Review from Opera News, March 2002

 

Ann Arbor has a love affair going with Ewa Podles´. Having jumped in as an unknown replacement for Cecilia Bartoli in a thunderously received 1997 recital here, the magnificent Polish contralto has returned several times in recital and oratorio to great acclaim. In November, the enterprising University Music Society stepped forward where most American companies (including New York's entire opera establishment) have foolishly -- even arrogantly -- refused to go, creating a viable new production for and around this uniquely gifted singer, now at the peak of her powers.

 

The ornate 1920s splendor of the Michigan Theatre witnessed three performances of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (in a composite edition), a simple yet notably beautiful production (deft sets by Graceann Warn and entrancing costumes by Nephelie Andonyadis, warmly bathed in Scott Zielinski's lighting) that could and should tour other venues. The staging marked a collaboration with the Peter Sparling Dance Company, another of Ann Arbor's cultural assets; as often happens when even a manifestly talented choreographer directs this piece, there was simply too much dancing. Sparling and conductor Martin Katz bandied about the terms "ballet-opera" and "opera-ballet" in the program, but in fact Gluck and Calzabigi called Orfeo an "azione teatrale." Showily choreographing the overture set up visual expectations that Michael Spencer Philips's commandingly danced Jupiter was to be the protagonist of the piece; it also undercut the starkness of the opening funeral scene. Sparling's fine ideas for the scenes of the Furies and Blessed Spirits and the final tableau gave ample opportunities to his terrific dancers; he should have left Podles´'s Orfeo alone, without a dancing double, during her poignant Act I aria and her encounter with the delights of the Elysian Fields. Some thoughtful trimming will restore this imbalance in an otherwise fine production. In the circumstances, it was surprising but not unwelcome that all but one of the concluding ballet movements were cut. Katz supplied his own cadenza for "Addio, miei sospiri," less spectacular than the Berlioz/Saint-Saëns version for Viardot-Garcia that is one of Podles´'s great vehicles on disc and in concert; the new cadenza was executed staggeringly nonetheless.

 

Seen on November 11, Podles´ dominated the stage with her elemental but effective, affecting plastique, plus floods of handsome, well-modulated tone, ranging over several octaves with astounding ease. Isabel Bayrakdarian's radiant lyric soprano goes from strength to strength vocally, and she made a lovely stage figure. More pathos could have been brought to Euridice's text, but Bayrakdarian did not slight her anger and confusion. Lisa Saffer, smaller of vocal scale than the others but a bright, winning stylist, returned to her hometown for a typically assured Amor; few opera singers interact so convincingly with trained dancers.

 

Katz led an alert performance; the string tone of the Ann Arbor Symphony sagged slightly even as the flutes and oboes distinguished themselves. Several fine individual voices were evident in the UMS Choral Union, but ensemble could have been better observed and the Italian sharper.

 

DAVID SHENGOLD