Opera review: 'Tamerlano' at L.A. Opera

For all the work’s virtues, the main reason that Los Angeles Opera has mounted a production of Handel’s “Tamerlano” is that tenor Plácido Domingo recently added the role of Bajazet to his repertory.

Bajazet is not the title character, but he may be opera’s first truly heroic tenor. The role provides a wide range of emotion that Domingo exploited with compelling power at the opera's opening Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Domingo's voice may be too robust, lush and big to be ideal for works by baroque composers such as Handel. But the famed tenor was able to invest the part with great sympathy and appeal.

The plot hinges on Tamerlano’s love for Asteria, the daughter of defeated Turkish sultan Bajazet. Tamerlano means to marry her instead of his betrothed, Irene. Unknown to him, however, Asteria and Andronico, one of his allies in the war, are already in love. The feints and stratagems of working out this complicated love triangle inspired Handel’s rich score.     

The young soprano Sarah Coburn was an effective Asteria, singing her lines and negotiating the complicated embellishments with a precision and accuracy shared by her colleagues.

 Typically, the performance history of "Tamerlano" is complex. Handel composed the work, based on the cruel Tartar emperor, in 1724, but he made extensive revisions as he worked with the singers before the first performance. He further revised the score in 1731, cutting some recitatives and adding a showpiece aria for a secondary character.

In a note in the program booklet, visiting conductor William Lacey, who was making his company debut, said he filled out Handel’s originally sketchy orchestrations to suit such a large venue as the Pavilion. The orchestra numbered about 35 players, including two theorbos, an instrument the conductor splendidly described as “the giraffe of the lute family.”

Lacey, who conducted the alert orchestra with an expert’s consideration for the singers, incorporated a few short pieces from other Handel operas.

His colleague was director Chas Rader-Shieber, who pursued a relentlessly bleak vision of the work. In what has become a stereotype in postmodern opera, Rader-Shieber updated the events to the Nazi era. Uniformed guards stood at hand in almost every scene in David Zinn’s unadorned, sterile sets, lighted dramatically and symbolically by Christopher Akerlind. The guards disappeared in the final act, however; otherwise Tamerlano’s last-minute conversion to goodness would hardly have been credible.

On the other hand, Zinn dressed the Tartar emperor and the other main characters in modern business suits (another postmodern cliché), except for Bajazet and Asteria, who wore gorgeously colored period costumes. Maybe this was meant to contrast the old regime with the new. None of it added much to the score or story. 

For the director, however, it was not enough for the characters to repeatedly call Tamerlano a tyrant. The emperor had to demonstrate his sadism by stepping on Asteria’s hand, manhandling her and pushing her to the floor. The director also insisted that the ending be downbeat. Although Tamerlano had pardoned Asteria and Andronico, allowing them to marry and rule over Greece, the director had her reject her beloved’s hand and lie down beside her father’s corpse as the curtain fell.

One of Rader-Shieber’s more interesting ideas, however, involved Leone, Irene’s escort. As she voluptuously contemplated ascending the throne in a second-act aria, Leone began fidgeting and struggling mightily to contain his attraction to her, even as she seemed unaware of her effect on him.
All this provided the motivation for his leaping up to sing the showpiece aria about the power of love for good or evil, “Amor dà guerra e pace.” Ryan McKinney galvanized the production at that moment. (He and Coburn will both return to the Chandler for  the company’s run of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” opening Nov. 29.) The bulk of the opera, however, was carried off excellently by the five principals.

In the title role, countertenor Bejun Mehta showed off all the vocal agility required, especially in his third-act vengeance aria, which demanded etraordinary breath control. Dramatically, he did what he could within the director’s limited options.x

Mezzo-soprano Patricia Bardon, a prize winner at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, sang the trouser role of Andronico with considerable subtlety and flexibility of line and made the character’s conflicts credible as well. Jennifer Holloway made a statuesque Irene, noble in bearing and in voice.

Domingo proved less agile and ornate in embellishment than did his colleagues, and his voice began to lose some sheen over the course of the 3 1/2-hour evening.

But no one came close to the dramatic power he invested in his role, and, despite Handel’s minor-key reconciliation chorus, his death scene almost justified the director’s hopeless vision.

-- Chris Pasles

"Tamerlano." Los Angeles Opera; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles; 7:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Dec. 1; 2 p.m. Saturday. $20 to $260. (213) 972-8001, Running time: 3 hours, 27 minutes.

Photo: Plácido Domingo and Sarah Coburn. Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu.

