2024-04-11 16:09:58
A new production of Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák at the Janáček Opera House in Brno brings a strong opinion and a significantly different interpretation. It is directed by David Radok, who has gained a significant position on the international scale as well, due to the tenacity and absolute thoughtfulness of the works he works on. However, the news shows that firmly guiding the story in one direction may not always bring extra value.
In the story of a forest fairy who is willing to give up everything, including her supernatural nature, for the sake of her love for a man, this time the viewer is not given much space for their own reading or perception. The fantasy or enjoyment of floating between the supernatural and the mundane is replaced by a psychological drama about betrayal, harm, the absence of any support or bright moment.
Radok worked on the production with the conductor, composer and head of the Brno Opera, Marko Ivanović. Together they created several exceptional projects, whether it was Janáček’s Vec Makropulos in 2014, or the combination of two shorter works into one dramatic arc – they succeeded both in the case of Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Arnold Schönberg’s Expectation in 2016, and later with Three Fragments from Juliette Bohuslav Martinů and Human Voice by Francis Poulenc. Their collaboration on the opera Monument about the fate of the sculptor Otakar Švec, the author of the giant Stalin monument, was also appreciated. Radok wrote the libretto, Ivanović composed the music.
According to them, Rusalka deserved a clear authorial intervention. They already announced in advance that they are significantly accentuating one layer of the story. “We were mainly interested in Rusalka, who lives in an environment that is toxic in a way and from which she tries to escape and discovers that the situation outside is even worse,” said the conductor.
The cuts are noticeable. Gone are the pair of Hajné and Kuchtík, comic characters who create a functional counterbalance to Rusalka’s ruin, give the opera multifacetedness, and ease the heroine’s subjective pain with their simplicity and straightforward music. Dvořák and the librettist Jaroslav Kvapil let these two characters sing carelessly, fear childishly and make quick judgments (“The girl is mute, she doesn’t have a drop of blood, she walks like a ghost”). There was no room for such a location in the new Brno version.
Other characters were also affected by the discharges in such a way that lighthearted moments, lines, in which the viewer could find a hint of playfulness or pleasure from the music itself, disappeared. For example, Ježibaba is an austere, hardened middle-aged woman, herself radiating a kind of injury. She does not sing Čura mury fuk’s aria, in which she mixes a potion from drops of dragon’s blood and bile for Rusalka – it was cut, apparently because it lacks space for existential drama.
Václava Krejčí Housková as Ježibaba can’t sing the aria Čura mury fuk. On the left is Jan Šťáva in the role of Waterman. | Photo: Marek Olbrzymek
The result is such an intense disruption of the musical flow that it creates a feeling of constant restlessness, tension, imperfection. Perhaps this is a brilliant intention of the directors aimed at the total deconstruction of the score. In that case, however, it is necessary that the performance by the orchestra and singers be excellently elaborated, or at least flawless.
Unfortunately, the second premiere last Sunday, April 7, did not offer such an interpretation. The orchestra under the direction of Marko Ivanović played surprisingly imprecisely, uncompactly, lacking vision and a clear gesture from the conductor. This must also have been missing for the singers, who need support in him and the musicians.
The main characters were sung by the first-class soloists of the Brno Opera, and everyone obviously did a great job in their role. Jana Šrejma Kačírková gave Rusalka fragility, vulnerability, complete exposure of sore spots. Václava Krejčí Housková was a firm, sharp Ježibaba, Jan Šťáva sang the repulsive and soothing Waterman, and Peter Berger’s Prince carried a flutist and an ignorance of any values.
The same surprises as the bad playing of the orchestra brought a class worse singing than what one is used to from these performers. It often sounded deliberately sharp, straight phrasing, which destroyed Dvořák’s melody and destroyed the culture of the tone.
The characters moved around the stage with economy and brevity, which was apparently intended to create tension, but the result was more of an empty convulsion that turned into singing. And finally on the viewer.
The young soprano Eliška Gattringerová did an excellent job, fortunately she did not have to endow her Cizí princess with internal trauma or anxiety, so she sang the hot-blooded, callous seductress fully, vocally sure and juicy. The trio of washcloths performed by Doubravka Součková, Ivana Pavlů and Monika Jägerová was very well sung, and their performances were among the best moments of the evening. Tadeáš Hoza’s voice of Hunter behind the stage sounded sure and cultured, and the choir led by Pavel Koňárek was traditionally excellent.
In addition, Zuzana Ježková’s costumes should be highlighted, which exude honest craftsmanship as well as imagination.
Dvořák and Kvapil’s Rusalka is enchanting because it has the courage to be enchanted itself. That they are not afraid to expose themselves to human touch, which often requires great courage. Even if you are full of fickle passion and know how to hurt, you have love and beauty in you, and for that, God have mercy on you, human soul, it is sung here.
This courage is missing in David Radok’s production. From the beginning, Rusalka appears as a wounded, suffocated, combative and anxious being. Such a director’s interpretation is certainly legitimate and it depends on the taste and mood of the viewer, how he accepts it. However, quality, relaxed, confident interpretation is missing for persuasiveness.
Opera
Antonín Dvořák: Rusalka
Scene and direction: David Radok
Music arrangement: Marko Ivanović
Janáček Theatre, Brno, premiere on April 5, next reruns on April 24 and again on May 3 and 25.