Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles is hardly a masterpiece, but its many beautiful moments are supremely beautiful – and when a cast that makes them justice is found, one is ready to overlook the bad libretto and the formulaic moments. When one reads commented discographies of this opera, every reviewer concludes that there is not a perfect recording of this opera because a perfectly matched trio of singers have never been gathered in a single performance. This alone would make the Deutsche Oper’s feat of presenting a superb cast even more commendable, especially for a performance concocted to replace Donizetti’s La Favorite with Elina Garanca, cancelled because of the mezzo’s pregnancy. The fact that this was a concert performance also helped to drain a bit the opera of its kitsch – and conductor Guillermo García Calvo deserves praise for bringing every musician on stage to the core of the drama. One can see when an orchestra and a chorus are really engaged – and so they were this evening. I wonder how often this score has received such rich and inspired orchestral playing as this evening. The Deutsche Oper chorus too sang it with animation and sense of theatre. I have seen this opera only once live in Rio (and Luciano Botelho was a very commendable Nadir back then) and therefore really know it from Pierre Dervaux’s EMI recording with an irreplaceable Nicolai Gedda. Without being really “scientific” about what I am going to say, I found García Calvo a stylish and elegant conductor. I am not really aware of textual differences between editions, but I have the impression that the shortened last act has been used – the whole affair involving the chain given by Zurga to the young Leïla is only hinted at and the opera ends almost immediately after Leïla and Nadir’s exit.
Patrizia Ciofi sang Leïla’s music with such freshness, emotional commitment and good taste that I am more than ready to forgive her the occasional flapping top note. It must be added that I have probably never heard any other soprano who has dealt with the awkward florid lines as coherently and expressively as she did this evening. I wonder if someone can actually sing the role of Nadir these days better than Joseph Calleja – his old-style plangent tenor fits French repertoire to perfection and he avoids any hint of Italianateness and has very decent French pronunciation. He tackles high mezza voce without any strain or difficulty, while naturally pouring a quite voluminous voice for a lyric tenor. Gedda or Vanzo had sung more overwhelmingly romantic Je crois entendre encore in the good old days, but Calleja’s account is almost unbelievably clean and easy (including the optional higher ending). The torrents of applause were so vehement that the tenor agreed to sing it again – et nous l’avons donc entendu encore! The second time more dulcet than the first – it is no wonder that chorus, orchestra and the other soloists joined the audience in cheering this invaluable Maltese tenor. To make things better, Canadian baritone Étienne Dupuis was an outstanding Zurga, singing with rich, ductile tone in his warm, pleasant voice.
Holiday greetings to you! And you sure got a wonderful present this year!
This is one of the first operas I ever saw (SFO 1964). The Canadian tenor Richard Verreau (1926-2005) sang Nadir.
Well, I agree with the critic who said there is not a perfect recording of it, but I wouldn’t put any blame on the singers… the fault, I think, lies in the brilliance of Bizet’s vocal writing. It is here, not in that overly orchestrated, drawn-out Carmen, that the primal (albeit somewhat disorganized) burst of Bizet’s genius shines brightest.
La Favorita is also one of my favorite operas, but I still think you got a good deal with the tradeoff. At any rate, I hope La Favorita does return to Berlin very soon.
The October 2010 broadcast of Les pêcheurs de perles from Covent Garden caught the singers (Osborn, Keenklyside, Cabel – Pappano) on a very good night. They all sang superbly (particularly Keenlyside); Cabel only slightly teeters just once in the entire performance and she did not cut any corners the way she sometimes does in performances. You might be able to find it on some internet archives. I have a copy of it that doesn’t have any static, but the sound in not that reflugent… it was the broadcast copy I could find that didn’t have any static.
BEST WISHES TO YOU FOR A HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!
I was 19 December. I really like Joseph Calleja, but this time he did not convince me. Probably I have a problem, because the audience was enthusiastic for him. All the official German reviews have his name in the title. His vibratello charming Italian opera (Rigoletto, Lucia, Traviata …) here annoyed me, he used the falsetto in two places.
The most convinced me Patrizia Ciofi as Leila. She does not have the purity of style and diction of Annick Massis at La Fenice, but it fascinates me art of chiaroscuro, the interpretation of the text, she also had a wonderful high notes in the second aria.
A great baritone Etienne Dupuis! Talent on the horizon!
Conclusion: A beautiful evening of French opera. I wonder over the audience in Berlin. I think that the applause at the Deutsche Oper Berlin is not always fair. Ciofi she received less applause from … the chorus!
(SORRY for my English.)
Hi, Jerold! A great 2012 to you too! I’ll look for the Covent Garden performance.
Hello, Robert! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the performance as a whole. I think that the vibratello is part of Calleja’s voice’s charm – and I would say that the falsetto doesn’t disturb me, provided it is well connected to the full voice. Many famous Nadirs, as Vanzo himself, would you use it.
Maestro Alfredo Kraus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNwhHwFl_JE
Hi, Robert! I find this version adeptly sung, but very short in feeling – and, in my very personal opinion, a beautifully connected and expressive falsetto is neither historically incorrect nor ugly as some people believe. I would take Nicolai Gedda’s version (either the one in his complete recording or live in Munich) over that one one (and AK does change the text in it, doesn’t he?) any time, in which one can feel the sense of wonder and delight in his recollection of Leïla – but that’s my personal taste.