Hänsel und Gretel, Deutsche Oper, 4 January 2020

Images from the 1997 premiere: © Bettina Stöß

Peter – Noel Bouley

Gertrud – Heidi Melton

Hänsel – Jana Kurucová

Gretel – Alexandra Hutton

Witch – Andrew Dickinson

Sandman, Dew Fairy – Flurina Stucki

Andreas Homoki (director)

Wolfgang Gussmann (designs)

Silke Sense (revival director)

Children’s Chorus (chorus director: Christian Lindhorst) of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin

Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin

Donald Runnicles (conductor)

A lovely way to open my operatic year: a new—to me—production of an opera of which I never tire, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel. Andreas Homoki’s Deutsche Oper production was first seen in 1997 and has clearly done sterling service for a mixed audience of children and adults. (There are matinee performances intended more specifically for families, but there were plenty of well-behaved—often far more so than the adults—children on the evening I attended.) There are clearly limits to what will be thought of as appropriate for such a production. In no sense does Homoki’s team, including revival director, Silke Sense, come close to what remains for me the finest exploration of the work’s dark side: Liam Steel’s 2016 Royal College of Music production. But then, that is not what they are trying to do. The story is told directly, without kitschy evasion or indeed kitsch of any variety. It offers an apt sense of wonder, colour—perhaps heat too, at least metaphorically?—increasing from the relatively drab, humdrum house from which the children have started. Clowns offer a hint or two of menace as the creatures of the forest: clowns always do. The witch is clearly a tormented soul as well as tormentor, a point concerning which, like others, one can make what one wishes. Children doubtless will have done: in no sense being condescended to in the recreation of ‘childhood’ many adults, declining to face up to their own anxieties and fears, wish upon their presumed charges.

I should have to go back, I think, to Sir Colin Davis at Covent Garden to recall so finely conducted a performance. Donald Runnicles and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper did Humperdinck proud not only in presentation but in exploration. Here in the orchestra, one might say, we heard the most fruitful and challenging musical drama. It would be difficult, no impossible, and certainly perverse to play down Humperdinck’s Wagnerisms. Even when they verge on outright plagiarism they do not fail to charm—unlike those of many successors. To hear a performance, however, in which the conductor makes so much of the weblike connection of motifs that one fancies one might be hearing the work of The Master himself is a rare treat indeed. So too is to hear quite how much Humperdinck’s score owes—or can be made to owe—to the yearning of Tristan as to the more obvious candidates, above all to Die Meistersinger. What to make of that? There are psychoanalytical possibilities aplenty, for those willing to take them. Does that not after all penetrate to the heart of what fairy tales have to offer? Speaking of seduction, who could resist the polished tone, dark or golden by turn, of this orchestra at something approaching its best?

Jana Kurucová and Alexandra Hutton made for an engaging central pair: well contrasted and yet also complementary, as adept with stage business as vocal line in construction and development of character. Heidi Melton surely falls into the category of ‘luxury casting’ for their mother, Gertrud, and what a welcome luxury this proved to be, Wagnerian antecedents present for those who wished to consider them, yet perfectly scaled—not necessarily scaled down—and imbued with abundant warmth and humanity. Noel Bouley’s Peter sounded a little out of sorts toward the close, but it was nothing too serious. Andrew Dickinson’s Witch intrigued: no mere caricature, though ultimately an enigma. Flurina Stucki as the Sandman and Dew Fairy, together with the children’s choir and movement choir, all contributed to the evening’s enchantment. Next operatic stop: across town for something rather different, Beat Furrer’s Violetter Schnee.

The Love for Three Oranges, Komische Oper Berlin, 20 December 2009

(sung in German as Die Liebe zu drei Orangen)

Fata Morgana – Aurelia Hajek
Celio – Jan Martinik
The King of Clubs – Carsten Sabrowski
The Prince – Christoph Späth
Princess Clarice – Christiane Oertel
Leander – Horst Lamnek
Pantalone – Mirko Janiska
Truffaldino – Thomas Ebenstein
Princess Linetta – Manja Neumann
Princess Nicoletta – Anna Borchers
Princess Ninetta – Nina von Möllendorff
Smeraldine – Karolina Gumos
The Cook – Hans-Peter Scheidegger
Farfarello – David Williams
Herald – Ingo Witzke

Andreas Homoki (director)
Frank Philipp Schlößmann (stage designs)
Mechtild Seipel (costumes)
Werner Hintze (dramaturge)
Franck Evin (lighting)

Choral Soloists of the Komische Oper, Berlin (chorus master: Robert Heimann)
Members of the Ernst Senff Choir
Orchestra of the Komische Oper, Berlin
Stefan Blunier (conductor)

What an enjoyable night in the theatre: a real company achievement. Colourful designs, well-thought-out dramatic progression, and sharp Personenregie combine to award Andreas Homoki’s Love for Three Oranges the status of a classic. It makes sense insofar as commedia dell’arte makes sense, and makes nonsense in a similar fashion. From the Prologue, the stage is set for a framing battle between comedy and tragedy, but what does it mean? Answers are less of the essence here than exploration, still more so a setting for Prokofiev’s score to perform its magic. Richard Taruskin, in his New Grove article on the opera, writes: ‘This was one of the very earliest applications of illusion-destroying “art as art” gimmickry, soon to become such a modernist cliché.’ It is perhaps not surprising that a writer so hostile to modernism should prove unable to resist such a barb; the important thing here, however, is that modernism is shown to be anything but killjoy. This joyfully bizarre production, full of wonders that cannot and need not be explained, ensures that outcome. Indeed, one should remember – and Homoki’s production relishes the fact – that the opera transmutes a host of operatic clichés into gold, all the time quite without false pretension. One can consider, to be sure, but most of all, one can enjoy – and through that one enjoyment, one is brought to consideration.

