By Zenaida des Aubris , 08 November See full listing. Staatsoper Berlin. Alfons Flores , Set Designer. Lluc Castells , Costume Designer. La Fura dels Baus , Director. Emmanuel Carlier , Video Artist. Chiara Skerath , Ilione. Samuel Boden , Idamante. Enguerrand de Hys , Arcas. Yoann Dubruque , Eole, Neptune. Martin Harriague , Choreography. A superb musical foundation under Antonio Pappano forms the basis for a satisfying new Fanciulla del West at the Staatoper in Berlin.
Read reviews of. Related articles. More by Zenaida des Aubris. Zenaida des Aubris. Zenaida des Aubris, based in Berlin, has over 30 years experience in artist management and production of classical music and opera in the United States, Europe and Asia. Currently, she offers consultation to music competitions and schools as well as to individual recent graduates on how to manage themselves and kickstart their careers through her company Opera Career Advice.
All rights reserved. Click here for conditions of use. As Wagner wrote in Oper und Drama , French opera is unmasked as a coquette; so it is here in musico-dramatic terms, too. Nila Parly on Regietheater: Visions of the Ring. A documentary film directed by Susan Froemke and edited by Bob Eisenhardt. Mark Berry: Cassiers Ring. Jerry Floyd: Rheingold, Metropolitan Los Angeles Rheingold Tristan und Isolde benefits from a fine pairing in the title roles: Jerusalem and Meier.
Again, many of us will have favourites from the past, but these two are unlikely to be bettered in the present or the foreseeable future. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is of early Abbado vintage , sounding more traditionally German than it tends to do so nowadays. Though I should add that if you listen to the orchestra playing for Christian Thielemann, it still can sound as of old. Barenboim knows the score intimately, and handles it with evident loving care. It is a fine performance, nevertheless, and is unlikely to disappoint.
Sometimes the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, for all its virtues, sounds a little dull. The Bayreuth chorus is as splendid as one would expect — many thanks to Norbert Balatsch — but this is not a Meistersinger that is distinguished vocally. Seiffert as Walther again sings the part, but does not really go beyond that. There are, moreover, far more beautiful assumptions. Robert Holl and Andreas Schmidt are rather matter of fact as Sachs and Beckmesser; on a recording, one wants more than that.
Finally, Parsifal , perhaps the finest of the bunch. The Berlin Philharmonic sounds resplendent in guise, and even the recording location, the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, seems to play its part in permitting the score to bloom, not least in the choral scenes.
Barenboim guides these and indeed the rest not only with a sure hand but with a dramatic sense which must, at the very least, approach second-to-none amongst present-day interpreters. Again his ear for orchestral sonority works wonders here, but so does his experience of pacing. Jerusalem and Meier again make as fine a modern pair in the two central roles as one could hope for. There is, then, a great deal to recommend in this set.
As a set, however, this proves more than the sum of its parts. Mark Berry: Bayreuth Parsifal. Mark Berry: Bayreuth Festival: Parsifal. Colin Bayliss: Parsifal and anti-Semitism. He has written widely on intellectual, cultural, and musical history from the later seventeenth century to the present day. He will also co-edit the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Wagner's 'Ring'. Tristan und Isolde conductors at Bayreuth.
One of the finest monuments in sound ever to have been raised to the everlasting glory of music.
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