In art, less is more — at least most of the time. But Dicapo Opera’s presentation of “The Martyrs” is a little more less than ideal.
The program is a pair of dramatically related one-act operas by American composer Thomas Pasatieri, best known for his film work. The texts for each roughly 40-minute monologue are by fledgling playwright Daphne Malfitano, and she couldn’t have a stronger champion: her mother, former Met diva Catherine Malfitano.
The American soprano took the stage in the second and better of the two works, playing Marianne, who hatches an elaborate revenge plot after her lover is murdered.
At 64, Malfitano sounded about how you’d expect after 40 years of belting out some of opera’s toughest roles. There was a lot of wear and tear on the middle register — though, as she warmed up, her top notes regained their old gleam.
She remains a fierce, unsentimental actor, so physically engaged that she seemed to create a whole world from a bare stage and a single chair.
As in his breakthrough opera, 1974’s “The Seagull,” Pasatieri set the rise and fall of English dialogue easily and naturally, punctuated with bittersweet harmonies.
Perhaps because the “Martyrs” librettos are talky and heavy with exposition, though, the music never takes wing. Melodies wilt as soon as they begin, and there’s little sense of climax in either work.
This flaw is more obvious in the first half of the program, featuring baritone Zeffin Quinn Hollis as Percy, who’s on death row for a crime of passion. It’s a pleasantly warm voice, but his listless presence exposed the predictable nature of both drama and music.
What really pushed the evening over the edge of skimpiness, though, was the use of a piano instead of an orchestra. Music director Pacien Mazzagatti pounded the keyboard for all he was worth, but the music lacked any richness of color.
Given Pasatieri’s fame as a film orchestrator — “Scent of a Woman,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and more — it’s a sin he didn’t put that expertise to use in fleshing out these stripped-down “Martyrs.”