UK Edition
Review
Tchaikowsky’s Merchant of Venice is much more than a relic or curiosity – review
In 1981, the Polish pianist-composer André Tchaikowsky submitted his operatic adaptation of The Merchant of Venice to ENO for its consideration.
A Jewish survivor of the Warsaw ghetto, brilliant, neurotic and homosexual, Tchaikowsky (no relation to his Russian near-namesake) had laboured on the project for decades and it was a great blow to him when it was politely rejected.
He died from cancer months later at the age of 46, but David Pountney, then a director at ENO, remained haunted by the score’s qualities, and his advocacy finally led to The Merchant of Venice’s première in 2013 at the Bregenz Festival, in a co-production which has now traveled to Welsh National Opera.
Without doubt, it is an accomplished and substantial work. Unusually among operatic versions of Shakespeare, it follows the play closely, deftly cutting the original text (and mercifully eliminating Launcelot Gobbo). The stylistic idiom is profoundly influenced by Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu, though the effect is not atonal: the harmonies are bittersweet and the vocal writing is fluently graceful.
There are few obvious highlights, but Tchaikowsky’s meticulous craft is evident in the structural development of each scene. Its shortcomings relate to a certain heavy-handedness and over-busy instrumentation. It doesn’t lack humour, but being short of sparkle or lyricism, it does plod a bit. And it is lumbered with one of Shakespeare’s duff final acts, all explanation and no action.
The performance is altogether excellent. Keith Warner’s cleanly delineated production, handsomely designed by Ashley-Martin-Davis, evokes Edith Wharton’s New York rather than Renaissance Venice – a setting which accommodates a plot so focused on vast sums of money. The introduction of Nazi storm-troopers at one point was perhaps a step too far.
Lester Lynch is an African American baritone, his colour giving his sympathetic Shylock an added poignancy. Sarah Castle is an elegant mezzo-soprano Portia, Mark Le Brocq a sweet tenor Bassanio. An oddity is the casting of Antonio as a falsetto – Martin Wölffel couldn’t altogether persuade me that this was wise of Tchaikowsky.
Lionel Friend conducts with authority, vigilantly keeping the balance between singers and orchestra in check. I doubt that the opera has enough visceral appeal to catch on, and the large cast required makes it an expensive proposition (this staging is sponsored by the Getty family).
But that should not deter adventurous operagoers: Tchaikowsky’s Merchant of Venice is much more than a relic or curiosity.
Until 30 September, then touring; box office: 029 2063 6464