The Independent comments -
The Secret Arias, Opera House, Copenhagen
This year marks the bicentenary of the birth of one of Denmark's national icons, Hans Christian Andersen, so it's no surprise that the National Opera would wish to commission a work to celebrate the occasion in their brand new house. What is unusual is that their chosen composer is not Danish or has any operatic pedigree - it's Elvis Costello.
The Secret Songs is, in reality, a snapshot of a work in progress, with the finished opera not scheduled for performance until the spring of 2007. What Costello presents is a 70-minute song cycle with 10 numbers that will form the backbone of the full-length piece.
Costello discovered classical music in the late Eighties, and has been a regular listener and writer for the genre since, including notable collaborations with the Brodsky Quartet, Anne Sophie von Otter and, most recently, a ballet score. With Andersen, he has a wealth of material to play with and he's latched on to the relationship with Jenny Lind, the Swedish Soprano, who, for a brief time, was the subject of his unrequited affections. They shared a similarly impoverished background and had a talent that projected them on to a world stage. Costello's story centres on her famous tour to the US, masterminded by the impresario P T Barnum, with Andersen musing on her endeavours and writing secret songs that he hopes she will sing, and reflecting, on his death bed, about his nightingale.
The work was partially staged with giant captions denoting time and place accompanying grainy projected images, but Costello doesn't go much for on-stage characterisation in the his roles: it's Barnum with top hat, and Andersen without, and it's left to Swedish soprano Gisela Stille, in the part of Lind, to do the acting. Vocally, Costello has tried to develop a different musical thread for all three parts, but the ear-catching music comes in the more operatic numbers he has written for Lind, requiring Stille to use her classical technique to carry them off, thankfully without mic. And in "He Has Forgotten Me Completely", a haunting piece sung with style, and with a hallmark Costello continuo of keyboards and cello, he has a cracker.
Costello's libretto is beautifully crafted and intense, and the work, performed in English, is one that bears study. Asked if it had whetted his appetite to write more opera, he was typically candid: "It's whetted my appetite to write this one." The Secret Songs is no ugly duckling, but only time will tell if it will develop into a beautiful swan.
Your Postmaster General was there -
Here are some thoughts on the shows , starting with details of each song . I've had to group together some of Bebe Risenfors and Bent Clausen contributions because they regularly played more than one instrument , hopping from one to the other and it was difficult to keep up with them!
Performers:
Elvis Costello
Gisela Stille
Steve Nieve
Bebe Risenfors
Amit Sen
Bent Clausen
American Humbug
E.C. Vocals ,acoustic guitar
S.N. Upright piano , grand piano
A.S. Cello
B.R./B.C. Banjo , tuba
My Toy Theatre
E.C. Vocals , acoustic guitar
S.N. Grand piano
A.S. Cello
B.R./B.C. Vibraphone , saxophone , double bass
Illustrated Lady
E.C. Vocals
S.N. Grand piano
A.S. Cello
B.R./B.C. Vibraphone , tuba
How Deep Is The Red
G.S. Vocals
S.N. Grand piano
A.S. Cello
She Was No Good
E.C. Vocals , acoustic guitar , ukulele
S.N. Grand piano
A.S. Cello
B.R./B.C. Banjo
The Misfit
G.S. Vocal
S.N. Grand piano
E.C. Upright piano
B.R. Vibraphone
She handed Me a Mirror
E.C. Vocals , electric guitar
S.N. Grand piano , keyboards
A.S. Cello
B.R./B.C. Saxophone, double bass , vibraphone
He Has Forgotten Me Completely
E.C. Vocals
G.S. Vocals
S.N. Grand piano
A.S. Cello
B.R. Vibraphone
Red Cotton
E.C. Vocals , banjo
S.N. Grand piano , keyboards
The Famous Artificial Bird
E.C. Vocals , ukulele
S.N. Grand piano , keyboards
B.R./B.C. Saxophone, double bass, cello , vibraphone
There was also what sounded like a Theremin every now and then. It was either played by Bebe Risenfors ( probably with his foot while he played the vibes - he is so talented!) or was a keyboard effect by Steve Nieve.
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The Secret Songs are, primarily, songs. And very good songs at that. Elvis may never sing then again - something he probably knew when he wrote them and something he probably wants. He was given a theme, he wrote some songs in the way he knows best and , repeatedly telling us it is work-in-progress , presented them over the past few days.
So we should disregard all the elements of this presentation .The silly costume, the anachronistic backdrops , the bad acting and some confusing transitions. There is also the rather puzzling relevance of one of the central elements, the use of the P.T. Barnum character. In the show presented there is just not enough evidence to show why he was so important to the Anderson/Lind relationship.