Comments

[Jerome]

Interesting. frankly, I found the directorial decision to have Andronico portrayed as a mooncalf, a simpering schoolboy just horrible. The character is, at least according to the text, a grown man, a politicla leader more astute than Bajazet at playing politics given his situation with Tamerlane. The Act I finale aria where he declares his resolve not to allow his feelings for Asteria to alter was orchestrated without oboe that would allow for some martial resolve, and played almost weepingly with the character moping in the rear corner with a rose.
As well, the staging had a wide open back so that sound was trapped, and at one point Andronico is facing the rear of the stage walking back toward Asteria and singing. Who can hear given this set-up?
McKinny(sp?) and Holloway (irene) were marvelous with their three arias. Mehta blew the house away with the vendetta aria in Act iii. the rest were overwhelmed by the production, I thought.
And that's what makes a horserace.

[jad]

OK. We can admit that Domingo brought a lot to the LA Opera and without him, it wouldn't exist. But it is the worst sort of sycophancy to pretend there is anything even remotely Handelian in his voice, what little of that voice now remains. Last night was some of the worst singing I have ever heard on a professional stage. Beefy, old, with no shape or agility (I'm talking only of the voice here). It's a great disservice to his career, which at times has shined, to pretend that this should be considered part of it. Tragically, the Chandler sold out, largely to those there for the celebrity. I bought my tickets by mistake, seeing Handel and never imagining for a moment that P.D. might have the maniacal ego to ask to sing in it. The LAO may have cashed in on this, but it's likely that this blight on the LA arts scene will only confirm what most non-operagoers already think about opera and send them back to bad movies.

[Adriana]

The lovely and elegant performers, orchestra, and conductor were wonderful!

The staging was ugly and not true to the story. I would really like to be educated as to why the LA opera decided that the "Stalinist" set design was preferable to Handel's traditional staging. It was almost painful to look at the set.

[Carla]

Well it's too bad that you have to be an overdramatic ass about this, jad. Too bad indeed.

I didn't see this production in LA, but I have bought the DVD from Madrid from last year, and Bajazet fit Domingo like a glove indeed. No, his voice is not "traditional" Handel, of course it isn't, but Bejun Mehta isn't traditionally without balls either.
I don't see anything wrong with 'reimagining' an opera production with someone who really has age and wisdom playing an old and wise ruler.
Maybe having recently sung Boccanegra has made Domingo's voice even heavier and thus a bit different from that DVD version, but that still doesn't make your review look any better.

[jad]

C--

Just so I understand you: you're basing your evaluation of the LA production and Domingo's performance, which you didn't see, on your experience of a DVD of a different production and your purely speculative history of the development of his voice?

[Tony]

Chris Pasles' review reveals his lack of knowledge regarding this repertoire. This opera was intended to showcase a castrato role, Tamerlano. The first few paragraphs goes on and on about our beloved celebrity Placido. A more intelligent reviewer would understand the importance of casting a castrato--or our modern day voice-type, the countertenor, in the lead role of a tyrant usually sung by a bass. Bejun Mehta deserves more than a one sentence pass. His technique, agility and vocal range is unprecedented and the audience was enamored by him--the applause for him confirmed it. Pasles makes too much of a deal about a large voice, like Placido's being too robust for a baroque role. Again, an intelligent reviewer would know that large voices were singing in the baroque and the role of Bajazet is usually casted for a more dramatic tenor.

When will we have a reviewer that will surpass sensationalism? This opera is not about Placido. It encompasses so much more. Castrati were rock stars during the baroque and were the highest paid in the cast--they made more money than the composer! Bejun Mehta had the weight of history on him with this role and I truly believe he was the rock star in this opera.

[joseph]

It's just like the Ring that's not really a Ring, with heroes that aren't really heroes. LA Opera is getting worse and worse, and it's having an ironic anti-tourist effect: some people who would like to see these how these works really sound are curious enough about them to want to see them elsewhere.

[Olivia]

I, for one, am thrilled to be able to see Baroque opera and particularly Handel. I don't care whether Domingo's voice is "traditionally" Baroque. The performance was wonderful, the music heavenly and full of emotion. While I also enjoy 19th century opera, I long for the elegance and beauty of Baroque opera, and it is such a relief to have it in, of all places, Los Angeles.

[Irina]

This was the worst opera performance I've ever seen. The se, the costumes, the voices were horrible. There was no passion, nothing to make me want to sit through 3.5 hours of this. We walked out half way through the performance as many others did. Domingo's voice was very very mediocre, just to be polite. Tamelano was the worst of them all. I think that the only reason there was audience is a promise of seeing Placido DOmingo, who was not at his best. The non-existent set decor and the costumes were very very sad to look at. I would not recomend this production to anyone, it was a huge huge dissapointment.

[operafan]

Again, very politically motivated review... Placido did not deserve praise this time, but he gets lots of admiration and lots of space in this article. Of course, there was ONE star in this performance - the countertenor Bejun Mehta. Bardon and Coburn are excellent. Reading this article one can never imagine how UNDESERVED the praise of Placido Domingo is and how underappreciated are Mehta and all young singers. Sadly, but true - Domingo should quit singing (as about his conducting, her should've not even started that!) - it's time. And as almost alwasy with LAO - ridiculouss stage and costumes!