Robert le Diable

Despite being very popular in its day, it is a shame that Meyerbeer's 'Robert Le Diable' is almost forgotten now. To me it is one of his best operas (with his masterpiece being 'Les Huguenots'), while melodramatic and somewhat silly the story is atmospheric and enthralling and the music is wonderful.

It's not just 'Robert Le Diable' out of Meyerbeer's operas that are rarely performed, the DVD competition is very scant (only seven DVD productions of five operas, and while all are worth checking out they vary in overall quality, though the only poor one is the Deutsch Oper production of 'Les Huguenots' sung in German) and the only opera to get a healthy and generally well-served recording history is 'Les Huguenots'. This is ironic considering that Meyerbeer was one of the richest, most famous, important and popular (with audiences that is, he was controversial critically) opera composers in his day.

That his operas and music are rarely performed now has nothing to do with Meyerbeer as a composer or the quality of his music. It is more to do with most of them being very long ('Robert Le Diable' being one of the lengthiest), the principal roles being incredibly demanding ('Les Huguenots' and 'Robert Le Diable' especially) and that they are difficult to stage, and for some of them the old-fashioned and at times silly and thin stories might play some part.

Met with critical indifference, reviled even by some, when first performed at the Royal Opera House in 2012 and with the DVD receiving mixed reviews on Amazon, this is a watchable production but not recommended without hesitation.

Starting with the many good things, it is very well, often outstandingly, performed, musically and dramatically. Meyerbeer's music, despite being heavily cut (though thankfully there have been worse treatment of cuts around), is beautifully played by the orchestra, who play with grandeur, nimble style, vast dynamic range, tone that is often beautiful and with much depth, power and nuance, showcasing some wonderful moments. In particular the timpani representing the dark enchantment at work in the tournament, the bassoons for the ghostly nuns, the harp and Cor Anglais in Isabelle's Cavatina and the mysterious duo for the trumpets in the act 5 trio that sound like they're from another world (meant in a good way). The chorus balance very well with each other, and look engaged with the drama with some good attempts of individuality. Daniel Oren holds everything together more than solidly, his tempos are measured but never pedestrian, while fire, dramatic intensity and nuance are never missed in his conducting, neither is the need to accommodate the singers and music but keeping the momentum of the drama moving.

Much of the singing is very good, and in some cases truly excellent. John Relyea really stood out as Bertram (a Mephistophelean sort of role), Relyea's voice is dark, rich, even through the range and flexible while being devoid of wobble or strain and he exudes sinister authority while not forgetting to have fun. His costume does make him almost too genial at times, but in no way does it handicap the effectiveness of Relyea's singing and interpretative skills. Bryan Hymel similarly impresses, it is a very heroic, passionate and incredibly confidently sung portrayal in the difficult (fiendishly so, one of the hardest in any Meyerbeer opera) title role, hitting the many and daunting stratospheric high notes with ease. Patrizia Ciofi's voice may be somewhat too small for Isabelle, but it is a warm and vibrant voice, with remarkable control in the Colouratura, that engages passionately with the music. She acts with poignancy and dignity with a touch of humour too. Jean-Francois Borras sings with great confidence and is incredibly entertaining, especially in the Duo Bouffe in Act 3 which is played with terrific irony.

However, one performer doesn't come off so well and that's Marina Poplavskaya. She sounds over-parted in a role that's too heavy for her voice which betrays some unpleasant shrillness, wayward pitch and unsteadiness, and while she has demonstrated a lot of emotion and poignancy in some of her performances like her Elisabetta Da Valois and Liu she looks uncomfortable and wooden here.

Personally wasn't sure what to make of it visually. It is certainly atmospheric and colourful, with some very vivid colours, and it's evocatively lit. The costumes are pretty ridiculous however, especially Isabelle's and Bertram's, and while there are instances where they work well like Act 3's vision of hell the cardboard-like sets can look cheap, especially the Act 2 medieval tournament that looked more like it belonged in Monty Python. Laurent Pelly's staging deserves some credit for not being too distasteful, sometimes making the story engaging and not letting the drama fall into incoherence. It also tries to not stay too much in one tone for an opera that shifts tone a lot. Unfortunately there are one too many ideas that are too half-baked, irrelevant and come off as perplexing and add nothing to the story. The last act with the battle of good and evil was very exaggerated and forced to the point of unintentional comedy, but even worse is that you know something's up when an opera production manages to make a mess of the opera's most famous (or shall we say infamous?) scene, which is what this production does with the daring and ahead-of-its-time Ballet of the Nuns. Here the scene is far too claustrophobic, not helped by the over-cluttered stage, very dully choreographed and comes across as too gimmicky and weird than eerie, you get very little sense as to why the scene caused the sensation that it did.

Quality of the DVD is good, with expansive but sympathetic video directing, picture quality of great clarity and well-balanced and resonant sound that helps one really enjoy the impact of the music.

Overall, neither opera heaven or opera hell. Well performed but perplexing. 5/10 Bethany Cox