Kaija Saariaho’s Émilie receives mixed reviews

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The first international reviews on composer Kaija Saariaho’s new opera monologue Émilie were somewhat conflicting. The opera opened at the Opéra de Lyon in France on Monday night.
     
According to the French daily Le Monde the work had ”no structure or dramatic tension” and it felt ”boring”.
      The critic reproached soprano Karita Mattila, the only singer in the opera, for her ”occasionally less than perfect pitch accuracy”.
     
The Vienna-based dailies Die Presse and Wiener Zeitung found many praiseworthy details in the music and performance of the opera. However, some critics considered that the monologue form, the plot, and even the intrinsically beautiful and fascinating music were all too static and lacking in dramatic shape for an opera.
      Karita Mattila also won acclaim for her performance in the demanding role of the 18th century mathematician and physicist Émilie du Châtelet, who was also the long-time mistress of Voltaire, while the Opéra de Lyon Orchestra and its Principal Conductor Kazushi Ono were praised almost unanimously.
      François Girard’s direction was lauded by Wiener Zeitung but found little sympathy for example from Andrew Clark, music critic of the Financial Times, who noted archly that "a soprano singing alone for an hour and a half... [is] a big ask - for the listener as much as the soprano".
     
The international business newspaper gave the performance only two stars out of five, mainly because of its nondramatic realisation.
      The Daily Telegraph's Ruper Christiansen took much the same view:
      "The immediate problem is that Saariaho's score and Amin Maalouf's libretto fail to develop any dramatic momentum or conflict. There's nothing or nobody for Émilie to rub up against: she just thinks about things, and until her imminent demise brings forth a flurry of nervous percussion, there's an essential monotony of mood, colour, pace, emotional intensity and even lighting level. The result is that, rather than developing as a character, she ends up a bit of a bore".
     
     
We shall be uploading Helsingin Sanomat's own review of the new opera in our weeklies next Tuesday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Karita Mattila shines in première of Saariaho´s monologue opera Émilie (2.3.2010)

See also:
  Émilie is the work of two strong-willed women (2.3.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat