In celebration of Mozarts 255th birthday:
I dare assume, few will choose an opera not listed above.
Friday, 27 January 2012
David McVicar
DAVID MCVICAR
Scottish. Born 1966. Studied acting initially graduating from Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Detailed biographical information here.Directorial approach:
Multilayered productions, often surprisingly traditional in the outlook, with opulent costumes (McVicars favourite period is the 18th Century) but come with a nasty twist. Reknowned for his direction of the singers. The relatively conventional appearance of his stagings make him "suitable" even for major houses with a preponderance towards traditional productions, such as Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Notable achievements in opera:
Breakthrough with Handel´s Giulio Cesare in Glyndebourne 2005 and he remains blosely associated with Glyndebourne Festival, where he directed Wagner´s Meistersinger in 2011. However, most closely he seems to be associated with the Royal Opera House (London), where he has staged (among others) Magic Flute, Rigoletto, Faust, Nozze di Figaro, Salome, Aida, Adriana Lecouvreur and Les Troyens. His Metropolitan Opera debut took place in 2009 with Il Trovatore and in 2013 he directe Maria Stuarda there. David McVicar staged the Nibelungen Ring 2010-12 in Strassbourg and his works may be seen in most major opera houses, Rarely in Germany, though as he expains below:
"No, it's horrible. And institutionalised. You have to fight against ineptitude, and arrogance, and stupidity." when asked about working in Germany
"I am good at what I do because I care so terribly much, and I do put so much into it, so much energy and so much love!.
Current and future productions: Full calendar of present and future productions.
DAVID MCVICAR - SELECTED PRODUCTIONS
Interview with David McVicar related to Giulio Cesare in Glyndebourne 2005, probably his international break-through:
Nozze di Figaro, Royal Opera House 2006 - one of the finest versions on DVD:
Documentary of the making of Meistersinger in Glyndebourne 2011:
DAVID MCVICAR ON DVD
Carmen, Glyndebourne 2002
Giulio Cesare, Glyndebourne 2005
Salome, London Royal Opera House 2008
Adriana Lecouvreur, London Royal Opera House 2010
Die Meistersinger, Glyndebourne 2011
Adriana Lecouvreur, London Royal Opera House 2010
Die Meistersinger, Glyndebourne 2011
MCVICAR - LIVE PERFORMANCES REVIEWED BY MOSTLY OPERA
MCVICAR - LINKS
All posts on mostly opera related to David McVicar
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Munich Don Carlo with Kaufmann, Harteros, Pape
- According to the opera house about 459.000 people watched the free online-streaming, which worked perfect in my region (Scandinavia).
- Jürgen Roses semi-abstract and dark production serves the opera well, though in some scenes I´d wish for a torch to be able to see exactly what was going on.
- In my opinion the 5-act version is too long and it serves the work to cut the Fontainebleau scene, both dramatically and musically - Jonas Kaufmann (as seen in the intermission interview) unsurprisingly does not agree.
- Jonas Kaufmann is probably the most convincing Don Carlo on stage since Plácido Domingo, italianitá or not.
- For once Carlo a believable alternative to René Pape´s King Filippo, of which everything has been said previously on this blog on more than one occasion.
- This version includes the wonderful lacrymosa, later to be incorporated in the Requiem, sung by Filippo after Posa´s death.
- Most regal of the cast was Anja Harteros in both appearance and with a wonderful bloom to her singing. Though I can fault her nothing, and many may feel she lacks nothing at all, I miss an emotional connection with her. Marina Poplavskaya provides this, but vocally she is not at Harteros´ level.
- A better lead trio may not be seen today.
- Daniel Boaz did his best as a late substitute for Mariusz Kwiecien, though I´d have preferred the latter.
- Anna Smirnova has heft but not much else as Eboli.
- A Grand Inquisitor in his prime would be great for a change.
- This performance will not be released on DVD (according to Munich Intendant).
- Asher Fisher was good, has vastly improved (or learned) from his years in Berlin with Daniel Barenboim.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Paris Forza del Destino
In summary, the Bastille Opera has presented us with and entirely unconvincing staging of Verdis La force du destin, both dramatically and vocally a major disappointment.
To begin with the staging, Auvray transposes the plot to the 19th Century and to a stage with occasional backdrops of paintings being the only decorations in the very dark and naked sets. Not an unreasonable approach, as such, however, with austere sets like, much relies on the singers ability to convince dramatically.
Vocally, Violeta Urmana, a former mezzo-soprano, is simply too heavy, with a strained top without bloom and spirit. Marcelo Alvarez, whose acting skills are never above the mediocre, here falls considerably below mediocre, with stand-and-deliver acting, and dispirited vocal delivery (though he does hit the notes relatively unstrained). While it may have worked (to a certain extent) for Pavarotti, vraiment, ca ne suffit franchement pas monsieur Alvarez.
Vladimir Stoyanov was simply monotonous and uninteresting, Nadia Krasteva was rough-voiced and unsophisticated. The only cast member infusing a bit of life into this production was Nicola Alaimo as Fra Melitone.
