After all the misery surrounding THE Symphony Orchestra constituted the premiere of Orphée et Eurydice last night (1 May) at the Wilminktheatre was a breath of fresh air. Defying all adversity, the Nederlandse Reisopera realised a shimmering performance that was rightly rewarded with a minute-long ovation. With magical colour fields, slow-motion movements and mysterious shadow play, director Floris Visser brought the timeless love drama to life. A must-see for any opera lover.
As much as there was to comment on the recent Macbeth of the National Opera, so little was there to grumble about this Orphée et Euryidice of the Reisopera: stage image, stage direction, music and performance form one inescapable whole. Even the opening is breathtaking: a curving sand desert against a uniform bright blue background. Eurydice's white wedding dress contrasts brilliantly with the anthracite-coloured thirties dress of the chorus and Orpheus. Exultant, he plays blind man's buff with his beloved, who suddenly drops dead.
Magic colour surfaces
When Orpheus is allowed to retrieve his beloved Eurydice thanks to Amor, the back front turns blood red. Because of this magical colour change, we are suddenly in the underworld. As he tries to pacify the Furies with poignant chanting, they bow to him threateningly as one: 'NON! Eventually they give in, and fall apart as a group: Orpheus has managed to touch them as individuals.
Thus, the opera is full of ironclad imagery. In the musical interlude that follows, Orpheus plunges into the gaping grave again and again, generating more and more doubles. Finally, they rise again in slow motion, bent over, hands wrapped protectively around their heads. A laugh waves through the audience: the constant falling has obviously hurt. Enchanting is the moment when Eurydice - also in slow motion - rises from hell in her white robe.
Rear-view scene
However, the fatal 'looking back' scene falls a bit flat, as Eurydice mounts her Orpheus like a mistress and emphatically lifts her veil. After this, who believes he loses her for good by looking at her? Nicely ambiguous though is the ending. Orpheus has just slit his wrists when Amor tells him he can still take his beloved with him. Visser leaves it unclear whether this is indeed a happy ending, or whether both are now united in death forever.
There is also much to enjoy musically. British tenor Samuel Boden is perfectly cast as Orpheus: not only does he have a wonderfully beautiful timbre, but he also conveys the title hero's changing moods with great conviction. Slovenian soprano Kristina Bitenc also shines in her role as Eurydice. She moves with the grace of a goddess and sings with a powerful, warm voice. German soprano Hanna Herfurter is a convincing Amor, but her voice is regularly lost in the music from the orchestra pit.
Crushing lyricism
The crushingly lyrical vocal lines Christoph Willibald von Gluck puts in the mouths of singers and choir are echoed in the orchestra. At times we even hear pianissimo echoes of their phrases from behind the scenes, like a Fernorchester avant la lettre. Consensus Vocalis sings its rich harmonic parts very carefully. Despite the dangerously sloping playing surface, the choir members do not turn their hand to Pim Veulings' sometimes tricky choreography. Alex Brok's lighting design cannot be praised enough: it simultaneously evokes the atmosphere of a super-modern virtual world, like the shadow play of an old-fashioned magic lantern.
Conductor Roger Hamilton energetically leads his men through Gluck's glowing music. Although one can hear that HET Symfonieorkest is familiar with early music thanks to chief conductor Jan Willem de Vriend, the sound could have been a bit slimmer and more pointed. - That musicians and singers occasionally drifted slightly apart in the fast passages, we can only blame premiere nerves. Floris Visser and the Nederlandse Reisopera have, with this Orphée et Eurydice - again - delivered a top performance. Hopefully, the Enschede municipality will appreciate it.
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