Following the success of Sarasota’s presentation of Puccini’s “Turandot,” we came back the following day to sample the virtues Bizet’s “Les pecheurs de perles,” a rarity by the same composer of the eternal “Carmen”. Kept alive today by its ravishing duet for tenor and baritone, the opera has enjoyed a bit of a revival for the past 20 years, picked up by companies around the world looking to stage an obscuse, exotic work, all the while warranted by the name of a popular composer. On paper, its choice was a perfect fit for the Sarasota Opera, but following the triumph of Turandot, its efforts towards “Les pecheurs de perles” as heard on the performance of February 21 were disappointing.
As already noted, the opera has been represented in countless “Greatest moments in opera” compilations by the strength of the famous duet between Zurga and Nadir, “Au fond du temple saint.” As sung in Sarasota by baritone Lee Poulis and tenor Heath Huberg, the duet provided that troubling experience of having all the ingredients in a recipe come together and yield a tasteless result. The orchestra was in full swing, the principals executed their task, all the right notes were sung, and yet the music remained very much earthbound. This phenomenon, which I like to call “the Deborah Voigt Effect,“ is one of those bizarre situations where the mind’s ear is not stimulated in a significant degree, and cannot recall what is being heard as one is hearing it. As the performance ran its course, it became clear that the principal men in this cast were good singers, but lacked the charisma and vocal personality to make this music crackle. Even more strange, the shared innocuous quality of their singing left very little to comment upon. Now, this is not a question of the size of voice, because Mr. Poulis and Mr. Huberg had no issues cutting through the orchestra. Rather, the actual sound and manner in which it was produced simply was not special enough to create much of an effect upon the ear (for that we would have to turn to the singing of bass Andrew Gangestad as Nourabad the High Priest, whose singing demanded the ear’s attention despite his small role). Of this duo, it was tenor Heath Huberg whose instrument appeared the most put together (a slight, pallid yet well produced voice through its range). Both singers made rudimentary attempts to wrap their voices around Bizet’s ardent phrases, and while their dicition was more than functional, they made little effort to use this very sexy, interesting language as a way to inform their singing. Both fulfilled the majority of their duties in like perfunctory fashion. We wish them well.
Despite their agreeable appearance, both Mr. Huberg and Mr. Poulis did not move onstage very well, defaulting towards fidgety movements to pepper the proceedings. A negative side effect of this business rendered their various interactions with their leading lady unfulfilling, and a basic intimacy with the woman they love was never truly cemented. Here, some of the fault must be shared with the work of director Keturah Stickann, who could have told these guys to stand still, look at the soprano, and sing with a more substantial degree of honesty. Ms. Stickann was more successful in creating an impressive tableau (helped here by the beautiful sets of designer J. Michael Wingfield) through the forces of the chorus of Sarasota Opera Apprentice Artists, particularly during the storm scene and the opening of the third act.
Photo by Rod Millington and Sarasota Opera
If the male principals tipped the scale towards the subdued, the case of soprano Asako Tamura was a different matter. If personality she had in spades, it was her vocal choices that troubled most. Ms. Tamura is no stranger to newoutpost. Indeed we heard her score a triumph six years ago in New York when she replaced an ailing Aprile Millo in a double bill including Leoni’s “L’Oracolo” and Montemezzi’s “L’Incantessimo.” Our notes from that night, as collected in a sad little diary we used to keep back in those low-tech days, speak of a sizable voice with surprising Italianate undertones, which she unleashed towards the balconies with generous abandon. A big star sticker next to her name indicates our great hopes for the young singer, making the necessity of reporting the current state of her instrument a rather unsavory task. The tone has definitely lost significant freshness, and her top register has gained an undeniable hardness. In this presentation of “Les pecheurs de perles,” her performance as Leila could be summed up as vocally uneven while at times dramatically compelling.
Her introduction in the first act was marred by a heavy-handed approach towards music that begged for a more delicate treatment. Throughout, she favored a broad approach (presumably as a way to maximize the production of the dark timbre that had impressed so much all those years ago), and this strategy did not serve her well: She gave too much too soon. Her tones unraveled as the demands of the score grew more ornate towards the end of the first act, and the throaty approach to her vocalise during “O Dieu Brahma!” impressed as squalid and forced. The more intense acts that followed would further aggravate the situation, but at the halfway point she would have enough voice to match her creativity, and yield a beautiful take on Leila’s act two aria “Comme autrefois dans la nuit somber”. In retrospect, it would be her best moment of the night. She contributed some sweet, soft singing to her duet with Nadir, but a general unease in the more forceful phrases was difficult to ignore (a muscled stab at a climatic high Bb in the duet was prematurely abandoned). Her efforts to give the scene its dramatic due found her muscling her vocalism, and she mercilessly wrestled her remaining vocal resources into punishing digs to the chest register as a way to assist her interpretation. While this was not pretty to watch, Ms. Tamura’s struggles ultimately read as a valiant effort to express the passions of her character: A major point of difference from her male colleagues. Her efforts were duly noted by the audience, who rewarded her with their biggest ovation, and deservedly so.
For this performance, the opera’s score was best represtened by the forces of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, kept together by the alert and vibrant baton of conductor Robert Tweten. The nature of live performance dictates that no two performances are the same, and as the cast nears its round of final dates of “Les pecheurs de perles,” we hope they have managed to iron out their various shortcomings. The remainder of Sarasota Opera includes the final performances of Puccini’s “Turandot”, as well as the company premieres of Verdi’s “Un giorno di regno” and Floyd’s “Of mice and men”. For more information, please visit www.sarasotaopera.org
-Daniel Vasquez