OPERA REVIEW:
ORFEO ED EURIDICE
12 MAY/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 5 out of 5



TORONTO - From the very first notes, it shimmers with heartbreak and emotion, as conductor Harry Bicket leads the superb Canadian Opera Company Orchestra into a brilliant score with complete assurance, the power of the composition undiminished by two-and-a-half centuries worth of musical progress.

And frankly, that’s just the appetizer. For when the curtain goes up on the COC’s ORFEO ED EURIDICE — a production of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, currently playing in rep at the Four Seasons Centre — it is clear that this production of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s masterwork is gilded with the same kind of timeless beauty as the opera itself.

The story, of course, is rooted in ancient mythology — a tale that was old before Romulus and Remus discovered sibling rivalry. But for all its antiquity, this opera proves as contemporary as the latest pop tune in its telling of the story of a young man prepared to go to hell and back for the woman he loves. The man in question here, of course, is Orfeo (exquisitely sung by counter-tenor Lawrence Zazzo, in a riveting performance).  When we first meet him, he is overwhelmed by grief, mourning the death of his beloved Euridice, even as he prepares to bury her.  That task accomplished, and despite the best efforts of friends and neighbours — all brought to life by the glorious COC Chorus — he proves inconsolable, and decides he would rather die by his own hand than live in a world without Euridice.

Rather than see Orfeo take his own life, however, the goddess Amore (soprano Ambur Braid, in a delightfully commanding performance) intervenes with the news that the depth of his grief has so moved the theological pantheon that Orfeo is being allowed the chance to pass through Hades to reclaim Euridice from the Elysian Fields. All he has to do is charm his way past the Furies and then promise not to look at Euridice’s face — or to offer her any explanation as to why he won’t — until they are back in the land of the living.

He agrees, but once Euridice (the incomparable Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian in impressive form) is restored to life, she interprets Orfeo’s aloof behaviour as a loss of his affection, and ultimately forces her broken-hearted swain to break the promise he made to Amore, thus inadvertently consigning her once more to endless sleep in the Elysian Fields. Until, that is, Amore once again intervenes.

Under the direction of Robert Carsen, set and costume designer Tobias Hoheisel has created a world of vast and timeless beauty, filled with an aching loneliness that plays on primal memories that stretch from a barren Greek seashore to the bleak and haunting vastness captured in David Blackwood’s finest etchings. Enriched as it is by a flawless lighting design, created by the director and designer Peter Van Praet, it proves the perfect setting for this tiny jewel of an opera, performed here in the original Vienna version, rather than the longer, more embroidered French version familiar to Opera Atelier audiences.

And Carsen unquestionably makes the most of it, drawing strong, controlled and, best of all, thoughtful performances from all involved. In the process he creates a work of art that is stunning in its deceptive simplicity. Despite that apparent simplicity, this is an incredibly complex work fusing music and story with such genius that one suspects it would be impossible to improve upon it in any way. It is a measure of Carsen’s genius that he accomplishes all of this and still makes it look simple.