Les Troyens (review)

Trojan soldier: Vernon Hartman	Two Trojan soldiers: John Darrencamp,
Cassandre: Jessye Norman	James Courtney
Chorèbe: Allan Monk	Ghost of Priam: James Courtney
Priam: John Macurdy	Ghost of Chorèbe: Allan Glassman
Hécube: Barbara Conrad	Ghost of Cassandre: Jean Kraft
Helenus: Robert Nagy	Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus, and
Andromaque: Jane White	Ballet
Astyanax: Robert Sanchez	Conductor: James Levine
Enée: Plácido Domingo	Stage director: Fabrizio Milano
Ascagne: Claudia Catania	Sets, costumes, visual e ff ects: Peter Wexler
Panthée: John Cheek	Lighting designer: Gil Wechsler
Ghost of Hector: Morley Meredith	Chorus master: David Stivender
Didon: Tatiana Troyanos	Choreographer: Gray Veredon
Anna: Jocelyne Taillon	TV director: Brian Large
Narbal: Paul Plishka	Live performance of 8 October 1983
Iopas: Douglas Ahlstedt	Sung in French, with subtitles
Mercure: Julien Robbins	Pioneer Classics DVD pc-11673 (1 disc)
Hylas: Philip Creech	Color, stereo, 253 minutes

Out for some twenty years now and currently available in its third format (fourth, if one counts the Jurassic Period beta tape system as a separate entity) after being on VHS and Laserdisc, this Les Troyens of 1983 now boasts its best-ever presentation on the vastly superior DVD incarnation. Moreover, this by now well-known landmark performance and staging of Les Troyens may be one of the finest of the "Live From The Met" series of televised operatic performances. Many of these Metropolitan Opera video documents, valuable as they are, often suffer from miscasting (Hildegard Behrens as Tosca and Elettra, Eva Marton as the Trovatore Leonora), artists past their prime (Leontyne Price as the Forza Leonora), singers going through bad patches (Sherrill Milnes and Leona Mitchell in Ernani), or even ill-chosen performances given the alternatives (the late-seventies Don Carlo was far superior to the 1983 telecast down the board). Somehow, many of these releases fail to represent the level of talent and prestige the Metropolitan purports to have.

Not so with this historic performance of Berlioz's masterpiece. For several reasons, it is a must-have not only for Berlioz fans but for those wanting a note-complete visual representation of one of the most important works in the French grand opera genre. The beauty of the DVD format is its versatility of use; one can elect to listen to it as one would a CD (in this case, a single disc!), minus the visuals, or simply as an audio-only live performance (and no changing of tapes and Laserdisc sides!); or one can choose to watch it with the helpful subtitles to catch all the complexities and subtleties of the words and plot. Best of all though, the performance boasts a cast, conductor, and orchestra that do the work surpassing justice.

Interest in this production centered around the much-vaunted Met debut of Jessye Norman, who more than lives up to the hype accorded her. Norman's Cassandre is a larger-than-life personage, heightened by the soprano's statuesque, regal bearing, intense expressiveness, and refulgent vocal splendor. All of these elements bring to the character an extra sense of its personality and tragedy. Physically and facially, the camera captures a skillful artist in Norman. Though of generous proportions, she is never impeded in any way, and one must admire her ability to move with grace and poise. When the camera zooms in a crucial close-up, Norman is always in character, giving her all. Stories of the soprano's prima donna-ism are legendary by now, but, from this evidence, they are all unwarranted. "Professional" seems too clinical a term to describe Norman's work here, because she so obviously immerses herself with complete abandon in the anxiety-ridden dilemmas of the ever-fearful Cassandre. When she exhorts the Trojan women to suicide, Norman is grippingly authoritative and absolutely believable. A close-up of the dead Cassandre, slumped over, is a masterstroke of video director Brian Large: it seals the tragedy in overwhelming fashion.

Against all that, despite Norman's obvious inborn vocal individuality (with regard to timbre and plasticity), one can discern...