Britten’s Curlew River and The Prodigal Son

So, it is perhaps
not surprising that the triptych is rarely performed as a unified entity.

This triple bill, performed over two nights, by Mahogany Opera directed by
Frederic Wake-Walker was therefore a welcome proposition. Commencing their tour
in Russia, at the Hermitage and the Church of St Catherine in St Petersburg
(presumably because the former was where Britten and Pears first saw the
Rembrandt painting, ‘The Prodigal Son’, which inspired the third parable),
Mahogany have since visited the venue of the first production, Orford Church
Aldeburgh, and will conclude their performances in Buxton in mid-July.

The long, narrow nave of Southwark Cathedral was the venue for this round of
performances, as part of the City of London Festival — a suitably solemn
setting, especially as these interpretations emphasised the sombre, religious
gravity of the works.

Curlew River , performed on Wednesday 3^rd July,
transfers the narrative of the Japanese N? play, Sumidagawa. A
Noblewoman, driven made by grief when her son is kidnapped, comes to a ferry.
The Ferryman refuses to take her across to the shrine on the further bank,
until her despair moves him and the other pilgrims to feelings of guilt. During
the journey, he relates the miracles that have occurred at the shrine, the
grave of a young boy, and the Madwoman recognises that her son is the boy in
these stories. Upon reaching the tomb, the mother is confronted by a vision of
her child, and is relieved of her madness.

All the principals were on fine form. Samuel Evan’s Traveller’s Prayer
was full of restive yearning; Rodney Earl Clarke’s Ferryman offered a moving
counsel to the Madwoman to pray for her child.

But it was tenor James Gilchrist who was the musical and dramatic linchpin
of these performances. From his opening, Grimes-like, fragmented cries, he was
entirely in sympathy with the role of the Madwoman — and in tremendous voice,
his vocal exclamations simultaneously dramatically agitated and vocally
focused. The tenor soared in pitch and dynamic, at times angry, elsewhere full
of doubts; this performance was an impressively controlled rendition of intense
love and inner crisis.

Unfortunately, Gilchrist was draped from head to foot in an assemblage of
dishevelled, grey rags which would not have disgraced a 1940s BBC ghost-costume
department. Robert Tear — who was Pears’ understudy at the first
performance — remembers Pears complaining, “Really, Ben, I just can’t
work in this frock”, to which Ben replied to Colin Graham, “Oh for
Christ’s sake, Colin, give her a crin”, but even the composer can’t have
envisaged that such a clichÈd visual statement of psychological distress was
necessary. ^[1]

There was some assured playing from the small band of instruments,
performing without a conductor, supported by Roger Vignoles’ well-shaped
chamber organ accompaniment. Alex Jakeman’s flute flutter-tonguing perfectly
complemented the unstable psyche of the Madwoman, and the glissandi and
portamenti of the cadenza that accompanies her arrival at the ferry ramp, were
expertly executed. The flute’s symbolic curlew cries were poignantly lyrical,
and flute and voice came together affectingly during the mother’s sparse
soliloquy before her son’s tomb. There was some warm, expressive playing from
violist Max Baillie, and the percussive colours of the score were ably and
evocatively executed by Scott Lumsdaine.

The following evening Gilchrist was similarly fine as the Lucifer-like
Abbot-Tempter in The Prodigal Son, the most overtly ‘Christian’ of
the three parables, and perhaps the ‘weakest’ in terms of musical concision
and tightness. As the Abbot, addressing “people, listening here today”, he
disturbingly intoned the disconcertingly simple modal line, “Do not think I
bid you kneel and pray … I bring you no sermon/ What I bring you is evil”,
accompanied by the liturgical resonances of the organ and exotic cymbal
whisperings. As Gilchrist urged the Young Son to ‘Imagine, imagine/What you
are missing. … High living, secret delights,/ And beauty, beauty/ To kindle
your senses”, glistening harp textures (Tanya Houghton) and chilling double
bass portamenti (Ben Griffiths) added a portentous sheen. The instrumentalists
were technically assured throughout: during the journey to and arrival at the
city, when the Young Son is accompanied on his path to dissolution by the
Tempter, was marked by a virtuosic palette of striking orchestral colours.

Rodney Earl Clarke was a strong presence as the heartless Elder Son. John
McMunn’s Young Son was full of persuasive self-confidence as he justified his
desire for freedom, but this was replaced by a melancholy introversion and
despair when he realised the extent of his errors, in a moving duet with the
viola.

The over-riding sentiment throughout these performances was earnest
solemnity, with the emphasis on the moral framework of the works, rather than
their emotional or dramatic dimension.

Yet, despite some fine instrumental playing, an accurate and resonant Chorus
of Pilgrims, and some arresting designs by Kitty Callister which were as
economical yet impressive as Britten’s own orchestration, things felt just a
little too controlled and repressed — the restless uneasiness which permeates
the score was not always present.

Moreover, the elongated nave further distanced many of the audience from the
action, and the acoustics of the venue played havoc with the text. On the first
evening, I was seated at the rear of the nave, and the only singer whose words
were on occasion audible was Gilchrist — and in this regard he was not helped
by the rags which covered his head and face throughout the performance. Things
improved when a front nave seat on the second evening permitted many more of
the words to come through but, even so, the action still seemed overly remote.

The processionals and rituals certainly emphasised the renewal of faith
which is achieved in each parable. But, the pace seemed overly ponderous, the
choreography too stylised; it’s worth remembering that Britten himself
express his concerns “lest the work should seem a pastiche of a Noh play,
which however well done, would seem false and thin”. ^[2]

Exiting the dimly lit cathedral into the urban clutter of London Bridge
Station and the Shard was a rather dislocating experience; mystic power gave
way to modernity all too quickly.

Claire Seymour

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Cast and production information:

James Gilchrist (tenor); Rodney Earl Clarke (bass); Samuel Evans
(bass); Lukas Jakobski (bass); John McMunn (tenor); Frederic Wake-Walker
(director); Roger Vignoles (musical director); Principal Players of Aurora
Orchestra. Mahogany Opera. City of London Festival,
Southwark Cathedral, Wednesday 3^rd and Thursday 4^th July
2013.

Notes:

image=http://www.operatoday.com/DR-09.gif
image_description=Photo by Mahogany Opera
product=yes
product_title=Britten’s Curlew River and The Prodigal Son
product_by=A review by Claire Seymour
product_id=Above photo by Mahogany Opera