Orchestre de Paris - Paavo Järvi - Gidon Kremer / Salle Pleyel

Ludwig van Beethoven and Alan Berger
Orchestre de Paris conducted by Paavo Jarvi with Gidon Kremer
Salle Pleyel
10th March, 8pm
10-60 euros

****

Following the critical and commercial success of Théâtre La Colline's staging of Alban Berg's opera Lulu in December of last year, Paavo Järvi conducts the Orchestre de Paris with violinist Gidon Kremer, performing the composer's best-known violin concerto, 'To the memory of an angel', at the Salle Pleyel.

Legendary Latvian violinist and prolific recording artist, Gidon Kremer performs with characteristic sensitivity, bringing out all the pained delicacy of Berg's concerto and amply illustrating the composer's vision of the violin's dark expressive possibilities within the new idiom of modern music.  His handling of the very difficult passages of the Allegro is, as expected, flawless. Tonight's billing provides a rare opportunity to hear one of the world's foremost violinists and, further, a musician who has become widely respected for his experimentation with unconventional repertoire, and it has sold out the Salle Pleyel on a Thursday night.  The audience is generally young, their style rather avant garde for this grand institution of the 8th arrondisement.

The Berg revival continues to gather momentum throughout Paris' 2011 Season; the composer's work has featured in four concerts at the Salle Pleyel thus far this year; Christopher Eschenbach will conduct three more of his pieces in the same hall later this month; and Lulu will return to the Parisian stage at Opera Bastille in October.  Berg's dark and complex psychological themes, along with his convoluted and remorselessly violent modern style may not be to everyone's taste but they do seem to be appealing to a growing audience.

The evening's programme opens with Beethoven's overture  Consecration of the House (Die Weihe des Hauses), op.124, and closes with his Symphony No. 4, providing an energised, rousing contrast to Berg's melancholic and uncomfortably angular concerto.  Järvi's assured, if reserved, style induces a performance of remarkable control and precision from the Orchestre de Paris, and there is a much energy to be felt during the Symphony's anticipatory lulls as during its magnificent climax thanks to the impressive restraint he inspires.  Beautiful violin solos from Philippe Aiche and Roland Daugareil, and a spectacular performance from the brass section, once again emphasise restraint and precision and never permit Beethoven's finesse to be obscured by the high energy of his composition.  A very good performance indeed that bodes well for both Paavo Järvi's first season conducting the Orchestre de Paris and Alban Berg's ongoing presence on the Parisian stage.

Life and Times Episode 1 / Théâtre des Abbesses

Life and Times Episode 1

Théâtre des Abbesses

1-5 March 2011, 7.30pm

13-24 euros

Sung in English with English and French subtitles

***

Created and directed by Kelly Copper and Pavol Liska, of experimental, New York-based company The Nature Theater of Oklahoma, this verbatim piece sets a telephone conversation to music composed by Robert M. Johanson.
Billed as "a marathon musical worthy of the word epic", Life and Times – Episode 1 derives from the first conversation Liska had with the subject of this study Kristin Worrall, wherein she makes the first attempt to tell her life story; spanning from her birth until her eighth year.  The NTO propose to stage the remaining hours of dialogue over the next 10 years, creating a total 24 hours of theatre.  An epic project indeed.  Yet the subject matter is stubbornly "average", recognisably what we have come to regard as "normal", an almost event-less narrative of a suburban American childhood; and it has a vocabulary to match.  Every single word of the conversation is translated onto the stage, resulting in a piece of musical theatre that could be subtitled 'The Unexpected Poetry of Er and Um'.

With a running time of over three and a half hours, this production is far too long.  Neither the subject matter nor the presentation style is capable of maintaining the audience's interest and by the end of the performance around two thirds have left.  The project of creating a poetry out of the prosaic, of discovering the profound in the quotidian, would have been undiminished by slicing off an hour and a half.

The ensemble performance delivered by Anne Gridley, Julie Lamendola and Alison Weisgall is truly impressive; polished to perfection, intelligent in its conception and consistently high energy.  Other performers, who take on comparatively minor roles during the play's second half, are less impressive and the stylistic disruption caused by the introduction of a jumbled male chorus undermines the production's effective minimalism.  Musicians Daniel Gower, Kristin Worrall and, in particular, Robert M. Johanson who composed all the music, provide much of the production's driving force from the tiny orchestra pit front of stage, collaborating with the physical performers to create an original piece of singing theatre as opposed to another example of cosy musical theatre.

Unfortunately, the theory of Life and Times Episode 1 is somewhat more interesting than its theatrical manifestation.  One leaves the theatre thinking it very clever but hardly anticipating the next instalment, let alone the further twenty-one hours of dressed-up, intellectualised banality to come.  A good opportunity to see The Nature Theater Of Oklahoma at work but from what is on show here in Abbesses, the hype seems to somewhat resemble the play; theoretically sound but rather unsubstantial and unsatisfying in reality.

