I know Christoph Marthaler’s Tristan und Isolde from DVD and was not really excited about seeing it live. Maybe low expectations have done the trick for me. I still dislike the production – it is so minimalistic than it is even difficult to hate it. If the director could have stripped the staging from every [...]
Archive for August, 2011
Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Bayreuther Festspiele, 22.08.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Bayreuther Festspiele, Irène Theorin, Jukka Rasilainen, Michelle Breedt, Peter Schneider, Robert Dean Smith, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde on August 22, 2011 | 13 Comments »
Wagner’s Parsifal, Bayreuther Festspiele, 21.08.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Bayreuther Festspiele, Stefan Herheim, Susan Maclean, Wagner's Parsifal on August 22, 2011 | 7 Comments »
I have to confess: Stefan Herheim’s production of Wagner’s Parsifal was one of the toughest cookies I had to deal with. Although, on a purely aesthetic level, he had won me over with his exquisite and complex visual concept, he set my brain to work throughout the opera and for some hours after that. Then [...]
Wagner’s Lohengrin, Bayreuther Festspiele, 20.08.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Bayreuther Festspiele, Georg Zeppenfeld, Klaus Florian Vogt, Petra Lang, Samuel Youn, Wagner's Lohengrin on August 21, 2011 | 10 Comments »
Hans Neuenfels would be disappointed to discover that, instead of feeling provoked by his staging of Wagner’s Lohengrin (as he says to fear in the program), the audience in Bayreuth would welcome it effusively. It is also true that the enthusiasm gave the impression of a statement: I wouldn’t say that everyone in the theater [...]
Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Bayreuther Festspiele, 19.08.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Bayreuther Festspiele, Günther Groissböck, Thomas Hengelbrock, Wagner's Tannhauser on August 20, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Jim Davis’s Garfield once said “if you want to look thinner, hang around people fatter than you”. Now I understand Katharina Wagner’s smirk while being booed after yesterday’s performance of her production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. This evening, deafened by the thunderous Boo-fest reserved to Sebastian Baumgarten for his production of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, I [...]
Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürberg, Bayreuther Festspiele, 18.08.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Bayreuther Festspiele, Georg Zeppenfeld, Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on August 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Never say “never”. I clearly remember saying that I would never see Katharina Wagner’s staging of her great-grandfather’s Meistersinger, but here I am to witness its last performance before it is finally discarded for good. As in previous runs, the stage direction has been retouched and, if I may say something positive, I would acknowledge [...]
R. Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten, Salzburger Festspiele,14.08.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Christian Thielemann, Evelyn Herlitzius, R. Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten, Salzburg Festpiele, Stephen Gould, Wolfgang Koch on August 14, 2011 | 6 Comments »
R. Strauss’s Frau ohne Schatten’s first studio recording has a legendary status – Karl Böhm tried to convince Decca’s Moritz Rosengarten to take profit of his excellent Vienna State Opera cast and record the opera for the first time. Rosengarten agreed to the proposal but offered him such a limited budget that the cast was [...]
Janacek’s Vec Makropulos, Salzburger Festspiele, 13.08.2011
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Angela Denoke, Janacek's Vec Makropulos on August 13, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Janacek’s fantastic opera Vec Makropulos is a favorite with intense singing actresses and has appeared more and more in the seasons of opera houses around the world – but it is not yet a regular item. For instance, this is the first time I have ever seen this opera in the theater. As almost everyone, [...]
Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Salzburger Festspiele, 13.08.2011
Posted in Reviews, tagged Genia Kühmeier, Marlis Petersen, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Salzburger Festspiele on August 13, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Although Claus Guth’s production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro has been taped and released on DVD in its original run, when Anna Netrebko sang the role of Susanna and Nikolaus Harnoncourt led the Vienna Philharmonic, I would say that this year’s reprise would have made a more significant document. Not only is the musical [...]
