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Oren, Ciofi, Hymel, Relyea, Poplavskaya, Courjal - Meyerbeer: Robert Le Diable (2013)

Posted By: peotuvave

Date: 30 Dec 2014 15:00:06

A grand opera that dominated the stages of Europe for most of the 19th century, Robert le diable is a masterpiece. Director Laurent Pelly breathes new life into Giacomo Meyerbeer’s great spectacle and audaciously entertaining moral fable, in this colourful new staging for The Royal Opera. The wonderful score includes brilliant arias, dramatic ensembles, rousing choruses and a ballet of ghostly nuns, and with the wavering hero of the title sung by Bryan Hymel, acclaimed for his role as Énée in Les Troyens for The Royal Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, this is an unmissable experience.

Premiered in 1831, it was one of the first grand operas staged at the Paris Opéra.

Meyerbeer’s European fame was initiated with “Robert” – performed 470 times in Paris alone by the time of the composer’s death in 1864.

“It is a masterpiece…Meyerbeer has made himself immortal” (Frédéric Chopin)

Composer: Giacomo Meyerbeer
Performer: Marina Poplavskaya, Jean-François Borras, Nicolas Courjal, Bryan Hymel, …
Conductor: Daniel Oren
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Opera House Orchestra, Royal Opera Chorus

Reviews: So, it seems I am playing the mop-up role again. James Altena has reviewed the DVD version of this Covent Garden video in the previous issue of Fanfare. I have here the Blu-ray version. Altena gives this production of Robert le Diable a favorable review, with which I generally agree, but we have some differences, which I will get to in a few moments. First, let me say that, as usual, the Opus Arte Blu-ray disc provides finely detailed video resolution and in this case, satisfying state of the art sound in both PCM stereo and HD surround formats. We are undergoing another major change in media formats with video and you would be wise to hop on board sooner rather than later.

Robert le Diable was one of the most popular operas of the 19th century, not only in France, but throughout the world. If we take a bit less enthusiastic a view today, it still should be with the appreciation that this is a fine operatic work which fully deserves a place in the standard repertoire. Here, as Altena says, we have probably the best recording of it to date, whether on audio or video. It does not come without flaws, however. This production has been criticized, especially in the British press, for its nontraditional, even cartoonish, sets: multicolored plastic horses for the knights, a cut-out cardboard castle for the princess Isabelle, a bar with red-checked tablecloths, and a lighted framework suggesting a simple frame church. In the final scene Robert is tempted to enter the dragon’s mouth to hell by dear old dad, while his doting step-sister Alice sits amongst fleecy clouds trying to entice him to the path of righteousness. Like Altena, I find all of this rather innocuous, even mildly entertaining. The story being told still comes through loud and clear with all its dramatic integrity maintained. The dance of the licentious nuns however, reportedly a major highlight in Paris, is a bit of a disappointment here. With their diaphanous white costumes we can’t even tell they are nuns, and they are made to look and act like escapees from Night of the Living Dead.

Considering all of the changes in cast for this production at the Royal Opera House in London, the singers that finally do appear are quite good. Bryan Hymel, as Robert, smudges a coloratura run or two, which original choice Juan Diego Flórez would have sung more cleanly, but Hymel sings very well here, and his dramatic ability is well beyond anything we could expect from Flórez. Patrizia Ciofi, a last-minute replacement, is a fine singer, and takes the vocal honors in this cast. Her coloratura is performed impeccably, and I do not hear a hint of the acidity in her top range reported by Altena. Ciofi is a major operatic star, lovely and well-cast here. It is baffling to me that she continues to be snubbed by the Metropolitan Opera. Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya also always sings very well, as I have noted before, but lacks charisma on stage. Here, cast as the loving step-sister Alice, the epitome of good, I found myself rooting for Robert to step into the dragon’s mouth. Maybe it’s just me. Robert, like Hamlet, never really decides anything; the clock runs out, like at a football game. I guess we can all be relieved there are no last-minute turnovers. I was disappointed in bass John Relyea. Not only is he not the successor to Samuel Ramey in these roles, he lacks the vibrant low register to really carry this work as it should be sung. Twenty years ago Ramey would have eaten this role alive; sadly, we have no one comparable today.

I am also a bit perplexed by Altena’s favorable advocacy of the booklet notes. If the booklet writer is discussing literary values or grand themes pertaining to all the Meyerbeer operas, he is most probably addressing the work of librettist Eugene Scribe rather than composer Meyerbeer himself. I find all this intellectual analysis a bit pretentious and overblown; Scribe, like all librettists, was just looking for good stories, he was not contemplating writing Paradise Lost. This one is a good story, despite our perhaps more jaded 21st-century perspective, with quite good music to match. Recommended.

Tracklisting:

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
ROBERT LE DIABLE

Robert – Bryan Hymel
Isabelle – Patrizia Ciofi
Bertram – John Relyea
Alice – Marina Poplavskaya
Alberti – Nicolas Courjal
Master of Ceremonies – David Butt Philip
Second Chevalier / Herald – Pablo Bemsch
Prince of Granada – Ashley Riches
Fourth Chevalier / Priest – Jihoon Kim
Raimbaut – Jean-Francois Borras
Lady-in-waiting to Isabelle – Dušica Bijelić

Royal Opera Chorus
The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor: Daniel Oren
Director: Laurent Pelly
Set designs: Chantal Thomas
Costume designs: Laurent Pelly
Lighting design: Duane Schuler
Choreography: Lionel Hoche

• Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, December 2012

Bonus:
- The Legacy of Robert le diable
- Cast gallery

Screeshots

Mediainfo

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