Suor Angelica Report

OK. The church was packed with well-wishers. St. Andrews is a nice spot for a concert actually. Perhaps a shade reverberant but it works well. We saw Oleg Marshev here earlier in the year and he did a kick-ass Corelli Variations (Rachmaninoff) [a Schubert set and Beethoven sonata were too idiosyncratic though the discovery of THAT MUCH blackness in one of the Schubert pieces was a revelation of a sorts, but I digress...]. The orchestra was pretty scrappy, especially the strings but the conductor kept them well together and they were keen. They got the job done. The singing was competent all around. The soprano, Allison Cormack, for whom all this was put together has some real possibilities in her, I think. I was glad we put our money down and attended this. There were moments of real beauty in her voice. It has the sound of someone who has a major voice. There were many phrases that were done in the properly grand manner and with the proper diva inflection, i.e., the "check me out on this phrase folks, the voice, the power and aplomb and yet I am but the humble servant to the muse and I am in character on top of it" kind of thing, you know... like Chalkenteros over his corn flakes in the morning (or so I imagine). Her moments of temperament with the princess were quite well done. There is work to be done of course. The upper reaches of the voice, while quite powerful when approached from comfortable angles, were nonetheless unsteady at times and, of all things, she was a little nervous in Senza Mamma and the final high note was little too loud, a little unsteady, and held a little not long enough. The final pages made my eyes water a little. It is all so sad and everything really did come together. The suspension of disbelief was achieved. And I found the Virgin Mary arriving to show S.A. her son quite affecting. You know, it is interesting how a queer reading can be generated from this opera with ease. S.A. has this capacity to love but she expressed it in ways that were frowned upon in her society and so she was cast away. She is only worthy of her relatives' notice when they need something from her because she is an outlaw of love. They treat her with casual cruelty and driven to suicide the only kindness she can expect from anyone is from those of another world. [Virgin and son are, alas, not from the production we saw last night!]