DVD: Lulu from Zurich

Lulu. Zurich Opera House 2002. Director: Sven-Eric Bechtolf. Cast: Laura Aikin (Lulu) etc. Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst. Further information here.

This is Sven Bechtolf´s first opera staging, a source of stress to conductor Franz Welser-Möst until he met Bechtolf at the first rehearsal, the latter arriving fully prepared and familiar with the opera from A to Z, including the score.
Quite possibly, this is also Bechtolf´s best staging to date, at least the best I am familiar with. In the accomanying 30 minutes documentary, we hear about all the fun the cast seemed to have had during rehearsals, and they do indeed seem a very solid team. All singers are equally fine actors as singers, a prerequisite for success (in any opera, really)..

Becholf´s Lulu is a girl abused by Schön at the age of 12. As a consequence of this abuse she mirrors herself in the men around here. Eerie film footage to that effect is shown at interludes, and Bechtolf illustrates this split-personality by introducing the body double, to be used extensively in his later Pélleas and Mélisande staging. Another idea, frequently used in his later productions, are leaving characters confined to wheelchairs, probably symbolising psychological immobilisation/isolation.

When Lulu is killed by Jack the Ripper/Schön in the end, a child doll is killed first and Lulu is then dragged into the corner and covered by litter. The message is clear: Lulu was killed years ago, as a child. Only her shallow surface has remained.

In Laura Aikin Bechtolf has a superb performer, giving everything on stage, including semi- nudeness in what may be her finest achievement as yet.

Franz Welser-Möst, as always, is far more than merely competent, however when he has to compete against Boulez and Andrew Davis it´s hard not to somehow end up with the shortest straw.

One may argue endlessly whether the two act (uncompleted as Berg wrote it) or the three act (completed by Cerha) is to be preferred. This Zurich DVD presents the two act version. The Glyndebourne DVD is of the three act version. Cases may be made for both.

Overall I´d still prefer the Glyndebourne production with Christine Schäfer provided the Boulez/Chéreau Paris production will not be released, but this Zurich production is highly recommended for an alternative take on this fascinating work.

Laura Aikin is Lulu:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Laura Aikin: 4

Sven-Eric Bechtolf: 4

Franz Welser-Möst: 4

Overall impression: 4

Pelleas and Melisande on DVD in experimental Zurich staging with body doubles

Pélleas and Mélisande. Zurich Opera 2004. Director: Sven-Eric Bechtolf. Cast: Isabel Rey (Mélisande), Rodney Gilfry (Pélleas), Michael Volle (Golaud). Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst. Further information here.

Those disliking experimental stagings /Regietheater, may opt to stay away as this Sven-Eric Bechtolf production from the Zurich Opera is an example of highly experimental Regietheater.

I am not at all certain I understand the directors intentions, but two main aspects stand out: The frosty concrete environment and the continuous presence of body doubles..

Body-sized mannequin doubles of the characters are virtually present on stage at all times. The characters move around carrying their respective doubles in wheel-chairs when they are not lying in the corners, often interacting with the body-double of themselves or others as opposed to the live characters. The frosty concrete environment is desolate. Psychologic coldness/isolation perhaps?

In the beginning Pélleas and Mélisande address their body doubles - later they address each other. Golaud mainly interacts with Mélisandes double, though Mélisande is present. The live Mélisande interacts with the live Arkel as well. The live Golaud kills the live Pélleas. In the end, the living Mélisande leaves playing with a golden ball, leaving her body double on stage. Anyone familiar with the opera not getting the psychological message?

Fine performance from Franz Welser-Möst in the pit. Isabel Rey is a fine, delicate Mélisande. Rodney Gilfry however does not have the air of the innocent dreamer if that is how one sees Pélleas, but seems an ordinary man just like Michael Volle´s excellent Golaud.

Did I like it? In theory yes, the splitting concept seemingly fine for this work. But somehow it just seemed to be spelled out to pointedly. If I understood it at all, that is. And all that frosty concrete and the wheelchairs are just so ugly to watch. I´d still prefer Peter Stein´s production from the Welsh National Opera, which also benefits from the superb conducting of Pierre Boulez.

