Love at a Distance is a contemporary opera that is nonetheless a clear classic. The National Theatre Brno production is of this excellent work by Kaiji Saariaho that has become part of the world repertoire. The selection and realisation of this production has uniquely and significantly scored in a domestic context.
The libretto, evoking a medieval legend is the work of the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, who lives in France. The Finnish composer, who also makes her home in France, has supported this tale of the search for the ideal, with extremely attractive music – colourful, dreamlike and fanciful, fresh and at the same time sufficiently communicative. The two of them worked together closely. Their operatic poem had its premiere at the Salzburg festival in 2000 and it has already been performed at the New York Met.
On the basis of the score the director Jiří Heřman and the conductor Marko Ivanović have prepared for Friday’s premiere a magical slowly developing performance with timeless overlap. Both for interpreters or the public it is not a totally simple occasion – the opera has a lot of text, the music is not constructed completely traditionally, and the sound is very distinctive … - and the whole then requires from listeners true concentration, because it assumes a truly profound experience. Nonetheless the producers were able to tune into a wave which the listener cannot fail to miss. They have captured and kept the audience’s attention. The staging has its clear conception and style, and it isn’t colourless or aimless. The special style of Jiří Heřman corresponds precisely to the demands of this work.
The troubadour Jaufré Rudel, by the way not an invented figure, dreams of an ideal woman – and when he learns that she lives in Tripoli, he decides to set out to her. The tale deals with expectations from both sides, hesitation, desires, uncertainty… and it ends in beautiful melodramatic non-fulfilment in the manner of a Tristan-like tragedy. Immediately after his arrival in Tripoli Jaufré expires in the arms of the Countess, in a peaceful touchingly profound moment, without their relations having reached their classical conclusion. But despite this it was perhaps fulfilled? The librettist managed to remain on a wave of symbolism, capture the essence of troubadour poetry and add the possibility of possible simultaneous interpretations. And everything on the stage remains on a rare spiritual level, which has a Christian basis, but avoids any kind of clericalism. For the woman who does not find her anticipated love fulfilled, the final decision to enter a convent is free from religious mysticism and approaches an almost ancient grandeur.
The opera in this production is conceived rather as a staged oratorio or a mysterious sequence of images, through which it is primarily told – and if it shows anything then only in stylised inventive theatrical signs. However this approach was already set by the authors themselves and Jiří Heřman is happy to highlight this. The text is reflexive, stimulating thought and imagination. And it moves primarily through this and not through the simple story. The music does not illustrate the changing events but offers, tints and paints scenes and images. Among the most wonderful parts is the fourth act evoking the sea voyage, with beautiful reflections expressed by sublimely beautiful waves, the wind, a large space and the depths of the night sky.
Kaija Saariaho has electronics in the score, but does not in any way emphasise these moments for their own sake, everything being integrated with the sounds of classical instruments and other sources to create a captivating canvas.
This monumentally sounding work has surprisingly only three important soloists: the celebrated lady Clémence sings at the conclusion in the classical rich lament. Pavla Vykopalová was unbelievable in the premiere – despairing and dignified. This at first gentle music rises at the end dramatically in bold melodic curves to achieve noble pathos. Throughout the whole time there are great demands on Jaufré, who is constantly on stage – and the young baritone Roman Hoza gained the opportunity of a lifetime at the beginning of his artistic career in this role. He gave an imposing rendering of this extensive score. His counterpart was the mezzosoprano Markéta Cukrová with a perfect mature performance in the role of the Pilgrim – friend, confidant and driver of the action. Of course the chorus is significant and important, even though it only adds colour to the symphonic sound, or represents individual figures. The Masaryk University Choir with choirmaster Michal Vajda was engaged and sustained its important role brilliantly, not just in terms of voices but also in movement. The tablets, which served the choir members not only as a useful aide-memoire for the score, but also acted as artistic elements as well as a source of illumination in moments when their faces were to be emphasised, did not escape notice.
In this production, Heřman’s conception, bringing direction closer to choreography, is fully synchronised with the stage sets by Tomáš Rusín and the costumes of Zuzana Štefunková Rusínová. The stage sets are similarly minimalist and at the same time monumental in line with the director’s vision. And it is interwoven subtly with the rich lighting design of Daniel Tesař, which provides half of the overall visual impression. The sliding walls play a major part in the evocation of atmosphere, as does the large white cloths hanging from the fly loft which are used with great ingenuity in several ways – as screens, as abstract material and as the sails of ships.
Marko Ivanović led the orchestra and the singers throughout the work safely, with assurance, which allowed the musical forces to provide precisely the required character of the work and at the same time in the theatre create the atmosphere of an exceptional artistic occasion. Love at a Distance will now only be performed a few times at the end of March and beginning of April. It is to return to the stage of the Janáček Theatre, which will shortly be closing for reconstruction, in 2019. It is definitely also worth seeing more than once.
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