VIENNA — Escaping from darkness into light, the title character in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta overcomes blindness through the help of a doctor with spiritual powers. But the other senses — smell, touch, sound — may be more important. In a new production at the Vienna State Opera, she holds her hands over her eyes after a magical rose garden yields to a war-torn city.
The one-act opera, seen March 31, is being mounted at the house after a pause of over a century. It was last part of the programming when Gustav Mahler conducted the score in the 1900-01 season. The Evgeny Titov staging brings together a stellar cast in which star soprano Sonya Yoncheva makes her role debut. Sadly, the house orchestra does not bring the level of care one would hope for.
Conductor Tugan Sokhiev had a concerned expression before the overture began, and indeed the descending chromatic woodwinds (so simple at first glance) could have been more expressive. Only with the onset of the strings in the first scene, when Iolanta sings the soulful arioso “Otchego eto prezhde ne znala” (Why did I not know this before), did the musicians in the pit match the sensuous aesthetic onstage.
As Sokhiev observes in program notes, Tchaikovsky’s score is rich in orchestral color. Each scene brings a different sound world, from the rising horns and pulsating low strings that usher in Bertrand and Robert in scene four, to celestial timbres at the end of the opera when Iolanta is healed. The State Opera orchestra is known for being difficult to harness — and there were balance issues with the singers, particularly in the brass — but that did not detract from the beauty of the score and the first-class singing onstage.
A particular stand-out was baritone Boris Pinkhasovich as Robert, the Duke of Burgundy, who rightfully earned a round of applause following the number “Kto mozhet sravnit’sya s Matil’doy moyey” (Who may compare with my Mathilde), in which he prepares to ask that he no longer be betrothed to Iolanta because of his feelings for a countess. The intensity and expert breath support he brought to the music were especially impressive.
Dmytro Popov brought an attractive tenor to the role of Vaudémont, a count who asks for Iolanta’s hand. As her father, René, King of Provence, the bass Ivo Stanchev was steadfast and mastered deep tones but struggled with the upper range (the role appears to be written for a particularly wide tessitura). Attila Mokus was convincing as the physician Ibn-Hakia, Monika Bohinec warm and nurturing as Iolanta’s nursemaid Marta. Maria Nazarova and Daria Sushkova were charming and in fine voice as Iolanta’s friends Brigitta and Laura.
As for Yoncheva, she brought a characteristically rich tone and nuanced dynamics to the title role. The soprano was by turns innocent and seductive, capturing the emotions of a young woman finding her way to love and spiritual awareness. The only reservation was her Russian diction, although it improved over the course of the evening.
Much as the orchestra was at times forceful, the house chorus could have benefited from more refined phrasing. Meanwhile, Titov’s staging brought inventive touches, such as a string ensemble in 18th-century wigs onstage atop the rose garden in the first scene and a giant bull that represents darkness and death in the final scene. All in all, the production made a case for mounting the poetic work more often.
