Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Ariadne auf Naxos (1912)
Primadonna/Ariadne – Susan Anthony (soprano)
Tenor/Bacchus – Jon Villars (tenor)
Composer – Sophie Koch (mezzo)
Zerbinetta – Íride Martinez (soprano)
Chorus of the Staatsoper Dresden
Staatskapelle Dresden/Sir Colin Davis
rec. live, Semperoper, Dresden, 2000
Marco Arturo Marelli (stage director)
Sound: PCM Stereo; Picture: 16:9; Region: 0 (worldwide)
ARTHAUS MUSIK DVD 100 171 [130:00]
This Ariadne is a lovely memento of a musically excellent production.
The singers are as good as you would hope to hear anywhere. The Semperoper
attracted an outstanding cast for what was Dresden’s first production of Ariadne
since the theatre’s destruction in the war - it was reopened in 1985. They
are headed by a wonderful Ariadne and Bacchus in American team Susan Anthony
and Jon Villars. Villars’ voice was tremendously exciting in 2000. He copes
brilliantly with Strauss’s ungrateful tenor writing, making Bacchus sound
heroic and thrilling rather than the reedy struggle which it too often is.
His voice never sounds effortful but he has an ability to coast over the orchestra,
ringing at the top while still maintaining a touch of vulnerability. Susan
Anthony is, if anything, even finer. Hers is a big voice but it never dominates
unnecessarily. She can sing well when part of an ensemble, but during the
solo moments she owns the stage and the score. Es gibt ein Reich
is particularly good, a large sound thrillingly projected while still maintaining
a floating quality that is remarkably alluring. Íride Martinez’s Zerbinetta
is a delight, wonderfully tongue-in-cheek for the Prologue then achieving
a rare vulnerability in her dialogue with the Composer. She dashes off her
main aria with casual ease and phenomenal technical panache and her interaction
with the comedians is funny without being trying. Sophie Koch’s Composer is
also excellent, full of himself and entirely convinced of his own importance,
but singing with wonderfully rich tone and silky opulence in the middle register.
There is also a great trio of nymphs and some excellent cameos from Theo Adam
as the Music Teacher and Werner Güra as a waspish Dancing Master.
The production is solid without being exceptional. The drama of the Prologue
is presented fairly straight, and the Opera itself plays further with the
idea of a play-within-a-play by having an audience observing on stage for
most of it, though there are some rather bizarre effects with ropes that intrude
from time to time and the nymphs’ costumes must have been a nightmare to get
in and out of, never mind to move around in! None of this detracts from the
musical value of the performance, however, presided over by the ever-young
Colin Davis who directs the score with a touch that is by turns light or majestic,
as the drama demands. The playing of the Staatskapelle Dresden is predictably
excellent. The picture quality and camera direction are very good too. It’s
only a shame that the sound is in PCM Stereo only, no surround.
Simon Thompson
A lovely memento of a musically excellent production.