SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Other Links

Editorial Board

Google Site Search

R. Strauss: Elektra (in concert): Soloists, Lorin Maazel (conductor), New York Philharmonic, Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, 13.12.2008 (BH)

R. Strauss: Elektra, Tragedy in One Act (1908)

Lorin Maazel, conductor
Deborah Polaski (Elektra)
Anne Schwanewilms (Chrysothemis)
Jane Henschel (Clytemnestra)
Julian Tovey (Orestes)
Richard Margison (Aegisthus)
Jessica Klein (Clytemnestra's Confidante)
Renee Tatum (Clytemnestra Trainbearer)
Ryan MacPherson (Young Servant)
Frank Barr (Old Servant)
Matt Boehler (Orestes's Tutor)
Helen Huse Ralston (Overseer)
Janice Meyerson (First Maid)

Stephanie Chigas (Second Maid)

Linda Pavelka (Third Maid)

Priti Gandhi (Fourth Maid)

Julianne Borg (Fifth Maid)
New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director


Now this is the Lorin Maazel I admire, coupled with the New York Philharmonic in inspired form.  Although I'd heard advance reports of the first nights of this concert version of Elektra, I was not entirely prepared for such a spellbinding two hours.  From the casting—almost perfect to a fault—to the commitment of the orchestra, all combined under Maazel's steely focus to create an extraordinary experience that rushed past my ears like a fireball.

Strauss wrote a very loud score.  The temptation is always there to allow the instrumental portions to dominate, obliterating any vocal fireworks, especially with the stage of Avery Fisher Hall filled with musicians from wall to wall.  But with Deborah Polaski in charge as the title character, regally dressed in a kimono-like robe with blood-red accents, any fears about balance were quickly dashed.  Her opening monologue came at the audience like a comet.  The part requires almost nonstop vocalizing for the larger part of the opera, and except for a few moments when she had her back to the audience and sipped a bottle of water, much of the time she was facing the audience, pouring out sound and treachery.

Equally riveting was Anne Schwanewilms as Chrysothemis, piercingly accurate.  The scene in which she and Elektra decide on their murderous course was sung with chilling exactitude.  As Clytemnestra, Jane Henschel added a monstrous cackle to steely resignation, singing of images of decay and a "moth-eaten garment."  All the while Polaski stood smirking; in my notes I wrote, "Sick, sick, sick!"  The climactic scene in which Elektra stands before the still-living Orestes shows Strauss at his most extravagantly chromatic, with legendary orchestral chords into which the Philharmonic plunged with complete abandon.  Julian Tovey made a touching Orestes, with Richard Margison equally moving as the doomed Aegisthus, and the rest of the cast could hardly be bettered. 

When the killing began, a howling scream from the back of the hall startled many in the audience; I know I flinched in surprise.  Also in the back of the tier, a small contingent of New York Choral Artists was spine-tingling.  An advantage to doing Richard Strauss's bloodbath in concert is that the orchestral passages, usually relegated to the pit, are shoved into the sunlight in all their catastrophic glory.  The opera becomes almost unbearably powerful, with the granitic orchestral contribution flooding the audience, illuminating a family utterly out of control.

Bruce Hodges

^{Back to Top                                                    Cumulative Index Page}