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Written by
Richard Strauss
Libretto by
Hugo von
Hofmannsthal
English version by
Alfred Kalisch
Directed by
David Ritch
Conductor Vassily Sinaisky
The
Feldmarschallin
Janice Watson
Octavian
Diana Montague
Baron Ochs
John Tomlinson
Valzacchi
Alasdair Elliot
Annina
Rebecca de Pont
Davies
A tenor
Barry Banks
Herr von Faninal
Andrew Shore
Sophie
Susan Gritton
Marianne Leitmetzerin
Meryl Richardson
Police Commissar
Iain Paterson
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English
National Opera
28
February - 2 April 2003 |
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Richard Strauss's
sumptuous tonalities, and the continuous
outflow of exquisite melodic turns in
the narrative progress of his music,
make this long, detailed and leisurely
opera a work of great beauty. It is
also a funny and a troubling work, given
the complex intersection of its themes:
lust, love, arrogance, and the supposed
licence given by systems of caste for
people to prey on each other –
in the circumstances of this tale, by
prompting an aristocrat's belief that
he has droit de seigneur over every
woman he meets.
Janice
Watson plays the Feldmarschallin with
sad and sombre dignity, once the reflection
has dawned that she is at a point in
life when time is militating against
the possibility of love. In realising
that she will sooner rather than later
lose her boy-lover Octavian to a much
younger woman – and she is of
course proved right before the opera's
end – she provides an elegy for
all to whom years have played the thief.
Along with Andrew Shore as Herr von
Faninal and – especially –
the outstanding John Tomlinson as Baron
Ochs, she makes the trio of best-cast
members of the ensemble.
Tomlinson
is, predictably, wonderful as Ochs.
A very fine actor, he makes the sexually
insatiable Falstaffian baron entirely
believable and very funny. There is
a hint that Wagner has taken a toll
of the very top and bottom of Tomlinson's
register, but through the rest his voice
is as rich and expressive as ever. That,
coupled with his perfect diction and
high acting skills, makes him an irresistible
Ochs. Put him in a Jonathan Miller production
and the result can be nothing other
than this: a completely realised and
compelling account.
The ENO
orchestra gave Strauss's music a sensitively-observed,
full-bodied rendering, bringing out
all its rich colours and textures, never
hurrying it, yet never allowing it to
flag. Much credit must go to Vassily
Sinaisky for sustaining that narcotic
perfume of sound which Strauss's genius
creates. The supporting performances
on stage as well as the playing in the
pit give no hint of troubles behind
the scenes; productions like these redouble
the hope of ENO's fans that the artistic
qualities of its orchestra and chorus
will not be affected.
AC Grayling |
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