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Munich Opera Festival 2008 (3) : R. Strauss, Arabella Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus Bayerisches Staatsoper  Conductor: Stefan Soltesz Münchner Opernfestspiele  Nationaltheater. 23. 7.2008 (JMI)

Production from Bayerische Staatsoper
Director: Andreas Homoki
Sets and Costumes: Wolfgang Gussmann
Lighting: Hans Toelstede

Cast:

Arabella: Pamela Armstrong, soprano
Zdenka: Marlis Petersen, soprano
Mandryka: Wolfgang Brendel, baritone
Matteo: Will Hartmann, tenor
Graf Waldner: Alfred Kuhn, bass
Adelaide: Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo soprano
Fiakermilli: Sine Bundgaard, soprano
Graf Elemer: Ulrich Ress, tenor
Graf Dominik: Christian Rieger, baritone
Graf Lamoral: Rüdiger Trebes, bass
Fortune Teller: Heike Grötzinger, soprano


Munich Opera Festival does not have quite the glamour of Salzburg or the mystique of Bayreuth;  neither does it have anything like Pesaro’s Rossini cult, nor the mass tourists of  Verona, Bregenz or Torre del Lago.  What it does have is a very intense month of opera during July each year, this time with no less than 18 different operas, in addition to ballet performances, recitals and concerts. So for me, the sum of titles, conductors, orchestra, chorus and singers appearing in Munich, place it at the top of all the Summer Opera Festivals.

My arrival in Munich coincided with the bad news of Anja Harteros’ cancellation as Arabella.  Am I jinxed? I ask myself, because last year the same thing happened  to me in Dresden  with Adrienne Pieczonka in this same opera. I hope that Ms. Harteros recovers for the concert next  Monday, where she  is announced to sing Richard Strauss’s  Four Last Songs.

Arabella is one of my favourite operas. It is truly Strauss ‘D.O.C’  (or maybe Qualitetswein mit Prädikat, Ed.) and at the top level. Those who have seen it will not easily forget the duet between the two sisters in first act, or the final scene. It is an opera where the music really flows and in addition it has the magnificent libretto by Hoffmannsthal.

The problem with Arabella  however is that it does not admit mediocrities. In order to do justice to this work, three elements are needed: a great conductor, an exceptional orchestra and a spectacular singer and actress as the protagonist. So my disappointment at the cancellation of Anja Harteros is very easy to understand.

Of the three necessary elements, we had the first in the figure of Stefan Soltesz, a prestigious conductor who is now Musical Director in Essen. Soltesz is much more than the typical effective Kapellmeister found in many theatres.  His musical interpretation was very good, particularly the first act. I never thought that its 1 hour and 10 minutes could pass so quickly, such was its interest. The remaining two acts did not have quite the same exceptional level, but they did not disappoint me either;  far from it. Of the second quality required, I never had any doubts. The Bayerische Staatsorchester was at its best, in a performance difficult to improve upon. It is a real privilege to listen to Strauss’s music with this orchestra.

For opera lovers of course, it is simply obvious that Arabella needs an exceptional soprano and does not work well with mediocre singers. For me nowadays,  there is only a handful of potentially important Arabellas: Renée Fleming, Adrienne Pieczonka, Karita Mattila, Soile Isokoski and Anja Harteros. The Finns do really not count at present: Mattila has not sung the role for a long while nor is it included in her forthcoming commitments. Isokoski, so far as I can tell, has never sung it and  she could now be too mature in any case to convince on the stage. With Harteros’ cancellation and with Adrienne  Pieczonka being in Munich already, that substitution would have seemed more than natural, but  today is the premiere of Ariadne auf Naxos in which the Canadian soprano is the protagonist. No  other solution was possible for Bavarian State Opera but to accept things  as they were and consider American soprano Pamela Armstrong a valid alternative, taking into account the situation. 

She is certainly a good singer, but not perhaps  one of the great ones and we were in Munich, a place which is very familiar with Strauss’s music and its demands, after all. Her voice is pleasant, she sings with good taste, but she is weak in the lower notes and some of the top ones  can be rather metallic. The costumes she was given didn't help her much either, robbing her of some of the much needed glamour for the role. She was therefore a decent enough  last minute substitution, but perhaps not everything that a Munich audience expects.

Wolfgang Brendel has been associated with the role of Mandryka for the  last  20 years, the true  heir of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the part. Today he does not have the vocal freshness of years ago, but he is absolutely convincing in a character which he has dominated for so long. Marlis Petersen made a wonderful Zdenka with a voice perfectly adapted to the demands of the score. I remember her as an excellent Zerbinetta last year and she continues to be a very interesting light soprano.

The German tenor Will Hartmann was a good Matteo, an expressive interpreter, with a voice somewhat lacking in colour, and some  rather tight high notes. Alfred Kuhn, who must be one of most venerable singers still active, made a more than worthy Count Waldner. His voice is surprising for a man of his age, although he takes refuge in parlando in some occasions. He was absolutely convincing as a character however.

Adelaide was Catherine Wyn-Rogers, who passed by without either pain or particular glory.  Danish soprano Sine Bundgaard's singing was not too brilliant  in the stratospheric Fiakermilli aria, in spite of being very much at home on stage. Tenor Ulrich Ress was a remarkable Count Elemer, while Christian Rieger and Rüdiger Trebes were well cast as Dominik and Lamoral  respectively.

The best asset of Andreas Homoki’s production is the stage direction which is extremely interesting, requiring no change of set from  a room with rich furniture that is up for sale and a bed in the centre of the stage. Small and imaginative changes bring the different scenes alive, although the sets themselves lack much intrinsic interest. Colourful costumes were provided by Wolfgang Gussmann, who was also responsible for the stage design. The lighting was also very good and generally  the production offers a lot of life on stage, but is rather short on glamour. I do confess though that  I missed the great stairs which feature in many productions and which are so fundamental to dramatising Arabella's presence. Perhaps I'm becoming old-fashioned!

A full house gave a warm reception to the singers and to Mr. Soltesz, the loudest applause going to Zdenka. Pamela Armstrong was received with  a mixture of applause and sonorous booing which was probably  unjust. But this was an  Arabella and in Munich the audience is far more tough-minded about German opera than they are about the Italian repertoire.

José M Irurzun


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