Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass comes to deploy its energy at the Opéra de Rouen, surprising and visibly delighting the public:
“explosion…incredible shock…revolution…precious moment…amazing sonic odyssey…” : superlatives (which are echoed in the program) rain down on this work, almost in the image of its material… and the particularly enthusiastic echoes received once more this evening. The Rouen public held firm for the 3h30 of the performance (admittedly reduced by a quarter compared to the full version). Few spectators leave the room and many of them return (as was planned during the creation in Avignon in 1976), even if the layout of an Italian theater limits the desire for “recreations”.
Unlike the creation, which had seen gathering around the composer Philip Glassthe director Bob Wilson and choreographer Lucinda Childs, the version given here tonight is more of a staged concert version, focusing on the musical ritual of this very particular opera (without plot).
The intention is nonetheless present, and the scenography by Germaine Kruip: in the bare space of the stage, the singers are arranged in the background and on a right wing, the instrumentalists on the left wing and in the center, two keyboard players and the two conductors (Tom de Cock, Michael Schmid), who, with horological precision, articulate the entire structure and indicate, during the very long phases of motivic rehearsals, either the end or the imminence of a modification that will occur in this hypnotic immersion.
The captivating narrator Suzanne Vega located upstage and the dramaturgy embellish the concert version, with the slow movements of this or that non-intervening artist, also with distancing effects (those who are not officiating relax, sit down, lie down, change clothes or read a newspaper). This dramaturgical dimension which contributes to the flow of the performance is reinforced by costumes (Anne-Catherine Kunz), which identify each of the singers even though they always act in a collective configuration. Finally, the lights (Wannes De Rydt, Benno Baarends), illuminate the musicians and singers in a utilitarian way, sometimes with shifts that put them slightly in the shade, and are often used to enlighten the public, by sweeps, sometimes by games mirror, as if to include the audience in the collective experience (then to better trigger a dramatic effect at the acme of the musical form by thundering music on tape when the lights plunge the room into intense red).
The immediate meaning seems to be evacuated, the sung texts resorting either to onomatopoeia or to lists of numbers (the famous one, two, three, four,…, which frames and structures the form), or the name of the notes uttered. The constructed text is attributed to the narrator Suzanne Vega whose interventions are interpolated between the pure musical pieces, and who sincerely enunciates, in English, sentences invested with the colors of conviction, but without really declaiming them, sometimes whispering, and repeating in a loop (except during the speech in the center of the work and the stage, where a very feminist call for the awakening of consciences is expressed, as well as during the concluding intervention, where an intense loving dialogue is reported, finally declaimed clearly).
The form articulates moments of frenzy, sorts of pagan rituals, with more intimate moments, varying the formations (vocals and instruments), and the interventions of the narrator, also with distant reminders of elements already stated and then varied but also and three times, passages imitating a choral or variety song, always with simple vowels and note names. But the music vibrates until its very beautiful end, where on the narrator’s tirade on mad love, the choir sings a repeated structure that evokes the Magnificat conclusion of Vespers of the Virgin of Monteverdiand constitutes a sort of dawn, full of hope and rediscovered humanity.
The sound effects managed by Alexandre Fostier articulate fully with the lively music performed on stage. The instrumentalists of theEnsemble Hits and singers of Vocal College Gent, who here departs from his usual geography of early music, show remarkable constancy and endurance throughout this musical marathon. The instrumentalists deploy virtuosity in stubborn (stubborn sounds) incessant, both in intense dynamics and in the courage (especially of the flautist). The violinist also breathes a number of welcome affects into these repeated structures, while the keyboardists hold the structure with firmness and solidity.
The singers deploy the quality and precision of their voices, including the articulation that commands admiration. The score, difficult, not in extent or in dynamics but in duration, requires a virtuosity of enunciation, present here this evening. The writing often suggests the middle zone of the sopranos as the dominant color, but the singers know how to vary and enrich colors, attacks and outfits.
Far from disconcerting the public, they salute, enthusiastically, the work of the performers.
