This is perhaps rather surprising territory in which to find
Juan Diego Flórez. One glance at the cover should leave
you in no doubt that he is the main attraction here.
However, in many respects this opera might have been made for
him.
Most of us know Orfeo best with a woman in the title
role: Kathleen Ferrier, Janet Baker and Anne Sofie von Otter
are among its most famous recent exponents. However, as Jeremy
Hayes points out in his very useful booklet notes for this release,
Gluck always conceived the part with a male protagonist in mind.
His first two versions of it were composed for castrati, but
when he was invited to produce a version for Paris in 1774 he
knew that this would not do because in France the castrato voice
was something of an object of ridicule. Consequently he rearranged
it for a high tenor or, more accurately, an haute-contre.
This voice type was intended to slide effortlessly between chest
and head voice and would have taken most of the heroic roles
in French opera of the time. If the role has more often been
taken by a woman it is more testament to the fact that so few
tenors today could attempt it. Enter Flórez. If any tenor
today could tackle the role of Orphée it is surely him.
With such a singer in the title role it is bound to make you
reassess what you know of this opera. Flórez’s
renowned skills in coloratura and virtuosic singing should theoretically
give him all the necessary equipment to assay this role and
there are moments where he sounds fantastic. The bravura showpiece
which ends Act 1, and which Gluck wrote especially for this
version, sounds full and exciting in his hands and he also manages
great pathos for the famous J’ai perdu mon Eurydice.
If truth be told, though, to my ears he never sounded entirely
at home in the role, as if the conventionally staid acting style
brought out an aspect of his voice that he wasn’t entirely
happy with. Even he is punished by the high tessitura at some
moments. Don’t be misled, though: this remains a vocal
performance of great distinction and it made me appraise the
opera and this singer in a refreshing light; surely an achievement
by itself.
His colleagues prove to be good companions. Marianelli is a
light-voiced, skittish Amour, well contrasted with Garmendia’s
dramatic Eurydice. It is mainly thanks to her that I found Act
3 the most convincing part of the performance, the exchanges
between her and Orphée carrying genuine dramatic conviction.
Chorus work is fine too, especially Act 2, though to my ears
López-Cobos had an unsettlingly abrasive way with the
orchestral writing. The grace notes and lithe rhythms of the
overture sound clunky and forced and the all-important dances
are decisively earth-bound throughout, nowhere carrying the
convincing sense of movement they require. Perhaps that is because,
while this is a live performance, the booklet photos seem to
suggest that it was recorded in concert rather than at staged
performances. You can also pick up quite a few extraneous creaks
and page-turns. Still, that shouldn’t rule this set out
of consideration, even though for me it remains a success rather
than an unqualified triumph. If you really want the French version
of Orphée then your first stop should be the flexible
rhythms and exciting sounds of Mark Minkowski and his band on
Archiv, and I suspect that Richard Croft’s voice is probably
closer to what Gluck had in mind. Go to that for authenticity
and this for curiosity value.
Simon Thompson
see also the review
of the original concert performance
Orphée - Juan Diego Flórez (tenor) 
