Cherevik - Jens Larsen
Khivrya - Agnes Zwierko
Parasya - Mirka Wagner
Kum - Tom Erik Lie
Gritsko - Alexander Lewis
Afanasiy Ivanovich - Ivan Tursic
The gypsy - Hans Groning
Vocalconsort Berlin
Choir and Orchestra of Komische Oper Berlin
Henrik Nanasi (Conductor)
Barrie Kosky (Director)
Musically this lesser known opera by Mussorgsky has all the varieties from melancholy to lyric sentiments, and the rather dramatic choral version of night on bald mountain, which is arguably the composer's most familiar tone poem. Though the plot is rather naive in contrary to its wide spectrum of music styles. It centres on the villagers' superstition of a haunting tale and their fear trigger bizarre yet comical reactions. The gypsy plays the role of a wizard that attempts to make people afraid psychologically. Alongside there was a romantic affair between a young couple, but complicated by their feelings and parental interference. The sole dramatic high point is the witches' sabbath when hell broke loose with demonic figures, but that is a nightmare vision of Gritsko and none actually happen in the village. By morning, normality resumes and happily ever after for Gritsko and Parasya.
Nevertheless, this time it was the production itself and musical execution that lifted the appeal to this not so inspiring libretto. The opera choirmaster David Cavelius made choral arrangements, of Mussorgsky's songs and dances of death and the Hebrew song by Rimsky Korsakov, to be sung
between scenes. Accompanied by the pluck string instrument Balalaika, the choral singing reinforced the Russian folk context yet felt religious than the irony expressed in the lyrics. Even so the music colour was dense and sung under dimmed lights, which added that haunting sense of death in mind. Though one would probably more appreciate the arrangement on upper level, where I sat, to admire the fresco while the choir sang from different parts of the hall. One experience a hair raising moment when the rich choral voices flooded from behind during the fourth song called 'Field Marshal', which depicted death commanding the fallen soldiers. But those at the boxes or stalls might not share the same experience as they sat in the dark and not much to look at.
The strength of Barrie Kosky's staging was the humourous touch through exaggeration, command of a fluid dramaturgy and also retained a level of seriousness to the tale. The chorus sang magnificently
even under complicated choreography including dancing wildly, and adjusted their singing colour accordingly. One could sense the excitement when the crowd went arm in arm at the celebration. The silly quarrels and incidents between Cherevik and his wife Khivrya were particularly hilarious during the chaos at the kitchen. She was at no mercy to slap her drunken husband, breaking eggs on his forehead when he slept on the kitchen table, and woke him up by putting his hand on the stove. Her short fling with Afanasiy developed into a comical affair when she tried to hide him from Cherevik. She first mistakenly by throwing the cake cream into his face and in hurry put his head inside a chicken. As the crowd recounted the ghost tale of red coat, Afanasiy sudden bizarre appearance scarred them off.
After Gritsko gave the eerie and melancholic lullaby describing death put a sickened baby into eternal sleep, the feast of devils saw animal headed figures filled the stage. Again Kosky's big scene choreography was effective as a spectacle and unleashed the wildness in full. Pigs and cockerels
jumped and serenaded along to the music of night on bald mountain. A pig headed leader commanded the devils and the rest wearing high heeds joined in the colourful feast. Though afterwards the return to normality in a plain staging and Russian folk costumes, it felt losing the theatrical focus and dramatically lacked a continuity from before. The choral Hebrew song was sung again in a candlelit set up to finish the opera but one wondered the purpose of it. It also felt the sequence was alike clusters of events than a build up towards a climatic point, which was why one felt the story was not inspiring and questioned the attractiveness of it.
The magnificent bass tone from Jens Larsen filled the hall with his powerful projection. Clear on diction and flexible to change his vocal colour to fit into different emotions. He portrayed Cherevik as a bossy but drunken and clumsy figure. Agnes Zwierko had the richness of a mezzo in her timbre, but her singing sometimes vertical in direction and not always sustained the full value of the notes.
Both Mirka Wagner and Alexander Lewis possessed the youthful and lyrical vocal colour. Though Lewis was more consistent in sustaining the warmth and projection in his singing, also more able to convey the emotions such as the anguish and frustration when Gritsko met opposition from Cherevik to marry Parasya. Wagner vocally sounded thin at first in Parasya's song of disappointment and timbre rather unique, only later produced a fuller tone as her emotion gather as the village celebration went in full swing. The choir was generally in good intonation and produced a sound of wall that not many opera choruses consistently able to. Though a few hesitations that affected the tuning and momentum probably due to unable to see the conductor clearly and no prompter on stage. The orchestra under Henrik Nanasi produced many dramatic playing with urgency to maintain the music flowing forward. It produced a more bodied tone and tidier coordinations than my previous encounters of the same group. As a whole, the music had the edge this time for atmospherically beautiful whereas the production would benefit from some rethinking to be on the same par.
(Photo credits: Monika Rittershaus, Komische Oper Berlin)
