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Wagner,  Tannhäuser: Soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of Greek National Opera / Philippe Auguin (conductor) Athens Concert Hall, 24.1.2009 (BM)

Picture © Stefanos

If sitting through a Wagner opera is not your idea of how to spend a Saturday evening, even though you’re otherwise quite partial to music theater, here is a show that just might change your mind. Graham Vick is a inspired director by any measure, and this particular production is remarkable because although it is not set in the present, it conveys quite a contemporary outlook on love and the trouble it can cause, a subject almost everyone is interested in, whether they care to admit or not. Wagner knew that villainizing the carnal dimension of love would be bound to result in disaster – even the Pope knows that these days. But this reading avoids the triteness of blaming Tannhäuser’s downfall on the women in his life, showing that his irresolvable inner struggle for fulfillment is not uncommon at all – perhaps not unlike that of a husband who takes off with his mistress, only to find that neither does this solve his problems, nor can he make things work with his wife anymore. This is a tale that does not require modern trappings – indeed, the period costumes by Paul Brown were handsome and intricate - in order to remind you of that dire 1980s film, ‘Fatal Attraction’. Regrettably, society is sometimes just as quick to condemn people for giving in to desire today as it was in the 13^th century.

It was the hustle and bustle of the opera’s great ensemble scenes that brought this staging together. However, unlike a Zefirelli production, they refrained from burdening the naked eye with more than it can take in. All this was achieved against the backdrop of an extremely versatile set (also by Paul Brown), in the center of which stood a tree, green and leafy in the first act, barren in the second and charred in the third, but then sprouting fresh shoots (the Pope has decreed that he can no more grant Tannhäuser absolution than green leaves can grow on his staff). And the superb finale assured us that we fallible humans are entitled to kindness, peace, honor, hope and care - the words painted in red on a row of young choristers’ chests.

Of course none of these ideas could have been conveyed so strongly without the involvement of many excellent musicians, and here the ensembles were rather more exciting than the soloists. Under Philippe Auguin, Greek National Opera’s orchestra played well beyond its means, a long-awaited opportunity for it to show what it can achieve when motivated to do so. Nikos Vassiliou’s GNO Chorus rose to the occasion, contributing spellbinding moments, along with the Rosarte Children’s Choir, making its debut at the Megaron and impressive in volume and accuracy. John Treleaven did a dignified, if not thrilling job with his title role, but many of us have heard him in more breathtaking form, so I will not dwell on that. Since one of the original cast members left the production in a huff about a month ago, Lise Lindstrom was called upon to sing both Elisabeth (with exhilarating top notes) and Venus (who could have done with a somewhat more mellow tone, but how much can you ask of one and the same person?), resulting in a well-earned standing ovation. Of their co-stars, Martin Snell as Herrmann, Rolf Haunstein as Bitterolf and John Horton Murray as Walther von der Vogelweide deserve to be mentioned, as well as baritone Ashley Holland’s somewhat idiosyncratic Wolfram, who was quite convincing in voice and character.

It’s hardly news that you don’t need to go to Bayreuth to see good Wagner, but nonetheless this was an utterly unexpected treat for the city of Athens. No one knows how GNO managed to pull this production off despite its notoriously limited means, so one can only hope they will do it again soon. And if, to quote Graham Vick, ‘opera needs to change’ to reach new audiences and remain viable – and it does – then this is most definitely the direction it should be going in.

Bettina Mara


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