Ciné Opera comes of age

Richard Wagner: Parsifal, Met encore in HD, Phoenix Picturehouse, 5 March 2013.

Never have I been proved so wrong! Following previous disappointments with HD transmissions of Wagner (Tristan und Isolde and the Ring cycle) I had expected that this six- hour performance of Parsifal might prove an ordeal only to be borne out of a sense of duty to my readers.

It was sensational. What came over to the cinema viewers was pure Ciné Opera which could be enjoyed as a cinematographic experience with a superlative sound track without reference to the opera house. Visually it came over as a great movie worthy of consideration not only with the silent epics of GW Griffiths and Sergei Eisenstein but also in the handling of the chorus as a sort of ultra-slow motion Busby Berkeley musical. But then it is an opera as well

The story: at Montsalvat, Titurel has formed the Knights of the Grail as custodians of the chalice of the Holy Grail and the spear which pierced Christ’s side on the Cross. One of the Knights Klingsor has gone to the bad, left the Order, nicked the Spear and turned it to his own magical purposes; he has created his own garden populated by Flower Maidens, tasked with seducing errant knights. At the beginning of the opera all this is explained by the Knights’ spokesman Gurnemanz who also relates that their ruler Amfortas, son of Titurel, who has been wounded by the Spear after being seduced by Kundry, a mysterious woman under the control of Klingsor, in the form of a beautiful girl. The wound refuses to heal and Amfortas is finding it more and more difficult to carry out the annual ritual of displaying the Grail. Preparations are interrupted by the arrival of Parsifal, an ‘innocent fool’ destined to replace Amfortas but not recognised as such and dismissed. Kundry also turns up bringing balm to ease Amfortas’ suffering. Parsifal embarks on his travels, eventually finding himself in Klingsor’s Garden where he resists the enticements of Kundry and the Flower Maidens, and destroys Klingsor’s power. Returning to Montsalvat Parsifal heals Amfortas’ wound with a touch of the Spear but he himself now conducts the ritual and life goes on. To come: Parsifal meets a good woman and begets a son who stars in the sequel Lohengrin.

Is there a great future for Ciné Opera to bring it to the attention of the masses? ‘Live from The Met in HD’ already claims 3,000,000 viewers world-wide. Can one imagine a future where it has its own Oscars? Would the nominations for Parsifal read like this?

Best Ciné-Opera: Parsifal (Contenders: Rodelinda, Maria Stuarda).

Best Story-line: Not nominated

Best Director: François Girard. Superb staging of outer Acts. Middle Act did not offer enough contrast in the way of colour and eroticism. Flower Maidens dressed in virginal white shifts with decorated hems. While one or two were attractive enough none were real seductresses. Kundry herself wore same dress albeit slightly more revealingly. Wagner specifies change of appearance. The two great climaxes of Parsifal’s rejection of Kundry and Klingsor’s attempt to cast the Spear were completely underplayed

Cinematography: Barbara Wiliis Sweete. Success depended to a very large extent on her direction for TV. She deserved a major credit in the programme.

Best Actor in a leading role: Jonas Kaufmann (Parsifal). From his first entry showing, with infinite subtlety, his total bewilderment as the innocent finding himself in such a bizarre situation and throughout, he was completely convincing.

Best Actor in a supporting role: Peter Mattei (Amfortas). This was another incredible performance representing his agony in every movement and his extreme effort in raising the Grail.

Best Music: Richard Wagner

Musical Direction: Daniele Gatti. Produced marvellous stream of sound from beginning to end but somehow failed the full portentousness of the ponderous chords accompanying the assembly of the knights. He did not match the memories of Reginald Goodall for ENO in 1986 or Vladimir Jurowski for WNO in 2003.

Best Female Singer: Katarina Dalayman is a fine Wagner singer, though not a great performer before the camera. (In contention with Joyce DiDonato, Maria Stuarda, Stephanie Blythe in Rodelinda, and Deborah Voigt, Minnie, in La Fanciulla del West).

Best Male Singer: René Pape, Gurnemanz. His very first notes had us all sitting bolt upright in our seats and he compelled our attention throughout Acts I and III with his authoritative interpretation. Also nominated: Kaufmann and Mattei for matching their acting with superb singing.

Best Backing Group: Six Flower Maidens.

Also nominated: Michal Levine – set designer; David Finn and Peter Flaherty –respectively lighting and video designers

It seems to me that Ciné Opera is doing for opera what the advent of talkies did for the cinema. There silent actors had to learn to talk to the microphone; ciné opera singers have to learn to act in front of the camera. As with talkies, some adapt easily, some find it more difficult. Of course there will always be singers whose voices and presence transcend the need to act and can fill an auditorium with sound and people. But there must be a much larger potential audience for the subtle sex and violence of opera plots rather than for the explicit sex and violence of today’s action movies. An opera-virgin who has accompanied me to HD transmissions is completely hooked!

Opera is not dead.

8 March 2013