Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020)
Paradise Lost (1978)
Choir, Children’s and Youth Choir, Ballet and Orchestra of the Grand Theatre, Lodz/Rafal Janiak
rec. 2023, Grand Theatre, Łódź, Poland
Dux 8056 DVD [178]
From the outset, Penderecki’s operatic setting of Paradise Lost seems to have been born under an unlucky star. It was originally commissioned by the Chicago Lyric Opera for the American bicentennial in 1976. The composer’s inability to meet the deadline for delivery of the score meant that it was not in fact premièred for a further two years. By that time, his critical reputation had receded considerably from his high renown established in the 1960s with avant garde pieces such as St Luke Passion and the earlier opera The Devils of Loudun which had been performed in many theatres across the globe including English National Opera in London. But in the earlier 1970s Penderecki had begun to move away from his former iconoclastic approach to composition He sought a rapprochement with romantic style which was to gather momentum even as the howls of outrage from the critics who had been happy to hail him as a herald of new styles changed into attacks on betrayed expectations. In fact, Paradise Lost stands almost on the cusp of the composer’s change of style; some sections of the score hark back to his earlier techniques of choral clusters and piled-on layers of discord, while others seem happy to quote not only Bach chorales but also Wagner, even culminating in a sustained chord at the end which is (rather tentatively) established in D minor.
Probably as a result of this problematic reputation, the opera itself after a brief flurry of performances in Germany seems to have disappeared altogether from the stage. Even while Penderecki’s music continued to be issued on disc, there were no recordings of Paradise Lost to be heard apart from a fragile and none too successfully engineered live transmission from the original première. This DVD is the first opportunity that most of us will have had to experience the work at all, and certainly the first which stands free from the controversy that surrounded the score at its initial appearance. Moreover, it reverts to Penderecki’s original choice of language, Milton’s English abridged and adapted by Christopher Fry. The composer’s setting of the poetic text is not invariably idiomatic in tone, but Milton’s words carry a gravity that is inevitably lacking if the words are delivered in German or Polish translation. In this performance, the spoken role of Milton, who also briefly pronounces the words of God, is given in the language of the audience (Polish), but the remainder is properly given in the language which was originally intended.
But it is here that the main problem with this performance arises. Christopher Fry managed to condense the original expansive Milton narrative poem considerably, and pared down the role of Satan drastically in order to concentrate on the central characters of Adam and Eve. Even so, the dialogue is often very extended, and there is little stage action to elucidate the argument between the characters. This would be less serious if the singers made a better fist of putting their words across. But the cast, entirely non-Anglophones, are hopelessly adrift in places, distorting both vowels and consonants unmercifully, even though Penderecki is usually highly considerate of vocal ranges in the notes they are actually assigned to sing. I remain amazed that seemingly no attempt was made to engage the services of an English-language coach to work with the singers during rehearsals to assist them with the vital necessity of getting their words across. As it is, for far too much of the time, the listener has to resort to the subtitles to make the slightest sense of what the English words are actually intended to be.
For much of the time, the subtitles on this video also let us down. One always expects an occasional mis-step in the nature of any operatic translation, but here there are multiple howlers which crop up almost every minute. They far too numerous to list here, but some would deservedly provoke laughter from an audience if they were ever employed as surtitles in an opera house. Not only are words mis-spelt, there are blatant grammatical errors and simple errors, all (or at least most) of which should surely have been identified and corrected before this DVD was ever issued. Since the subtitles are provided only in English and Polish, it should have been relatively easy to get right something such as this. As it is, they simply serve to alienate the listener dangerously during lengthy scenes which are already in danger of sounding protracted. I usually find myself resolutely opposed to conductors or producers who make cuts in operatic scores, especially those where alternative performances are difficult to find. Yet there were places here where I simply found myself losing interest in the drama because of the sheer difficulty of following precisely what was in the minds of the composer and his librettist.
The singers, if one can overlook their mangling of the text, are a pretty impressive bunch. Penderecki’s sometimes clamorous scoring cannot make life easy for the voices, and some of the writing for high tenors asks rather too much in terms of heroic declamation without some evidence of strain. But the singers bring sterling virtues to their dramatic assumptions of the roles, and none of the voices suffer from that Slavonic wobble which even today can so often afflict singers in Eastern Europe. One must single out Mariusz Godlewski, Joanna Freszel and Barłomiej Misiuda, who have the lion’s share of the heavy work to do, but the remainder are generally excellent even when Paweł Skałuba has to cope with some strenuously stratospheric writing. The only weak link really is Andrzej Pieczyński, who convinces as the elderly and blind Milton taking the role of the narrator, but does not have the sort of voice that is required to convey the sense of power that God must surely command.
The production too does not let the side down. Director Michał Znaniecki provides plenty of stage action, and much of it is readily comprehensible as a depiction of the action. The sets by Luigi Scolio and the lighting and projection designs are really well managed, bringing some spectacular effects. Even the costumes by Małgorzata Słoniawska avoid the dangers of over-literal treatment; characters are dressed in an incongruously modern style. Listeners of a nervous disposition may be reassured that Adam and Eve have addressed their innocent nude state before the curtain goes up, even if that might contradict one of the essential features of the story. Even the appearance of Christ in the final scene is tactfully handled. The 30-page booklet has a great deal to say about the careers of the artists involved, but not much about the opera itself. The one-page synopsis of the action (again, English and Polish only) is not really adequate. But the overall presentation in a hardbound book with the DVD inserted in the back cover is rather handsome, even if once again the English translations are not very idiomatic and display a need for proof-reading. It would have been nice, for example, if the introductory note by the theatre director had actually opened with a capital letter.
Other Polish issues of British music – I think of a Britten Turn of the Screw from this same label some years back, albeit with English-speaking singers (review) – have managed to overcome these problems. But in the final analysis this DVD is a valuable and interesting release which has been unfortunately sabotaged by some inadequate preparation and presentation.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
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Cast and credits
Andrzej Pieczyński, speaker – Milton, Voice of God
Mariusz Godlewski, baritone – Adam
Joanna Freszel, soprano – Eve
Barłomiej Misiuda, baritone – Satan
Agnieszka Makówka, mezzo-soprano – Sin
Jan Jakub Monowid, counter-tenor – Death
Emil Ławecki, tenor – Belzebub
Rafał Pikała, bass – Moloch
Zbigniew Malak, tenor – Belial
Łukasz Motkowicz, baritone – Mammon
Bernadetta Grabias, mezzo-soprano – Ithuriel
Aleksandra Borkiewicz-Cłapińska, soprano – Zephon
Paweł Skałuba, tenor – Gabriel
Michał Sławecki, counter-tenor – Raphael
Volodymyr Pankiv, bass – Christ
Alexander Kunach, tenor – Michael
Michał Znaniecki, director
Luigi Scolio, set design
Sound format: 5.1 | 2.0
Picture format: 16:9 PAL
Subtitles: Polish, English
