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Electra
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Not to be confused with Theodorakis' excellent 1962 film score for the Greek movie version of the Electra story, this mature opera, based on a text by the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, was first premiered in Luxembourg in 1995, and then in 1996 as part of the Athens summer festival.
As the designated national composer of Greece and also an ardent Greek nationalist (who was jailed and then exiled in the late 1960's by a fascist dictatorship), Theodorakis has drawn inspiration from ancient Greek history, mythology and music for almost his entire career, writing operas, ballets, stage music, film scores and incidental music for almost the entire repertoire of classical Greek drama.
Modern opera itself is to some extent a rather fanciful reconstruction of ancient Greek sources. Even though practically no music survives from the earlier period, musicologists generally agree that the ancient Greek dramatists combined spoken dialogue, ritual movement, singing (or chanting) and music in their productions. So is it particularly appropriate that a modern Greek composer would express his artistic impulses through opera. Elsewhere, and particularly at earlier stages of his career, Theodorakis dabbled in Greek folk forms, modal scales and pseudo-authentic instrumentation, sometimes producing (like the American/Armenian composer Alan Hovannes) colorful, exotic works with a distinct ethnic flavor. In the 60's, casual listeners knew Theodorakis largely through his film score for Zorba the Greek, which, as I recall, made prominent use of the bouzouki in the context of a folk ensemble. The aforementioned Electra film score, although an altogether more serious enterprise, was also for a small folk ensemble and featured modal scales, the sounds of primitive-sounding horns and reeds, the bouzouki again, together with crashing cymbals and other dramatic ritual percussion.
However, Theodorakis' opera version of Electra is very much in the conventional opera tradition, with a dedication to the Italian composer Puccini (Theodorakis dedicated his two additional mature operas, Medea and Antigone, to the other major Italian opera composers Bellini and Verdi, so his sources of musical inspiration are quite obvious).
Any obvious "Greekness" in Electra is confined to the austere world of Sophoclean drama, a world of retribution and pitiless justice where siblings plot the murder of a mother who has killed their father, after their father (in an earlier play) has reluctantly sacrificed a younger daughter to win the favor of the gods. But musically, the flavor of Theodorakis' opera is decidedly international. The libretto is written in Greek, and on this recording Theodorakis conducting the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella Orchestra and Chorus, with the principle voices identified by Russian names for the most part. (...). Clearly though, Theodorakis' aim at this point in his career, is not to be only recognized as a Greek composer, but as an international composer who draws his inspiration from his Greek roots and culture.
As someone with only a limited knowledge of opera, I would give Theodorakis' Electra high marks. I cannot speak for it as a stage event, but as a purely aural experience, it is one of the more enjoyable operas I have heard -- quite free of the recitative "silly bits" in many operas that only make sense if you're watching the stage action and/or following the libretto line-by-line, and also quite free of modernist tricks and self-conscious innovations.
Among other things, Theodorakis is a superb melodist, and the entire opera (close to 2 1/2 hours on CD) is brimming with gorgeous and often haunting melodies. With due respect to minimalist Phillip Glass and his motoric pulse, it's nice to hear a little melodic expressiveness in a contemporary opera. This expressiveness is enhanced by Theodorakis' decision to dispense with the customary overture; the principle soloists are in full voice almost immediately, and individual voices prevail throughout the three acts of the opera, interrupted only occasionally, and briefly, by the chorus and by short instrumental interludes. Certainly the three principle characters (Orestes, Electra and her sister Chrysothemis) all have bravura pieces which qualify as arias, but Electra does not in any way rely on a few "show-stoppers" as a means of justifying (or redeeming) itself. The entire company performs more than adequately, but the principle soloists playing the lead roles of Orestes (Wladimir Feljaer) and Electra (Galina Dolbonos) are particularly compelling. The musical accompaniment to the vocals is also commendably supple -- sometimes supporting, sometimes leading, and sometimes supplying an instrumental counterpoint.
As for the style of Theodorakis' writing, it is resolutely tonal and late 19th century in style, but certainly not stale or cliched. Subtle modernist touches occasionally surface -- a bit of dissonance, some late Romantic chromaticism, one or two jazzy passages which suggest Darius Milhaud. Occasionally, an ethnic coloring also emerges -- perhaps an overtly modal scale or exotic instrumental timbres -- but certainly no more than you'd hear in a piece by Rimsky-Korsakov, for example. So for the most part, Theodorakis relies on traditional forms and his skill as an orchestral composer.
And since Theodorakis understands his sources so well, he lets the powerful story tell itself, in words and music, without melodramatic excess. The Richard Strauss version of Electra, a somewhat shorter one-act opera written in 1909, is highly prized by some opera buffs, but a different beast altogether -- violent, even grisly, with a strident, savage score, and a possessed Electra who is dancing hysterically as the final curtain descends.
This may be good theatre, but it's a long way from the measured decorum and balance of Greek tragedy, which Theodorakis captures perfectly in his work.
Posted by Bill Tilland at 00:00, 12 Oct 2000 for http://sonomu.net/text/~705/
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