Giulio Cesare and the Crocodile

[uffeviking]

In Basel, Switzerland, is a big nest the Mystical Music Bird fills with eggs and frequently outstanding musicians get hatched, leave the nest and develop into humans destined to enrich our lives with their talents. It is beyond the scope of this thread to list all the great musicians who had their start or education in Basel; I shall limit myself to two:

Herbert Wernicke and Michael Hofstetter. Wernicke is probably better known, the genius designer and stage director, who unfortunately died much too soon at a young age, and Hofstetter the young conductor and friend of Wernicke. Handel wrote the opera, Wernicke directed and Hofstetter conducted, it is available on DVD, I watched it and so should you. There is so much to talk about in this production, I have decided to let our In-House Reviewer, Nigel, do most of the talking, I shall confine myself to odds and ends he might not deem worthy his intellectual high plateau.

Curtain up at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain. A raked bare slab of rock-like substance, replicated above it by a neutrally lit shape as sky. From stage right ambles, slithers a crocodile. I frown; crocodiles can not be trained as opera performers! I check to find the cables, rails or strings attached to this real-looking critter; none. So it has to be a human inside moving in perfect moves of this monster. I check the cast list and, sure enough, there it is: ‘Coccodrillo – Héctor Mananares’. It is uncanny how this man can duplicate the crocodillian moves. No wonder he can cause Flavio Oliver (Giulio Cesare) to summersault with lightning speed onto the top of a rocky slab, part of the set. Or Oliver Zwarg (Achilla) leap upon the shafts of a chariot, - another one of the rare pieces on the usually bare stage. But Coccodrillo also snuggles up closely to Elena de la Merced (Cleopatra) for a loving petting.

Lest you get the idea the crocodile stole the show, let me assure you, he did not. Nobody actually stole it because the entire cast – well, one exception – was outstanding. How could any reptile surpass Ewa Podles? Her first big aria as Cornelia in Act I “Priva son d’ogni conforto” caused at first a momentary stunned silence in the opera house, which then exploded like a vulcano in applause for one minute, and probably would have lasted longer, had not Maestro Hofstetter brought on the musicians.

Flavio Oliver (Giulio Cesare) is described as a true male tenor, not a counter tenor. – There is a considerable difference as I learned from reading this:

http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2004/07/flaviooliver1.htm

His voice is truly astounding, never heard as clear a soprano sound from a male singer as his. And there is his acting, agility – shades of Simon Keenlyside? – expressions of every emotion asked for in this opera, from disdain to subtle humour when shooing the croc onboard his ship. The other male voice, this time a true counter tenor, Jordi Tomènech (Tolomeo) is equal to Oliver in acting and singing. Oliver Zwarg (Achilla) is the only disappointment, at least for me, flat sounding bass baritone, stiff acting, lack of showing any emotion. I had the feeling he was uncomfortable on stage and in this role.

Elena de la Merced (Cleopatra) and Maite Beaumont (Sesto) are the two major female artists prominent and shining in their beautiful singing, but I leave praises for them to a more competent judge of sopranos than I am. The acting of Sesto in this dramatic role is powerful and convincing, whereas Cleopatra comes through as the successful seducer she was.

After the fiasco of the Bieito Don Giovanni at the very same theatre, this Giulio Cesare makes up for anything lacking then. The orchestra is a joy to listen to, their enthusiasm playing for this young conductor shows from beginning to end.







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[springrite]

Now I want to see this team do the Magic Flute with the snake/python!

[uffeviking]

Paul, it would take some drastically skinny performers to slip into those costumes and perform as real-life as this man did! 

[npwilkinson]

There is so much to talk about in this production, I have decided to let our In-House Reviewer, Nigel, do most of the talking, I shall confine myself to odds and ends he might not deem worthy his intellectual high plateau.

Who is this other Nigel?

[springrite]

I have decided to let our In-House Reviewer, Nigel, do most of the talking, I shall confine myself to odds and ends he might not deem worthy his intellectual high plateau.

Let him go for lofty heights. You stick with depth!

(I will stay at sea level myself.  )

[T. C.]

Interesting review, Lis. But I have to say, I was much less impressed with the Barcelona Giulio Cesare DVD.

First, I find Herbert Wernicke austere production not much for my liking, with quite a few irritating ideas. The crocodile is nice, but after a few minutes it becomes superfluous. Letting several of the figures carry Pompey’s cut down head for almost the entire of Act I is an eccentric idea. It is unreal for Cornelia to honor the memory of her late husband by carrying his head everywhere…

As for the singers, I was not so impressed with Flavio Oliver singing in the title role. A few years ago, I heard him live in the role of Orfeo in the Gluck opera, and he was very good. But Giulio Cesare is a very demanding role, and Oliver’s technique is not entirely satisfying. His coloratura, which is essential here, is passable but it is clear that he is unable to take relatively long passages of coloratura without breathing. For example, Cesare great Act II aria, Se in fiorito ameno prato with the violin obligato, should be a showpiece, but here it doesn’t impress at all: the singing is unimpressive and the aria is cut almost to half its length, probably because of the technical difficulties. If you want to hear how this aria can be exciting, better look for the Australian opera production from the Sydney opera, where counter-tenor Graham Pushee is making a feast out of it with his brilliant technique.

