It is a strong but daring idea to give Die Tote Stadt without intermission, 2 hours 20 of often furious continuity: it is only necessary that Paul, tenor protagonist, constantly to a crucifying tessitura, lends himself to it. The young American Michael Hendrick does it, still capable of a piano line that brings tears to the eyes in the final reprise, as remembered in it, the song Glück das mir verblieb. And it pays off, dramatically, completely.
It is a strong but daring idea to give Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City) without intermission, 2 hours 20 of often paroxysmal continuity: it is only necessary that Paul, tenor protagonist, constantly in a crucifying tessitura, lends himself to it . The young American Michael Hendrick does it, still capable of a piano line that brings tears to the eyes in the final reprise, as remembered in it, of the song Glück das mir verblieb. And it pays off, dramatically, completely, because the device imagined for Philipp Himmelmann director, with floors and lockers, precisely allows in its continuity the play of apparitions, of lures more precisely, of false contacts (and therefore misunderstandings) which makes up the whole intrigue of this opera of fantasies and phantasmagorias given here with a stage obviousness, a palpability that we have not experienced elsewhere.
This would not be possible without the astonishing physical ease of Marietta (Marie), a dancer according to the libretto and to whom Helena Juntunen (opposite) — in addition to the range, for her also crucifying — lends a striking plasticity. Neither the orchestra led by Daniel Klajner nor the pure vocal luxuriance of the singers can compete with the very recent performances of the Opéra Bastille, the performance of Pinchas Steinberg remaining untouchable. But dramatically, scenically, in its breathtakingly compelling plausibility, its effectiveness, this Tote Stadt by Nancy is simply exemplary.
Die Tote Stadt
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Nancy
National Opera of Lorraine
05/09/2010 – and 12, 14*, 16, 18 May 2010
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Die tote Stadt
Michael Hendrick (Paul), Helena Juntunen (Marietta), Thomas Oliemans (Franck), Nadine Weissmann (Brigitta), Andr? Morsch (Fritz), Andr? Post (Victorin, Gaston), Yuree Jang (Juliette), Aurore Ugolin (Lucienne), Alexander Swan (Count Albert)
Choir of the National Opera of Lorraine, Les Mirabelles children’s choir, Nancy Symphony and Lyric Orchestra, Daniel Klajner (musical direction)
Philipp Himmelmann (stage direction), Raimund Bauer (design), Bettina Walter (costumes), Gérard Cleven (lighting), Martin Eidenberg (video)
(© Opéra national de Lorraine)
Would La Ville Morte (1920) finally enter the mainstream repertoire in France? Eight months after its reappearance in Paris, which had not seen it since the stage premiere in France in 2001 (only!), the National Opera of Lorraine is producing it a new production? also mark with a white stone.
Philipp Himmelmann seems to have won? The confidence of the house since it recently staged Le Chevalier? the rose and Grandeur and decadence of the city of Mahagonny. His first collaboration with Raimund Bauer, who designed the sets (superbly lit by Gérard Cleven), led to a powerful visual, more dreamlike than fantastic and based on clever mirror effects and, above all, multiplication. Paul’s living room, summary? ? an armchair and a floor lamp, is reproduced? the same until six copies on two levels which gives? this scenography at first glance disconcerting the appearance of a chessboard. As they never appear together in a box, the singers are therefore confronted with each other? a double challenge: interacting in perfect synchronization with their partner without noticing them while assuming the difficulties of their game. Thus Paul never meets Marietta in whom he sees his deceased wife, having only been the fruit of his imagination from the start. Coming to reinforce the emotion of this collected spectacle, and taking place without intermission, a giant portrait of Marie, who comes to life in the first scene, covers the entire back of the stage. A somewhat scoundrel party in the following painting sets a striking contrast with the intense poetry which dominates this in-depth reading of this masterstroke by a twenty-three-year-old Korngold.
The Nancy Symphony and Lyric Orchestra is on point and persuasive in this virtuoso and explosive score which summons, as everyone knows, Strauss, Puccini and even Stravinsky and Zemlinsky. Daniel Klajner avoids saturation, measures the power and nuances the dynamics, which ensures the transparency of the polyphony and preserves the voices, subject to the sound. tough test but enhanced by lyrical writing? wish. Alongside the very good Franck by Thomas Oliemans, Brigitta by Nadine Weissmann and Fritz by Andr? Morsch? excellent serenade in the middle table, the two main roles deserve the warmest praise. Michael Hendrick embodies a fragile and poignant Paul: no doubt he restricts his expressive register too much but the valor and the timbre are indeed those of a Heldentenor. For Marietta, the choice also paid off: Helena Juntunen also had the build required to counter the forces emanating from the pit. Tease, luscious, sensuality? sometimes flirting with vulgarity, the soprano misses no opportunity to spread her shapely legs in swings worthy of those of a Salom? but no vocal flaw spoils his composition.
Under the leadership of Laurent Spielmann for almost ten years, the Opra national de Lorraine has given pride of place to less popular works: encouraged? through this dazzling success, will he have the audacity to defend Violanta, Der Ring des Polykrates, Das Wunder der Heliane and Die Kathrin?
by André Tubeuf
Gobuz.com
http://www.qobuz.com/blogs/andretubeuf/2010/05/19/die-tote-stadt/