United Kingdom Saariaho, Innocence (2018): Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden / Susanna Mälkki (conductor). Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 26.4.2023. (CC)
Kaija Saariaho (born Helsinki, 1952) attended the Sibelius Academy; however after listening to the music of Gérard Grisey (a French Spectralist) at Darmstadt in 1980, she left for Paris. Her music is usually heard as ‘softer’ compared to her Nordic contemporaries – the opera L’Amour de loin (2000) exemplifies this nicely (it was premiered within the UK at English National Opera in 2009); her preoccupation has usually been that of sunshine (Lichtbogen, for instance, is a response to the Northern Lights within the Arctic sky). Orchestration and texture turn out to be vitally essential in Lichtbogen, and such is the case additionally with Innocence. Harder edged than L’Amour de loin although it is perhaps at occasions, Innocence nonetheless works with the (generally imperceptible) transformation of 1 soundspace to a different,
For Innocence, Saariaho has labored with the author Sofi Aksanen (dramaturgy and translation by Aleksi Barrière, says the programme booklet, however Andrew Mellor’s programme essay Speaking in Tongues maybe is nearer to the mark with the appellation of Barrière as ’guiding dramaturge’); the result’s a decidedly multi-lingual tapestry. English is one half, however so is Swedish, Czech, German, and others, all interacting seamlessly, as if multilingualism within the listener is taken as a right. It really works brilliantly, because it allows Saariaho to create a tapestry of tales, with the languages appearing as semiotic ‘labels’, or indicators. The scene is an International School, the plot centring round a faculty capturing that occurred a decade in the past. The drama strikes seamlessly between timelines, its fluidity enhanced and underlined by a revolving, two-storey set, brilliantly conceived by director Simon Stone and his set designer Chloe Lamford and spectacularly lit by James Farncombe.
In its examination of maximum emotional occasions and its use of a ‘servant’ character is essential to the plot, Innocence has actual parallels with Thomas Vinterberg’s movie Festen (Celebration), not least as each carry, all through, an underlying feeling of disquiet (there may be additionally a son that’s unwelcome in each), that occasions might erupt at any second. Trauma is the key phrase for each – right here, seven figures (six college students and one trainer) act in emotional and temporal counterpoint to the present-day wedding ceremony of the bridegroom Tuomas (Markus Nykänen) and bride (Lilian Farahani). The shooter within the slaughter was Tuomas’ brother (who was bullied by among the survivors); Tuomas, his brother and Iris had conspired in the direction of the capturing, however Tuomas and Iris pulled out, leaving the only real assailant to take full duty. This state of affairs stretches over 5 acts – an epilogue sees the survivors’ desires for a greater future, and an extremely touching scene of Markéta asking her mom to let go. There isn’t any interval (the opera lasts round one- and three-quarter hours) – rightly so. There is nothing to interrupt the seamless sense of claustrophobic focus, so completely projected by the Covent Garden orchestra beneath the faultless route of Susanna Mälkki.
The thought of the two-storey dice is itself claustrophobic in nature – two interrelated worlds, one previous, one current, work together inside a given area, inside particular confines. The remainder of the stage is black and naked, an exterior vacuum. On a musical stage, the work’s opening within the orchestra is probably extra angular than one may anticipate from Saariaho’s pen, with its use of piano and punctuating brass (to not point out some fiendishly angular trumpet traces, brilliantly achieved right here) underpinned by what feels like a contrabassoon. There is a gradual plot unveiling that carries the all the time simmering opera by way of – but looking back, the very opening appears to carry the entire opera in microcosm. Certainly, there’s a pronounced half for solo normal bassoon that appears to provoke a timbral thread as this foregrounding returns later (when the daddy talks about how he taught his son to shoot ’like a person’, to take one instance).
Saariaho herself explains the impact left by the top: ‘There are ways to continue living, after an event like this, not to forget, just to continue living. But perhaps those rays of sunshine are quite mild’ (quoted in Mellor’s be aware). The opera is an exploration of shadows – of shadows solid by this occasion, and the consequences felt because of this. Jerónimo (Student Five), for instance, can’t go to the theatre or the flicks, as he can’t sit along with his again to the door. Lily finds an odd solace in ‘the places where monsters lurked’ (‘Innan var platser där monstrenruvade. Nu är dom platserna där jag sover bäst’ – ‘Sometime before, in those places the monsters lurked. Now they are the places where I get the best sleep’). Anton can’t go to his courses, or to work. As the Czech waitress says, ’Nám zastovil čas’ (‘Our time has come to a standstill’).
