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Times, 1 February 2009 |
Hugh Canning |
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier, Baden-Baden, 25 January 2009
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Der Rosenkavalier
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Last Sunday, a deluxe Der Rosenkavalier at the
Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, conducted by Germany’s Strauss maestro par
excellence, Christian Thielemann, with his Munich Philharmonic Orchestra,
only emphasised the gulf between an opera composer of supreme accomplishment
and one who might conceivably have become one, but didn’t. Rosenkavalier is
Strauss at his most garrulous and nostalgic — he pays homage to Mozart and
to his unrelated namesake Johann — but his lengthy score seems pithy
compared with Korngold’s note-spinning, even at Thielemann’s sometimes
languid tempi.
The cast was a starry treat: headed by the American diva du jour, Renée
Fleming, looking gorgeous and sounding peachy, with Sophie Koch (Octavian),
the divine Diana Damrau (Sophie) soaring ecstatically to the stratosphere,
and Franz Hawlata (still youthful, and not too boorish as Ochs) as her
co-stars. Even the smaller parts were extravagantly cast: Franz Grundheber
(Faninal), Jane Henschel (Annina) and the German tenor of the moment,
Jonas Kaufmann, stepping in as a late replacement to sing the Puccini
pastiche aria at the Marschallin’s levée. The reason for this largesse
is a Unitel film that Decca will issue on DVD, preserving Herbert Wernicke’s
once scandalous but now traditional-looking Salzburg staging of 1995. With
its chic contemporary ballroom wear and hall-of-mirrors trompe-l’oeil scene
changes, it’s a heartless Rosenkavalier, but the singers should make the DVD
worth waiting for. |
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