|
Silvia Luraghi's Letter from Salzburg 2002-4 2002
The first Salzburg Festival under the new artistic director Peter Ruzicka opened on July 27 with a new production of Don Giovanni. Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and director Martin Kusej confronted the audience with some controversial decisions, both musical (very slow tempi, partly spoken recitatives), and dramatic (Don Giovanni occasionally changing roles with Leporello). Conductor and director received mixed reviews, while the singers were generally better received by the critics. The principals included Thomas Hampson as Don Giovanni, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as Leporello, Michael Schade as Don Ottavio, Luca Pisaroni as Masetto, Kurt Moll as the Commendatore, Anna Netrebko as Donna Anna, Melanie Diener as Donna Elvira, and Magdalen Kozena as Zerlina.
The second operatic production was Der König Kandaules, by Alexander Zemlinsky. This work, as well as some others, was chosen in accordance with the general theme of this year's festival, 'the fragment'. When he was forced to leave his country in 1938 and move to the USA, Zemlinsky was working on the score of Der König Kandaules. He soon understood that it would be impossible to have his new opera premiered at the Met, because it involved a nude scene, considered unacceptable for an American audience.
In the story Kandaules, believing he has married the most beautiful woman in the world, wants to show her off, naked, to the fisherman Gyges. When the queen meets Gyges, she asks him to kill her husband. Zemlinsky died leaving the orchestration incomplete. Only in 1996 did the Zemlinsky specialist Antony Beaumont complete the orchestration. The opera finally had its premiere in Hamburg, where Peter Ruzicka was then the artistic director. The Salzburg production was directed by Christine Mielitz and conducted by Kent Nagano. The cast included Wolfgang Schöne as Kandaules, Robert Brubaker as Gyges and Nina Stemme as the queen Nyssia.
The Felsenreitschule offered the revival of Die Zauberflöte, a very popular production by Achim Freyer, based on the director's idea of 'the world as an earthly and cosmic circus'. Seen on August 17, the performance was dominated by Simon Keenlyside, a cheerful and lively Pappageno, who ran and jumped around the stage dressed as a clown, and was vocally perfect. Also very convincing was the young Diana Damrau as the Queen of the Night, who delivered her two arias apparently without any effort at the top. René Pape was an authoritative Sarastro, and Rainer Trost a very effective Tamino. As Pamina, Barbara Bonney conveyed a deep feeling of dreamy melancholy, while Martina Janková was a delicious Pappagena. The orchestra of the Vienna State Opera was securely conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
The next new production, again on the theme of 'the fragment', was Puccini's Turandot with its new ending by Luciano Berio. Berio carefully studied Puccini's score, reportedly using almost all the unfinished music left by the composer. The new ending is very different from one by Alfano which is usually used. It is less grandiose, and more intimate, with an interesting, and typically Berio-style orchestration, the music shading away in a pianissimo. The orchestra was conducted by Gergiev, perhaps not a Puccini specialist, but certainly able to present an intense interpretation.
Seen on August 18, the cast included Gabriele Schnaut in the title role, Johan Botha as Calaf, Paata Burchuladze as Timur and Cristina Gallardo Domas as Liu. Gallardo Domas was certainly the best on stage: her rendition of the slave girl was moving and technically very good. Botha also showed good technical preparation, but less shading in his interpretation. Schnaut can rely on a huge voice and secure top, but was too Wagnerian in her vocal interpretation. Burchuladze had some intonation problems, and did not seem to be having a good evening. The David Poutney production was very beautiful visually, especially in the second act with a host of soldiers vanishing toward the back edge of the red colored stage surrounding Turandot on top of a high golden tower.
Richard Strauss did finish his last opera, Die Liebe der Danae, but was not able to see it. The premiere had been planned for the 1944 Salzburg Festival, but the day before the performance there was a declaration of 'total war' and Goebbels ordered the closure of all theaters. The composer and the Festival organizers managed to have a closed dress rehearsal, which Strauss attended, but the official premiere only took place in 1952, years after the death of the composer. The opera never became part of the standard repertoire even after its belated premiere.
