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Thespec, Aug 15 2012 |
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Bizét: Carmen, Salzburger Festspiele, 14. August 2012 |
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Boo-birds sing for Salzburg’s Carmen
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SALZBURG, AUSTRIA Euro crisis? What euro crisis? Certainly not at the
Salzburg Festival. Sure, around town you can see that things are kind of
muted. Some of the shops and restaurants have changed owners. Some shop
windows are advertising merchandise at 50 per cent off. And there are fewer
tourists milling about on the historic and picturesque Getreidegasse on
which Mozart’s birth house nevertheless remains a good magnet.
But
with top ducats for this evening’s sold out performance of Carmen in the
Grosses Festspielhaus going for a mere €400--the same price for the equally
entirely sold out runs of La Bohème, as well as The Magic Flute in the
Felsenreitschule, but slightly more than the top €300 ducat for Sunday’s
concert performance of Handel’s Tamerlano with Placido Domingo --you’ve got
to say that at the Salzburg Festival, there’s no such thing as a Euro
crisis. OK, OK. There were tickets for €25 as well, with six other price
categories in between that and the top ticket, not including a special price
for wheelchair patrons.
So, what did the 2,197 Grosses Festspielhaus
patrons get for their Euros at the August 14 opening night performance of
Bizet’s Carmen, a co-production with Madrid’s Teatro Real and the Salzburg
Easter Festival?
Quite a bit, actually. But let’s begin with the
husband and wife team of Sir Simon Rattle leading the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra in the pit and Magdalena Kozena as La Carmencita.
Rattle
brought out the flair in Bizet’s score, judiciously choosing his tempos with
the singers in mind. Only in the ending of the third act were there moments
when he allowed the orchestra to cover the singers.
Kozena, on the
other hand, was an all too serious Carmen, exuding little to no sensuality
in the role. Her performance brought out the boo-birds in the Grosses
Festspielhaus. She took it all gracefully, smiling as she acknowledged those
who did applaud.
Jonas Kaufmann was applauded to the rafters
as Don José. With all of the singing he is doing in Salzburg this summer,
it’s not surprising to hear that his voice is beginning to show small signs
of wear.
Lithuanian bass-baritone Kostas Smoriginas had
difficulty getting through Escamillo’s Toreador song. At intermission, he
was announced as indisposed due to a flare-up of his allergies. He continued
to act on stage, but the role was from then on sung from the proscenium by
Massimo Cavalletti (the Marcello in Salzburg’s La Bohème), who, to borrow a
baseball term, hit a pinch-hit home run.
Christina Landshamer and
Rachel Frenkel were adorable as Frasquita and Mercédès respectively, dressed
as identical blonde-haired twins.
Home town gal Genia Kuehmeier was
simply splendid as the homely Micaëla, her voice displaying a seamlessness
from top to bottom.
The remaining roles were taken handily. The
Vienna State Opera Chorus lent the proceedings a full-bodied flavor, while
the Salzburg Festival and Theatre Children’s Chorus was also top drawer.
A 21-member dance team contributed much to this production’s Spanish
atmosphere.
However, the production team of director Aletta Collins,
set designer Miriam Buether, costumer Gabrielle Dalton, and lighting
director Andreas Fuchs received many boos, unjustly so, for their efforts.
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