There is one other reference (one in every of many, I think about), this time to Lars von Trier’s movie Melancholia, which additionally takes a marriage and twists it into one thing altogether darker, a sense that set designer Lamford describes as a ’base layer’ for the marriage.
The Waitress’ arrival is defined in an aria for that character, with Saariaho delimiting that musical area (it follows a tense dialogue between Mother- and Father-in-Law round whether or not Stela will discover out the opera’s darkish secret) by a sudden glacial, celesta-garlanded chord and off-stage refrain, with a low pedal underlining the core foreboding of the complete opera. ‘This morning I was told that one of the waitresses was ill’ begins the aria, in opposition to a string obbligato counterpoint. The aching lyricism stays darkish. This function was searingly sung by Magdalena Kožena within the authentic Aix manufacturing; right here it was Finnish-Swedish mezzo-soprano Jenny Carlstedt, proving each inch as compelling. The aria cedes to pressing Spanish dialog, then German textual content. It sounds dizzying, however really within the opera home, makes good sense.
And whereas there are what is perhaps construed as arias, the precise modes of melodic discourse are many, together with timbrally totally different conventional Sami yoik singing, in addition to herding calls. The inclusion of Vilma Jää as Student One (Markéta) is a stroke of genius as Jää is a specialist in Finno-Ugric people music, and the attribute, harsher sound of her voice lower by way of the drama like a knife. These had been among the most purely lovely moments of the night, the vocal sound like a name from some forgotten, primordial previous.
Saariaho’s music can tackle a tough, jagged edge, present in Jerònimo’s rapidly-delivered recollections, fantastically realised by Camilo Delgado Díaz). As in Aix, the a part of the Mother-in -Law was taken by Sandrine Piau, in terrific voice, stuffed with magnificence and but utterly dramatically convincing (and stronger than I heard her within the Gstaad Die Zauberflöte with Rousset in August final 12 months); she was ideally complemented by Christopher Purves because the Father-in-Law, characteristically sturdy of voice. Together, they had been utterly convincing. Balancing this couple is the Bridegroom and Bride, Markus Nykänen and Lilian Farahani respectively, each giving uncooked, visceral accounts of the emotional twists and turns (to not point out skewerings) their characters undergo.
It is truthful to say that each solid member was immersed of their components, and the significance of their contribution to the entire. Lucy Shelton was a powerful Teacher (Cecilia), whose recollections of the fateful day are so powerfully set by Saariaho, memorably utilizing a Schoenbergian Sprechstimme (of which Shelton seems to be an professional).
Saariaho’s material is totally of the second; her language, too is modern, and totally particular person (one mark of an important composer, maybe). Her opera Innocence is a masterpiece, and it’s virtually unattainable to think about a finer rendition than this, each scenically and musically. The orchestra was on stellar kind, tackling the various calls for with consummate professionalism and with knife-edge accuracy; the refrain, heard off-stage, was extremely highly effective.
How good it was to see an apparently full Royal Opera House for this efficiency, and for a up to date opera in such a big theatre, making that fairly an achievement. This is the music of our time at its strongest – might it return quickly.
Colin Clarke
Production:
Libretto – Sofi Oksanen
Dramaturg and Translator – Aleksi Barrière
Director – Simon Stone
Set designer – Chloe Lamford
Costume designer – Mel Page
Lighting designer – James Farncombe
Choreographer – Arco Renz
Chorus grasp – Genevieve Ellis
Cast:
The Waitress (Tereza) – Jenny Carlstedt
The Mother-in-Law (Patricia) – Sandrine Piau
The Father-in-Law (Henrik) – Christopher Purves
The Bride (Stela) – Lilian Farahani
The Bridegroom (Tuomas) – Markus Nykänen
The Priest – Timo Riihonen
The Teacher (Cecilia) – Lucy Shelton
Student one (Markéta) – Vilma Jää
Student two (Lilly) – Beate Mordal
Student three (Iris) – Julie Hega
Student 4 (Anton) – Samuel Oram
Student 5 (Jerónimo) – Camilo Delgado Díaz
Student six (Alexia) – Marina Dumont