Ewa Podles is a great artist, but in spite of the enthusiastic applauds from the audience, I think she is miscast as Cornelia. The voice is not beautiful, sounds very dark, low and a bit coarse. It is brilliant for Rossini, but for my taste is lacking the restrained dignity which is essential in this Handel tragic role. For my taste, an ideal Cornelia should sound like the excellent Sarah Walker in the Mackerras ENO production or Bernarda Fink in the acclaimed Rene Jacobs recording. But I must admit that Podles commitment to the role and acting is very impressive.

It is better not to elaborate about the singer singing Achilla. He is a buffoon, not a Handel singer. Best singing comes from Elena de la Merced as Cleopatra. She is very good in both singing and acting, but she does not erase memories of Yvonne Kenny in the Australian production DVD, that has a lovelier voice and more stage charisma. Maite Beaumont as Sesto is another asset of the Barcelona performance.

To sum up, I cannot recommend this DVD wholeheartedly, simply because it has for my taste quite a few shortcomings that marred much of my enjoyment. More than that, Opus Arte is issuing next month a new DVD of Giulio Cesare from a production that was filmed last year at the Glyndebourne festival, and was conducted by William Christie. This production received excellent reviews so I think that a Handel fan seeking for a new DVD version of this great opera should wait another month or two…(US release of the Opus Arte DVD is in May).

Two reviews of the Barcelona DVD:
This reviewer didn’t like it: GULIO CESARE
And this reviewer did like it: GULIO CESARE

And the forthcoming Opus Arte DVD of the Glyndebourne production.
(A 3 DVD set : 295 Minutes…):

[uffeviking]

T.C., nice to have you more active here again, missed your input! I do appreciate hearing - reading! - your thoughts on the Giulio Cesare performance. So we differ in most parts, good, that makes readers of our two posts curious of who is right or wrong - if there is such a thing when expressing opinions - and they then buy the DVD, watch it with our reviews in mind, and maybe come up with a third opinion; of course, hopefuly, post it here!

Thanks for adding the links with pros and cons. The link from Barcelona is very good because there is a short video showing the clean and lean sets of  Herbert Wernicke's uncluttered production with the mastery of lighting designer Hermann Münzer. The link also has in depth the analysis of Coccodrillo's presence.

[npwilkinson]

By the way, there was a crocodile of the same kind in Nick Hytner's old production for the Opéra National de Paris, while Cornelia was labouring with the menials (in fact, in rubber gloves, potting a cactus).

[uffeviking]

Wernicke has Cornelia mopping the floor with a black cloth, while on her knees, scooting all over the stage floor. I did feel just a bit uneasy about the rather corpulent Ms. Podles performing this menial task. 

[knight]

Wernicke has Cornelia mopping the floor with a black cloth, while on her knees, scooting all over the stage floor. I did feel just a bit uneasy about the rather corpulent Ms. Podles performing this menial task. 

She probably does not do it at home, yet is paid to go out to pretend to do it!

Thanks both for the in-depth information.

Mike

[T. C.]

Watching the Barcelona DVD again, I noticed that two of Cleopatra’s arias were cut. It amazes me that the conductor decided to cut Cleopatra’s last aria Da tempesta, one of Handel most famous arias, especially when the Cleopatra in this performance is one of the best singers in the cast. Another peculiarity is the rewriting of one of Sesto’s arias as a duet for Sesto and Nireno (Cleopatra’s servant).

[npwilkinson]

It amazes me that the conductor decided to cut Cleopatra’s last aria Da tempesta...

 

That's very surprising... and Uffe's trying to peddle this to us. She'll probably soon be asking an extortionate price for it on ebay.

[uffeviking]

the conductor decided to cut Cleopatra’s last aria

T.C., how do you know it was the conductor's decision to cut arias in this performance? Have you had a chance to read the booklet accompanying the DVD explaining Wernicke's ideas and thoughts about this opera? 

[T. C.]

Lis, frankly, I haven’t read the booklet accompanying the DVD so it was only an assumption of mine that the conductor (which is usually responsible for the musical aspects of the production) decided to cut the arias. I accept your remark, and I will read the booklet notes. It maybe Wernicke's idea. I am almost sure it was not suggested by soprano Elena de la Merced that could sing Da tempesta beautifully.

I think it is a wrong decision to cut this aria. Handel placed this extremely virtuoso aria to mark Cleopatra’s supreme bliss when she reunites with her ‘lost’ lover Caesar whom she thought was dead. As I said before, this is one of the most famous among Handel operatic arias. Would you like the director/conductor of a Rigoletto performance to cut La donna e mobile because he/she thinks it is ‘dramatically wrong’ or something? Are Wernicke's thoughts about Giulio Cesare more important than Handel’s?

[npwilkinson]

I haven't had time, yet, to write a summary of Opéra Magazine's March verdicts, but I see this DVD of Giulio Cesare gets only 2 out of 5. I note that the reviewer salutes the director's honesty for calling this version an "adaptation" of Händel's work. I also note that the final paragraph begins: "the only consolation is..."

I will try to find time to write up this month's selection in the coming week - but there'll also be a review of McVicar's Poppea in Brussels to write. So much for the unemployed to do, it's frightening.