The three act work tells the story of Danae, in love with wealth and gold, who is approached by Jupiter. The god tries to seduce her by pretending that he is Midas, the richest man in the world, who turns everything he touches into gold. When she meets the real Midas, Danae falls in love with him, and chooses his love, even though Jupiter has taken away his golden touch. The story effectively ends in the second act. The third act contains a long encounter between Jupiter and Danae, who explains to the sceptical god why she has chosen Midas. The uneven distribution of the action, together with the vocal burden on the singers, makes this opera difficult to stage. This year's production could count on an excellent cast, including Deborah Voigt as Danae, Franz Grundheber as Jupiter, and Albert Bonnema as Midas. It was directed by Günter Krämer and conducted by Fabio Luisi.
Besides the five productions described above, two more operas were presented in concert form: Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, and Rossini's La donna del lago, both featuring star casts. Roméo et Juliette was the occasion for the Salzburg debut of Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna (the latter had already sung at the Easter Festival); other principals were Daniela Barcellona as Stephano, Roberto Scandiuzzi as Pére Laurent, Paul Charles Clarke as Tybalt and Manuel Lanza as Mercutio. The orchestra was conducted by Bertrand de Billy. La donna del lago, conducted by Marcello Viotti, featured Juan Diego Florez as King James of Scotland, Ruth Ann Swenson as Elena, and Daniela Barcellona as Malcom. To complete the operatic program, James Levine conducted the Met Orchestra on August 13 in a Gala concert featuring Wagner's music (the first act of Die Walküre and the second act of Parsifal), with Plácido Domingo and Waltraud Meyer. The Gala was followed by a fund raising dinner in the Felsenreitschule, where patrons were joined by the performers. © Silvia Luraghi, 31 August 2002 2003
The Salzburg Festival opened on 26 July with Berlioz's Requiem (Grande messe des morts) conducted by Valery Gergiev with the Vienna Philharmonic; the soloist was Ramon Vargas, and the evening was reportedly very successful. Gergiev, who regularly conducts in Salzburg, also conducted the revival of Don Carlos and a gala performance of Samson et Dalila, with varying results.
Much better was his interpretation of Samson et Dalila, a score which was relatively new for him (he had previously conducted only the second act, in concert form). The single performance, on August 11, benefited from Olga Borodina and Plácido Domingo in the title roles, both in perfect voice and willing to give of their best. Both the singers and the orchestra (this time from the Kirov Opera) performed with deep commitment; Gergiev was able to choose effective tempi and produce beautiful piani especially in the choral sections. All received enthusiastic cheers from the rapt audience.
Among this year's new productions was Les contes d'Hoffmann, not seen at the Festival since the early 1980s when Plácido Domingo and Edda Moser (later Catherine Malfitano) sang in the successful Ponnelle production conducted by James Levine: a rather high standard to live up to. Neil Shicoff sang Hoffmann, his signature role, sounding perfectly at home in the score and acting with commitment. In the uniformly strong cast. Angelika Kirchschlager's Nicklausse was particularly notable, giving a committed account of the relation between Hoffmann and his muse (in this production also his lover.)
David McVicar's directed, with traditional sets and costumes by Tanya McCallin. Clearly the rehearsal time had been spent in exploration of specific, different facets of the various characters, and the singers mostly followed more than adequately the wishes of the director. Hoffmann, depicted as a drug addict, does not return to art - he dies. Consequently, the character does not display any real development during the opera, instead spiralling into self-destruction despite the best efforts of the Muse. All this was put across very well by Shicoff and Kirchschlager. In spite of the effectiveness of the stage direction and the commitment of the singers, however, the feeling remained that something was missing. The Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Kent Nagano did not seem to be completely at one with the spirit of the production: possibly the vision of the director and that of the conductor, who evidently sees Hoffmann as an opera buffa, rather than a tragedy, were too far removed from one another to gel effectively.
