LOS ANGELES - Yes, it's incorrect either way:  geographically, it should
be LA; genderwise, to say that this is a very Italianate performance of a
German opera, it should be "Il Lohengrin" - but sometimes what is correct
is not right.  Kent Nagano's unusual, brilliant double-debut here - in a
staged Wagner and as principal conductor (music director in all but name)
- with the Los Angeles Opera makes "La Lohengrin" sing.

It was all singing Friday night in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, a rich,
opulent, sweeping performance, virtually commanding a repeat hearing - if
not necessarily seeing it again.  This was the third performance, after the
cancelled Sept.  12 premiere, while Nagano was flying around the world in
circles.  He has landed, and this city, this company are all the better off
as the result.

The unflinching focus on melody, on sustaining long lines flawlessly was
everywhere, beginning with glorious singing in the string sections (under
the new concertmaster, Stuart Canin) and woodwinds - against the great, if
properly "Germanic" brass.

I treasured Gosta Winbergh's warm, "bel canto" performance in the
title role.  It reminded me of another unusual "dolce-tenor" (more
than heldentenor) Lohengrin, in my favorite recording of the work:
Placido Domingo (who just happens to be the boss around here these
days).  Winbergh, not a particularly animated actor, sings so well, so
consistently, so "musically," that he presents a convincing, believable
hero.

For a dramatic, if unusual, performance there was the Elsa - Adrianne
Pieczonka - who looks perfect in the role:  Mary-Costa blonde, Mary-Hartman
guileless, a female Parsifal, not a Kundry, exactly right.  She would make
a better Mimi than Violetta, a Nanetta born to the role and, more to the
point, Eva.  But Elsa? With a truly musical, gentle, accurate voice -
smallish but well projected - Pieczonka sang and acted a new and unusual...
and excellent Elsa.  There was little heaven-storming Grail angst here,
more of Judith from "Bluebeard's Castle," somebody simple, nosy, childish
even - until ending up in the isolation chamber for ex-wives and those
abandoned by swan-riders.  Human-scale, understandable, different, valid,
good.

The rest of the cast:  Eva Marton's ragged Ortrud, building steadily
to a powerful performance, admirable but not really connecting with the
audience; Kurt Rydl's sonorous, occasionally shouting King Henry, an
important singer near the end of a career; Tom Fox's Telramund in the
singer's usual good-but manner of performing well, but not meeting the
expectation he sets up.  Martin Gantner, on the other hand, is one of
the best Heralds I've hear (and also of the bel canto variety)

A good cast, with a great performance in the title role, but the truly
significant point of this production is Nagano's work.  No stranger to
Wagner, Nagano has not been been linked with the composer, much less
regarded as a specialist.  This "Lohengrin" then is crucial in getting some
indication what the LA Opera's upcoming "Ring" will be like under his baton
- and it bodes excellently well.  Besides the Italianate, lyrical, singing
quality, Nagano's Wagner is also steady, straightforward, consistent, with
rock-solid tempi, great balance, and a sense of "rightness." This is the
kind of Wagner we lucky San Franciscans are used to getting from Donald
Runnicles - but he's been building his Wagner repertory for a couple of
decades, while Nagano is just starting.  How far he'll go - nobody knows.
What is certain:  Los Angeles is about to get a series of offbeat,
challenging, promising music events Nagano's audiences in Berkeley,
Manchester, Lyon and now Berlin are familiar with:  a "Turandot" completed
by Luciano Berio (instead of the standard - and poor - Alfano treatment);
Bartok coupled with "Gianni Schicchi"; the late Los Angeles-resident
Schoenberg's "Moses und Aron," and two Berio world premieres.  Domingo is
a brave man, unleashing Nagano on an audience not always at peace with more
demanding aspects of 19th century repertory.

As to the "Lohengrin" production, Maximilian Schell's total control -
designer, producer, director - is bothersome at best, "unmusical" at
worst.  Great actor that he is, Schell goes wrong here all over the place
- a totem pole as the swan, one all-bald men's chorus, one hairy one,
braids-as-Medusa-hair on the women (the men's chorus singing really well,
notwithstanding), contemporary military helmets and rifles, an incongruous
witches' sabbath background to the wedding, and on and on.  Schell also
exhibits a shocking inability to clear the chorus from covering up
important action - this is worse than a director calling attention to
himself, it's a case of someone obscuring the work.  Directors should do
no less than doctors in having an unalterable basic principle:  do no harm.

Dirk Hofacker's costumes are too funny, with diaphanous skirts over the
men's uniform, the King's golden bathrobe, etc.  Alan Burrett's lighting
design is tremendous; I would have preferred a production with lights only,
forget the huge set hiding the singers, the ridiculous costumes.  What are
Schell and Hofacker divertings us from? Do they feel the score cannot stand
on its own or the singers cannot handle the task without some "help"?

But again, the musical aspects of this production make repeat visit(s) well
justified.  Just close your eyes and save yourself the trouble of being
distracted.

Janos Gereben/SF
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