Operatic ‘Karamazov’ Takes Traditional Form at Mariinsky

St. Petersburg, Russia — If you’re the type who thinks composers should go back to writing operas the way they used to, Alexander Smelkov’s “The Brothers Karamazov” at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg may be for you.Mr. Smelkov, who has three prior operas to his credit and little exposure outside Russia, has looked back on the golden years of Russian opera and borrowed musical and dramatic ideas as he has seen fit. Apart from isolated moments of harsh dissonance or solo percussion, there is practically nothing modernistic about “The Brothers Karamazov,”‘ which had its world premiere, conducted by Valery Gergiev, at the Stars of the White Nights Festival.I watched it with a mixture of pleasure, born of seeing tried-and-true compositional techniques cleverly reused, and astonishment that a composer would dare to write something so derivative. Still, it is an effective work.Yuri Dimitrin’s libretto condenses Dostoyevsky’s final novel to 25 swiftly moving scenes. With two acts of 95 and 70 minutes, respectively, “The Brothers Karamazov” is longer than most new operas but doesn’t outstay its welcome. Members of the all-male Karamazov clan are duly sketched out: the degenerate father Fyodor and his three sons — hot-tempered Mitya, rational Ivan, and Alyosha, a priest.Then there are their women, Grushenka, who is lusted after by Fyodor and Mitya, and Katerina, Mitya’s fiancée but also admired by Ivan. The murder of Fyodor and the trial of Mitya make for good theater. And Mr. Dimitrin manages to include some of the novel’s philosophical content.Aficionados will enjoy spotting hints at other composers, and Mr. Smelkov suggests he was having some fun too, for here and there he quotes bits from, of all things, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Text setting is a strong point, and Mr. Smelkov is good at supporting dialogue with distinctive music in the orchestra, à la Tchaikovsky. Some full orchestra passages with thumping timpani have the portent of “War and Peace.” There is a raunchy party scene that recalls the bite of Shostakovich’s circus music.Aria-like scenes are part of the mix, though the most memorable numbers are a melodically languid love duet for Mitya and Grushenka and a haunting octet in which, to a chant-like melody, the characters sing that the guilt of one is the guilt of all, a philosophical theme of the novel.Still, none of Mr. Smelkov’s melodies sounds memorable. Sometimes he and his librettist seem to assume the audience’s prior knowledge of the novel, especially in scenes of the Grand Inquisitor, who is too important to leave out, but comes off here as a murky figure. His final appearance, together with a character known as the Wanderer, makes for a lame ending after the tumult of the courtroom scene.In watching an opera like this, you invariably feel that you are experiencing the novel in something like CliffsNotes form — a pared-down version for popular consumption.The Mariinsky went at it like it would a new production of, say, “Prince Igor,” with a large cast and a smoothly running production by Vasily Barkhatov. Zinovy Margolin’s set, structured around a church, was built on a specially constructed turntable so that scenes could follow each other with little if any break. Mr. Barkhatov sometimes effectively arranges for multiple action within scenes, as when Ivan, going mad, confronts a vision of himself, while Smeltyakov, Fyodor’s illegitimate son and the real murderer, hangs himself in the background.The Mariinsky’s splendid character tenor Nikolai Gassiev was a vivid Fyodor, with baritone Alexei Markov, as Ivan, the standout among the sons, despite solid contributions from Avgust Agamov, in fervent form as Mitya, and Vladimir Moroz, as Alyosha. Surprisingly, Katerina (Elena Nebera) came off as a stronger personality than the irresistible Grushenka (Kristina Kapustinskaya), but that may be an oddity of Mr. Smelkov’s characterizations since both singers did well.Mr. Gergiev conducted with the rhythmic flexibility and emotional intensity that the music seemed to want. The Mariinsky audience gave “The Brothers Karamazov” a warm welcome, and why not? It walks and talks like the operas they know.

Operatic ‘Karamazov’ Takes Traditional Form at Mariinsky

Operatic ‘Karamazov’ Takes Traditional Form at Mariinsky

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