There’s something to be said for spontaneity. I had resigned myself to not seeing Lully’s opera Atys at BAM this week, when a friend phoned at 10 a.m. yesterday (Sept. 21) and demanded, “Why aren’t we seeing Atys?” A quick call to the BAM box office, a flash of plastic and at 7:30 p.m. we’re sitting pretty in the mezzanine of the Howard Gilman Opera House. An anticipated quiet evening at home became an unexpected visit to the court of Louis XIV. Of course, Atys, the work, is anything but spontaneous. Written and produced for Louis XIV in 1676, it’s as formal and elegant a piece of music and recitative as you are likely to find on any New York stage right now; and at four hours-plus, it’s frankly a bit of a marathon. But hang in there. Under the baton of William Christie, Les Arts Florissants singers and dancers nimbly take off. The sets and costumes are sumptuous. Only the lighting seemed murky at times and unfocused at others. And if I were to quibble with the text, which I won’t, it would only be to remark, as I do whenever I talk about French arts, God bless (or damn) the French for their singular obsession with l’amour, l’amour, l’amour. I first saw Atys when Christie brought this production to BAM in 1989 and again in 1992. The current outing is visually and dramatically a replica of the previous two; only the actors and dancers have necessarily changed. Two performances remain (Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23 and 24, at 7:30 p.m.); both are sold out, but there is always the possibility of cancellations and partial-view seats are available as of this posting. See Atys. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that I’ve had the joy of experiencing three times.
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Atys Again
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011Going for Baroque
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010It’s a sorry state of affairs, the state of French Baroque music and dance in New York City. There’s so little of it on the calendar and in the repertoire for audiences to hear, see and fall in love with. I was reminded of this last night when I ventured uptown to Symphony Space for a performance (the first of only two) of Jean-Philippe-Rameau’s Zéphyre and other ballets, presented by The New York Baroque Dance Company and Concert Royal. How serious is the dearth? Last night was the North American premiere of Zéphyre, a one-act opera/ballet from the composer’s late period (he died in 1764). Of course, the 1789 Revolution put paid to subsequent performances of this and other royal jeux d’esprit for 100 years or more. Better late than never, I suppose. Especially when choreographer Catherine Turocy and artistic director James Richman (doubling on harpsichord) presented their usual elegant, eloquent performance. The dancers were lithe and in total control, even when a costume malfunction (a descending petticoat) threatened a particularly delicate pas de deux. Talk about grace under pressure. The singers were in fine voice, too. Everything worked so well, one could not help but wish for an audience larger than the 100 or so scattered in the barn that is Symphony Space. My companion remarked that the orchestra needed to be double in size, with some percussion thrown in, and that stone walls for the sound to reverberate against would have been a gift. Alas, one can’t always have Versailles. For me, the fun was getting caught up in a confection about l’amour, l’amour, toujours l’amour. I always marvel at the magic Tourocy and Richman (both are Americans) conjure up on a shoestring. In any case, New York now has to wait six months for its next Baroque fix when France’s glorious Les Arts Florissants makes its annual appearance in NYC (Mar. 11-12, 2011 at Alice Tully Hall) with Rameau’s Anacréon and Pygmalion. If you’re wondering what the Baroque fuss is all about, find a DVD of Gérard Corbiau’s 2000 movie, Le Roi Danse, about Louis XIV and Rameau’s predecessor, Jean-Baptiste Lully. You’ll be hooked.
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