ONLY THE SOUND
REMAINS
Magical. Enchanting. Mystical.
I have seen all Kaija Saariaho’s four operas and this was is without doubt the
best of them in my opinion. The opera consists of two parts, that are based on
Japanese n͞o-plays (Always Stong and Feather
Mantle). Personally I liked the first one even more than the second one.
Peter Sellar’s
production was fabulous. It was easy to see that the team had worked together
several times, since the music, things on the stage and the lights functioned
so well together. Saariaho’s music was pure magic. There was no huge orchestra,
but a kantele, a flute, percussion and a string quartet Meta4. And of course,
electronic sound design was part of the opera. The vocal quartet functioned sometimes
as a teller and sometimes as a person in the opera. During the opera the kantele
and the flute took part in the discussion with the main characters. And
electronic sound design created dream-like atmosphere with the help of echo.
Shadows, created by lights (James F. Ingalls) grew and shrank as if there were
additional persons on the stage.
Two main characters
were sung by bass-baritone Davone Tines and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo.
Both were excellent but especially Roth Costanzo’s voice suited the role on the
dot. He was a spirit in both the parts and his electronically enhanced voiced
definitely created a ghostlike effect.
Actually I can say
that in this opera there were no weak links and the whole team can be said to
have done an excellent job. This production continues now to new opera houses
and if you happen to bump into it somewhere, I truly recommend buying a ticket.
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| The performers including Kaija Saariaho |
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