You have to hand it
to the Austrian city of Bregenz: when
it comes to staging opera they don’t
do things by halves. How many other
places would even dare to mount an annual
international festival with artists
and a conductor of international reputation
accompanied by Vienna’s second orchestra
– all staged on a purpose-built platform
in the middle of Lake Constance, or
the Bodensee as the locals call it?
It seems a little mad, doesn’t it? But
it’s a formula that certainly works.
The fact they do it
at all has forced them to be inventive
about how they approach the business
of staging an opera. Economic considerations
mean that the massive set has to last
for two seasons and the time in between
open to the elements sitting in water,
baking under the summer sun or freezing
in the snow and ice of winter. An orchestra
has to be accommodated somewhere – usually
within the floating stage, as the lake’s
shore is used to seat the audience.
Every detail has to be microphoned and
relayed so it can be heard. (See further
reading links below for more information
on these issues).
So, to the 2002 staging
of La Bohème. Rolando
Villazon, now a household name of the
opera world, was back then relatively
unknown. Alexia Voulgaridou, whose previous
appearances on CD I have welcomed here,
along with Elena de la Merced and the
other cast members present an essentially
young – and, therefore, appropriate
– incarnation of the work’s main characters.
This is no bunch of great stars playing
make-believe with their long forgotten
youth.
I can understand why
this production has been issued on DVD:
Rolando Villazon’s presence should be
enough to sell a fair few copies. None
of his fans at likely to be at all disappointed.
He makes a visually believable bohemian
poet, which doesn’t hurt matters. I
admired his consistently strong tone;
even at piano dynamics it is
clear. His phrasing is beautifully aware
of Puccini’s idiom – and even though
he does sometimes hold a top note, as
star tenors are wont to do, he does
not distort the overall shape of the
music too much. I am reminded of seeing
him in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in
London a couple of years ago, when I
could only describe his acting as manic.
It’s much the same for the Bregenz production:
he flings himself around the stage with
abandon. That he manages to sing as
well tells you something about his
level of physical fitness.
You should not think
that this is just a one-person production
where the cast is concerned. The other
bohemians all give creditable portrayals
of their parts, with several fine singers
amongst their number. Markus Marquardt’s
Colline is particularly touching in
Act 4 when offering to pawn his coat
so a doctor can treat Mimi. Alexia Voulgaridou
turns in a very affecting performance
as Mimi, beautifully sung, with a willingness
to maintain the intimate atmosphere
when it is called for the most: her
reading of Si, mi chiamano Mimi
is but one example of this. She partners
Villazon well and they look good together.
Elena de la Merced sings the part of
Musetta with some feeling, though much
else about how her character is portrayed
is somewhat controversial. Singing Quando
me’n vo Marilyn Monroe style into
a 1950s standard microphone is certainly
individual, but it fits into this particular
production.
The conception that
Richard Jones and Anthony McDonald bring
to the staging of the opera will not
be to everyone’s taste. The stage is
a couple of outsized Parisian café
tables and chairs that have been sunk
into the bed of the Bodensee. On one
table is a notional map of Paris and
an outsized yellow ashtray, which being
cunningly disguised acts as a stage
entrance. The scale of the stage somewhat
dwarfs the singers, dancers and chorus.
Brian Large’s expert filming manages
however to give some focus to the main
events on stage without letting the
other abstract ‘busy-ness’ that carries
on alongside it interfere too much.
The use of microphones
might also be an issue for some. In
fact, it’s a blessing and a curse. Whilst
it was necessary so the live audience
could hear the music, it’s use as the
sound source on the DVD means that you’ll
have to get used to something very different
from most other opera DVDs. The orchestra,
which you never see, is very forwardly
placed as a result of close microphoning
and amplification. Or at least it sounds
that way to me. You don’t get much sense
of space around the orchestra or one
instrumental body interplaying with
another. Rather, it is everything spread
across your left and right audio channels.
This irritated me to begin with, much
as the high-jinx elements of the stage
action did, but after a while Puccini
established himself as more demanding
on my attention than such subsidiary
elements.
The Vienna Symphony
Orchestra play and the various choral
forces perform under Ulf Schirmer’s
generally sensitive direction with conviction.
Brief but useful notes give some information
on the production together with a plot
synopsis. This is a highly enjoyable
DVD of a quirky stage production that
I will revisit for the contributions
of the major cast members above all
else.
Evan Dickerson
Further reading:
Article and interview about the stage
design for this production:
http://livedesignonline.com/mag/show_business_worlds_biggest_outdoor/index.html
Sound design, acoustics and microphones
used at the Bregenz Festival:
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~zounds/SWG/Bregenz/Bregenz1/Bregenz1.html
for
details
Vienna Symphony Orchestra/Ulf Schirmer 
CAPRICCIO 93 515 [100:00] 