Endgame / Shakespeare & Co.

Endgame

Shakespeare and Company, 37 Rue de la Bûcherie

8pm, 1st February

Free

In English

Plastic sheets have been strung up from the lines of lanterns outside Paris' historic english-language bookshop Shakespeare & Co., and the rain is coming down with such force that the students and Beckett fans huddled under this leaky parapet are hardly able to discern the mighty Notre Dame just across the river from this makeshift theatre.  Huge golf umbrellas are handed out by cast members and newcomers join in the general lament on meteorological misfortune whilst selecting the least-wet chair.  Somebody wipes down Beckett's eponymous ashcans (that we know contain two very uncomfortable, and by now very wet, actors) and the guy operating the spotlight looks nervously at the wires.  Yet, the mood is upbeat, jokes about apocalyptic appropriateness are flowing - a few of these reveal gross misunderstandings of the Beckett oeuvre but we all laugh anyway, and when the director asks if we should move the show upstairs to Shakespeare's tiny reading room the answer is a unanimous no.

The performance itself is triumphantly amateurish, Hamm and Clov interrupt one another with much greater frequency than I remember, the alarm clock only works fifty percent of the time (dampness) and great chunks of the text are absent.  Nell is not cued in and thus does not speak a single line throughout the play despite being squashed into an ashcan for over an hour; well, Beckett did once say that if he were to have his way, all actors would be confined to dustbins.  Yet, despite all this the play is very enjoyable and even the sheeting rain enhances the cruelty and grotesque flamboyancy of Hamm as he orders the deformed Clov to again and again hazard the slippery steps off stage.  Of course, when Clov gazes out of the window to report he can see water everywhere, he enjoys laughs all round.  A haphazard production that does well to bring out the absurd and the hilarious, even if this may often appear incidental, with a strong leading partnership that creates a pair of Beckettian clowns to rival Vladimir and Estragon.

Shakespeare & Co. do not advertise all of their literary events online so it is always best to call into the shop and chat to the ever-friendly and always knowledgeable staff or just have a look at the board outside if you are interested in their poetry readings, book signing, talks and plays.  Shakespeare's will always be an invaluable resource and one of the best meeting places for those seeking English-language culture in Paris, no matter how rough around the edges that culture might prove to be.

The Barber of Seville / Théâtre du Châtelet

Le Barbier de Séville

Théâtre du Châtelet

22nd, 24th, 26th, 28th January 8pm and 30th at 3pm.

10-141 euros

In Italian with French subtitles

*** 
Co-produced by the Teatro Real (Madrid) and the Teatro Nacinal Sao Carlos (Lisbon), Emilio Sagi's highly anticipated 2005 production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville arrives at the Théâtre du Châtelet for just five sell-out performances this January.  Conducted by Jean-Christophe Spinosi, this conservative production is rather narrow in its references and features a somewhat lacklustre cast, yet manages to carve out a pleasing dramatic and musical unity, however simplistic this may be.
The almost cartoonish simplicity of Llorenç Corbella's design serves the plot of this comic masterpiece well and produces an aesthetically exciting production, culminating in a spectacular, fluorescent finale to complete the shift from the black and white austerity of the opening scene to the triumphant realisation of Rosina and Almaviva's love at the opera's close.  This ensemble celebration of the classic comedic triumph of youth over age is composed of the very best aspects of this production, successfully combining bold modernist design and technology and classic Spanish Sevillana, as choreographed by Nuria Castejon.  Sagi, as artistic director of the Teatro Real, once again amply displays his skill for Spanish-inspired productions, following his admiral interpretation of Carmen in 2010 and a highly acclaimed production of Zarzuela recently staged at Milan's La Scala with Placido Domingo.

However, Sagi could certainly be accused of substituting style for substance, both musically and theatrically.  Many of dramatist Pierre de Beaumarchais' thematic interests, such as opera buffa's all-important exploration of the class tensions of the early 19th-century, are played down to vanishing point.  No hint is offered of the marital tensions to be revealed in Mozart's sequel, The Marriage of Figaro, and any darker shades of subtlety are wholly subsumed by the extravagant multicoloured festivities.

A cast of varying quality works well together to maintain a fast-pace of action and a fine balance of comedy and pathos.  In the title role, Bruno Taddia capitalises on a strong stage presence to craft endearing moments of gentle humour, but his energetic physicality fails to compensate for a disappointingly weak vocal performance.  Rising Rossini tenor Bogdan Mihai presents a delicate, handsome Count Almaviva in fine contrast to Tiziano Bracci's blustering, aggressive Bartolo; and if Anna Stephany's acting  is of a rather bland variety, the varied interpretation and vocal agilityof the soprano make her a strong female lead.

A light-hearted production that avoids the clichéd and the camp but misses much of the seriousness of Rossini's great comedy in the process.