MUSIC REVIEW : Krenek Opera Revived at Santa Barbara

One could bemoan the fact that Ernst Krenek’s seriocomic opera “The Leap Over the Shadow” received its United States premiere a little bit late--about seven decades late, to be precise.

On the other hand, when Krenek’s frothy yet substantial work had its first stateside performances in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall at UC Santa Barbara over the weekend, it left the impression of being a relic with a profound sense of good timing.

With its deft and often pointed blending of vernacular music and modernism, something contemporary hovers about this lost Krenek work. Call it a pre-postmodern condition.

The opera, translated into English by the composer shortly before his death in 1991 at age 91, has been faithfully revived by Krenek’s friend and champion, Michael Ingham, a baritone and longtime Santa Barbara faculty member who mounted a lauded Krenek festival at UCSB in 1979.

One reason Krenek remains at this point an also-ran in the 20th-Century pantheon may have to do with his self-determined straddling of compositional schools.

Take, for example, the case of “The Leap Over the Shadow,” a dark opera-bouffe affair that operates on many levels. Krenek’s romantic farce teems with masked avengers and errant affections, a private detective, a seduction-minded hypnotist--who urges clients to surmount inhibitions by “leaping over their shadows”--a poet, a depantsed prince and a princess of misguided passions.

Who can keep track of who’s doing what to whom? Who’s counting? Dark humor enters early as a chorus intones, “We are, by nature, masochists,” while dancers navigate a taut gestural palette.

Such narrative dalliances, however, couch deposits of Weimar Republic decadence and Angst. This is a smirking saga of social decay, about life between wartimes when the center is barely holding.

A musical paradox-in-motion, the opera is more dissonant and less jazz-tinged than Krenek’s subsequent, popular “Jonny Spielt Auf” (Johnny Strikes Up). The harmonic language leans toward chromatic dissonance even as the narrative contours of the story turn glib and silly.

*

An admirable leap of effort went into bringing this production into existence. Ingham himself valiantly conducted a largely student orchestra through the complex score, though the ensemble sometimes sounds ragged. Vocally, the cast ranges from serviceable to commanding.

Standouts include Belinda Pigeon as Princess Leonore, whose voice proves luminous and flexible, even given Krenek’s thorny melodic contours. Emil Cristecu’s resonant, insinuating baritone suited the role of Prince Kuno. Mel Foster was bold of tone and scurrilous of manner as the dubious Dr. Berg, while, as Goldhaar, George DeMott-Bovenzi’s rich focused tenor displayed requisite yearning.

Jay Michael Jagim’s impressive expressionistic set contrasts with his lavish costume designs. Paul Brohan’s subtle, subversive lighting scheme works in accord with Sterling Branton’s aptly restless stage direction.

“The Leap Over the Shadow” may not be a great work, but it’s one well worth hearing, a significant piece of the Krenek puzzle. Modernism never sounded so new, so now.--JOSEF WOODARD

*

Krenek’s “The Leap Over the Shadow” will be repeated in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall at UC Santa Barbara, Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets: $10-$15. (805) 893-3535.