Wednesday, August 13, 2008
La Passion de Simone by Saariaho - Aug. 13, 2008
I was hoping to get a little insight into the life of Simone Weil during this oratorio, which had its premiere at the Mostly Mozart festival - held at the Rose Building (at Columbus Circle) on Wednesday night, Aug. 13 (the hall usually used for Jazz at Lincoln Center). I got no such thing. Instead, the text--written by Amin Maalouf (Saariaho's collaborator on previous operas) and sung by Dawn Upshaw--was mostly a reflection on Simone Weil's death, with a couple of reflections portraying her victimhood. On a few occasions, quotations from Weil's own words were spoken by a recording in the voice of French actress Dominique Blanc. I've been casually listening to Saariaho over the years, and I'd say that what I initially perceived as coarse dissonances has been mitigated over time. Now it's mostly fairly attractive sounds - especially that tinkling effect, like one of those glass decorations people hang outside of their window so that the wind will pass through them and make noise. Ah, the price of popularity. I felt the text was ridiculous. After about the first 10 minutes of objectification without meaning, the work seemed like a constant obsession with death, dying, and how Weil died (by suicide, denying herself food so that she could emulate how French children were dying). Maybe the world sees things differently nowadays, but I still see most suicides as the ultimate act of selfishness, and in general, an act that is execrable. Weil definitely fits into that category. But Maalouf's text seemed to have barely any philosophic strength - the individual portrayed could have been anyone enjoying the agony of dying (yes, there were allusions to Jesus). At those few times when the speaker spoke the words of Weil, they were always paradoxical (and...sorry...sometimes idiotic and infantile) statements, like the one saying that it's impossible to love tangible things, only intangible things. (Sometimes I wished Weil's parents were around to shake some sense into her.) Even worse, Saariaho chose an actor for these recitations. This was a colossal mistake, because the actor did what they were supposed to and emphasized the consonants for greater meaning, and spoke in a low voice to add seriousness to it. But that doesn't work in a musical setting! So all I could hear of the spoken text were the sounds of the consonants, because Saariaho's orchestration was in the same range as the voice, blocking it almost entirely (the amplification worked, but was still useless). Fortunately there were supertitles that allowed the audience to the text. At this point I wanted Weil's parents to also shake some sense into Saariaho - a composer of that vintage should know better. Once this had a great effect: the actress spoke the words and all you heard were the consonances - and then the chorus began *speaking* and repeating the same words with the same consonances continuing on, like an echo, gradually getting louder and being eventually imbuing it with pitch. It was a nice effect. It's nice to see and hear that Dawn Upshaw has apparently conquered the cancer that was afflicting her. There was a lovely passage for soprano and English horn where I felt Dawn Upshaw's lower register (not a strength in the past) really blended well with the instrument. It nice duet section that had a strong effect. Peter Sellers came up with a staging that, in addition to Dawn Upshaw, used a ballet dancer to visualize either the angst in the music or its paroxysms of agony. Fortunately he acted more like a stylized actor than a ballet dancer, although it was a distraction from the music (perhaps wisely, since I was in a very geriatric section which I think tends not to listen to contemporary music). (It reminded me of how much Peter Sellers's work is over-rated.) Saariaho knows how to achieve various sounds (especially that very likable "tinkling glass" sound which occurs in notable places here) and knows how to keep them at various interesting paces. Sometimes they whooshed away like turbulent weather, and other times they were sustained, in no hurry to move on. She clearly knows how to write for soprano and Dawn Upshaw's very American-accented French was nearly always clear, even when she was lying on her back, suggesting Weil's resignation of life. Even though there was a big chorus, it seemed very under-utilized. What's the point if you're only going to use a chorus in a sprinkling of passages? At 75 minutes, the 15-tableau score is on the long side ("Die already!" you want to say to Simone...and to Saariaho). The lack of adequate program notes was a disadvantage (perhaps the Weil Estate asked for too much money, or Maalouf felt printing his text was a violation of something - but it would have helped). In generally I feel the work should be rethought and certainly condensed. If something could be done about that text, it might help. Maybe get rid of it altogether. [originally posted to OPERA-L]
Labels: contemporary music, La Passion de Simone, oratorio, Saariaho, Simone Weil
