Some of what one hears there is
as fine as any opera in the world today; the rest comes close. M¸nchenís
July Summer Festival may lack the superstar glitz of neighboring Salzburg,
but it offers wider repertoire in greater acoustical intimacy at one third
the priceóand, outside the door, the urban amenities are far more
plentiful. This year I attended new productions of Mozartís
Idomeneo and Busoniís Doktor Faust.
The Idomeneo was bound to be special, as it marked the 350th
anniversary of the construction of the CuvilliÈs
Theateróa Rococo gem where Mozart premiered the work in 1781. (But not,
strictly speaking, the very spot where he did so. The theater was dismantled
during World War II to avoid Allied bombing that destroyed its original
location in Munichís downtown Residenz Palace. It was reconstructed after
the war in an adjoining section of the palace.) The theater has recently been
newly re-renovated with the attention to detail that epitomizes the Bavarian
devotion to their past, including a delicate pastel-colored forecourt, now
glass-covered, that magically shifts mood with the deepening summer
twilight.
Idomeneo marked Mozartís operatic liberation. The invitation to
write an opera for M¸nchen in 1781 freed the young composer from
Salzburgís provincial confines. For the first time, some of Europeís best
musicians were at his disposal. In the overture, Mozartís pent-up energy
explodes in bravura wind passages, sharp brass chords, and sweeping
orchestral tuttis. The architectural anniversary was surely an
appropriate moment to let the orchestra, led by M¸nchenís Music Director
Kent Nagano, speak for itself.
It was not to be. No sooner had Nagano given the downbeat than dozens of
soldiers dressed in football pads cum Star Wars Storm Trooper suits
ran on stage to simulate Trojan War tableaux with a ruckus of splattered
blood. And so it went. Dieter Dornís chaotic visual energy can be
invigorating, but it is more often exhausting, burying Mozart under mayhem.
He tends, moreover, to fall back on Regietheater clichÈs: the rear
wall of the theater served as the backdrop, broken historical artifacts
littered the stage, costumes confused time and place, crowds glared angrily
at aristocrats, who in turn clutched the scenery.
Still, I have to confess I loved a few of Dornís concepts. During
Elettraís final showpiece aria, rather than having her squirm and twist in
a torment of ìserpents and addersî, as one conventionally sees, Elettra
inadvertently calls forth slimy, blood-stained furies out of the floor, who
pull her down to hellóa female Don Giovanni. It is high camp, of
course, but it brings the text onomatopoeically to life. In a more realistic
production, it would work even better: Someone should steal the idea.
Musically, this Idomeneo labors under two disadvantages. First,
despite the charm and intimacy of the CuvilliÈs, everyone sounds hoarse.
Unflattering acoustics, it is said, are a result of a concrete shell
irreversibly laid in the post-war renovation. Second, who decided to eschew
the now commonplace mezzo Idamante in favor of a tenor, with its far less
poignant Act III writing? (While we are at it, who decided, amidst an
otherwise largely uncut Idomeneo–indeed, with the extra ballet music at the
endóto excise the second verse of “O voto tremendo”, one of the
most spine-tingling moments in all of Mozart opera?) We live, after all, in
an era of great lyric mezzos. I hope the decision was not taken to profile
the Slovakian tenor Pavol Breslik. He may be the hot young Mozartian in
Europe today. But his heady, unsupported tone grated after a while and seemed
not to promise a long career. Perhaps I just caught him on an off night or in
unfavorable acoustics.
Far more impressiveóthe highlight of the evening vocallyówas John Mark
Ainsley in the title role. To be sure, the voice is on the light side for a
role often assumed these days by heavyweights (even Pl·cido Domingo). But
one hears every note come scritto and unfudged, with interpolations
superaddedóa spectacular achievement rare on stage. Juliane Banse, by
contrast, sounded as if she may have outgrown Ilia, at least in small halls:
Unevenness of color and weight undermined the nobility of her
characterization. Rainer Trostís Arbace had more weight and warmth, but the
voice sounds worn. Young Berlinerin Annette Dasch made an exciting,
good-looking, but vocally bland, Elettra.
