Germany Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Schoenberg’s Erwartung: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Bayerische Staatsoper / Andrew Manze (conductor). Nationaltheater, Munich, 4.2.2023. (ALL)
Production:
Director – Krzysztof Warlikowski
Set design – Małgorzata Szczęśniak
Lighting – Felice Ross
Video – Kamil Polak
Choreography – Claude Bardouil
Chorus director – Stellario Fagone
Dramaturgy – Christian Longchamp, Katharina Ortmann
Casts:
Dido / A Woman (Erwartung) – Aušrinė Stundytė
Aeneas – Günter Papendell
Belinda – Victoria Randem
Venus – Rinat Shaham
Sorceress – Key’mon W. Murrah
First Witch – Elmira Karakhanova
This isn’t the primary time that Schoenberg’s Erwartung is used as a complementary work, one such instance being a manufacturing in London by Willy Decker. That manufacturing featured Erwartung because the continuation of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle with similar units, wigs, and costumes, making a homogeneous and charming mixture, the idea being Judith’s reappearing from the final door and taking revenge on Bluebeard.
In distinction, Krzysztof Warlikowski’s Munich manufacturing didn’t have the identical dramatic unity. It was a group of highly effective scenes that adopted the protagonist by a variety of feelings akin to jealousy, hallucination, violence, and revenge. The units, lighting, movies, and different photos had been visually beautiful, and the motion was various. Warlikowski, who had beforehand labored with Aušrinė Stundytė (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in Paris), showcased her appearing skills, significantly in Schoenberg’s intense and charming Erwartung.
However, the manufacturing lacked coherence. It was harking back to latest movies that sacrifice the plot for quite a few secondary characters and over-extend the runtime. Warlikowski continued so as to add parts, movies, and characters that overburdened the scenes, leading to a saturated efficiency that lacked development. Some techno dancing to an interlude of digital music written by Paweł Mykietyn offered a transition between the 2 operas, although the entertaining breakdance quantity was shortly forgotten.
Musically, the efficiency was extra nuanced. Aušrinė Stundytė initially struggled to search out her footing in Purcell’s opera, her diction and suitability for the position being questionable. She shone within the Schoenberg work, the place her appearing expertise got here to the fore. Victoria Randem as Belinda was a standout, possessing the vocal capability to command the stage though she and others had large operatic voices ill-fitted to Purcell’s model. The remainder of the solid was sturdy, with Elmira Karakhanova significantly noteworthy because the charming Witch.
Andrew Manze dealt with the transition between Purcell and Schoenberg with ease, delivering each a strong efficiency from the choruses in Purcell and a contemporary interpretation of Schoenberg’s opera. Despite this, the night in the end felt like an train in artwork for artwork’s sake, or a showcase for Warlikowski’s imaginative and prescient, quite than a totally realised manufacturing.
Antoine Lévy-Leboyer