patrikpen: The Panoply of Power

domenica 7 gennaio 2018

The Panoply of Power

The Panoply of Power

Aribert Reimann's 'Lear' at Salzburg,
experienced by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

One good tradition of the Salzburg Summer Festival is to perform a contemporary opera by a living composer. I timed my arrival to see and hear Lear by Aribert Reimann [on 20 August 2017]. Last year's The Exterminating Angel by Thomas Adès was a world premiere, but Lear had been first performed at Munich's National Theatre in 1978 when Reimann, now eighty-one years old, was still relatively young. Yet, based on Shakespeare's King Lear tragedy, it deals with the difficulties of ageing, of giving power to others and of receiving no gratitude but betrayal.

Giuseppe Verdi longed to compose an opera based on King Lear, but he never found a librettist able to summarize Shakespeare's complex four to five hour plot in a text that would fit the melodrama style. Reimann's librettist, Claus H Henneberg, took up the task and kept the basics of King Lear while eliminating several sub-plots and philosophical and ethical discussions. The opera is titled Lear, not King Lear, to emphasize that it deals with problems and issues everyone must face sooner or later. It is a perfect fit for Salzburg Summer Festival 2017 because one of its main themes is 'the panoply of power'. In Reimann's Lear, as well as in Shakespeare's King Lear, the protagonist's decision to retire and enjoy retirement opens the way to very cruel power fights. Greedy for power, all the main characters kill each other and the stage is covered with blood.

Michael Maertens as the Fool (centre, with white trousers) and members of the Vienna State Opera Chorus in Aribert Reimann's opera 'Lear' at the Salzburg Summer Festival. Photo © 2017 Thomas Aurin. Click on the image for higher resolution

Although Lear has had several productions in Germany and Central Europe, it is rarely performed elsewhere, mainly because it requires fourteen principals, a large chorus, a good number of extras — in Salzburg nearly 150 — and a gigantic orchestra. In Salzburg it is being performed in the Felsenreitschule, the vast former riding school of the aristocracy. The stage and orchestra pit are huge, and yet the percussionhad to be 'housed' on a special platform on the right side of the orchestra seats.

Reimann's style is quite eclectic and draws from several experiences from the second part of the last century. We feel echoes of both Benjamin Britten and the Darmstadt school. Yet it is also very personal. In Lear, the composer blends a dark and bleak tragedy leaving no hope for anyone with moving moments of tenderness. On the vocal side, the opera was composed at the request of Reimann's friend, the world-famous baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and declamation turns into arias, duets and concertato. There are reminders of baroque music because one of the protagonists (Edgard) is a countertenor.

The staging — direction by Simon Stone, sets by Bob Cousins and costumes by Mel Page — was not unanimously well received by the opening night audience; there were quite a few boos as the tragedy was presented on a platform in modern attire. However the composer, the orchestra — the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Franz Welser-Möst— and the singers all received standing ovations.

Gerald Finley is exceptional in the impervious role of Lear. He is nearly always on stage and is an excellent actor. He uses all aspects of vocal skills wisely, from declamation to arioso, and his pianissimi were magnificent. In the men's group, there were remarkable performances by countertenor Kai Wessel as Edgar, Michael Maertens as the Fool and Charles Workman as Edmund. In the women's group, outstanding performers were Evelyn Herlitzius as Goneril, Anna Prohaska as Cordelia and Gun-Brit Barkmin as Regan.