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L’amour de loin
Opera in five acts
“Gerald Finley… is certainly destined to be one of the major baritones of his time and sang with passion and nuance.” Seen & Heard
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Composer |
Kaija Saariaho |
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Libretto |
Amin Maalouf |
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Venue and Dates |
Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris 26, 29 November, 2 December 2001 |
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Conductor |
Kent Nagano |
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Production |
Director: Peter Sellars Design: George Tsypin Lighting: James F. Ingalls |
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Performers |
Jaufré Rudel, Prince de Blaye: Gerald Finley
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Notes |
The World premiere was at Salzburg in 2000 but with Dwayne Croft rather than GF as Jaufré |
What the critics say
Extracts from a review of two very different productions, in Paris and Bern, of L'amour de loin. By David Patrick Stearns for Andante
http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=15099&highlight=1&highlightterms=&lstKeywords=
Seldom in the life of a brand new opera are there near-simultaneous productions that offer such radically different experiences. On consecutive days, Kaija Saariaho's L'amour de loin had its final matinee at Paris' Théâtre du Châtelet and an opening night at Bern, Switzerland's Stadttheater. The Paris L'amour was a revival of Peter Sellars' production from the Salzburg Festival, which introduced the opera to the world, to extravagant acclaim, in the summer of 2000…
…You have to wonder what allows a piece to take on such different colors without losing its essential character, particularly this early in its life. L'amour de loin has only been in existence for 15 months — a blink of the eye in opera time. Upon closer examination, the piece appears to be production-proof, and for highly specific reasons. In her first work in this medium, the 49-year-old Saariaho was careful to not bite off too much. There are only three characters and they have simple but elemental emotional trajectories: the medieval troubadour and provincial Gallic prince Jaufré Rudel de Blaye, after years of empty debauchery, finds a pure and perfect love in Clémence, the Countess of Tripoli, whom he knows strictly from descriptions of her beauty and integrity of character. The third character, known only as the Pilgrim, is the dramatic go-between, finally inspiring Jaufré to go to Tripoli — much to Clémence's anxiety, since she knows she can never be all he believes her to be. The plot proceeds on a straight but gradual direction without twists, the possible exception being the Greek choruses that periodically mock Jaufré and Clémence for their romantic high-mindedness.
…This directness and simplicity of expression makes it particularly open-ended interpretively. At the opera's end, you don't know if Clémence, who is grieving desperately for the death of Jaufré, is entering a convent out of devotion to God or to the troubadour's memory, or if her life is expanding or contracting. The Sellars production in Paris treated the plot like a skeleton — albeit a highly literate one — in a tale of spiritual evolution achieved through love: Whether or not Clémence is the woman Jaufré thinks she is, the point is the inner journey that the two make. A key difference in the two productions is the starting point of their journeys: For Sellars, they arise from splendid solitary confinement, both suspended over the onstage wading pool (symbolizing the water that separates them), he in a birdcage-cum-hourglass, she in a winding stairway decorated with vague (and unconvincing) allusions to Arabic art. The masterstroke of George Tsypin's set design was use of light and water, allowing ripples to be reflected on a large, onstage rear screen.
Performancewise, the Paris team was more refined, even though Upshaw was the only singer left from the Salzburg cast. Lilli Paasikivi as the Pilgrim and especially Gerald Finley as Jaufré were vocally superb, their hallmarks being straightforwardness of expression. Though Bern's Jaufré, Wolfgang Koch, lacked the stage charisma of Finley, his singing was no less compelling; Maria Riccarda Wesseling as the Pilgrim was utterly remarkable in her word coloring and depth of musical understanding. In Paris, Kent Nagano conducted the Orchestre de Paris in the spirit of Messiaen's St. François d'Assise, a logical approach since that opera was what finally convinced Saariaho to write one of her own. However, Nagano's languidly blended sonorities and meditative tempos convinced me that he's not Messiaen's or Saariaho's best advocate. Bern's conductor, Hans Drewanz, conducted L'amour more like a flesh-and-blood opera, with rugged contours and sweaty rough edges, the electronic component often taking center stage in the overall texture with an effect so gripping, you wondered where it was all going.
