Michael Thalheimer’s non-staging of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail for the Deutsche Staatsoper has an interesting strategy to prevent the audience from running away during the interval – it has no intervals. The good news is that the transmigration for the Schillertheater has the dubious advantage of allowing the whole audience to see the show (in the old Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the director carefully chose every blind spot of the stage to place a singer on it). As a result, now the audience knows that there is very little difference between seeing and not seeing what does not happen in this production. Pity, for the cast here gathered could act.
Replacing an ailing Susan Gritton in the last minute, Cornelia Götz, scheduled to sing Blondchen later this year, jumped in for Konstanze, a role she has been singing for a while. I saw Ms. Götz only once, as an accurate but small-scale Queen of the Night at the Met a couple of years ago, something that accounts for the fact that I would not classify her as an “ambitious Blondchen”. Her soprano is creamier and fuller than many a Konstanze out there, but the easy and spontaneous top register resents a more “dramatic” approach and the low notes are only occasionally there. That said, what really matters is the fact that she is a natural Mozartian singer, with a truly lovely voice, almost perfect runs, a good trill and exquisite high mezza voce. She is also attentive to the words, adding some illuminating inflections here and there and reciting her dialogues with spontaneity and engagement. Since last year, Anna Prohaska’s Blondchen has become more natural, less heavily underlined and more seductive too, but she would have welcomed a less rapid tempo for Welche Wonne, welche Lust. Kenneth Tarver finds no difficulties in the role of Belmonte, pouring liquid coloratura throughout his entirely homogeneous voice. His tenore is a bit too leggero for Belmonte, but what may be bothersome after some time is the monochromatic quality of his singing. Florian Hoffmann’s Spieltenor proved to be more substantial and he is definitely more comfortable with the heroics of Frisch zum Kampfe. As for Reinhard Dorn, it is true that he is a legitimate basso profondo, who could tackle the impossible low notes without much ado. That said, his singing is so poorly supported that he basically speaks everything above his low register. I have to understand that he was in one of those days in which the voice is not really responsive and praise his professionalism in showing up on stage for a role so difficult to replace*. Friedrich Haider knows his Mozart and offered a variegated, lively and clear performance. The orchestra responded with spirit, being a central part of the action in its faithful portrayal of the wide range of emotional atmospheres in this score. The chorus was not immune to the animation and sang with enthusiasm and accuracy.
* It must be said that the gratitude for Cornelia Götz’s last-minute replacement in such a difficult role did not inspire the Staatsoper either to print a small notice for the cast-lists sold in the foyer or even – until now – to credit her on their website.
I HEAR VOICES 
I loved that production I saw in December (with the wonderful Christine Schäfer, but with a boring conductor: Moulds?). Sure, this is not classical realistic comedy, all the staging is made of a lot of very small things, but that is the fascinating thing, and the great actor as Selim (Sven Lehmann from the Deutsches Theater) is wonderful.
Not what you’re used to see on an opera stage, but very rich if you like Sprechtheater!
Hello, Rameau!
Well, I guess I was a bit luckier than you last time, for I got Philippe Jordan as conductor and he did a very good job.
As for Thalheimer’s production, I don’t have a problem with the concept (or non-concept) per se, I only think it serves rather the director than the composer and the librettist. In other words, I guess Mr. Thalheimer did his “thing” regardless it is Entführung aus dem Serail or Nozze di Figaro or Zauberflöte. Maybe I’m too thick to get through the concept, but in my opinion he did not address any of the issues of the libretto, except the language issue (which is an issue for him alone) and the let’s-call-it gender issue, which, ok, is important in the plot in the context of cultural differences – and the latter does not appear in this staging (other than in the shape of dialogues in two or three languages…).
I agree too that his stage direction is careful and shows in various details in his actors, but it is often too self-referrent and not based on the libretto. Pedrillo, for instance, is often so gloomy while the text says he is a bouncy fellow.
As for Sven Lehmann, I agree – he is a good actor, I’ve seen him a couple of times at the Deutsches Theater – and he was good last year, but not last night. The text got a monotonous, raucous machine-gun delivery with arbitrary pauses that made some people laugh for the wrong reasons.
I wonder when we´re going to see a truly dramatic voice, Callas-like, but keeping a mozartian line and homogeinity of registers, of course, singing Konstanze.
Hi, André!
Well, I guess Konstanze is seen as too much of a hardwork for the money 🙂 And it is not like Norma – when there is the soprano singing Norma andtheothersingers. As you have observed there is no complete recording with what one would call a soprano drammatico d’agilità such as Callas. If you’re really curious, Sutherland has recorded Matern aller Arten in German. Although Margaret Price was no dramatic soprano, I would probably call her the fullest-toned Konstanze in recordings (and she sings it beautifully too). Before you tell me, there is no Martern aller Arten in that recording, I write here that you can “borrow” it from her RCA Mozart recital 🙂
But back to Konstanze, it is a pity that June Anderson has never recorded it (I don’t even know if she actually sang the role). Do you know if Christina Deutekom ever sang it? Although her coloratura had this weird articulation, it was a truly powerful, flexible voice.
rml,
I think that Cheryl Studer (Bruno Weil recording) may come close of what you are looking for.
For my money, I prefer Arleen Auger on that Bohm’s recording for DG.
Well, Studer has never been a dramatic soprano either, rather a jugendlich dramatisch. Yes, her voice is/was bigger than most Konstanzes, but I don’t find her really at ease in that recording. Although Augér had a waaaaaaaay lighter voice, she was a gift from heaven in terms of Mozartian singing. If you have never listened to that live Mitridate from Salzburg (in which she sings Sifare rather than Aspasia), you owe yourself that. [side comment: for me, it is Kurt Moll in that Böhm recording who is worth ten times the price of the CDs. Nobody has ever sung that role better – and I doubt we’re going to see someone sing it like that again…]
I totally agree with you on Kurt Moll on that recording. However, I think that EVERYBODY (even Reri Grist) on that recording is worth 10 times the price of the CD. 🙂
Even Reri Grist 🙂 Blondchen is a tough piece of singing, people seem to forget… Schreier is not my favorite Belmonte, but it is one of his best Mozart recordings. Pity that Wunderlich’s studio recording lacks a company in the level of the one Böhm would gather for his DG recording.
rml,
Those staccatos that Mozart wrote for light sopranos were indeed tough. In opera, more than anything else, is there anything easy? 🙂
I don’t think that anything is _really_ easy, but some things are more flattering to the voice than other stuff. For example, in Don Giovanni, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira are a hard evening’s work and you generally can notice that, while with Zerlina it sounds just lovely.
That can be true, but try to say that to the poor soprano that sings Zerlina… 🙂
Roberto, i do agree with you about Price, this most elegant singer – it was really sad to me to know she passed away so soon. About Deutekom, well, I have to say that I really like her. Her coloratura has a kind of gargling quality (maybe she was the model for Bartoli… kkk) that can be really bothersome, but at the same time, it´s really impressive in its easyness. And, yes, there are many things she recorded from Serail in youtube! Just put Christina Deutekom Konstanze and be happy! kkkkk
If the subject is Arleen Auger, I think that Lenny couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His face on 2:26 was like there was nothing he needed to do there.
A singer works for years to perfect his technique and Mozart style (eveness of voice and line) and you damn him with faint praise! Would you prefer it if the Belmonte sang every second note in a different vocal position like Cecilia Bartoli? Mozart wrote the music: sing it well and hyper-expressivity ‘a la verismo’ is not what is required… “I hear voices indeed”…Get your hearing checked!
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