Search - Jules Massenet, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Renée Fleming :: Massenet - Thaïs / Fleming, Hampson, Sabbatini, Shkosa, Vidal, Devellereau, Cals, Yves Abel

"Follow me"... sumptuous but tainted with mannerisms

Ingrid Heyn | Melbourne, Australia | 08/07/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In ancient Greece, courtesans would wear sandals that had the words "Follow me" carved upon their soles, so that wherever they trod, an admiring male would know the woman he was watching had her services for hire. This air of availability clarified matters considerably for the wealthy man out for a stroll.



Doubtless the Egyptian Thaïs, one of the most (in)famous of courtesans during the 4th century (as set in the opera), practised this also, and equally doubtless, there were many who took up the invitation to follow her.



Seductiveness and intelligent beauty are hallmarks of Thaïs, and her opening scene with Nicias (a young ariostcrat who sold his wealth in order to afford a week of voluptuous delight with the famous courtesan) is a model of irony and sensuality. Left alone, however, Thaïs reveals she is not as happy in her life as she seems. She fears the passing of her beauty, which has been her definition of self-worth since she was a child (interestingly, as a child the historical Thaïs had been baptised into Christianity but forced into child prostitution). She fears eternity; she questions the worth and value of life - she is clearly no mindless bimbo, but a woman whose path in life has not been entirely of her own choosing and who longs for clarification of the questionings within her heart.



The interplay between the monk Athanaël and the beautiful Thaïs is one of diverging definitions of self-worth, love, and eternity. While Thaïs turns (re-converts, although the operatic plot does not state this) to Christianity and the spiritual "eternellement", Athanaël finds himself more and more succumbing to the now-ex-courtesan's physical beauty and unconscious promise of Aphroditic pleasures. As he struggles with his erotic fantasies, Thaïs discards eroticism and moves towards a pure understanding of love, culminating in a finale where she is so ecstatic at the thought of the glories to come in heaven that she fails to hear Athanaël's tormented pleadings and denunciations of spiritual love. He is lost in the moments of her dying - she has found peace in those same moments.



Clearly this is a powerful and tear-wrenching opera of great beauty - but more, it's an opera of incredible character play. To truly capture the role of Thaïs requires subtlety, sensuality, an almost bewildering innocence, and great purity, as well as a truly beautiful voice capable of gorgeous top notes.



To capture the role of Athanaël is required an intelligent baritone with vocal beauty and an ability to portray anguish, confusion, loss, misunderstood passion, and zeal.



It is with these two roles that the opera Thaïs stands or falls.



Renee Fleming possesses a truly sumptuous and very beautiful voice, perhaps one of the most beautiful of our time. What she does not possess is subtlety, nor has she demonstrated her capability to portray a character as complex as Thaïs. Further, Ms Fleming has long fallen prey to mannerisms that are tiresome, particularly in a voice as beautiful as hers. Dips, scoops, breathy sighs that are ill-applied and over-applied... these things formulate the lovely soprano's concept of vocal acting. It marrs this performance so that I cannot fully enjoy it, but of course one is always conscious of the great beauty of the voice itself.



Because the role of Thaïs is so very pivotal to this opera, let me spend a little more time on why I fail to find Ms Fleming convincing. She cannot, she simply cannot, convey innocence and sweetness without coming over all coy. There is an indulgence in a sort of skittishness that is mannered and self-conscious rather than sublimely unaware of its effect, and there is certainly no sense of purity conveyed in the character. The "conversion" has never been less convincing, although I'm bound to say the opening scene with Thaïs and her week-long lover is portrayed much more effectively - here Ms Fleming's voice flowers with suitable voluptuousness, although I still feel she misses the central kernel of the character.



By contrast, Thomas Hampson as Athanaël strikes exactly the right note. He is exactly the sort of intelligent and impassioned singer who knows how to use his voice to the best advantage. It's also such a beautiful baritonal voice. One is convinced by his anguish; one feels the heat and pressure of his zealous words designed to convert the audacious courtesan; one feels, too, his rising struggle with the largely unacknowledged sexual desires he feels for Thaïs. It is as though Hampson distilled the essence of the initially ascetic Athanaël, and poured it into his voice, so that we hear him as a man who has perhaps confined himself too rigidly within a framework of spiritual asceticism without acknowledging the need for human happiness and the force of sensuality.



While Hampson pours out his grief and barren pleading in the death scene, Fleming merely sings with lovely tone and laboured interpretation, so that I am able to refrain from weeping in that final scene. This was unexpected - I admit it. I have never been able to listen to that final scene in the Sills recording or even the Esposito recording without weeping copiously and enjoying (well, in a way!) to the nth degree the tragedy playing out...



For the beauty of the singing, yes, purchase this recording. For a true reading of the characters, you will do better with the slightly truncated version with Sills (who, even though she was a little wobbly by that stage, still possessed a very lovely shimmery quality, perfect and idiomatic French, and an intelligent and intuitive portrayal that cannot fail to move the listener who looks for more than the obviously sumptuous)."

Magnifique

John Cragg | Delta(greater Vancouver), B.C Canada | 10/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The central character of this opera is not Thais. Instead, it is Athanael, sung here by Thomas Hampson. His is a restrained interpretation producing much lovely singing but little pounding drama. This treatment is suitable for both the character portrayed and his music. Furthermore, Hampson gives a subtle performance - just hear the many different ways in which he sings the name Thais as the opera proceeds. The other major character in the opera is Thais herself. Renee Fleming's assumption of the role is stunning. She has an amazing ability to float notes clearly into the desert air that has to be heard to be believed, and she matches this with some fine, clear, ringing tones when called for. At times the uppermost register sounds strained. Some things even turn into unmusical shrieks, but this may be deliberate - it certainly suits the drama. Any weakness coming from this aspect of her portrayal is more than balanced by her singing in the middle and lower registers where she comes into her own, both distinctinve and moving.The third major element in the opera is the orchestra, for it has a huge part to play in setting the scene and tracking the development of the opera. Some of this writing is uninspired, but more is both imaginative and important. To give it meaning requires a firm and coherent approach from the conductor. Otherwise, it tuns into an amorphous melange of notes. At times, Abel does lose the thread, but usually he brings it all together very well, even though he is conducting a far from distinguished orchestra. Furthermore, I found that his approach grew on me on subsequent listening to the work.The other noteworthy feature of this set is the singing of Enkelejda Shkosa in the cameo role of Albine. When she is on, she steals the show. Overall, this is a stunning performance, which has the great strength of growing on one with repeated hearings."