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[MUSIC REVIEW] Les Troyens, Part I, Tanglewood
7.6.08
TANGLEWOOD
July 5, 2008
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz
Conducted by James Levine
With the Tanglewood Festival Chorus
(Lenox, Mass., July 6, 2008) -- Cassandra was such a Cassandra last night at Tanglewood, hokking a tshaynik to no avail to her fellow Trojans about the impending invasion of the Greeks. Somewhere she probably said, "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."
But NOOOOO!!!! No one listened, and of course, the rest was history.
The rest, actually, was Act Two, which took place on Sunday, July 6, when the focus was on the story of Dido and Aeneas. But Saturday night was Cassandra's night, and fortunately, Anna Caterina Antonacci was up to the task both vocally and dramatically. Bearing the weight of nearly the full 90 minute program, Antonacci was the quintessential unheeded prophetess.
Aided by the musicians of the Boston Symphony and the powerful Tanglewood Festival Chorus, it was a night of full-metal drama. Berlioz really knew how to pack it in, and his sudden blasts of thunder, crashes of warfare, and lyrical swoops, were joyous and exciting.
Of course, the subsequent news that James Levine was suffering through the weekend and has had to withdraw from the rest of the season for medical reasons only adds to the poignancy of the performance. Levine himself hadn't seemed as lively and impish in years; at one point, one feared for his own safety, perched on his high-legged chair, it seemed like with his own plunges and dives he might just topple off.
But the only toppling was in the drama, which was a spectacular way to open what now is something of a, if not tragic, certainly damaged season at Tanglewood.
Seth Rogovoy is the award-winning editor-in-chief and music critic at Berkshire Living magazine.
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