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SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL OPERA REVIEW
Richard Strauss, Salome
: Soloists, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor: Stefan
Soltesz. De Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam, 10. 11. 2009 (PK)
I already mentioned the fact that Konwitschny always finds
words, musical phrases or even single notes to justify his staging, but
this time more than ever many of these details seemed to have no connection
at all with the work as a meaningful entity, and there we come to the heart
of the matter. If you ask me where Konwitschny goes wrong, I think it is
just because he does not see the entity created by librettist and composer.
Undoubtedly every detail in his production will be originated by an element
in the score, but it is wrong to suppose that a word, a note or a phrase
has a meaning one can isolate from the context. In the contrary: it is just
the context that defines the meaning, not only the context of music and
words, but also the cultural and social context. By isolating a detail it
will be deprived from its real meaning and that is what Konwitschny does
again and again, going to the extreme in this Salome, that has nothing
to do with the play by Oscar Wilde or the opera by Richard Strauss.
Cast:
Annalena Persson (Salome)
Doris Soffel (Herodias)
Barbara Kozelj (Page)
Marcel Reijans (Narraboth)
Gabriel Sade (Herodes)
Albert Dohmen (Jochanaan)
Alascair Elliott, Marcel Beekman, Jean-Léon Klostermann, Pascal Pittie,
Andrew Greenan (Juden)
Julian Tovey, Andrew Morsch (Nazarener)
Alexander Egorov, Patrick Schramm (Soldaten)
Jacques Does (Ein Cappadocier)
Production:
Director: Peter
Konwitschny
Sets and costumes: Johannes Leiacker.
One of the most controversial
directors of our time is Peter Konwitschny, son of the conductor Franz Konwitschny.
His productions are always surprising and full of unexpected details, but
it is very difficult to accuse him of being unfaithful to the score. He
really knows the libretti and the scores of the operas he is staging, and
he seems always able to parry any criticism with elements from the music
or the libretto.
After some years with only a few revivals in his name the Netherlands
Opera convinced him to return to the theatre with a new production of Richard
Strauss's Salome , which subsequently was presented as a major event.
A few days before the first night the Netherlands Opera even sent a letter
to its subscribers to inform them about the importance of this event and
the importance of this German director, but also to warn them about the
unusual production they were going to witness...
And an unusual production it was indeed. From the first moment all the soloists
were captured in a closed room with a long dinner table, suggesting to some
the image of a 'decadent' modern society going towards its end. Apparently
Jochanaan has to participate in this 'Last Supper' against his wishes: he
is sitting behind the table all the same, but most of the time he has his
head hidden in a paper bag which he only puts aside to preach, to have an
occasional drink with Herod or for some other, somewhat unexpected diversions.
In all this Konwitschny, brought up in former Eastern Germany and following
the traditional communist iconography, had deprived the word 'decadent'
of all traces of delectation, luxury and refinement. To him 'decadent' seemed
synonymous to the debauched extravaganza of perverted capitalism and he
grasped every opportunity to make this clear. The audience saw Herodias
copulating with everyone, including Jochanaan, under the table, on the table,
in front of the table and behind the table, and Herod's page (no travesty
but a maiden with a chef's cap in this performance) was delivering sexual
services to Narraboth, while Narraboth himself was raped after his suicide
by all the males available, including even Jochanaan and the nearly impotent
Herod.
The only character who did not take part in all these activities
was Salome, who only had to endure the fact that all the Jews laid their
hands on her, but she seemed used to that. Also her dance with the table
cloths - with the assistance of a drunk Herodias - lacked all eroticism,
but the greatest surprise came when her closing scene developed into a real
love scene with Jochanaan. At first there is also a copy of his head, but
as he himself gets more interested in Salome, this spare head ascends to
the ceiling as a new moon (the old one, a white balloon, has exploded some
time before) and at the end of the opera both leave the stage in close harmony.
Annalena Persson (Salome) and Gabriel Sade (Herodes)
In this case the extreme abundance of details not only detracted
from the work itself and from the performance as a whole, but Strauss' score
was also degraded to musical wallpaper, although this was not only the fault
of the production. Thanks to the uninspired conducting by Stefan Soltesz
the unbalanced, weakly articulated playing of the Netherlands Philharmonic
Orchestra went by practically unnoticed and only the strong involvement
of some of the soloists succeeded in breaking the musical impasse. Fine
performances came from Albert Dohmen as an integer Jochanaan and from Marcel
Reijans as an impetuous Narraboth. Less satisfying was the uneven and badly
focussed Herod of Gabriel Sadé, while the new Swedish soprano Annalena
Persson only convinced by the visual portrayal of the title role. Her voice
lacked the necessary colours and her timbre became thinner as the vocal
line went higher and only during the closing scene there were some moments
of vocal charm. If Herod's page also became colourless, it may be caused
by the production more than by Barbara Kozelj, who displayed a fine mezzo-soprano,
but was hampered by a character that became totally incredible. The opposite
happened to Doris Soffel, who got the chance to create a greater-than-life
Herodias, and who obviously enjoyed herself in a production she could completely
dominate with strong singing and extravagant acting.
A Dutch language version of this review
is published in Opus Klassiek
Pictures
© Monika Rittershaus