The Kleines Festspielhaus offered its stage for the first of three Mozart productions, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which opened on 27 July (and continued until 29 August) in a storm of protest from the audience against director Stefan Herheim. One reason was that the director completely ignored the plot: there was no oriental setting, no seraglio, and indeed not even the master of the seraglio himself, Pasha Selim: his spoken role was eliminated and his lines were spoken in turns by the other singers. In general, the spoken parts had been heavily modified, one of many sources of irritation to the audience. At the performance of August 10, the boos and protest after Osmin's aria were so loud that soprano Iride Martinez stepped on stage and addressed the public, reminding that the singers were working.
There was little to raise the spirits on the musical side, either. Martinez and Diana Damrau, as Konstanze and Blonde respectively, were at least equal to their roles, whereas tenor Jonas Kaufmann, as Belmonte proved completely inadequate, with a very limited top and a vocal timbre that made one doubt whether he is really a tenor. Bass Peter Rose as Osmin also had problems of range, while the second tenor, Dietmar Kerschbaum as Pedrillo, sounded more convincing. The orchestra of the Mozarteum was conducted a little bit too stiffly by Ivor Bolton.
Two further Mozart operas were entrusted to the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt: La clemenza di Tito, a new production staged at the Felsenreitschule, and Don Giovanni, a revival of last year's production, which was shown at the Grosses Festspielhaus, both directed by Martin Kusej. Don Giovanni, which was not very well received by critics last year, apparently was found more acceptable second time round. The cast was partly the same as in 2002, with Thomas Hampson in the title role, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo as Leporello, Anna Netrebko as Donna Anna, Melanie Diener as Donna Elvira, Kurt Moll as the Commendatore and Luca Pisaroni as Masetto. The new members of the cast were Isabel Bayrakdarian as Zerlina and Christoph Strehl as Don Ottavio.
La clemenza di Tito was the most successful Mozart production seen here for some time. It was appreciated both for the staging and for the vocal cast, which featured international stars such as Michael Schade (Titus), Vesselina Kasarova (Sesto), and Barbara Bonney (Servilia) and Dorothea Röschmann (Vitellia).
A festival commission - Heinz Werner Henze's L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe - had its world premiere on August 12. It is based on Henze's own libretto inspired by a Syrian fairy tale in which an Old Man, the Vizier of Manda, recalls the visits of a hoopoe, which has flown away and has never returned. He sends his three sons to search for the bird, trusting all three, but only the youngest sets out to fulfil his father's wish. When after long and dangerous adventures he succeeds in bringing back the hoopoe, his brothers try to kill him - but in the end goodness prevails, as usual in fairy tales. The good son is saved, and forgives his brothers.
The composer is experienced in vocal writing; it is never too dense, although the role of Kasim (the good son) in particular sounded very demanding. These demands were easily met by Matthias Goerne, who created the role with great dedication. Alfred Muff was touching in the role of the Old Man; his former friend, Malik, was sung by Hanna Schwarz with some vocal problems, and Laura Aikin created the role of the beautiful princess Badi'at el-Hosn wal Dschamal, who falls in love with Kasim during his journey. It was conducted by Markus Stenz, in place of Christian Thielemann, who had cancelled. The production, by Dieter Dorn with scenes and costumes by Jürgen Rose, rightly set the action in the realm of fairy tales. The production and the score were well received by both the audience and the critics. © Silvia Luraghi, 24 August 2003 2004
A controversial new production of Der Rosenkavalier was among the highlights of this summer’s festival. The vocal cast was excellent: of particular note was the Marschallin of Adrianne Pieczonka, who showed an affinity with the melancholic mood of Strauss’s music and sang and acted perfectly. As Octavian, local star and audience favorite Angelika Kirchschlager displayed an elegant vocal line and excellent musical instincts, in spite of having a smallish voice; her Octavian was perhaps a little bit too girlish. Franz Hawlata was fine casting for Baron Ochs - suitably vulgar - and Miah Persson was a lovely Sophie. Franz Grundheber’s Herr von Faninal was well-received; of the other principals a special mention is owed to Piotr Beczala as the Italian singer.
