Thierry Escaich, Claude (2015)

So my subscription to Medici runs out at the beginning of next month, and I'm not planning on renewing it, at least for the time being.  I definitely got my money's worth this year: I paid ninety dollars and I watched thirty-ish operas there, some available nowhere else.  But I don't know that there's quite enough left for another year to make sense, and if I were going to renew, I would definitely wait for another sale; paying full price seems kind of pointless.  But my only point is: in the next few weeks, I'm going to try to squeeze in a bunch of stray Medici stuff that I'd been meaning to watch, including this one.

It's based on a story by Victor Hugo, so you know it's gonna be a barrel o' laughs.  The title character is a peasant who steals some supplies for his family and is sentenced to seven years in a prison-sweatshop.  It's hard for him because, in addition to the general brutality of the conditions, he's a big man and doesn't get enough food.  But then another prisoner, Albin, shares his bread with him, and they become friends (and lovers, though I doubt that's in Hugo).  It makes the situation somewhat bearable, but the sadistic director separates them for no reason other than general fathomless evil.  "Because I wanted to," is his only explanation when Claude asks why he did this.  So, further and further down the end of his rope, he ultimately decides to kill him.  Having done this, he tries to commit suicide, but survives, and the opera concludes with him awaiting his inevitable execution.  Fun fun fun in the sun sun sun.

Definitely one of the grimmer operas I've seen, and this debut production emphasizes the violence and brutality of the situation.  It's, well, pretty good, though.  The music fluctuates between doleful choruses and shrieking atonality in what I thought was a generally effective and sometimes exciting way.  Also, I was really impressed by Rodrigo Ferreira as Albin; he's a really striking Brazilian countertenor I'd never seen before.  Of course, you could well ask what the point of the whole affair is: the original short story is a protest against the French criminal system of the time, which, without having looked it up, I'm gonna guess is significantly less bad today.  Still, art is art!