A video clip from the staging below:

The bottom line (scale from 1-5, 3=average):

Isabel Rey: 4
Rodney Gilfry: 3
Michael Volle: 4

Franz Welser-Möst: 4
Sven-Eric Bechtolf´s staging: 3

Overall impression: 3-4

Vienna: New Walküre in which Uusitalo looses his voice

A nightmare for Finnish bass-barytone Juha Uusitalo: At the premiere of Walküre, the first installment of the new Ring at the Vienna State Opera , Uusitalo was apparently singing with a cold and lost his voice during the Monologue. In the third act he could only whisper, and Oskar Hillebrandt, seemingly in the process of eating a pizza at the Westbahnhof, was brough in to sing the remainder of the part. Terje Stensvold, an excellent Wotan, is scheduled as Wotan in the next performance on Thursday.

The production is by Sven-Eric Bechtolf. Franz Welser-Möst conducts. The cast: Nina Stemme, Eva Johansson, Juha Uusitalo, Johan Botha and Michaela Schuster.

Reviews:

Der Standard thought the staging to be uninspired and naive in the conception. However particular praise to Johan Botha and Nina Stemme as the Wälsung twins.

Financial Times also was rather unimpressed with Bechtolfs staging, but even less impressed with Holender´s tackling of Uusitalo´s lost voice. Quote:

"Holender was greeted with storms of boos, a reception not inappropriate for a man who had failed to organise an understudy for the opera’s heaviest role. He held up both hands and talked. When he had hired Uusitalo four years ago, the man had been in fine voice. He has sung the role well in other houses. He was fine at the dress rehearsal. He, Holender, had advised Uusitalo to be more careful with his voice in the last rehearsals. Oskar Hillebrand had answered his mobile phone and agreed to sing the part from the pit, while Uusitalo acted his role silently on the stage, a solution that he, Holender, did not especially like, but what else can you do with such a production?The boos were tamed, but the cost was high. Uusitalo was just having a bad night. It can happen to anyone."

Arabella: Adrianne Pieczonka, Thomas Hampson and Genia Kühmeier in Vienna

Adrianne Pieczonka and Thomas Hampson in Arabella.

Arabella. Vienna State Opera. March 2007. Production: Sven-Erik Bechtolf. Cast: Adrianne Pieczonka (Arabella), Thomas Hampson (Mandryka), Genia Kühmeier (Zdenka), Michael Schade (Matteo). Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst.

Sven-Erik Bechtolf´s postmodern Arabella takes place in METROPOL - a modern hotel cum bar, dominated by brown colours, flashing neonlights and mirrors. That apart, the story was told relatively straightforward and the production received rave reviws, not least due to the musical aspects at the 2006 premiere at the Vienna State Opera.

Adrianne Pieczonka once again showed why Richard Strauss is her true fach. Though interpretatively closer to the Marschallin (which she portrayed on the superb 2003 Salzburg Rosenkavalier DVD) than the young girl Arabella, her singing was simply superb, with wonderfully exquisite and nuanced characterization.

In both presence and manners, Thomas Hampson is close to the ideal Mandryka: The awkward, shy country-guy, not really knowing how to behave around what he perceives to be aristocracy (in fact Arabella´s family are on the fringes of upper-class Viennese society).
Luckily (for him) Thomas Hampson is so well-known at the Vienna State Opera, that his vocal indisposition (though not announced) was clear to anyone, as he was virtually incapable of hitting the notes towards the end. Once again: Whose interest exactly is the management serving by not announcing these things? I don´t even see the point in (trying to) fool the first-time operagoing tourists occupying the standing room spaces..

Genia Kühmeier was simply wonderful as Zdenka, with a shining lyrical soprano unmatched on stage today. She received the largest applause of the evening. Accompanied by a Michael Schade in top-form as Matteo.

Franz Welser-Möst conducted and the orchestra played as brilliant as ever.