|
|
 |
|
Conductor
Daniel Harding
Director
Keith Warner
Set
Designs
Stefanos
Lazaridis
Costume
Designs
Marie-Jeanne
Lecca
Lighting
Rick Fisher
Captain
Graham Clark
Wozzeck
Johan Reuter
Andres
Peter Bronder
Marie
Susan Bullock
Margret
Claire Powell
Doctor
Kurt Rydl
Drum
Major
Jorma Silvasti
First
Apprentice
Jeremy White
Second
Apprentice
Quentin Hayes
Idiot
Francis Egerton
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Royal
Opera House
27 February - 13 March 2006
|
|
Alban
Berg's score achieves the
almost impossible: to make
the classical system of harmony
- perfected by giants like
Bach, Beethoven and Wagner
- seem constraining, and the
twelve tone revolution ushered
in by Schoenberg a grand release
of tonal possibility.
This magnificent music - edgy,
luminous, tender, tortured,
deeply self-aware -displays
a palette of tone colours
of breathtaking scope. The
Royal Opera's orchestra, under
the clear and respectful,
if slightly unadventurous,
baton of Daniel Harding, exposed
this marvelous musical world
with beautiful transparency
and taste.
Johan Reuter in the title
role overcame a lukewarm start
to give a searing rendition
of the nightmare of Wozzeck's
displaced, lost, rudderless
life, which is devoid of dignity
except for his touching concern
for Marie, the unmarried mother
of their little son (superbly
played by Remi Manzi). Poverty
and emotional fragility turn
Wozzeck into the plaything
of impersonal forces, leading
him to offer himself up to
medical science as a guinea
pig for risky experiments,
and, in doing so, almost completely
to surrender his self-respect
and indeed his Self.
One of his chief tormentors
is the Captain, whose demonically
puckish, vehement and ultimately
petty temperament are brilliantly
evoked by Graham Clark - well-known
to Wagner lovers for bringing
these very qualities to his
performances of Mime in the
Ring. Another cruel manipulator
is the Doctor, beautifully
sung by Kurt Rydl, whose resonant
bass is ideally suited to
this coldly menacing character.
British Soprano Susan Bullock
was the great discovery of
the evening. She made her
absurdly overdue debut at
Covent Garden in the role
of Marie, to which she brought
all the vocal power and dramatic
talent that have made her
a rising star on the Wagner
and Strauss circuit. Her capacity
to portray Marie's residual
tenderness for Wozzeck while
also craving the sexual virility
which he manifestly cannot
give her was outstanding.
So was Jorma Silvasti as the
blustering drum-major with
whom she takes up and who
contemptuously uses her to
satisfy his crude lusts.
Parts of Georg Buechner's
story seem slightly dated
now: who, except a few nostalgics,
really worries these days,
at least in Western societies,
about a cold and indifferent
universe emptied of gods and
inherent purposes, or about
the supposed inhumanity of
science and scientists? Yet
the text was not just a throwback
to early 20th century angst:
the vulnerability of our closest
relationships to our emotional
and economic pressures remains
as hot a topic as ever, keeping
numerous chat shows and self-help
publishers in lucrative business.
Keith Warner's imaginative
production, excellently complemented
by Stefanos Lazaridis's set,
not only enabled the singers
to flourish, but also made
it impossible to ignore this
enduringly vital topic.
Simon
May |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
