I think that this is one of the best works that we do. It's tremendously effective music, and it's particularly good if you watch the movie and have the images in mind. To review a bit, Alexander Nevsky is a classic historical drama movie directed by Sergei Eisenstein in 1938. The music for that movie was written by Prokofiev and worked into a concert suite later by the composer. The music as used in the movie is pretty much the same as in the suite, but because it is tied to the action it is considerably more repetitive and slow to develop in the movie version. In fact, we performed the movie version a few years back, behind the screen on which the movie was being projected, and most of us found it boring and not terribly effective as music. The suite, however, is much tighter than the movie version. It progresses musically in a logical way and is very effective indeed. Not only are we "very Russian indeed" when we are singing about how we will defend the motherland against the invaders, but in the sections in which we are singing in Latin as the German knights invading Russia we are extremely evil. And the orchestration is superb. There are so many colors in the orchestral and vocal music -- well, it's just amazing.
As an illustration of the effective linkages between the music and the movie as well as the effectiveness of the orchestration, early in the movie there are panoramic scenes of Russia including graphic representations of bitter cold, icy landscapes. The early part of the suite contains music associated with these scenes, and it is cold and "hard" -- you can hear the ice cracking. This was the cold that froze Napoleon's invading army and later the Germans in World War II. But the German invaders in the 13th century had a different fate in store. In the beginning of the "Battle on the Ice" scene we see in the movie the ice melting. There has been a thaw, and later, after a furious battle, the Russian troops lure the heavily armord German knights onto the ice -- the ice cracks, they fall through and drown. The music corresponding to the shots of the melting ice is thematically the same as the original "bitter cold" music, but here the sound is warmer. Instead of the ice cracking you can hear the dripping of the thaw. If one is familiar with the movie there are many images of this sort that the music brings vividly to mind -- another being the mobilization of the Russian peasants to defend the Rodina (motherland), which is the action that accompanies the second section that we sing. I found the combination to be very moving.
There's also a story to be told about the words in the Latin part of the score. We, as the evil German knights invading Russia, keep singing the same thing over and over, "Peregrinus. Expectavi. Pedes meus in cymbalis est." Now, somewhat incomprehensibly, this means something like, "Danger. Warning. My foot is in the cymbols." -- as in the percussion section. Is this just nonsense? Well, there's a story that sounds pretty plausible to me. It appears that Prokofiev really didn't like Stravinsky very much, and in this section, as a vieled insult, he used somewhat random phrases from Stravinski's Symphony of Psalms. Indeed, those words are in fact all in the Stravinski work, although not all in the same place. Perhaps I shouldn't say this, but for my money Alexander Nevsky is a much better piece of music than the Symphony of Psalms. I know others' mileage may differ on this, but that's my opinion and I find the idea that he was thumbing his nose at Stravinski pretty amusing.
The conductor was Mark Wigglesworth, originally from Britain although he seems to conduct all over the place, mostly in Europe. We got along with him fine, and he get very dramatic performance from the orchestra. He's very detailed in his expectations, and he also asked from us in certain sections a vocal quality pretty close to shouting. This was, I think, effective in the context of the work, and in fact I think that this is the only time I've performed this work in which the "Vincat arma cruciferas ... " section, a wild yell in the heat of battle, has actually been audible above the orchestra. But those yelling passages were also very hard on our voices for all of us. In addition, the sopranos and tenors have the challenge of page after page of G's, which after a while gets pretty tough. So it's a very demanding work for the singers physically, and at one point -- the first orchestra rehearsal -- it seemed like Wigglesworth was going to blow us all out before we even got to an audience. He scaled back the demands a bit, however, in the second orchestra rehearsal and I think we gave him what he asked for in in all three performances without any lasting damage. I think we could all tell, however, by the end of the series that we had been in a tough one.
The mezzo, Jane Dutton, was pretty young and there were some mixed reactions to her (see the discussion below). I think some people thought that her vibrato was a bit wide, but I found it appropriately dramatic for this work. She sings one extended solo, "The Field of the Dead", in which she is a woman searching through the chaos, rubble and bodies after the battle for her sweetheart. Like the orchestra, Dutton showed a remarkable range of color in her singing, and I found her pianissimos to be exquisite. She has the knack of being bringing the dynamic way down but under perfect control, and yet to have the sound carry through and above the orchestra. Of course, brilliantly sensitive writing by Prokofiev helps a lot in that he's arranged the orchestration to help her do this -- but I thought she was about as good at this kind of thing as I've heard.
What can I say about the chorus? We sang, as we almost always do, with tremendous commitment and sincerity -- and I think we were damn good. The audiences, which disappointingly were a bit thin, seemed to agree and we got some pretty strong ovations.
It was a good way to end the season -- as well as the party after the last performance in the rehearsal room kindly sponsored by the Symphony.
Here are some comments from others. Joe Anzaldua says (slightly edited),
I'm with you on your commentary, and I'm glad you added that there were those who had other (not so positive) opinions on Jane Dutton. I didn't care for the wabble.
In my opinion, a lugubrious and introspective piece, such as "The Field of the Dead", that is written in such a low register and heavily orchestrated, requires focus and exquisite pitch control. The excessively wide vibrato seemed to run counter to this - IMH.
And Alice Beckstrom largely agrees:
Thanks, Roger for a very well-written synopsis of the Nevsky experience. However, I agree with Joe about the soloist. Her pianissimos were lovely, but her vibrato on her fortes were out of control and (to my taste) lost all the beauty of her voice.
George Howe says,
I agree with Dr. Joe, although I thought Ms. Dutton reined in the vibrato somewhat after the first concert. I think I liked the conductor except for his over-rehearsing of vocally strenuous parts without getting much alteration in the sound, and for his keeping us past the orchestra break [Editor: In one of the orchestra rehearsals he rehearsed with the chorus only one very brief number after the break and then let us go.] With all his activity on the podium, I thought his cues and directions to the chorus were clear and precise.
Am I to be the only person who liked the mezzo? Nope, not yet. Sally Evans says, from her perspective in the audience,
Brian and I heard the Sunday concert, and the soloist's rendition was exquisite from our seats in Row R center. Perhaps her vibrato was more evident from behind, where the chorus resides. But her very moving interpretation brought tears for me.
By the way, the chorus sounded great! That entire concert was one of the more exciting I've heard in a long time. Both the chorus and the orchestra should be proud of their work and artistry.
And Gary Scullin agrees,
I agree Sally. In that hall what you hear depends on where you are. If you're sitting in a "dry" spot acoustically, (on stage or off) you hear less of the reverberation that normally gives a solo voice a warmth and smoothness. It can even take away some of the color you might hear in a more acoustically neutral space. I loved the color and nuance in her singing, and I don't remember being aware of any abnormal vibrato. As choral singers, we are aware of blending and even restraining our own vibrato, and sometimes I thick that carries over into our perception of soloists.
As does Linda Peters,
Thanks, Sally, I thought her singing exquisite also. Such a moving piece. As well as the chorus, of course.