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Grattacielo Probes Verismo Takes on a Sordid Scene in San Francisco's Chinatown & Enchantment & Ecstasy, in Germanic Style, in Medieval Italy |
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by Bruce-Michael Gelbert | >> see bio |
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David Wroe
photo by Lisa Lohler |
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Teatro Grattacielo's annual verismo operatic offering in concert this season, on November 13 at Avery Fisher Hall, instead of Alice Tully Hall, which is undergoing renovation, was a double bill, under David Wroe's baton, of short contrasting rarities, composer Franco Leoni and librettist Camillo Zanoni's "L'Oracolo" (The Oracle) and composer Italo Montemezzi and librettist Sem Benelli's "L'Incantesimo" (The Spell or Charm). Both include elements of magic, sorcery and divining the future, and both were first introduced in the English-speaking countries in which their Italian composers were living. Telling a violent, sordid tale, set to a colorful score, "L'Oracolo," which had its premiere at London's Covent Garden on June 28, 1905, sounds, for all the gongs and Asian effects that describe its setting in San Francisco's Chinatown on Chinese New Year, like a red-blooded Italian opera in the Puccini mold. First played in New York, in NBC radio studio 8H, on October 9, 1943, with the composer conducting, and first reaching the stage, at the Verona Arena, on August 9, 1952, shortly after Montemezzi's death, "L'Incantesimo," his last opera, set in medieval Italy, reflects, in its ecstasy and tonal color, the profound influence of Wagner and Strauss.
Baritone Antonio Scotti created "L'Oracolo"'s central role of Cim-Fen, the odious opium pusher, who bullies Hua-Qui, the woman who loves him; kidnaps Hu-Ci, young cousin of Ah-Joe, the woman he wants, and stuffs him down a sewer; and murders Ah-Joe's love, San-Lui, before Uin-Sci, the eponymous seer and San-Lui's father, takes a hatchet to his head and strangles him with his own pigtail. Scotti was also the driving force behind the opera's success at the Metropolitan Opera, where he sang in each of its 55 performances, from the February 4, 1915 American premiere to his operatic farewell on January 20, 1933. In "L'Incantesimo," Folco, the hunter, sees the visage of his new wife, Giselda, in a white deer he has slain, much as in Strauss and Hofmannsthal's "Die Frau ohne Schatten," the Empress, in the guise of a white gazelle, is hunted by the Emperor, her future mate, and the love of Giselda and Rinaldo, her former suitor, causes winter to give way to spring as miraculously as it does for Sieglinde and Siegmund in Act One of Wagner's "Die Walküre," with these situations in Montezzi's opus boasting Strauss and Wagner-style music to match.
Todd Thomas brought a burly baritone to the meaty role of Cim-Fen and met the challenge of projecting Folco's higher sounding narrative, about the hunt, over its hefty orchestral accompaniment. Asako Tamura sang, as scheduled, Ah-Joe's greeting to the sun and plaint after San-Lui's death, to which she brought apt pathos, in a strong, luminous lyric soprano, floating fine piano tone at the end of the invocation and, replacing Aprile Millo, down with a bad cold, as Giselda, joined tenor José Luis Duval, as Rinaldo, for an intense love duet echoing those in "Walküre," "Tristan und Isolde," and "Ariadne auf Naxos." Tenor Arnold Rawls trumpeted top notes of San-Lui's serenade and love song to Ah-Joe and mustered more subtlety when necessary.
Ashraf Sewailam lent a sturdy bass-baritone to Uin-Sci's prediction of good fortune for Hu-Ci and declaration of revenge for San-Lui's death, in "L'Oracolo," and to Salomone's words of wisdom in "L'Incantesimo." Baritone Daniel Ihn-Kyu Lee, as Hu-Tsin, depicted a loving father to Hu-Ci and uncle to Ah-Joe with warmth and played a servant in Montemezzi's opera. Lyric singers Mabel Ledo, mezzo-soprano, and John Tiranno, tenor, made the most of their respective assignments as Hua-Qui, Hu-Ci's nurse, and the fortune-teller, who publicly humiliates Cim-Fen, in Leoni's opera.
Endearing in their Asian garb, children of the Chinese American Music Ensemble, led by Dr. Victor Shen and Emily Sensenbach-Gopal, collaborated with the Cantori New York Chorus, directed by Mark Shapiro, and the Teatro Grattacielo Orchestra, under Wroe, on saluting the New Year and hailing the spectacle of the "gran Drago" (great dragon) procession.
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