeavours. .

The work was originally set in  medieval France, but this new production of Le comte Ory is relocated to New Zealand, which allows for more local humour.

Director Simon Phillips says “I have always believed that if you want people to laugh, the closer you bring something to a contemporary era, the more chance you’ll have. We can recognise ourselves, and elements of our society in what we’re watching – and it gives the satire more zing. This production felt like a brilliant opportunity to make a new version of this bonkers, madcap rom-com of an opera – unapologetic, irreverent and funny, just as Rossini intended it to be.”

Emma Pearson as Countess Adele in rehearsal Image: Andi Crown

The cast features some great talents including Manase Latu as The Count, Emma Pearson as Countess Adele,  Hannah Hipp as Isolier  as well as Moses Mackay, Wade Kernot, Andrea Creighton and Tayla Alexander.

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NZ Trio’s “Unquiet Dream”

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Amalia Hall, Sarah Watkins and Ashley Brown Image Chris Watson

NZ Trio

Unquiet Dream

Auckland Concert Chamber

May 19

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

With their latest concert “Unquiet Dream” the NZ Trio have shown again their ability to deliver concerts featuring music which is innovative as well as drawing on the established canon. This approach shows an intelligent and sophisticated approach to chamber music  which makes their concerts  always rewarding.

The first work on the programme was  Benjamin Britten’s “Introduction and Allegro for Piano Trio”, a very early work in which the young composer  was trying out his approaches to the modernist music which was then beginning to take an interest in.

The work opened with the instruments tentatively seeking out an elusive  melody, playing various sequences which overlapped and intersected as though the composer was assembling his musical structure out of disparate elements.

Many of these sequences were ethereal, touching on the flickering images of water, wind, shadows and scudding clouds. This search for physicality was reflected in the physicality of the playing of the instruments – the blunt striking of the piano and the sharp rasps of the violin and cello.

In Chris Cree Browns  “The Second Triumvirate”  he imagines each of the instruments having its own language  with which they engage in communications  which range from the  simple human conversations  to the more intricate interactions of animal and bird sounds. All these interchanges there are filled dramatic echoes and reverberations.

Lera Auerbach’s  “Trio No2 Triptych” is sub-titled “This mirror has three faces” and she says of the work that “one can look at three different faces or roles of the same person or at three different personalities”.

So, each of the instruments takes on an aspect of the personality which can be in conflict or in harmony with the other. This psychoanalytic approach hints at the idea of multiple personalities or the different faces a person presents – the public, the private or the intimate.

The work is filled with shifting dynamics. Simple sequences develop and change, minimalist statements escalate to create bold and adventurous musical forms.

Shards of music coalesce and then disperse, in surreal juxtaposition, the various elements leaving the image of the person unresolved.

Where  things seem to fall apart in Auerbach’s piece there is a very different outcome with Mendelsohn’s “Piano Trio in D Minor”. With this piece the Trio was focussed on drawing all the elements together to create a symphonic sweep for one of his great “songs without words” providing the work with an emotional richness and depth.

The work hints at the composer’s own desires and struggles using the instruments to create a narrative in which he is by turns heroic, romantic and despondent.  

Throughout the work pianist Sarah Watkins provided the measured mainstay with both a delicacy and vividness of expression. Amalia Hall’s violin  provided a range of emotion from the sensuous to the dramatic and Ashley Brown’s cello ranged from the melancholic to the agitated.

With their playing they were able to capture the romanticism, the wistfulness and the drama of the work as well as effortlessly  incorporating references to  the composers his own Midsummer Night’s Dream and the that of Bach.