The direct communicative gifts of the Komische Oper’s cast played a considerable role here. These were not all great vocal performances; indeed, some, such as Aurelia Hajek’s Fata Morgana, left a considerable amount to be desired in purely vocal terms. Nevertheless, dramatic commitment tended to trump any such shortcomings. Christoph Späth’s Prince impressed somewhere on the border, as he should be, between ingénue and madman: Tamino taking a walk on the (slightly) wild side. Carsten Sabrowski’s King exhibited story-book authority in an appropriately kindly fashion. Meanwhile, the plotters, Leander and Princess Clarice, Horst Lamnek and Christiane Oertel, were nasty and a little grotesque – but never too much. Nina von Möllendorff was a lovely Ninetta and Karolina Gumos a wonderfully bizarre – here blue, not black – slave-girl Smereldina. Meanwhile, Hans-Peter Scheidegger’s Cook was a surrealist joy in drag for, as the cliché has it, children of all ages.

Perhaps the truest heroes were the orchestra and chorus. The chorus proved expressively adept, with words, notes, and gesture in happy combination. Ably directed by Stefan Blunier, the orchestra contributed essential bite and direction to the proceedings. Though not quite so declamatory a score as The Gambler, melodic development – and, equally important, discontinuity – is more often than not to be found here in what one might consider the composer’s Greek chorus. The hit-tunes still register, of course, and Prokofiev was so fine a melodist that he could never quite deny himself, but this performance reminded one that there is a great deal more to his gifts than that.

Komische Oper, Berlin, 2009-10 season preview

Berlin’s Komische Oper has announced details of its 2009-10 season. Often attracting a younger audience than Berlin’s other two houses – 21% under 25 during the period June to November 2008, and 46% up to 45 – the house on Behrenstraße has long had a reputation for innovative production values. This looks set to continue with a varied programme, including no fewer than seven new productions.

The first of these will be Rigoletto, directed by Barrie Kosky, whose previous work at this house has included a superb Iphigénie en Tauride; Patrick Lange conducts. November brings a new ‘family opera’, Die rote Zora, by Elisabeth Naske, receiving its German premiere in a production from the young director, Jasmina Hadziahmetovic. The Komische Oper’s programme for young audiences will also include a revival of Frank Schwemmer’s Robin Hood, as directed by chief director and Intendant, Andreas Homoki. Aribert Reimann’s Lear, written for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, receives a new production from Hans Neuenfels. Music director Carl St Clair conducts, with Tómas Tómasson in the title role. Maurizio Barbacini will conduct and Jetske Mijnssen direct a new production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. Handel moves beyond his anniversary year with a new staging of Orlando from Alexander Mørk-Eidem in February 2010, conducted by Alessandro de Marchi. A highlight of the season promises to be Fidelio, again under the baton of St Clair, with staffing by Benedikt von Peter. Will Hartmann and Barbara Schneider-Hofstetter head the cast. Finally, Offenbach’s operetta, La Périchole will be directed by Nicolas Stemann and conducted by Markus Poschner. All new productions, save for Die rota Zara, may be seen in a special festival running from 13 to 18 July 2010.

A number of revivals should be noted. Calixto Bieito’s Armide (reviewed here) reunites the Catalan director with Konrad Junghänel as conductor and the excellent Maria Bengtsson as Gluck’s heroine. Bieito’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail is also revived, with Simon Hewett conducting. Intendant Homoki’s production of Christian Jost’s Hamlet returns a house-commissioned work to the stage and Homoki’s Love for Three Oranges finds Stefan Blunier in the pit. Further instances of Homoki’s work may be seen in La Bohème (St Clair conducting), Der Rosenkavalier (Friedemann Layer), Die Fledermaus (in turn by Lange and Stefan Soltesz), and Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (St Clair). Eduard Künneke’s Der Vetter aus Dingsda and a staged version of Mozart’s Requiem bring repertoire one is unlikely to find in other opera houses. Remaining with Mozart, Kosky’s 2005 production of Le nozze di Figaro and Peter Konwitschny’s Don Giovanni also return. Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann and Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame will be conducted by Lange, in productions by Thilo Reinhardt. Another side of Kosky’s work may be seen in the Cole Porter musical, Kiss me, Kate. Neuenfels has a second production of the season, with a revival of his La Traviata, St Clair in the pit.

There are eight symphony concerts, four of them conducted by St Clair, with repertoire ranging from Bach through Wagner, Berlioz, and Mahler, to Lou Harrison’s Bubaran Robert for gamelan and trumpet. Guest conductors include Zdeněk Mácal and Heinrich Schiff. Special concerts for Christmas (Tchaikovsky) and of film music may also be heard. In addition, there is a year-long series of foyer concerts, with chamber repertoire running from the baroque and early classical, through Brahms piano trios, to Piazzolla and Harrison.

All works are sung in German but, as of this forthcoming season, English translation on screens in front of seats will be available. Such a service has been available for some time in Vienna and New York; this will be the first of its kind in Germany.

Further details are available on the company’s website, whose English version may be visited by clicking here.