Fairytale Atmosphere in Music and Vision 8 aprile

Fairytale Atmosphere GIUSEPPE PENNISI reports on the opening night of 'Die Zauberflöte' in Rome London's Royal Opera House (ROH) is having a magic moment in Italy. After the success of its co-production of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten at La Scala in Milan [read: A Tremendous Production], the ROH production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte has had six 'sold out' performances in Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. The house would have been full in additional performances but scheduling and technology prevented more extended programming. I attended the opening night on 27 March 2012 -- just the last night of Die Frau in Milan. There is an important difference: Die Frau was premiered in Milan in early March and will reach London ROH next year, whilst this production of Die Zauberflöte had its London debut in 2003 and has already been revived twice at the ROH; there is also a well-known BBC DVD with an all star cast and Sir Colin Davis in the pit. The DVD has been shown on several TV channels in many countries during the last nine years. Although this trip to Rome is the first time the production has travelled across the Channel, many of our readers are familiar with McVicar's staging of Mozart's last performed opera. Therefore, while I thought it useful to provide an extensive review of Die Frau (as a preparation for those who will see it next year at the ROH and after a few months on DVD), for McVicar's Die Zauberflöte, I will focus only on the salient aspects of the Rome performance. In Rome, McVicar's work was revived by his Canadian close assistant Dan Dooner, who is a good stage director on his own account and had operated very tightly with him in the ROH staging as well as in the revivals. The set and costumes designer was John Macfarlane, the choreographer Leah Hausman and the lighting specialist Paule Constable. In short, the production team was the same as that in London. In addition, the size, depth and breadth of the Teatro dell'Opera stage is very similar to that at Covent Garden. With a difference; whilst the ROH technology was updated some ten years ago, in Rome remodeling works in the 1950s made it impossible to improve the stage technology because, as the theatre is built on an area which in ancient times was a swamp, the ground under the stage was filled with thick blocks of concrete. Nonetheless, Mcfarlane's sets are rather simple; a single scene with props and lighting giving a magic fairytale atmosphere in a real feast of colors. This is also helped by the lighting and by the costumes -- very rigorous late eighteenth century attire for most of the characters , but for the three boys and the buffo counterparts to Prince Tamino and the Princess Pamina (viz Papageno and Papagina). As many know, McVicar's staging emphasizes the generational passage of power (from Sarastro to Tamino) rather than the Masonic symbolism, and like in the Ingmar Bergman 1974 movie presents the plot as a tale gradually becoming an apologue. The conductor was Erik Nielsen, born in Iowa but trained in Germany. One could feel the German pitch from the overture: three chords question the tonic E flat before a brisk allegro. Whilst on the DVD Sir Colin Davis is more martial, Nielsen is very skillful in the tricky recapitulation and in the counterpoint. Nielsen's style is rather sober but he keeps the real crowd of soloists (nineteen) and the chorus well under his baton. The balance between the pit and the stage is good, even in the finale of the two acts when there are vast concertato with chorus. I felt that Juan Francisco Gatell (Tamino) was a good heir to the late Fritz Wunderlich right from his aria 'Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön' when the Prince falls in love with Pamina just by looking at her portrait. He has a clear timbre and a perfect emission. He does not overdo the acute and has an excellent phrasing. His Pamina is the very young and quite attractive Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, just out of school, from the Bavarian State Opera. In the 2003 production, the role was played by the then very young and now world famous Diana Damrau. I wish Hanna-Elisabeth Müller a similar career; she was cute in her duets with Juan Francisco Gatell, but as aggressive as a cat in her second act aria with chromatic harmony in D minor. In the second couple, Marcus Werba is an experienced Papageno, a role he has sung many times, although only in two previous productions in Rome -- in 2001 and 2004. He handles very well both the vocal and the acting tricks of a buffo but full of meaning. Less significant is the role of 'his' Papagena, well interpreted by Sybilla Duffe. Altogether, the two younger couples fared much better than the older couple, the formerly married but now always fighting with each other Sarastro and the Queen of Night. On 27 March, Peter Lobert sounded a tired Sarastro (who missed a couple of notes in the first act). As the Queen of Night, Hulkar Subirova has three very difficult arias with giddy coloratura. In my view, she was at a good professional level but the upper tier expected more acrobatic agility in the first aria of the second act. The other soloists were all at a good level. The chorus, directed by Roberto Gabbiani, deserves a special mention: both in 'Wenn Tugend und Gerechtigkeit' and in 'Heil sei euch Geweihten', we understand that Beethoven must have studied Die Zauberflöte very well before composing his Fidelio. There were ovations when the curtain fell. Copyright © 13 April 2012 Giuseppe Pennisi, Rome, Italy WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART THE MAGIC FLUTE ROME ITALY AUSTRIA DAVID MCVICAR TEATRO DELL'OPERA << M&V home Concert reviews Die Frau ohne Schatten >>