Choir and orchestra are the true stars in Pique Dame #HF16

The biggest applause at the end of Tchaikovsky's opera Pique Dame went to the choir of the National Opera and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on Wednesday 15 June. And rightly so: choristers and orchestral musicians brought the highly varied score to sound flawlessly, without once getting out of sync with each other. Dynamics, rhythm, phrasing, empathy, everything was solid. A performance of stature rarely seen in the Stopera. The vocal soloists were somewhat pale in comparison.

So kudos to choral conductor Ching-Lien Wu, who propelled the already considerable quality of the opera choir to top level. Kudos also to Mariss Jansons, who guided the three-hour flow of sound with smooth gestures. He let the highly theatrical music flow and breathe, from Mozart pastiche to Russian folk music, and from Russian Orthodox chant to high-dramatic romanticism. Beautiful solos of sighing woodwinds, lyrical strings and tender harp playing he moulds into one organic whole with scorching clarion calls, thundering timpani rolls and ominous tutti bursts full of dissonance.

But then.

An opera stands or falls with good singers and convincing direction. Both were problematic. The storyline is simple enough. To quote George Bernard Shaw: there is a tenor (the penniless gambling-addicted soldier Hermann) who is in love with a soprano (the noble Liza) and a baritone (prince Yeletsky) who wants to put a stop to it. In terms of physicality, Ukrainian tenor Misha Didyk was well cast. With his scraggly physique and long greasy hair, he detonated firmly in the coiffed circles of the noble Liza. - Many gentlemen (and even ladies) wore Mozart wigs.

Unfortunately, Didyk's voice was considerably smaller than his appearance would suggest. As soon as he opened his mouth, any possible magic was broken. He has a chilly sound, has to squeeze for the high notes and compensates for his lack of volume by trying to bellow over the - yet extremely subservient - orchestra. Although his Russian diction is excellent, he hardly seems to know what he is singing. Credibility: zero.

Liza hopelessly in love? Didn't notice anything

His beloved Liza is performed by Russian soprano Svetlana Aksenova. Despite her dark, full voice, she fails to bring her brilliant arias to fruition: too often she approaches the notes from below. Nor does she manage to give her role any meat on the bones. Is she hopelessly in love with Hermann? Not noticed anything. In contrast, the otherwise somewhat bland Bulgarian baritone Vladimir Stoyanov as Yeletsky does manage to strike a chord in his poignant aria 'Ja vas loebloe' ('I love you').

What is convincing are Russian mezzo-soprano Larissa Diadkova and her compatriot Alexey Markov. Diadkova, dressed in an unflattering nightdress, sings her farewell aria so poignantly that the audience holds its breath. She has the allure of a Marlene Dietrich and those few frayed lines in her voice you will gladly forgive her. Markov attracts attention at every appearance with his very fine, deeply resonant baritone and infectious playing. With mischievous charm, he performed his ambiguous aria about the 'birds' coming to rest on his sturdy 'branch'. One wishes he had sung the role of Yeletsky.

Much has already been written about Stefan Herheim's direction. The fact that he presents Tchaikovsky himself as an acting character and explicitly zooms in on his homosexuality is in itself justifiable. That all the men in the choir are dressed as his lookalikes is a witty invention. But the fact that the composer coincides with Prince Yeletsky and is constantly on stage, even during the love scenes between his fiancée Liza and his rival Hermann, makes the story extremely confusing for the uninitiated. "Was Tchaikovsky married to Liza?" someone asked in the interval. The fact that Tchaikovsky/Jeletsky keeps 'conducting' and 'composing' works on the chuckles in the long run.

No, Herheim has failed to capture the drama of Pique Dame convey. Fortunately, there are the choir of The National Opera and the musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra who give this sizzling music the charge it so lacks stage-wise. They are the true stars of this performance.