Conductor Semyon Bychkov provided the right atmosphere in the pit, skilfully balancing the vocal and instrumental forces. The Robert Carsen production updated the action to 1911, the year of the opera’s composition, and the opera’s military aspects were brought to the fore. In the second act Octavian came on stage riding a real horse (an experience Kirchschlager said she would have happily done without), and the third act was set in a soldiers’ brothel complete with male and female nudity. It was this in particular which raised mixed reactions, with audience members divided between those who loved it and those who hated it.
Der Rosenkavalier: Act II the undisputed hit of the summer was the seldom-performed opera Die tote Stadt by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Written in 1917 when the composer was twenty, the opera is based on Georges Rodenbach’s novel Bruges-la-Morte. Like his contemporary Maurice Maeterlinck, Rodenbach was a Belgian symbolist whose works explore the relationship between dream and reality. Korngold wrote the libretto himself under a pseudonym, aided by his father, and it is certainly not the opera’s greatest strength.
In Die tote Stadt, Paul, who lives in the constant memory of his deceased wife Maria, thinks that he recognizes her in the dancer Marietta. When he finally realizes that Marietta is a fully-formed, independent person, he kills her, only for her to reappear at the end, leaving in doubt the distinction between vision and reality. Korngold’s music is basically melodic, and one hears a lot of Puccini in it, but it also mirrors some more modern trends in Viennese music of the time, including that of Korngold’s teacher Zemlinsky. Korngold’s score is extremely demanding for the singers, one reason why this beautiful opera is so infrequently performed.
Theatrically, Torsten Kerl made a perfect Paul; he also exhibited a very solid technique and a nice voice, but he clearly had less volume than the other principals, and was often drowned by the orchestra. As Marietta, Angela Denoke was wonderful, proving herself a great lirico spinto and actress, while Bo Skovhus in the dual roles of Franz, Paul’s friend, and Fritz, an actor who performs with Marietta, was also very good. The orchestra was conducted with a perfect mixture of fire and dreamlike tunes by Donald Runnicles. The production was directed by Willy Decker and featured scenes and costumes by Wolfgang Gussman and lights by Wolfgang Goebbel: together this team came up with a convincing rendition of the opera’s blurred boundaries of dream and reality.
Having already been seen with a different cast and a different orchestra at the Eastern Festival, the new production of Così fan tutte was basically a disappointment. It is true that this opera, on account of its being completely abstract, can be set just about anywhere, but everything here gave the impression of having already been seen and heard several times. On the whole the vocal cast was satisfying, with some peaks of excellence in Helen Donath, an experienced Despina, and Thomas Allen, a Don Alfonso rich in irony. The four lovers were Tamar Iveri (Fiordiligi), Elina Garanca (Dorabella), Saimir Pirgu (Ferrando), and Nicola Ulivieri (Guglielmo), all of whom brought a touch of freshness and youth to the roles.
Purcell’s King Arthur was staged at the Felsenreitschule in a special version, prepared by conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and director Jürgen Flimm, and sung in English with spoken texts in German. Indeed, very little remained of John Dryden’s original libretto, with the dialogue almost completely rewritten.
Alongside the staged productions, the festival also featured two operas in concert form: Prokofiev’s War and Peace, and Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. War and Peace provided yet another opportunity for the Mariinsky to showcase its singers and orchestra abroad. The large vocal cast included such internationally acclaimed singers as Dmitri Hvorostovsky, elegant and noble in the role of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, and Anna Netrebko, a youthful and lively Natasha Rostova. Gennady Bezzubenkov was disappointing as Field Marshall Mikhail Kutuzov: in spite of his good interpretative skills, the bass seemed to lack the reserves for this big role. © Silvia Luraghi, 5 September 2004 Silvia Luraghi is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pavia. Her broad interests include historical linguistics, comparative philology, linguistic typology and translation studies. In this last field, she has done research on translation for special purposes, such as opera supertitling, and libretti translation. A regular opera goer since childhood, she started a second career as an opera critic several years ago, contributing on a regular basis to leading Italian-language magazines, such as L'Opera and the 'Classic Voice', and in English to Opera japonica. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
