'Pierre Le Grand' is my second opera by Gretry, the first being 'L'Amant Jaloux'. Both are rare operas composed ironically by a composer popular in his day.
While neither are among my favourites or one of the greatest operas ever written, both are charming, with not much standing out as outstanding but also having nothing wrong either, and well worth the discovery.
Both operas can be found on DVD, 'Pierre Le Grand' (loosely based on the story and life of Peter the Great) through this production and 'L'Amant Jaloux' with a production from 2010 that had better production values than this 'Pierre Le Grand' and trusted and respected the source material better, again like the opera it was performing not much stood out as truly outstanding but still nothing was wrong and everything was done right, it just reflected exactly my feelings for the opera.
This 'Pierre Le Grand' production has its flaws. Its biggest one is to do with the stage direction which is often too hyperactive and too busy, with some overplayed comedy and unintentionally exaggerated tragic scenes. Some of it entertains, like the Russian jokes, and it's certainly never dull, but it needed more time to breathe and shouldn't have been afraid to do less.
While the costumes are fine and elegant in design and colour, the seemingly low-budget does show in painted backdrop sets that look too sparse and simplistic, was expecting something grander. Lastly, the production presents in the spoken dialogue a potentially interesting but actually weird and confusing mishmash of languages that would have been incomprehensible to anybody with no knowledge of the languages (this reviewer does have knowledge of the languages, due to studying them as part of my classically trained singing and studies, but even I found myself perplexed).
On the other hand, the production is musically fantastic. There is much gusto, power and nuance in the orchestral playing, perfectly matched by Sergei Stadler's conducting (who also plays a very impressive florid violin solo).
Also present are the superb singing and overall performances of the principals Maxim Mironov as Peter and Elena Voznessenskaya as Catherine. No qualms can be found with the rest of the cast either.
In conclusion, not quite great or grand enough, but like the opera it's based on it's a charming curiosity. 7/10 Bethany Cox
While neither are among my favourites or one of the greatest operas ever written, both are charming, with not much standing out as outstanding but also having nothing wrong either, and well worth the discovery.
Both operas can be found on DVD, 'Pierre Le Grand' (loosely based on the story and life of Peter the Great) through this production and 'L'Amant Jaloux' with a production from 2010 that had better production values than this 'Pierre Le Grand' and trusted and respected the source material better, again like the opera it was performing not much stood out as truly outstanding but still nothing was wrong and everything was done right, it just reflected exactly my feelings for the opera.
This 'Pierre Le Grand' production has its flaws. Its biggest one is to do with the stage direction which is often too hyperactive and too busy, with some overplayed comedy and unintentionally exaggerated tragic scenes. Some of it entertains, like the Russian jokes, and it's certainly never dull, but it needed more time to breathe and shouldn't have been afraid to do less.
While the costumes are fine and elegant in design and colour, the seemingly low-budget does show in painted backdrop sets that look too sparse and simplistic, was expecting something grander. Lastly, the production presents in the spoken dialogue a potentially interesting but actually weird and confusing mishmash of languages that would have been incomprehensible to anybody with no knowledge of the languages (this reviewer does have knowledge of the languages, due to studying them as part of my classically trained singing and studies, but even I found myself perplexed).
On the other hand, the production is musically fantastic. There is much gusto, power and nuance in the orchestral playing, perfectly matched by Sergei Stadler's conducting (who also plays a very impressive florid violin solo).
Also present are the superb singing and overall performances of the principals Maxim Mironov as Peter and Elena Voznessenskaya as Catherine. No qualms can be found with the rest of the cast either.
In conclusion, not quite great or grand enough, but like the opera it's based on it's a charming curiosity. 7/10 Bethany Cox
