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guardian.co.uk, Thursday 19
August 2004 |
Tim Ashley |
von Weber: Der Freischütz, Edinburgh, 17 August 2004
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Der Freischütz
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Listening to Weber's Der Freischütz, one always
wonders what it must have sounded like to its first audiences in the early
1820s. Much has been written of its revolutionary, demotic nature and its
sub-Faustian content. Yet it is, first and foremost, a Gothic horror story
that necessitated the creation of a new musical language. Although copied by
everyone from Wagner to the writers of horror soundtracks, it still sends
shivers down your spine.
This concert performance, the first in a series examining Weber's major
operas, certainly generated a frisson, despite some lapses in casting.
Neither Hillevi Martinpelto as Agathe nor John Relyea as Kaspar - the agents
of grace and damnationrespectively - seemed comfortable in this instance.
Relyea, all slicked-back hair and brutal delivery, suggested urban thuggery
rather than seductive demonism. Martinpelto sounded intermittently seraphic
but registered little of Agathe's premonitory dread.
At the centre of the evening, however, was the astonishing conducting of
Charles Mackerras and Jonas Kaufmann's equally exemplary Max. Mackerras
turned the score into a roller-coaster ride that lurched thrillingly from
tension to stasis and back. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra's playing was
electric while the Philharmonia Chorus, whether indulging in demonic mockery
or moral outrage, were superb. Kaufmann, meanwhile, presented Max as a
potentially tragic figure - a man whose inner demons are infinitely more
dangerous than the supernatural forces that assault him. His voice has
gained in power, of late, without losing any of its flexible beauty and he
registered every emotional shift with exceptional vividness - a reminder
that Freischütz, in addition to being a great horror story, is also a
remarkable study in how despair can erode the human psyche.
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