The costume and bad acting can be excused in that Elvis realised, correctly, that they bring a comedic element, helping keep the audiences amused and, crucially, their attention. The puzzling transitions are when he goes from the Barnum to Anderson guises. Hearing the same voice, it can take a while to be sure which one he is adopting. A finished production would solve this by, obviously, casting physically different actors.
The relevance of the Barnum character will, hopefully, be justified by the finished production. If for nothing else it would be because Elvis has written him some great songs.
So, to the songs. Having heard them so repeatedly over a few days it is easy to see which are the better. Elvis must have seen so also in that they are the same three songs that were reprised each night. Indeed this measure is an indicator of how much of a work in progress this is.
At the start of last week it was said that the show would include some 'Costello Classics' i.e. some old songs. Some listings said it would last two hours. Presuming that Elvis went into rehearsals with the 10 songs - lasting roughly 70 minutes - that indicates a few things. He was being cautious about the quality of the songs and the possibility of a hostile reaction to merely presenting them, imperfect as they may have thought them, alone. Therefore he was going to do some old songs to satisfy the audience, hoping that it might make the evenings entertainment more acceptable.
The rehearsal process must have changed his mind. In the hands of the Copenhagen musicians he got to see how good most of the songs are. Presenting them with a distracting and, potentially, overwhelming dollop of past glories would just not do the new songs justice.
The reprised songs were How Deep Is The Red, She Handed Me A Mirror and He has Forgotten Me Completely. Interestingly they are all songs involving the Lind/Anderson characters. In the second and third shows Elvis went through the motions of asking the audience if, just like Anderson once did , they wanted to decide how the show ended.
They could have a Anderson or Barnum song. Luckily (!) they went for a Anderson song, though Elvis did make a remark about how he expected that since he was in Denmark. It might also indicate that Elvis is not sure how relevant Barnum is too the whole show.
How Deep Is The Red is an astonishing song. It is also entirely suited to a female vocalist. As Elvis joked on Sunday, he betted we were glad he had spared us his rendition of it. Giselle Stille adopted a pose of barely restrained hysteria mixed with bafflement and delivers one of Elvis' sweetest tunes. She Handed Me a Mirror shares a similar feature of simple but effective phrasing. Both songs are expressions of feelings about aspects of relationships and, eventually, will be judged as examples of some of Elvis' best songwriting. I could start quoting chunks of lyrics but , really , the songs just have to be heard in full for best effect.
He Has Forgotten Me Completely is maddeningly catchy, even though, as presented by Elvis, it features very clumsy phrasing in the middle as a bridging device. At all three – six including the reprises - renditions there were nervous giggles from the audience. Elvis probably realises this, knowing that a suitably skilled performer can present it better , making it more real. The work-in-progress aspect is apparent again in that all renditions were slightly different. Gisela came from different sides of the stage, Elvis paused longer in his reactions and , in the final reprise version Ms Stille goes down in a crouch to emphasise her last few lines.
So much for the reprises - the other songs had points of interest. American Humbug kept reminding me of songs from Spike, helped by the tuba playing and the listing of things just like Stalin Malone. She Was No Good is a particularly jolly song. Again Spike came to mind, bringing to mind that album's alternate title The Beloved Entertainer. Which was what, of course, Barnum was all about. All the musicians roar at the line 'And several players run amok', just like in the Costello/Chieftains recording of the Stephens Day Murders. By the third performance Elvis was really hamming it up. Before singing a quote from Barnum's wife on the subject of the opera he paused, stood away from the King Of Humbug central lectern and gargled water from a tall glass. Indeed the quote (‘unnatural screeching' etc) is interesting in it's inclusion, Elvis possibly having a dig at the references to his having written an opera.
Red Cotton is another powerful song. The programme says that 'Barnum enters cutting a piece of fabric with a large pair of dressmakers scissors '. Yet again this must have been judged, in rehearsal, to be to distracting. Merely stating the act suffices, allowing extra emphasis on one of Elvis' sharpest (sorry!) lyrics. Dealing with British naval traditions, including slavery etc., the song is laden with evocative images. He also uses the word 'cetacean', surely a first in his songs. The Famous Artificial Bird had me immediately thinking of Nick Lowe, not entirely redundant considering how both he and Barnum were/are so steeped in show business traditions.
The shows just got better and better. The last was the best , Elvis 'n co. really settling into the songs. It was also the best audience , really responding to the show and they were only one to give it a standing ovation. I will be very interested in seeing the finished show.