Tchaikovsky – Iolanta; Stravinsky – Persephone
Teatro Real Madrid; Peter Sellars; Teodor Currentzis
Teatro Real TR97011DVD
Artists dispute the trope that the greatest art comes from great suffering, but one can be excused for thinking that it does when listening to Iolanta, Tchaikovsky’s last opera. A period of immense suffering, resulting in the composer’s suicide, was triggered by an absolute rejection by the object of his obsessive love, his teenage nephew Bob. It was 1891 and Tchaikovsky’s homosexual desire for the 18-year-old was not something that Russian society, nor indeed Tchaikovsky himself, was ready to accept. Plagued by guilt and shame, the composer spiralled into a debilitating depression. In the process he composed Iolanta, a one-act work of haunting beauty and rare daring. Years before Stravinsky’s winds-dominated Rite of Spring caused a riot at the occasion of its premiere, Iolanta’s overture was scored exclusively for winds, followed by a first scene with a string quartet and four voices only. Judged a failure at its Russian performances, Iolanta received deserved appreciation when staged for the first time in Hamburg, with Gustav Mahler conducting. Tchaikovsky, alas, did not see that triumph – he was too sick to travel.
In this recording, Peter Sellars, the ground-breaking theatrical and operatic director, skilfully highlights the beauty of the music, while reducing superfluous stage movement and letting the austere set be the backdrop for a beautiful interplay of shadow and light. The singing is superb throughout, with special accolades reserved for Ekaterina Scherbachenko (Iolanta) and Dmitry Ulianov (King Rene).
In contrast, Stravinsky’s Persephone is a result of a curious collaboration – that of a resolute White Russian and a French communist poet, André Gide. Their collaboration did not last long; nor did Gide’s fascination with the new Soviet regime (” When we were hoping for a dictatorship of the proletariat, we were not hoping for just a dictatorship,” he wrote.). Nonetheless the result is a lasting contribution to the theatrical repertoire. In this production, Dominique Blanc plays the role of the Greek goddess who forsakes her worldly kingdom and enters Hades, only to re-emerge each spring. This superb DVD is an early contender for the ranks of the best of 2013.
