Reviews - Archive file n. 82
Carmen, Wiener Staatsoper, 25-02-09
Larry L. Lash - Opera News - MetOperaFamily.org
11 May 2009
Picture: © Wiener Staatsoper GmbH / Axel Zeininger
Singers, ostensibly human beings as well, carry all the strengths and frailties inherent to the species. So the chance of getting four of the world's top vocalists — who also happen to be extraordinarily intelligent, as well as superb actors — together for four performances of a Wiener Staatsoper revival of a Zeffirelli Carmen (so ancient there isn't even any livestock involved) is about as likely as that alignment of planets in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Is there a lovelier Micaëla, physically and vocally, in memory (post-Freni) than Genia Kühmeier? Momentarily departing from Mozart, she provided that bit of luxury casting that helped make the performance something legendary, surprisingly feisty in what is usually a role which requires a pretty sound and not much else.
Escamillo, too, is a one-hit wonder, but as portrayed by Ildebrado D'Arcangelo, this was a man vain enough to hold his impressive high notes until gravity — or the conductor — brought them down. He was no, however, quite the expert pugilist, with Carmen's cohorts having to pull Don José off him in their knife fight when it looked like he was going to lose.
But Carmen comes down to the two leads, and there must have been some astronomical anomaly behind the pairing of baroque specialist Vesselina Kasarova, new to the role, and the force of nature called José Cura. Given the paucity of rehearsal time for revivals at Staatsoper, one has to assume it was a matter of chemistry, or intelligence, or spontaneity, or fate: the two worked off each other to create an edge-of-your-seat intensity, offering blood-and-guts characterizations while never neglecting Bizet's score.
Kasarova's voluptuous, earthy mezzo is a quirky sound, the kind of voice over which opera fans vehemently take sides. But no one can deny her technical abilities, and there were jaw-dropping moments — especially controlled drops into deep chest voice — and a surprisingly human approach to the role, snapping José's suspenders, tearing up the floor in the "Danse bohème" and, ultimately, utterly surprised when José stabbed her, pawing at his torso in disbelief as he let her drop to the ground. Kasarova's intensely sexual, wholly unorthodox Carmen will not be to everyone's taste, but what a welcome addition she is to a currently under-crowded field.
Just add José — Cura that is — and the mix was perfect. No wimpy mama's boy, this true dramático dude was unconsciously (or not) wrapping a leather thong around a hand while Carmen delivered her "Habanera," and he was clearly a brute in his lead-up to a staggeringly gorgeous, divinely phrased flower song. And, as previously mentioned, he proceeded to beat the crap out of Escamillo.
From the eardrum-shattering downbeat, Asher Fisch told us this was going to be a brutal, veristic Carmen, and the orchestra delivered brilliantly throughout. On top of it, the speed, accuracy, and vocal luxury of Ileana Tonca, Sophie Marilley, Benedikt Kobel and Clemens Unterreiner, as Carmen's smuggler pals, were a major contribution to this rare Carmen, for which all the planets were aligned.