Vienna State Opera
Elektra
– Nina Stemme
Chrysothemis
– Regine Hangler
Klytämnestra
– Waltraud Meier
Orest
– Alan Held
Aegisth – Herbert Lippert
First
Maid – Monika Bohinec
Second
Maid – Ilsyear Khayrullova
Third
Maid – Ulrike Helzel
Fourth
Maid – Lauren Michelle
Fifth
Maid – Ildikó Raimondi
Overseer
– Donna Ellen
Young
Servant – Benedikt Kobel
Old
Servant – Dan Paul Dumitrescu
Orest’s tutor – Wolfgang Bankl
Confidante – Simina Ivan
Trainbearer – Zoryana Kushpler
Uwe Eric Laufenberg (director)
Karin Voykowitsch (revival director)
Rolf Glittenberg (set designs)
Marianne Glittenberg (costumes)
Andreas Grüter (lighting)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera
Michael Boder (conductor)
I first saw Uwe Eric Laufenberg’s production
of Elektra in
2014; two-and-a-half years on, it still impresses, although much seemed at
least a degree less sharp – not in pitch, well not always...! – than first time
around. Perhaps that is simply a reflection of available rehearsal time and the
travails of a repertory house. It had the consequence, to my mind somewhat
regrettable, of throwing the focus more upon the musical performances as such –
not, of course, that they are not greatly important – and less upon the sum of
the parts, or, if one must, the Gesamtkunstwerk.
As
I observed last time, Laufenberg’s production is intelligent throughout and,
for the work, intriguingly different, although not for the sake of
‘difference’. It is certainly infinitely preferable to his truly dreadful Bayreuth
Parsifal, which manages somehow
to be deathly boring and downright offensive at the same time. (Let us hope,
against hope, for major revisions this summer!) Rolf Glittenberg’s set designs
remain in keeping with the general ‘look’ of Elektra: does any major opera seem to lend itself less to a radical
change of scenery? Accentuating the domesticity is in line with the
Strauss-Hofmannsthal psychoanalytical approach to the myth. It is not that
there is anything small-scale about this, but we are reminded that this is a
home, a home of sadness, of ‘perversion’, whatever that might be, and far less
a political setting. That said, I thought the interwar – Nazi-ish – overtones
of the costumes, of the characters’ look, came across more strongly than last
time. This is not simply a place of death, but a place death has visited and
will not release for particular reasons. One need not worry too much about that
context if one does not wish, but the uniforms and dogs are suggestive.
The
lift connecting the palace proper to the courtyard remains a crucial cabinet of
movement, of display, a cabinet of curiosities taken to its deadly extreme. Klytämnestra
descends, twice (the second time dead) in it, and Aegisth never reaches the
top. Behind the glass, the characters, above all Klytämnestra already seems
encased, entombed: a taxidermist’s objet
d’art, as I thought of it last time. Again, I can imagine that some might
be irritated by the cliché of her wheelchair. But it is put to good, if
relatively straightforward, use. Once her retinue is out of the way, she can
put it to one side, actually engage with Elektra ‘as a mother’ – as Andrea
Leadsom might put it. The overtly ‘beautiful’ dancers and dancing at the close,
in counterpoint to Elektra’s own plight, continue to make an interesting, not
un-Adornian point concerning Strauss’s score. That Adorno was, I think, quite
wrong to condemn Strauss as he did is neither here nor there; we can argue
about that. There is something, though, to the hollowness of the ending that
merits exploration – and it receives that here.
I wrote at length on Nina
Stemme’s performance last time. She is a very great singer, of course, one who
pays a near ideal blend of attention – attention, moreover, that is fully
achieved – between words and vocal line. That said, her performance did not
grab me quite as it did in 2014, let alone as it did in the unforgettable Patrice
Chéreau production (which I saw on the Met cinema broadcast last year: much
better, incidentally, than when it came
to Berlin that autumn). Like much else on this occasion, there seemed to be
a relative disengagement. Waltraud Meier’s Klytämnestra likewise suffered from
that same comparison with New York. I yield to none in my admiration for her as
a singing actress, but the ‘singing’ part was unquestionably lesser on this
occasion. Regine Hangler was a highly variable Chrysothemis: sometimes wildly
out of tune, on other occasions – alas, too few – thrillingly able to ride the
orchestral wave. Her acting skills, though, proved rudimentary: a pity. Alan
Held’s Orest offered an estimable blend of musical values and subtle dramatic
psychopathy. Herbert Lippert’s Aegisth was, sadly, no better than last time.
The orchestra did not fail to impress; it would be a sad day indeed if this of
all orchestras did not in Strauss. However, it did not impress as it had done
under (the surprisingly good) Peter Schneider in 2014. Michael Boder knew how
the score went, but there was a touch of fuzziness around the edges by
comparison. Certain passages came a little too close to dragging. As for
Esa-Pekka Salonen in New York – or indeed, Daniele
Gatti in Salzburg a few years ago – that was conducting in a different
league altogether.