The biggest applause, deservedly went to conductor Philippe Jordan, though to lift this dead-weight production would be beyond the means of any conductor.
The production clearly benefited from being transferred to television, but in the auditorium it was dismal evening, that never seemed to end.
L´Opera de Bastille peut et doit mieux faire. Bonne nuit a tous.
The final scene:
The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):
Violeta Urmana: 2
Marcelo Alvarez: 3
Vladimir Stoyanov: 2
Production (Auvray): 2
Philippe Jordan: 4
Overall impression: 2
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Diana Damrau Thielemann Strauss
From the dazzling coloratura of Amor to the innigkeit of Morgen and the broad expressiveness of Zueiningung.
In this, her best disc until now, Diana Damrau sings a wide selection 22 of Richard Strauss´ songs accompanied by the Strauss-specialist Christian Thielemann, the leading Strauss conductor of our times. Diana Damrau has the legato lines this music demands as well as perfect textual understanding and projection. Together with perfect coloratura lines when when in demand, which are the songs she does best. In the heavier sungs, like Zueinigung she does sound slightly strained, but nevertheless her overall control is admirable.
Thielemann is simply perfect, sumptuous, detailed, as we know him in Richard Strauss, such as accompanying Renée Fleming on her Strauss disc.
I only have one problem with this disc: I simply do not really find Diana Damrau´s voice attractive. What some calls a silvery timbre, I find dry. Diana Damrau cannot be faulted for this, as she really uses what she has to perfection on this disc.
Small quibbles aside, this is an excellent introduction to Richard Strauss´ songs.
The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average): 4
Saturday, 29 October 2011
DVD: Tcherniakov Khovanshchina from Munich
In brief: The best production I have seen from Dmitri Tcherniakov. And perhaps the best Khovanschina on DVD. Perhaps. But not all may agree.
I saw this production in Munich right after the opening in 2007 with a cast identical to the DVD and I still remember the skewed view from 2nd row, far left gawking at the stage vertically divided into several chambers, when characters not current in action or pivotal characters not directly present in the opera (such as Czar Peter) engage in secondary actions of importance to the stage drama.
The staging is highly political, as is indeed the opera, set around the 1682 Moscow uprising, but focusing on the struggle for power between various political and religious fractions. Sufficiently abstract to survive Tcherniakov´s update to a timeless desolate world dominated by sad concrete.
Much an ensemble opera, Doris Soffel as Marfa, the old beliver, a role truly requiring a deep contralto stood out together with the psycopathic eerieness of Klaus Florian Vogt, while Paata Burchuladze is way past his prime in the important part as Ivan Khovansky. I see now, that in my review of the 2008 performance I wished for René Pape to take on the role of Ivan Khovansky in the future. Now we know that he will indeed perform in Khovanschchina within a couple of seasons, but as Dosifey, leader of the old-believers.
In all unfairness, Kent Nagano is no Claudio Abbado, and his transparent, analytic approach does not really release this music. For some, and almost also for me, this may be reason enough to prefer Abbado´s DVD.
As for the DVD competition, no one comes even close to the musical standards set for this work by Claudio Abbado in the 1989 recording from the Vienna State Opera, however a DVD is more than music alone and the Vienna production is rather uninteresting. If you can stomach the Vienna production, which is actually not that dull, this is the winner. The only alternative on DVD is the rather dull and unmoving Barcelona production.
The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):
Paata Burchuladze: 3
Kotscherga: 4
Doris Soffel: 4
Daszak: 4
Paata Burchuladze: 3
Kotscherga: 4
Doris Soffel: 4
Daszak: 4
Vogt: 4
Nagano: 3
Tcherniakov: 5
Overall impression: 4
Nagano: 3
Tcherniakov: 5
Overall impression: 4
DVD: Marthaler Bayreuth Tristan with Theorin and Smith
I reviewed this production in detail when I saw it in Bayreuth (with the same cast) in 2008 and my opinion of both singers and staging essentially remains the same. With the notion, however, that Marthaler wins by the DVD transmittion, while some of the singers lose:
Marthaler´s sets are still drab and nothing you´d really want to look at. But the close-up filming focusing of the faces of various characters tend to shift the attention from the fact that we are inside an Eastern-European nightmare to the characters themselves: Isolde, the archetype of a hausfrau, with the shy though polished smile; Brangäne, the typical 1950´s lady, upholding conventions; Tristan, a man without any passion, who only loves Isolde because he has to. People caught in the conventions of the time, not really capable (or wanting?) of passionate love.This is the kind of staging that Marthaler always does, and it does have it´s merits. Though, it still takes more from Wagners timeless, mythical drama than it gives.
What Marthaler wins on the DVD, Iréne Theorin looses, with audible straining in the middle and occasionally the higher register. But her acting is wonderfully restrained and exactly how one imagines a Eastern-European hausfrau looks. Ditto for Brangäne, but I will never learn to love Michelle Breedt´s shrill voice. Also Rasilainen seemed tired, while Robert Dean Smith is a fine, though passionless Tristan.
While Peter Schneider certainly knows his way with the score, also he lacks passion and the sense of contrapunct essential to release the score.