Naganoís approach was more relaxed and less idiosyncratic than in his
2004 Los Angeles performances, and the orchestra responded brilliantly. Yet
one wondered why he was conducting Idomeneo when he might have waited one
night and conducted the premiere of Busoniís unfinished masterpiece,
Doktor Faustóa score of which he is perhaps todayís leading
exponent, having recorded it for Erato just a few years ago.
Instead we got Tom·ö Netopil, a young Czech about whom no one knew much.
Conducting Busoni is a difficult task: The polyglot composer cycles through
an eclectic range of forms, which he deploys with a mixture of German
modernism and Italianate post-Romanticism. Netopilës take on Busoni is
impressive without being entirely convincing: He thins the orchestral sound
to an impressionist shimmer, then punctuates it with harsh expressionist
blasts. Despite the fuller acoustics of the National Theater, one feels
the absence of Busoniís sensuous Italian side, as well as any serious
attempt to integrate the score into a compelling whole.
The rising young Wagnerian baritone Wolfgang Koch, making his house debut,
strained at times to project over Netopilís orchestra, but nonetheless
handled the title role with clear tone and diction. Still, his is not a
characterization distinctive enough to challenge memories of Fischer-Dieskau
or Hampson. British tenor John Daszak did justice to Mephistopheles, if
similarly without that extra touch of suaveness and assurance. The Duchess of
Parma, by contrast, is a sure-fire soprano turn. She comes on midway through
a ìdifficultî opera without other female leads: The setting is romantic,
the character sexy, the music Busoni at his most Puccinian, and (in this
production) she takes off most of her clothes. No wonder Californian
Catherine Naglestad was an audience favorite. With shimmering Mozartian tone,
she earned it honestly.
And what of the staging? Like Dornís Idomeneo, Nicolas
Briegerís production of Doktor Faust is constructed like a
contemporary art work: a series of stunning, sometimes shocking visual
tableaus that do not quite add up. The idea is to present Faust as mid-life
crisis: a frustrated and solipsistic modern artistóa man stuck in a rut of
sterile self-portraitureógets in touch with his inner demons. The idea is
hackneyed, even a bit silly, but some of his theatrical concepts are clever:
The temptations of youth are bronze nude dancers hanging from the ceiling.
Mephistopheles emerges from Faustís ass as an evil twin biker in drag. The
Parma scene ends with only the adulterous duchessís wedding dress left
standing center stage. Faust conjures up Helen of Troy in the form of large
letters spelling H-E-L-E-N-A: an abstraction, rather than a reality.
Yet much else muddied the central concept: Why, in the mid-life crisis
view, is Parma the land of Fascist bosses, pastel zoot-suits and tiny
buildings? Why is Wittenberg filled with candles? Why is Faust an artist
anyway? As often the case in director-led productions, moreover, visual
pyrotechnics come at the cost of stage direction: Faust and the Devil grimace
and fulminate, but rarely truly engage with one another.
At the end of the evening, the directorial team opted for neither of the
available conclusions to Busoniís unfinished score, but instead abruptly
stopped the music where Busoni broke off his composition. Following the trail
blazed by the San Francisco Opera, the final lines were spokenóan
unsettling, enigmatic solution to a perennial problem.
Overall, Idomeneo and Doktor Faust were sophisticated
and engaging near-misses. Uneven casting, odd conducting choices, and
directorial overkill seemed to confirm rumors that the Bayerische Staatsoper
is suffering from a crisis of leadership since the departure of former
Intendant Peter Jonas in 2006. Local newspapers report that the arrival of
Intendant Klaus Bachler from Vienna this fall may even place Naganoís
status in question. One hopes not, and that this excellent company will
instead refocus its energy in the years to come. Even so, a few days at the
Bayerische Staatsoper are always very much worth the trip.
Andrew Moravcsik
Click
here for a photo gallery of
Idomeneo.
Click
here for a photo gallery of Doktor
Faust.
image=http://www.operatoday.com/Doktor_Faust.png
image_description=Scene from Doktor Faust (photo courtesy of Bayerische Staatsoper)
product=yes
product_title=Above: Scene from Doktor Faust (photo courtesy of Bayerische Staatsoper)