When they were not able to do their planned new production of Boito’s Mefistofele the company ‘went creative’ and decided to create a piece which meditated on the current situation, through a variety of musical responses, beginning and ending with elements of the work they had intended to stage. Many of the pieces of music - which range from opera to folk music, to choral works to symphonic - had been re-worked by contemporary composers which often gives a fascinating aural twist to well known pieces - particularly, and notably successfully, with Schubert’s Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel, which was sung/performed by a variety of performers, with the characteristic elements of the original being essentially there but shining out from what had been done to, in and around it.
The performance took place on a stage where there were a variety of bits of sets and props which were used as needed - a particularly successful, one being with the final item, a vast parachute silk..
This was a fascinating element but for me the biggest problem was that it did not really gel as a whole into something that was coherent dramatically - perhaps deliberately so given the situation - but the various parts were fascinating and involving and, like Covid Fan Tutte, gave a fascinating insight into just how crisis can lead to creativity.
The music and performers:
MUZIKALE INHOUD PROLOGO IN CIELO (uit Mefistofele) Arrigo Boito & Martín Mayo –
AIR D’HÉLÈNE (uit Faust et Hélène) Lili Boulanger & Lochlan Brown solozang: Polly Leech –
PÂNĂ CÂND NU TE IUBEAM (Roemeens lied) Vasile Nedea solozang: Olga Busuioc –
ROMANCE DE L’ÉTOILE (uit Achtste symfonie & L’étoile) Gustav Mahler, Emmanuel Chabrier & Marc Migó solozang: Martin Mkhize –
VENTI, TURBINI (uit Rinaldo) Georg Friedrich Händel & Rick van Veldhuizen solozang: Polly Leech
PALOMA NEGRA (opname) Tomás Méndez & Chavela Vargas –
LAKUTSHON’ ILANGA Mackay Davashe, Miriam Makeba, Thuthuka Sibisi & Maretha van der Walt solozang: Martin Mkhize –
遠和近 FAR AND NEAR (op een gedicht van Gu Cheng) Lingbo Ma solozang: Fang Fang Kong –
MOON BRIDGE Florence Price & Meriç Artaç –
THE GENERATION (op een gedicht van Gu Cheng) Lingbo Ma solozang: Fang Fang Kong
13 L’ALTRA NOTTE IN FONDO AL MARE (uit Mefistofele) Arrigo Boito & Grace-Evangeline Mason solozang: Olga Busuioc –
CERF-VOLANT (uit Les Choristes) Bruno Coulais –
FOUR ETHERS (gebaseerd op Symphonie Fantastique van Hector Berlioz, opname) serpentwithfeet –
LONELY CHILD Claude Vivier solozang: Olga Busuioc –
RIDDA E FUGA INFERNALE (uit Mefistofele) Arrigo Boito & Florian Magnus Maier –
WE WEAR THE MASK Paul Laurence Dunbar –
KOMM! HEBE DICH ZU HÖHEREN SPHÄREN (uit Achtste symfonie) Gustav Mahler & Lochlan Brown solozang: Olga Busuioc –
GRETCHEN AM SPINNRADE Franz Schubert & Reinbert de Leeuw soli: Olga Busuioc, Polly Leech & Martin Mkhize –
VITHIYIN KURAL (gebaseerd op Schicksalslied) Johannes Brahms & Ravi Kittappa –
JOY BOY Julius Eastman –
EPILOOG Akim Moiseenkov Zeynep Ajar, Alaaedin Baker, Renato Bertolino, Olga Busuioc, Mary-Jane Franker, Polly Leech, Jonathan Lever, Martin Mkhize, Lidiane Moreira, Federica Panariello, Renzo Popolizio & François Vincent