Iolanta and Bluebeard's Castle at the Met
January 25, 2019
* Notes *
Mariusz Treliński's 2015 striking production of Iolanta (pictured left, photograph by Marty Sohl) and Bluebeard's Castle at the Metropolitan Opera was revived last night. The singing in both operas is wonderful, and conductor Henrik Nánási had a fine Met debut.
The production is highly-detailed, with an attractive set. There are lots of projections. The narration and sound-effects for Bluebeard seem unnecessary, pointlessly dragging out the performance when Bartók's music should be more than sufficient. The scenes changes did pack a lot of punch and I did like that both operas inhabited the same creepy forest.
Maestro Henrik Nánási and the orchestra gave a fluid, shapely account of both operas. The brass had some fuzziness in Iolanta but was clear for Bluebeard. Tchaikovsky certainly had the two harps working hard in the second half of Iolanta, and the playing was very impressive.
The contrast of the two lead sopranos is remarkable. As plaintive Iolanta, Sonya Yoncheva has a warm resonance, she always sounds very comfortable in her voice and grounded. Angela Denoke has a penetrating quality as Judith in Bluebeard, but is never shrill, with a creamy iciness.
Bass Vitalij Kowaljow projected power as King René in Iolanta. I liked baritone Alexey Markov's brightness as Robert, and the fresh, open sound of tenor Alexey Dolgov, who filled in for an ailing Matthew Polenzani as Vaudémont.
Baritone Gerald Finley has a lovely voice, which was surprisingly appealing for Bluebeard. His sound has a good weight and brilliance, but he was grim enough as well.
* Tattling *
I was surprised to see that the former house manager at San Francisco Opera now is a performance manager for the Met.
Standing room in Family Circle was empty, as were most of the back rows of the house, so very little to report on that front.