Předchozí recenze výroby
4"The Barber of Seville" was one of the greatest worldwide successes in opera history. Not at all since the premiere in the Teatro Argentina in Rome, where the commissioned work, composed in probably less than two weeks by the still twenty-three-year-old, was published on February 20, 1816. The premiere was a fiasco. But since the second, celebrated production on August 10, 1816 in Bologna, the work began its triumphal march through the world. However, the work was frequently edited and downright distorted.Only with the critical edition of Alberto Zedda, the doyen of Rossini researchers and conductors, which appeared in the Universal Edition in 1969 and is now also played in Dessau, was the work with its sources, musical structures and versions placed on a reliable basis. Of course, Zedda included everything that Rossini composed for this opera in his edition, for the respective self-service and individual compilation of the theaters performing the work. In Dessau, too, one hears many a new, unusual, astonishing thing. No autograph manuscript of the overture used at the premiere has survived. It is possible that Rossini composed an overture of his own, but most editions use one that had previously been used in two of Rossini's other operas, Aureliano in Palmira and Elisabetta Regina d'Inghilterra. This was also heard in Dessau. In general, Rossini quoted or reused some music numbers from the 17 other operas he had already composed and from other works. Nevertheless, the "Barber" is one of the most original, fastest comic operas of all time, a masterpiece and firework of melodies and rhythms, sparkling ensembles and brilliant arias, but also situational comedy and absurdly comical numbers, not to mention the pull of Rossini's orchestral crescendos . The staging of the host Johannes Weigand confidently tackles the situation comedy, Rossini and the Comedia dell' Arte-like plot. The plot itself is very simple: an old man falls in love with his ward. But a count forestalls him with the help of a shrewd barber and wins over the pretty and clever girl. But how Rossini's librettist Cesare Sterbini prepared the comedic plot (which had previously been "operated" many times) with disguises, improbabilities and a turbulent game of appearance and reality can only be called brilliant. Weigand picks up the ball and shows an arsenal of funny characters, a turbulent game about twisted truths, a solid situation comedy, masters the rushing events, hair-raising disguises and confusion that bend the beams. Far from all outrages and cheap slapstick. He can comedy! He employs the simplest means. It is anything but historicizing or opulent theater that one attends. His stage designer Moritz Nitsche actually only placed a white wall that could be folded up and down in many ways in front of a cyclorama. It is a play curtain, brecht curtain and scenic hinge, enabling interior and exterior spaces, passages and perspectives. A magnificent and simple production that dares to ramp up and allude to the audience, convincingly full of verve and poetry. Miriam Damm conjured up magical lighting moods with the lighting. The costumes by Judith Fischer ensure overwhelming opulence of the 18th century. The sensation, however, is the cast of singers. Anyone who thinks that good Rossini voices can only be heard in Pesaro (the Mecca of all Rossinians) will be proved wrong in Dessau. An ensemble has been summoned that could do credit to any opera house in the capital. The Italian tenor Enrico Iviglia, a tenore di grazia with high confidence and coratura, with a very virile, resounding, flexible, very cultivated voice sings Count Almaviva. A stroke of luck from Rossini singers. The Sofia-born bass-baritone Kostadin Argirov sings Doctor Bartolo, a bruised old man. Fabulous how he renders the technically demanding aria "A un dottor de la mia sorte" as a brilliant character piece, the fastest buffo babble ever written. The internationally acclaimed soprano Ania Vegry, born in London, sings Rosina with a bewitching voice, brilliant height and admirable fluency in coloratura. Not only their cavatina "Una voce poco fa" is frenetically cheered by the audience. One of the outstanding Baltic singers of his generation is the Lithuanian baritone Modestas Sedlevičius. He sings the devious barber Figaro as Dr. Nosferatu-like striking appearance with an impressive voice and sovereign playfulness beyond all conventions. His entrance aria "Largo al factotum" - one of Rossini's most famous catchy tunes - is a masterpiece of characterization of what the Rossini specialist Richard Osborne calls a "manifestation of the age-old driving force" and "embodiment of the libidinal élan vital". A stunner as Basilio is South Korean bassist Don Lee. His irresistible aria of slander 'La calunnia è un venticello', which is extremely popular with the audience, actually hits like the audible cannonball. But the rest of the ensemble of singers is also excellent, the choir rehearsed by Sebastian Kennerknecht is reliable and the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau plays flawlessly, albeit somewhat slowed down in the first part of the evening and - for Rossini - far too deep in the great ditch of the Dessau theater . Had it been placed at stage level, it would have sounded more brilliant and transparent, participating better in the 'playing' and singing. The Greek conductor Elisa Gogou, since the 2016/17 season first Kapellmeister and deputy general music director of the Anhalt Philharmonic Dessau, has admirably done everything "right" with this Rossini, has speed and speed, strength and chutzpah to bring this music to life. However, she lacks the "light touch", Italian elegance and cheekiness. It is a somewhat ponderous, at times deliberate conducting. Nonetheless, an unexpectedly great evening!
Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) is always out for emotional overpowering. In his last opera "Iolanta" he went one better. You can hardly avoid the story of the blind king's daughter, whose blindness is concealed, but who is able to see through the power of love. Musically, it is pure Russian pathos composed by a great romantic in top form, who was also working on his “Symphonie Patétique” at the same time. GMD Markus L. Frank at the podium of the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau almost revels in it. Without the protagonist ensemble getting any problems at all. Michael Schachermaier's production reveals right at the beginning that the whole thing is heading for a touching happy ending. Because the grown-up Iolanta returns to the place of her childhood, sees herself as a young girl who was wrongly persuaded that her eyes are only there for crying. Jessica Rockstroh's stage is a sanatorium, seems airy but confined. A royal retreat where no stranger is allowed to enter. Which of course happens. The knight Count Vaudémont, who enters here in a cosmonaut suit (with a supple tenor: Costa Latsos), falls in love with the sleeping king's daughter and tells her about the light. The king (grimly powerful: Don Lee) only wants to let him live if Iolanta, after being treated by the Moorish doctor Ibn Hakia (as a convincing stand-in: Valentin Anikin) will see. With Iordanka Derilova, Dessau has an ideal cast for Iolanta in its own ranks. The staging relies on subtle opulence: there are giant roses. The sisters' headdresses are reminiscent of angel wings. While the king and staff appear in everyday civilian or hospital garb, Ibn Hakia comes in a magic cloak, the knight as an astronaut and the original groom Robert (Dmitry Lavrov) as a knight from the fairy tale book (costumes: Alexander Djurkov Hotter). They are figures from the blind girl's toy suitcase, which suddenly appear alive in front of her. Iolanta sees, Robert breaks off the engagement, the king makes the intruder his son-in-law. The miracle actually happened. Schachermaier told the story (apart from the memory at the beginning) in a straightforward manner with a lot of empathy. In the end, joy triumphs over light. What would be better these days?
The musical "Cabaret" by Joe Masteroff (book), Fred Ebb (lyrics) and John Kander (music) has an unprecedented success story that is now being continued in Dessau-Roßlau in an artistically successful and politically consistent way. The way this work has to be brought to the stage: as a look at the Dance of Death of the Weimar Republic. [...] As long as we're allowed to play 'Cabaret', we should do it, the director wrote to the people of Dessau and to all of us in the programme. And that's how they play it: Highly committed, totally focused. And with everything that gets the little saved, big house on its feet. The staging uses a dramaturgical and technical trick in order to master this sheer size on the one hand and at the same time to bring the events very close to the viewer: the scenes are filmed with a video camera and broadcast live on a screen that is wide of the stage. […] Long, enthusiastic applause at the end for the whole ensemble, the Anhalt Philharmonic, the opera choir, the ballet and the extras, for the production team around Malte Kreutzfeldt as well as the musical and choir directors (Wolfgang Kluge, Sebastian Kennerknecht). Everyone did a marvelous job.
»The tragedy of Rigoletto (Ólafur Sigurdarson), who loses his beloved daughter Gilda (Ania Vegry) to his easy-going, unscrupulous boss, the Duke of Mantua (Costa Latsos), and who ends up holding her in his arms, is more elementary Power that you can hardly avoid it. [...] On a pleasantly sparingly equipped stage (Malte Kreutzfeldt), the occasionally lamented size of which makes the dimensions of Rigoletto's and Gilda's unhappiness and forlornness oppressively visible, even palpable, unfolds a game that is neither contemporary nor modern Arabesques in need. [...] Goosebumps theater, this opera from the 19th century! And also a pleasure for the ears. For all the necessary drama, there is a wonderfully light Verdi to be heard from the Graben, the Anhalt Philharmonic, directed by Elisa Gogou, makes music as cultivated as usual. " Andreas Montag, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, September 13th, 2021 »The director (Malte Kreutzfeldt), who also set up the stage, with his team around Katharina Beth (costumes) and Miriam Damm (lighting design) concentrated entirely on the emotional worlds of the protagonists. On the levels gradually rising into the background, nothing distracts from their torments, their strife, the longings and desires that are inherent in them - like all of us. The strict reduction to the essentials pays off. The thrift is rewarded with an almost overwhelming wealth of votes. [...] A strong choir under the direction of Sebastian Kennerknecht and Elisa Gogou at the podium of a Anhalt Philharmonic Orchestra, which plays energetically and does justice to the dramatic style at every moment, prove to be extremely reliable pillars of the opera evening, which is rated "outstanding" and "overwhelming" is almost inadequately described. " Andreas Behling, Zerbster Volksstimme, September 2021
