Brigitte Reiffenstuel Archives

Der Rosenkavalier – MET Opera Live in HD

16Apr

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Der Rosenkavalier – MET Opera Live in HD

Paula Suozzi’s revival of Robert Carsen’s 2017 production, which moved the setting from the cusp of revolution in the 18th century to the brink of World War I in 1911, the year in which it premiered, remains eerily evocative with its tale straddling three generations, the imminent collapse of the old order, the uncertainty of what is to come, and the maturity to accept both. The Marschallin (Lise Davidsen) is having an affair with the young count Octavian (Samantha Hankey) whilst her country cousin, Baron Ochs (Gunther Groissböck) is engaged to Sophie (Erin Morley), the young daughter of a nouveau-riche arms dealer, Faninal (Brian Mulligan). When Ochs meets Octavian, hastily disguised as a chambermaid to avoid discovery, he makes advances towards ‘her’ and the Marschallin is appal...

Don Carlos – The Metropolitan Opera, New York

The Met Opera’s original five-act French version of Verdi’s epic opera of doomed love among royalty is in fact an amended version of the 1867 Paris edition with some omissions as well as the addition of elements from later Italian versions, but if the intention was to serve up the best version possible then there is no doubt that this comes pretty close with the magnificence of its delivery. Photo: Ken Howard It's a tough story with far too real parallels to events unfolding in the Ukraine which serves to reinforce the piece’s uncompromising assessment of the ways of human nature as we are thrust via a love triangle into the courtly world of 16th Century Spain complete with its religious Inquisition and destructive suppression of protest in Flanders. At almost five hours, there is...

Faust – Royal Opera House

Everybody knows the tale of Faust although Gounod’s popular five-act, Parisian grand opera from 1859 is in fact adapted from Michel Carré’s play ‘Faust et Marguerite’ which was itself based on Part I of Goethe’s epic poem Faust. Very much reflective of the nature of Second-Empire Paris at that time, the obvious question is whether its themes remain relevant and recognisable to a 21st C audience. Director David McVicar wisely recognised that human nature doesn’t really change and the issues of sensuality and hedonism, religion and morality, bourgeois consumption versus socialist redistribution, to name but a few at the heart of this opera, continue to go hand in hand, and his richly layered 2004 production for Royal Opera House brilliantly captured these through the artificial edifices o...