Notes on a Nautically-Themed Pittsburgh Weekend
This past weekend I drove up to the family homestead in Pittsburgh, mainly to see the Pittsburgh Opera's production of Billy Budd, which was well worth the 250 mile drive.
The show's original Billy Budd, Nathan Gunn, cancelled midweek due to laryngitis, but replacement baritone David Adam Moore fit seamlessly into the production. His nicely shaded vocal work brought the right mix of regret, anger, naivety, and acceptance to Billy's solo ruminations in the next to last scene, as he waits in irons for his execution at morning. (Prior to that point in the opera Billy functions mainly as a symbol of innocence and masculine beauty, more seen than heard.) Tenor Robin Leggate also impressed me in the front-and-center role of Captain Vere -- forcefully sung, strongly and plainly characterized, aptly depicting a self-described "man of action" experiencing a philosophical crisis.
Most of all, I thought the Opera's orchestra and chorus gave an impressively muscular performance. Britten's scores are more complex and dramatically critical than anything else I can think of them playing in recent memory but they were more than proficient -- more so than I expected of them before. The climactic hanging scene sounded especially striking, as the near-mutinous sailors' anger builds to a head of inchoate choral outbursts before the officers force it back down into a more muted unrest.
The Francesca Zambello production is spare and effective: The stage is dominated by an elevated, decklike platform that juts out over the orchestra pit, and a mast/ cross that casts a long shadow over the planking. (The obvious Christ imagery there isn't any more overbearing than in the libretto.) The opera is framed with reminiscences from a much older Captain Vere and as the production nears the end the elderly man begins to drift into the shipboard scenes, adding a subtle element of dream and memory to the atmosphere.
I don't know if it's a matter of budget or filling seats or what, but the Opera is planning to withdraw from this kind of ambitious programming next season, a return to their form of a few years ago; I really wish they would keep dedicating some resources to this kind of non-standard fare.
Perhaps also due to illness, the Sadler's Wells Hippy-Shake Kickline Revue did not make its planned appearance.
For good measure, I took yesterday off from work in order to stick around Pittsburgh long enough on Sunday to see a Pirates game with Dad and Mike. The Pirates commentary on this blog has subsided as the team's early performance has been typically miserable -- but the Bucs managed a blowout against Atlanta, running up 13 runs on a steady stream of small ball (that's 6 more runs than their previous one-game high this season). Not long on drama but it's fun to watch the starting lineup actually, you know, hit. They put up 5 runs against the Marlins' bullpen last night but so far tonight it sounds like it's back to Mendoza line-skirting biz as usual; maybe they should keep swinging those pink Race-for-the-Cure bats they were given for Mother's Day.
The show's original Billy Budd, Nathan Gunn, cancelled midweek due to laryngitis, but replacement baritone David Adam Moore fit seamlessly into the production. His nicely shaded vocal work brought the right mix of regret, anger, naivety, and acceptance to Billy's solo ruminations in the next to last scene, as he waits in irons for his execution at morning. (Prior to that point in the opera Billy functions mainly as a symbol of innocence and masculine beauty, more seen than heard.) Tenor Robin Leggate also impressed me in the front-and-center role of Captain Vere -- forcefully sung, strongly and plainly characterized, aptly depicting a self-described "man of action" experiencing a philosophical crisis.
Most of all, I thought the Opera's orchestra and chorus gave an impressively muscular performance. Britten's scores are more complex and dramatically critical than anything else I can think of them playing in recent memory but they were more than proficient -- more so than I expected of them before. The climactic hanging scene sounded especially striking, as the near-mutinous sailors' anger builds to a head of inchoate choral outbursts before the officers force it back down into a more muted unrest.
The Francesca Zambello production is spare and effective: The stage is dominated by an elevated, decklike platform that juts out over the orchestra pit, and a mast/ cross that casts a long shadow over the planking. (The obvious Christ imagery there isn't any more overbearing than in the libretto.) The opera is framed with reminiscences from a much older Captain Vere and as the production nears the end the elderly man begins to drift into the shipboard scenes, adding a subtle element of dream and memory to the atmosphere.
I don't know if it's a matter of budget or filling seats or what, but the Opera is planning to withdraw from this kind of ambitious programming next season, a return to their form of a few years ago; I really wish they would keep dedicating some resources to this kind of non-standard fare.
Perhaps also due to illness, the Sadler's Wells Hippy-Shake Kickline Revue did not make its planned appearance.
For good measure, I took yesterday off from work in order to stick around Pittsburgh long enough on Sunday to see a Pirates game with Dad and Mike. The Pirates commentary on this blog has subsided as the team's early performance has been typically miserable -- but the Bucs managed a blowout against Atlanta, running up 13 runs on a steady stream of small ball (that's 6 more runs than their previous one-game high this season). Not long on drama but it's fun to watch the starting lineup actually, you know, hit. They put up 5 runs against the Marlins' bullpen last night but so far tonight it sounds like it's back to Mendoza line-skirting biz as usual; maybe they should keep swinging those pink Race-for-the-Cure bats they were given for Mother's Day.
1 Comments:
Cool. I'm glad you got to see that.
I don't think it's too tragic if a regional opera company schedules conservatively; that's just life. And they're doing an opera by Jonathan Dove, which looks newish. (I don't know anything about Dove.)
I'd be more concerned that their promotional photo for Donizetti's "Elixir of Love" portrays a dissolute middle-manager type clutching a bottle of Night Train. "Caveman Aida" looks like it could be fun, too.
The Britten I've seen recently was a performance of the War Requiem that the school of music put together at the end of April. It was really outstanding; and that's such an impressive piece to see in concert, just out of the number of people involved and the scope of the thing. But they just brought it off beautifully.
I'm already looking forward to the Met Opera staging Peter Grimes next year, too.
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