An opera by Leos Janacek which I attended on Monday evening and didn't especially enjoy.
I will state upfront that the reasons for the non-enjoyment are all down to me. I accept full responsibility. Three quite separate people have told me that I would get a lot more out of it if I studied it and listened to it repeatedly. Intellectually, I accept that, after all, I do not believe that Instant Gratification is the Be-All and End-All. However, it was not the first time I have heard it. There are plenty of operas that even on first hearing I get a sense of "I don't really know what's going on, but this has hit me in a certain way, enough to make me want to get to know it better." Wagner is the obvious example of providing instant pleasure but also paying back the study. Donizetti, too.
I think that my main problem was that I could hear that there were some interesting things going on in the orchestra, but if I wanted interesting things in the orchestra, I would have gone to a symphonic concert. I did not care for the vocal writing at all. To me - and I stress the personal subjective - it was so unmelodious as to be a turn off. Added to the fact that I found neither the story compelling nor the characters appealing.
I appreciate that it was uniformly well-performed, orchestrally (under Charles Mackerras), vocally by a cast no longer listed on a seriously crappified Royal Opera House website, but including Janice Watson, Toby Spence and Felicity Palmer. The set was mildly interesting and the Production, as far as I can tell, was reasonable.
In a perfect world with oodles of time, money and energy I would settle down and, following the advice of people wiser than I, study and learn this. In the Real World I inhabit I shall chalk this up to experience and move on!
A big hello to Robin and Peter who came up and said hello on the Terrace. I hope we shall meet again soon!
The Guardian Review mentions that Charles Mackerras conducted the UK Premiere in 1951 - which for a bit of perspective, was the year of the Festival of Britain, when we were (briefly) a Kingdom, and when my mother did her O-Levels, something the Observer also mentions.
Dominated by desperate melancholy
Praise in the Times
Watson shines as Katya in remarkable opera
Interview with Toby Spence and Interview with Toby Spence
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