Certainly a DVD worth watching, but the Tristan DVD competition is becoming rather stiff. With this, I have reviewed 10 Tristan DVDs, and for one-set owners I´d recommend one of Daniel Barenboim´s three magnificent productions. This set will mostly appeal to Tristan or Wagner afficionados.
The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):
Iréne Theorin: 4
Robert Dean Smith: 4
Jukka Rasilainen: 3
Michelle Breedt: 3
Robert Holl: 3
Marthaler: 3
Schneider: 4
Overall impression: 3
Friday, 28 October 2011
DVD: Mattila Met Salome
Salome. DVD. Production: Jürgen Flimm. Cast: Karita Mattila (Salome), Ildiko Komlosi (Herodias), Kim Begley (Herodes), Juha Uusitalo (Jochanaan), Joseph Kaiser (Narraboth). Conductor: Patrick Summers.
Jürgen Flimm´s extraordinarily successful Salome production takes place a fictional totalitarian environment on the verge of a desert. The technical wood and glass constructions of the sets leading to Jochanaan´s underearthly prison resembles the grotesque and meaningless world of Franz Kafka and this half-desert setting complete with orthodox Jews and semi-naked executioners resonates extraordinarily well with the eeriness and perversion of the piece.
When the production opened in 2003, Karita Mattila scored one of the biggest successes of the past decades at the Met as Salome.
Karita Mattila´s Salome is a spoiled child who gradually slips into insanity. In the end you cannot help feeling sorry for this sick girl, who has been raving around the sets increasingly drunk and desperate for attention. The childlike naivity of the character fits Karita Mattila´s general mix of naive and shy stage appearance uncannily well, probably a major contributing factor to her success in this role. I cannot remember having seen such a tour de force performance and with such committed acting and emotional nakedness on stage. Vocally, she hits all the notes despite of the staging requiring her to assume the most impossible physical positions. However, being around 50 years, and her voice is beginning to show strain and I believe she has retired the role from her repertoire.
As expected, the cameras closed in on Herodes face at the end of the Dance of the Seven Veils instead of filming the naked Karita Mattila on stage (as she indeed was at the Met). However, this turned out to be entirely unimportant - the emotional nakedness of her Salome was simply devastating and is without doubt one of the great operatic performances of the past decades. Though, I´d expect it to have been even better in 2003.
The rest of the cast was generally fine, Juha Uusitalo the traditional wild Jochanaan in his company debut,
Kim Begley a rather dry-voiced, but convincing Herodes, and Ildikó Komlosi a somewhat better-than-usual looking Herodias.
Patrick Summers didn´t ruin it in the pit, however some intensity and perhaps a couple of ideas would not have been way off target.
The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):
Karita Mattila: 5
Juha Uusitalo: 3-4
Kim Begley: 3
Ildiko Komlosi: 4
Jürgen Flimm´s production: 4
Patrick Summers: 3
Overall impression: 4
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Andreas Kriegenburg
ANDREAS KRIEGENBURG
German. Born 1963. Carpenter by trade. Wellknown in German theatre. Protege of Frank Castoft. Detailed biographic information here.Directorial approach: Comedy-existentialist physical theatre.
Major achievements in opera: Wozzeck at the Bavarian State Opera 2008 was his breakthrough in opera. He will direct of the Munich Ring 2012.
ANDREAS KRIEGENBURG - THE PRODUCTIONS
Otello, Deutsche Oper Berlin 2010:
Tosca, Frankfurt 2011:
KRIEGENBURG ON DVD
KRIEGENBURG - LIVE PERFORMANCES REVIEWED BY MOSTLY OPERA
KRIEGENBURG - LINKS
All posts on mostly opera related to Andreas KriegenburgTuesday, 25 October 2011
Claus Guth
CLAUS GUTH
German. Born 1964. Biographical and performance details on Claus Guths websiteDirectorial approach: Simplistic, often dark and with a psychoanalytical edge.
Major achievements in opera: Major breakthrough with Nozze di Figaro in Salzburg 2006. One of the most sought-after directors of today. Director of the Hamburg Ring.
CLAUS GUTH - SELECTED PRODUCTIONS
Die Meistersinger, Barcelona Liceu 2009:
Hamburg Ring- Götterdämmerung 2011:
Parsifal, Liceu Barcelona 2011:
GUTH ON DVD
Iphigenie en Tauride, Zurich, 2001
Zaide/Adama, Salzburg 2006
Nozze di Figaro, Salzburg 2006
Ariadne auf Naxos, Zürich 2006
Fierrabras, Zürich 2007
Don Giovanni, Salzburg 2008
Cosí Fan Tutte, Salzburg 2009
Messiah, Theater an der Wien, 2009
Zaide/Adama, Salzburg 2006
Nozze di Figaro, Salzburg 2006
Ariadne auf Naxos, Zürich 2006
Fierrabras, Zürich 2007
Don Giovanni, Salzburg 2008
Cosí Fan Tutte, Salzburg 2009
Messiah, Theater an der Wien, 2009
CLAUS GUTH - LIVE PERFORMANCES REVIEWED BY MOSTLY OPERA
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