I have added some new labels to the singer section.
Charles Castronovo
Asmik Grigorian
Elza van den Heever
I didn't realize I'd seen Asmik so many times. I'm afraid she hasn't made much of an impression on me. I've liked Charles for quite some time.
Richard Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer streamed from Bayreuth this summer on July 25. It's regie, of course. That means that the staging is modernized. During the overture a mother hangs herself. It's rather wildly realistic looking. This doesn't seem to be the traditional plot about a sailor. I'm here for Asmik Geigorian.
The sailors sit around drinking in a bar and never go to sea. The girls don't spin, but instead practice the spinning chorus. Senta smokes. Erik comes in and chases the other girls away. He warns Senta that her father wants to find her a husband. Erik and Senta are exes and fight like it.
Asmik is 40 but here passes for younger. She is good looking, her voice is strong and her acting good. The sound of her voice does not particularly appeal to me. For me it is the feeling in the music.
Daland brings the Dutchman home and introduces him to his daughter as her bridegroom. She swears to be faithful until death. This takes place around the dining room table. She gets excited over him for no apparent reason. The ho hum everydayness of the staging takes all the fizz out of it. Asmik tries to make up for it, but it's too much to ask.
In Act III everyone is outside eating and drinking except the sailors who sit glumly. The townspeople ridicule them until the Dutchman takes out his gun and shoots a few. Ugh. Everyone but Senta runs off. Erik complains to Senta who sits staring. They sing about eternity on the sea, but there is no sea. The Dutchman throws Senta on the floor. Mom comes in and shoots him. Senta laughs and tries to comfort her. That's it. I'll probably never watch this again. The chorus is excellent.
Stage director - Krzysztof Warlikowski
Conductor - Franz Welser-Möst
Since it still is on medici.tv, I decided to give Elektra from Salzburg last summer a try. It was performed in the Felsenreitscchule and was one of only two operas presented at that time. The other was Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.
It starts with a speech by Klytämnestra before starting the opera. She says it was she who killed Agamemnon. Elektra is one of the daughters of Agamemnon and Klytämnestra. The women are left at home for ten years while Agamemnon leads the Greeks to Troy to fight for the return of his brother Menelaus's wife Helen who was kidnapped by Paris. While he is away, his wife takes a lover, Aegisth, and kills her husband when he returns from the war.
The opera begins with Elektra brooding over the murder of her father. This is a regie production with everyone dressed in modern clothes. Elektra smokes. The Felsenreitscchule provides a space for a long shallow swimming pool. Perhaps it's a feature of the building. When Elektra cries out to see her father, he appears. At least I assume that's who it is. She dances.
The production is interesting, but these people seem to have been cast for their looks. They look like the characters they portray, but there is a lot of shouting. To look like their characters the girls are vocally too immature for their roles. Theatrically it is stunning. Previously I have seen Christine Goerke and Nina Stemme sing Elektra, but this is more serious, more intense, more in the time of life when all becomes difficult.
The lushness of the orchestra is beautiful. The translation is very good. Many people love this opera. There seems to be an audience. Recommended for the intensity.
