The Met's 'Orfeo ed Euridice'

Former classical music critic Robert Croan is keeping an eye and ear on the Met simulcast operas:

By Robert Croan

Post-Gazette Senior Editor

The Metropolitan Opera originally intended its revival of Gluck's "Orfeo ed Euridice" for the much-admired mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died tragically, of cancer, in July 2006. When the new production opened 10 months later, the title role was taken by the brilliant countertenor David Daniels. This year Orfeo is a vehicle for another great mezzo, Stephanie Blythe, whose performance Saturday afternoon was part of the Met's valuable high-definition live telecasts, seen locally at Cinemark in Pittsburgh Mills (Fraser) and Showcase Cinemas West (Robinson).

If the gender bending sounds confusing, that's not the half of it. Gluck wrote the role for an alto castrato, who sang the first performances in Vienna, in 1762. When, a few decades later, castrato singers were no longer prevalent, he rewrote the part for a tenor. Several later composers (notably Berlioz) dabbled with the work, resulting in too many variants, voice categories and genders to enumerate here. The musical edition conducted by James Levine at the Met is said to be Gluck's original. Countertenors and mezzo-sopranos, it should be noted, have approximately the same range as the alto castratos of old.

In Greek mythology, the eponymous Orpheus was the greatest singer in the world. When his beloved Euridice died on their wedding day, he charmed the gods of the underworld to allow him to cross the River Styx and bring her back to earth - with the stipulation that he must not look at her until the journey is over. (There lies the rub.)

It's a seminal opera, the oldest in what was standard repertory before the recent baroque revival. Gluck's unadorned melodies and clear declamation were intended as a reform of the ornate virtuosity of 18^th-century opera seria..

Choreographer Mark Morris has staged the work with Orpheus as a contemporary rock singer, carrying a guitar instead of a lyre. The superb Met chorus is costumed (by Isaac Mizrahi) as famous persons: Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth I and Abraham Lincoln to name a few. Purists may argue with the concept, but it works superbly on stage.

Moreover, this was a musical performance for the ages. Blythe, whose voice is a force of nature, rejected her usual overt expressivity for classic restraint , vocalizing with purity of tone and line that let the music speak for itself. This was manifest in the opera's "hit tune," which translates as "What shall I do without Euridice" -- arguably the most perfect melody ever written. The version used here is less showy than the more familiar arrangement, and Blythe matched it with unaffected simplicity and conviction.

She was partnered by the ravishingly beautiful, full-voiced Euridice of Danielle DeNisse; and the perky, boyish Cupid of Heidi Grant Murphy. Underpinning all this was the miraculous Met orchestra, which played with crisp precision and singing fluidity under Levine's expert baton.

The telecast of Orfeo ed Euridice will be encored in the above theaters at 7 p.m. Today (Feb. 4). Upcoming HD live Met performances are scheduled for Feb. 7 (Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor"), March 7 (Puccini's "Madama Butterfly"), March 21 (Bellini's"(La Sonnambula") and May 9 (Rossini's "La Cenerentola").