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Financial Times: Aug 07, 2003 |
Richard Fairman |
Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Salzburg 2003
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Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Salzburg Festival
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Some opera companies will tell you there is
no point in having a half-bad production any more. If they land a real
stinker, at least they can wear it as a badge of pride.
This year's Salzburg Festival has acquired a very large badge. It is
called Die Entführungaus dem Serail, though it bears only a passing
resemblance to Mozart's opera of the same name. The producer, Stefan
Herheim, has had ideas and somebody needs to tell him not to let it happen
again.
In this version a naked young couple emerge from the shadows to learn of
the trials and tribulations of love. Belmonte auditions for a
top-hat-and-cane song-and-dance routine. Blonde loves her washing machine
and bakes a wedding cake. Osmin goes on television and does a striptease
during a Punch and Judy show. The black and white minstrels put in an
appearance.
Trust me - you don't want to know any more. Herheim thinks he has a
meaningful lesson to impart about human fidelity. All the audience learns
is not to waste its money on a witless show such as this again. One felt
sorry for Jonas Kaufmann, a good young tenor trapped in an uncongenial
role as Belmonte, who copped much of the audience's displeasure. The Costa
Rican soprano Iride Martinez is a find, technically flawless and elegant
as Konstanze. Diana Damrau's Blonde and Dietmar Kerschbaum's Pedrillo make
a bright supporting couple and Peter Rose deserves a bonus for not only
singing Osmin so well, but undergoing numerous indignities with such good
humour. Thankfully, the music was in the safe and joyous hands of
conductor Ivor Bolton and the stylish Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg.
When this run of performances is over, they should all creep off to a
big empty garage somewhere, away from the booing, catcalls and Herheim's
inanities, and perform the opera for themselves just to feel how heavenly
Mozart can still be. It is a good cast and do not deserve this. |
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