Written by Sergei Prokofiev. Directed by Tim Albery. Featuring Russell Braun, Elena Semenova. Conducted by Johannes Debus. Presented by the Canadian Opera Company. In Russian with English surtitles. Oct 14, 16, 22, 29 & Nov 1 7pm; Oct 25 4:30pm; Oct 19 2pm. $60-$290; $20 for ages 16-29; rush tickets from 11am on day of performance ($20 to half price). Four Seasons Centre, 145 Queen W. 416-363-8231.
www.coc.ca.
The Canadian Opera Company’s current production of Prokofiev’s epic War and Peace is a spectacular achievement. In scale alone, it is the single largest opera production the company has ever staged, with a cast of 129 singers and dancers, over 60 named roles and a 99-member orchestra. Yet scale alone is nothing without the vision to give it meaning. This is where the production triumphs. Hildegard Bechtler’s set design is brilliant and director Tim Albery brings admirable clarity to the work’s dual focus on the ill-fated romance between Andrei Bolkonsky (Russell Braun) and Natasha Rostova (Elena Semenova) and its historical setting before, during and after Napoleon’s failed campaign against Moscow in 1812.
Prokofiev, who also wrote the libretto with Mira Mendelson, chose to dramatize 13 key scenes and an epigraph from Tolstoy’s massive 1869 novel, his music creating parallels and links among the scenes. Albery sets the choral Epigraph among Prokofiev’s contemporaries, Soviet citizens who appear in their 1940s garb throughout the opera, in the place of peasants or serfs. This reflects the impetus behind the 1945 opera in celebrating the strength of the Russian people, who resisted German invasion in 1941, and whose triumph in 1812 inspired them and gives a sense of Tolstoy’s preoccupation with the forces of history. Each of the 13 scenes is impressive, whether centring on the personal intrigues in the ballrooms of Moscow or on the strategies of war of Napoleon (Vassily Gerello) and of his Russian opponent, Field Marshal Kutuzov (Mikhail Kit).
Braun, his voice conveying both strength and vulnerability, is an ideal Andrei, drawing us into his character’s gradual love for Natasha and his resignation at losing her. Semenova gives a very sympathetic portrayal of the teenaged Natasha, even when she foolishly plans to betray Andrei by eloping with the ne’er-do-well Anatole Kuragin (Oleg Balashov). By the end we see how she has grown in maturity. Mikhail Agafonov fully captures Pierre Bezukhov’s obsessive character, first in his hopeless love for Natasha, then in war in his plan to assassinate Napoleon. But the true hero of the opera is the Russian people themselves, who, as embodied by the immaculate COC chorus, overwhelm us with the power and beauty of their singing. The COC orchestra, under the baton of the young Johannes Debus, brings out all the violence and lyricism of Prokofiev’s score. As with Wagner’s Ring cycle, the COC has taken on an enormous challenge and has triumphed magnificently. There can be no doubt that War and Peace is the theatrical highpoint of the year.