THE NEW ZEALAND OPERA SOCIETY

Stephen Barlow Conductor
Margaret Medlyn Judith
Ferenc Cserhalmi Bluebeard

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Auckland Town Hall
25 May

Review by Garth Wilshere

This concert performance of Bartok’s masterwork, Bluebeard’s Castle was an imaginative initiative by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, in collaboration with the NBR NZ Opera and The Edge. I was very much looking forward to the performance but despite the laudable intentions of the organisers, and apart from the magnificent, involving performance of Margaret Medlyn, I was very disappointed with the whole presentation of what should be, a chillingly powerful piece. The major disappointment stemmed from the underwhelming vocal performance of the Hungarian bass Ferenc Cserhalmi whose projection and involvement in the music and drama was minimal. His stolid unmoving stage demeanour and lack of any interaction or even acknowledgement of Medlyn’s Judith, let alone the conductor, seriously diminished the drama, passion, emotion and power of the work.

This was not helped either by the orchestra’s decision to place the podium and conductor between the two protagonists. This distancing meant that the two could not in any way ‘play off’ one another.

The vocal acting and tonal colouring of Medlyn’s singing was outstanding. Her understanding of the text and histrionic need to act and sculpt a characterisation made for an astonishingly good, quite superb performance from her which injected involvement and provided emotional weight, power and bite. It was a shame that she had to do all the work. Sadly her opposite number’s aloof character meant she had to try to get a response from a performer who may just as well have been an undemonstrative plank. Cserhalmi’s singing was merely adequate and compromised the endeavour.

Bluebeard’s Castle is all about atmosphere and here too, the staging let it down with the orchestra in full light on stage. This meant that any lighting effects made little impact.

The Bluebeard’s Castle series of paintings by Nigel Buxton, which were projected onto two screens, one on either side of the stage in the gallery next to the organ were an interesting idea but the impact of different coloured lighting to match the opening of each of the seven doors was lessened by having full light on stage and in the hall.

So much of the staging sadly demonstrated a real, lost opportunity.

For me, conductor Stephen Barlow exacerbated the problems with his rather laid-back conducting, imparting little energy or finesse to the playing, which was workman-like, rather than fine.

Overwhelmingly, loud and coarse does not equate to exhilarating and exciting, as in the opening of the fifth door, where the massive orchestral sound and huge organ chords should have enormous power, weight and intensity rather than just loud noise.

As realisation and horror dawns on Judith, the emotion and feeling of despair at her fate must be achingly intense, something ideally displayed by Medlyn. Here Bluebeard’s aloof indifference finally did make its mark in Cserhalmi’s performance, but it was too little too late.

The first half was made up of Les Préludes by Liszt and Richard Strauss’s Salome’s Tanz (Dance of the Seven Veils) and here the Auckland Philharmonia’s lack of tonal weight, especially in the strings, meant an underwhelming impression, particularly in the Strauss.

However, on a more positive note, the image of Bluebeard used in the advertising was striking and outstandingly effective.