Soprano Harnisch, as Clémence, was a willing accomplice, full of arresting interpretive touches: In the final act as she awaits Jaufré's arrival, she stood at the lip of the stage facing the audience, mercilessly mocking the supposed purity of his intentions, accompanied by an eerie series of nervous tics belying her nervous insecurity. Upshaw, in contrast, was more an Everywoman caught in extraordinary circumstances, and delivered a kind of singing I've never heard from her. While her radiant soprano has always been the unflappable vehicle of Wolf art songs and Vernon Duke's more depressive moments, the voice, here, was flappable indeed, so intense was her expression of inner crisis. Long experience listening to Upshaw tells you this shouldn't be happening, that this voice shouldn't be doing that. That it does happen makes her performance all the more compelling. Might this role be the summit of her career?
[Extracts] International Herald Tribune (David Stevens) 5 December 2001
…In the case of Kaija Saariaho's "L'Amour de Loin" (Love From Afar), Amin Maalouf's libretto tells the story of a 12th-century troubadour named Jaufre Rudel who dreams of a distant love. Jaufre learns from a Pilgrim that the woman he dreams of lives in Tripoli. Her name is Clemence. From then on the Pilgrim acts as a go-between, and the two lovers do not meet until it is too late and the troubador is dying.
The Finnish composer has written a powerful and often eloquent score for her first opera, with electronic elements blended unobtrusively into its texture. The writing is highly considerate of the voices, and the three vocal parts were handsomely served by the singers, especially Dawn Upshaw as Clemence, but also by Lilli Paaskivi as the Pilgrim, and Gerald Finley as the troubador.
The production — designed by George Tsypin — consisted mainly of two translucent towers, one each for the two lovers, with a basin of water covering the stage between them. Peter Sellars was responsible for the staging, but given the static nature of the story there was little for him to do except have the principals move up and down in their towers.
Nagano conducted again, this time with the Orchestre de Paris. He has been quoted as describing the work as a symphonic poem with words, but on a stage that is not enough.
Frank Cadenhead, Seen & Heard Opera Review
http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2001/Dec01/Saariaho.htm
The first opera of the famed contemporary composer, Kaija Saariaho held the stage at the Théàtre du Châtelet on the 26, 29 November and 2 December. With Kent Nagano and the Orchestre de Paris in the pit, it was the first French performance of L’Amour de loin (The Love from Afar). Critically acclaimed at its first performance at the Salzburg Festival in August 2000, it is also scheduled for the Santa Fe Opera Festival. Saariaho (b. 1952), a Finnish composer currently living in Paris, is yet another of a remarkable group of composers from this small country to achieve considerable notice internationally.
Her opera is a passionate and delicate paean to love with exotic harmonies and magical instrumental colours. It reminded me more of the Impressionist composers rather than compositions of her mentor, Pierre Boulez. Telling a story of a troubadour in love with a distant Countess of Tripoli, it is filled with intimations of Arabic musical forms.
Written by the composer specifically for the remarkable soprano Dawn Upshaw as the Countess of Tripoli, Clémence, it also features the excellent baritone, Gerald Finley, as the medieval troubadour Jaufré Rudel. The third member of the cast is mezzo Lilli Paasikivi as a pilgrim who acts as the go-between to unite the lovers. The chamber choir Accentus joined the Orchestre de Paris, discerningly conducted by Nagano. Singing from the highest balconies, they added an often unearthly and affecting accompaniment to the stage action.
This opera is burdened from the beginning by a story with very little action and much reflective musical thought. Her talent as a composer is clear and one can hope that later efforts will involve more complex and dynamic musical expressions than the languid and ultimately static nature of this work. The staging, by the ever-adventurous Peter Sellars, had to be adopted from the vast spaces of Salzburg’s Grosses Festspielhaus but seemed to work well on the Châtelet stage. The golden spiral staircase of the Countess descending from the sky was particularly impressive.
Dawn Upshaw earns further laurels for her performance here. An untiring proponent of contemporary music, she adds still another impressive role to her already full list in the service of new music. Gerald Finley, last seen in Paris in the title role of Don Giovanni, is certainly destined to be one of the major baritones of his time and sang with passion and nuance. Lilli Paasikivi also contributed to the overall high performance level. This listener, for one, will certainly be waiting for Saariaho’s next operatic effort. With an improved dramatic emphasis, she could very well create some of the best operas of our time.
Silvie Mamy, Giornale Della Musica, 26 November 2001
http://www.giornaledellamusica.it/rol/scheda.php?id=847&ra&l=0
Il canto d'amore e morte di Kaija Saariaho
Translation will appear asap
