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From: greg@olivej.UUCP (Greg Paley)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: S.F. Opera "Elektra" - Performance Review
Message-ID: <244@olivej.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Nov-84 13:34:07 EST
Article-I.D.: olivej.244
Posted: Mon Nov  5 13:34:07 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 8-Nov-84 03:48:59 EST
Organization: Olivetti ATC, Cupertino, Ca
Lines: 102


I enjoy it greatly when other people share their live
performance experiences on the net, so I thought I'd do
the same.

I saw Richard Strauss' "Elektra" at the San Francisco Opera
yesterday afternoon (Sunday matinee, Nov. 4).  The S.F. Opera
Orchestra was conducted by Jeffrey Tate.  Principals were
Janis Martin (Elektra) Carol Neblett (Chrysothemis) Viorica
Cortez (Klytemnestra) Peter Wimberg (Orestes) and Dennis
Bailey (Aegisth).

For those unfamiliar with the work, it is a single-act (no
break or intermission) approx. 1 1/2 hour tour de force for
singers (particularly Elektra herself) and orchestra.  The
story concerns Elektra's hate for her mother and stepfather
and quest for revenge.  Prior to the opera, her mother,
Klytemnestra and stepfather, Aegisth, had murdered her
father, Agemmemnon.  Every day Elektra invokes the spirit
of Agemmemnon, a blood-curdling monologue, describing with
jubilation the bloodshed that will take place when her
exiled brother, Orestes returns to wreak vengeance on
Klytemnestra and Aegisth.  Elektra's sister, Chrysothemis,
just wants to get out of there and lead a normal life, but
Elektra's persistent threats and hatred have their mother
so scared that she won't let either daughter free.
Klytemnestra is beset by nightmares and general physical
decay, as well as fear that Orestes will return.  Elektra
pretends to be, for a change, kind to her and acts as though
she wants to help her find relief.  She does this only long
enough to gain Klytemnestra's trust, and then scares the
hell out of her with an explicit description of what will
happen to her when Orestes returns.  At that point, word
comes that Orestes has been killed, sending Klytemnestra
into fits of laughter and leaving Elektra and Chrysothemis
desolate.  Elektra works on Chrysothemis to get her to help
kill their mother and stepfather, but Chrysothemis retreats
in horror.  A stranger appears who turns out to be Orestes
(the rumors of his death being greatly exaggerated).  He
duly slaughters Klytemnestra and Aegisth (off-stage shrieks
and groans) after which Elektra does a jubilant dance and
then, the resolution of her hatred leaving her nothing
else to live for, drops dead.

The orchestra, under Jeffrey Tate, sounded fabulous.  I
was very impressed with the overall cohesion of his reading
and the clarity of his beat.  Power was built up not by
brute force but rather through textural clarity and beauty
of sound.  This was fully realized by the orchestra which
was able to play with a unanimity and fullness that led
to an overwhelming impact.  If it seems strange to discuss
the orchestra first in an opera performance, I (although
trained as a singer) firmly believe that the orchestra and
conductor provide the foundation of a performance.  Good,
but not great, singers with a great conductor and orchestra
can provide, for me at least, a memorable experience that
great singers with a mediocre conductor and orchestra cannot.

This was the case, as the singers were good but not great.
Janis Martin avoided hysteria in the title role, building
an interpretation of great intensity and concentration.  There
were important things she couldn't do as a result of problems
with handling her upper register.  Strauss calculated many
of the climactic moments based on the soprano's ability to
hurl out a brilliant high note at the end of a long stretch
of powerful singing over the enormous orchestra.  Most of
the time, these high notes emerged as indeterminately pitched
screams which, in the case of the two high C's fell 
pathetically short of what was intended.  Nonetheless, there
were long stretches where her cool, clear sound projected
great power and lyricism.  Her recognition of her brother,
her wild dances, and her death scene were done beautifully.

Carol Neblett projected Chrysothemis' frustration and horror
very well.  The role lies very high, and, in contrast to
Janis Martin, it was Neblett's top that projected most
forcefully as it soared over the orchestra.  Other than the
top, her voice tends to be wooly and poorly focused, which
made it impossible for her to project words clearly.  She
looked beautiful.  Viorica Cortez looked, appropriately,
like an old whore and projected decadence, malevolence,
and also tremendous fatigue and dread.  Her voice projected
clearly at the low and high end, but got lost in the orchestra
in the middle.  Her words were, except for when she was covered
by the orchestra, clearly and powerfully projected.  The
men, considerably smaller parts, were good.  Dennis Bailey
sang well and did a good job of portraying the character's
neuroticism.  Peter Wimberg sang and acted Orestes with
considerable beauty and nobility.

The costumes were wild, all of the women wearing body stockings
with painted nipples to make them look bare-breasted.  This
didn't bother me, but I had several people in the audience
commenting that they thought it was rather gross.  I thought
that the direction, by Regina Resnik (who used to be a wonderful
Klytemnestra herself) was excellent - all of the moves made
sense and everyone seemed to have a very clear grasp of the
characters they were enacting.

	- Greg Paley