The performances of the
Jane Eyre opera composed by Michael Berkeley (with libretto by David Malouf) in Saint Louis are over, but we have found more reviews and pictures of the production.
The Dallas Morning News review the production and incides specially in the Britten reminiscences of Berkeley's opera:
The new opera's compact scale, musical language and even its story suggest comparisons with Benjamin Britten, who was Mr. Berkeley's godfather. Mr. Berkeley's father was another eminent British composer, Sir Lenox Berkeley.
One is especially reminded of Britten's The Turn of the Screw: gloomy manor house, often-absentee landlord, naive young governess, earnest housekeeper, high-spirited young girl, malign ghostly presence. And Mr. Berkeley's score suggests a richer, more complex updating of Britten's manner, with more intricate wreathings of multiple musical strands.
The opera opens with dark growls and grumblings from double bass, contrabassoon and bass clarinet, later answered with sinister high keenings. Woozy string slides evoke the otherworldly s
cenes of Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream. A couple of not-quite-right dances heighten the sense of disequilibrium.
Mr. Malouf and Mr. Berkeley seem to have imagined Mrs. Rochester, the psychotic wife locked away in the attic, as a real presence. But Colin Graham's staging, with designer Erhard Rom's higgledy-piggledy big panels and fuzzy projections, made her more ambiguous, like the ghosts in The Turn of the Screw. Mezzo Elizabeth Batton admirably captured her confused obsession and "dark as molasses" voice.
Kelly Kaduce was the very personification of Jane's decency, her soprano gleaming and glowing. Scott Hendricks brought a pleasantly burly baritone, and a presence balancing the rough-hewn and the tragic, to the role of Edward Rochester. Elizabeth Reiter was a bright, perky Adèle, but with an apt strangeness. Robynne Redmon was the sturdy housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax.
Conductor Andreas Mitisek got capable, responsive playing from members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, but one could imagine a tauter, more finely honed performance. The blurry projections looked amateurish, and the first few minutes of the June 16 performance were marred by supertitle malfunctions.
There's about 90 percent of a very good opera here, with a strong tale and well-wrought, richly evocative music. But the happy ending, with Mr. Rochester and Jane reunited, comes out of the clear blue, without adequate preparation or transition. An extra five or 10 minutes might help a lot. Picture credits: Ken Howard (courtesy of
The Opera Critic but discovered by us through
this blog)
Categories: Music, Opera, Jane_Eyre, In_the_News
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