Metropolitan Opera – Saint-Saens’ Samson et Dalila. October 13, 2018.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat B105, $133.)

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Sir Mark Elder.  Samson – Roberto Alagna, Abimelech – Elchin Azizov, High Priest – Laurent Naouri, Old Hebrew – Dmitry Belosselskiy, Dalila – Elina Garanca.

 

This opera was staged in Vienna during our European trip in May, but the tickets were sold out the day they became available (about 2 months in advance,) so we couldn’t see it, not even at 240 euros per ticket.  In perusing the Met schedule, I found out the same headliners would be performing, and tickets were about half what they would cost (of course we are talking about different auditoria and different seats.)

This was a new production.  The word that came to mind was “mesh,” starting with the curtain with a large circle.  To Anne that immediately spoke of a trap, which I agree.  The other characteristic of the set design is the symmetry, broken by different placements of the balconies on the two sides in Act I, for instance.

The Curtain for the opera is dominated by this circle.  The photograph shows the hands more clearly than viewed in real life.  There are on a mesh which Anne though denoted a trap.

Most voices in the opera were male.  I found the “supporting cast” especially impressive, they were clear and strong.  Alagna also did well as Samson.  He had quite a bit of singing, but most of the arias were not that singable.  He played a credible Samson.

Elina Garanca’s name has been popping up all over the place.  Given my previous encounters where she sang – I once called her voice “simply heavenly” - it was well deserved.  However, for me her performance tonight didn’t quite measure up, especially against the strong ones put in by her counterparts.  Even though the costume designer did a great job overall, some of Delilah’s costumes weren’t that great.

Today’s Program Notes mentions the three arias sung by Delilah, and I am glad I caught the other two (“Printemps qui commence” and “Amour! Viens aider ma faiblesse”) in addition to the familiar “Mon Coeur s’ouvre a ta voix” which Garanca did well with.  The Note also described how the opera moved from oratoria-like in Act I, to a classic opera style with three soloists in Act II, and back to oratio for the beginning of Act III.

The most note-worthy staging was the Dagon Temple.  We have a (meshed) head split in the middle as the center piece, and different effects (perspectives) were achieved with changes in the lighting. During the Bacchanale scantily garbed dancers came on stage and performed a well-choreographed number, including climbing up the face of the statue.  I expressed disappointment at the feeble collapse of the temple when I saw this last time; we didn’t even have that tonight, all we got was a bright flash before the opera concluded.

Curtain Call in front of the statue inside the Dagon Temple.  The Philistines were dressed in a bright red. Conductor Elder is in front.

The New York Times review is rather unflattering, saving what little praise the reviewer had on the chorus.  He views the “mesh” as “Islamic trellis design.”  It was also unclear to him if Delilah was deceptive throughout, or whether she was tormented by her love of Samson.  The article has some nice photos from the opera.

Curiosity drove me to this review of the Vienna State Opera performance that we couldn't get tickets for.  It was equally brutal.  Here the reviewer went into great details of how the singers did on individual notes.

Anne and I drove in and had street food.  The weather dried up in time for us to eat it outdoors.  We had another concert at NJPAC this evening, so we stopped by Hoboken for dinner afterwards.