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| October 11th, 2002 |
Source: Copyright (c) 2002, Stage Door All
rights reserved.
Christopher Hoile, Principal Reviewer for Stage Door
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The Canadian Opera Company brings us Tchaikovsky's eerie opera "The
Queen of Spades" in
a production that is simply brilliant. Created by Richard Jones for the
Welsh National
Opera in 2000, the production won raves and it is easy to see why. Revived
here by
Annilese Miskimmon, it strips away any aura of romanticism or sentimentality
from the
work to reveal it a powerful psychological study of obsession and madness.
The COC has fielded an excellent cast headed by Russian tenor Vadim
Zaplechny as Herman
in his most impressive appearance yet with the company. He sings with a
ringing tone
laden with sadness. In a riveting performance, he presents us first with
Herman as a
kind of innocent weakling and brings out every painful nuance of Herman's
gradual
descent from obsession to madness, Herman paradoxically gaining in strength
the further
he slips into delusion. As Lisa, Armenian soprano Hasmik Papian sings with a
very
powerful voice and brings a complex mixture of emotions to the part making
Lisa's
desperation in the aria before her suicide particularly disturbing. Canadian
mezzo
Judith Forst is superb as the Countess, able to tread the fine line between
caricature
and character. Even while we are ready to deride the Countess for her
decrepitude,
Forst's sensitive singing brings out her humanity.
Russian baritone Igor Morozov makes an excellent Prince Yeletsky especially
fine in the
Prince's aria of Act 2 imploring Lisa to recognize his love for her.
Baritone John
Fanning makes Count Tomsky into a cynical, devil-may-care fellow. His
account of
Countess's history in Act 1 brings a mocking tone to the narration even as
it draws us
in. Hungarian mezzo Viktoria Vizin, as Lisa's companion Pauline, displays a
beautiful,
rich voice and subtle characterization in her two songs in Act 1 and as the
Shepherd in
Act 2. Peter Collins and Alvin Crawford as the cynical officers Tchekalinsky
and Sourin
and Sonia Gosse and Frédérique Vézina as the Governess and Maid/Chloë each
make fine
contributions.
Conductor Richard Bradshaw's brisk tempi dusted off the cobwebs to reveal
the sinewy
beauty of the score that relates it forward to the 20th-century instead of
backwards to
the 19th. The orchestra, sounding glorious, clearly reveled in the music's
plangent
sonorities and vital rhythms.
This is a revelatory production. After seeing it I will find it hard to go
back to a
traditional decorative production with its 18th-century costumes and real
ghost. To
approach the action as psychological rather than supernatural and see it as
critique of
society is exactly what Pushkin did in the original story. The
post-Revolutionary
setting makes Herman's dream of wealth and freedom seem more hopeless. With
such a fine
direction, conducting, singing, acting and design in one production, the COC
plays a
winning hand.
© 2002 Christopher Hoile
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