Maazel's farewell Palau de les Arts in 1984 
yesterday closed a stage in the short history of the Palau de les Arts with the dismissal of those who have been the creator and owner of the excellent conductor, Lorin Maazel . It was showing a Again it is a great director and has earned the respect and admiration members of the orchestra, choir and the public. Unfortunately, it has also shown his talent as a composer is not consistent with their good work with the baton. And is that his 1984 opera, performed in only three times since its composition (premiere in Covent Garden, then at La Scala and now Les Arts) is a monstrosity that would have hardly seen the light of not treating its author who is, if it had the influence he has and if he could not impose it by contract and all suspect he did.
Although it was expected that this work is represented in the second season of Les Arts, a flood forced its withdrawal from the lineup and postponed it until now. I think all we would have liked Maazel could be fired from his audience with a work of more depth, but Helga did not send their basements to combat the elements and things have been so. Nevertheless, and as I said before, the low level of 1984, a hodgepodge of styles without too criterion (or worse, within a perverse, I'll explain below) has not been an impediment to Maazel give himself the best hiciese on the podium and the orchestra sound like only he can.
Why I say that the criterion when mixing styles Maazel is evil? Following the successful reasoning Fernando Vargas-Machuca Lopez in his chronicle of the function last Friday (available HERE
), Maazel used tonal music inspired Puccini (but without the talent of Puccini, needless to say) for the moments of exaltation of love, the blues, jazz or style Broadway musicals as a reminder of a better time as hope of a return to happiness and atonal music to represent the oppressive world of 1984, the dictatorship of Big Brother and the goings of the Thought Police. At a time when the second act, when Winston hears a proletarian style singing a melody pseudo-Broadway, said something like: "The workers are the future. The screams Party, the proletariat sing. "I think that's the key to work, and is a key perverse. As we said in the second intermission maac if Maazel believes that the party shouts, could have saved many of the shouts that are tedious and overly long first act.
And that's another reason why this book fails to take flight: the script is overly descriptive and slightly theatrical. insists again and again to portray a world that viewer with a little literary culture already knows and makes the characters often fall in the monologue unsuccessful, oblivious to the action. The moments with a more elaborate music, as Syme intervention or gym class both in the first act, are quite isolated from the plot and have no other function than to serve as a setting.
Vocally, we must highlight the performance of Cor de la Generalitat, in which Maazel was merciless when facing an excessive orchestral volume, and children's choirs (Veus Escola Coral de Quart de Poblet hang out , Choir of the Mare de Deu dels Desamparats and Little Singers of Valencia).
Among the soloists, I liked Michael Anthony McGee as Winston Smith, the acting more than the purely vocal (would be listen to some more singable work to get an idea of \u200b\u200bits possibilities). Nancy Gustafson (Julia), whose voice accuses the passage of time, has no problem with a tailor-made paper. The same is true of the tenor Richard Margison (O'Brien), but spent another important voice, which seemed the best singer of all who took the stage yesterday. Both Silvia Vázquez as Andrew Drost, the first of its dual role of instructor and drunk, the second as Syme, face a difficult score and save flawlessly. Lynton Black also (Charrington) and Mary Lloyd-Davies (proletariat) meet in their brief roles correction and as the soprano Irina Ionescu whose treble can be heard above the chorus of the first stage and bent at times to Syme in his first speech. Graeme Danby (Parsons) was the only one who did not give the size and was covered by the orchestra with ease.
As all critics have agreed on the mediocrity of the music and the libretto, they are unanimously agreed on the good opinion deserves staged by Robert Lepage , based on a rotating platform used to create different environments, aided by the use of projections. The aesthetic is very successful, mixing elements of the Stalinist dictatorship that inspired Orwell with others who are closest to the public today, as the orange jumpsuits of the prisoners who immediately associate with Guantánamo. The best, however, is not the scenery or costumes, both very accomplished, but in the carefully prepared stage director, who managed to get the best out of each performer, especially the protagonist, who undergoes great physical.
Although his own work is not at its height as a conductor, Maazel was bullied and warmly applauded by the public, more as recognition for his work in recent years for their quality and composer. Since his departure coincided with its 81 anniversary, the band surprised him by playing "Happy Birthday", which was chanted by the audience and accompanied by the launch of leaflets and colored paper. After long minutes of applause, the curtain closed and with it the first stage of the Palau de les Arts. Depejar remains the question that concerns us all, if the orchestra surpass the progress of its creator and the shortage of Les Arts budget without losing quality.
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