Past Production Reviews
5Mauro Peter incarne un Narraboth lumineux et émouvant, qui pointe son poignard sur Jochanaan avant de le diriger contre lui-même. Michaela Schuster est une Hérodiade cynique et condescendante, alors que Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke compose un Hérode faible et veule qui ne peut à aucun moment masquer son désir pour Salomé. Pour la petite histoire, on signalera que chacun des cinq juifs est chanté par trois interprètes différents, Andreas Homoki ayant découvert dans la partition une note de Strauss disant que les voix des solistes pouvaient être remplacées par des choristes talentueux, à la discrétion du chef. La saison lyrique zurichoise a démarré sous les meilleurs auspices.
Das interessante Bühnenbild besteht aus einer Scheibe am Himmel, welche den Mond darstellt und sich auf dem Boden in gleicher Größe widerspiegelt und als bewegliche Spielfläche dient. Aus dem verborgenen Palast, führt ein Steg hinüber zur sichtbaren Welt. Über sie betreten die Darsteller die Bühne. Dort symbolisiert ein riesiger Mahlstein die zerstörerische Kraft, welche sich langsam und drohend auf das Geschehen zubewegt.
West Side Story, an unconventional choice for a festival that focuses on classical music and opera, but a great success, which has also been planned for a run of long sold out performances at the Summer Festival. Bartoli is Maria, in a role which has been tailored to fit her by stage director Philip Wm. McKinley. She is already on stage before the music begins, in a prologue that the director has created in order to show what Maria is doing twenty years after Tony’s death - she’s still working in the tailor shop, and when the working day is finished sets out to walk home in the neighborhood in which two decades before she found and lost the love of her life. In the street, she thinks and remembers. And there starts the music, with Bartoli on stage for the whole of the performance, among the memories of her youth. She is doubled by another, younger Maria, Michelle Veintimilla, who takes part in the action and the dialogue but does not sing - all the singing belongs to the older Maria’s memories, and is accordingly performed by Bartoli. This looks a little awkward during the duets, but in general it works and is compelling. Bartoli’s operatic voice is somewhat too heavy for musicals, and the vibrato may at moments sound inappropriate, but she sings with delicacy and tenderness, and the applause that met her rendition of Somewhere was fully deserved. As Tony, tenor Norman Reinhardt sounded more at ease with the lighter singing style and showcased his excellent vocal skills in the aria Maria. All other singers had a background in musicals and were great performers, especially Karen Olivo, ideally cast as Anita.
Kristina Mkhitaryan, appearing in Zurich for the first time, is an exquisite Violetta. She turned Hermann’s portrayal into her own; she was desperate to host a party in Act I without cracking up, she was taken aback by Liparit Avetisyan’s Alfredo as he offered unwelcome and genuine love, and she was launched into brief and nescient bliss in Act II in her untenable household. Be it said that Mkhitaryan’s topmost coloratura flirted with harshness on this evening, and that her ‘Sempre libera’ high E flat was ever so briefly pinged before she eagerly descended back to safety. Yet even would-be blemishes served her portrayal – more vocal confidence would have undercut her Violetta’s uncertain rage and tantrums. (This Violetta hits on waiters at her banquet when confronted with her implicit demise.) Mkhitaryan is otherwise sumptuous: lithe Italian, mature control of dynamics, and a way of inhabiting each line and phrase, giving it all real meaning. She managed to deliver three distinct stages of life over three acts by means of subtle stylistic variation. Do I have to mention how hard that is?
