Gluck’s operas have always given me a feeling of distancing,
even alienation or abstraction. At the same time few composers
have written such noble and such intensely beautiful music with
a kind of dramatic truth built in. The action in most Gluck
operas is rather low-key and the dramatic pulse is slow. So
my reaction to Gluck is ambivalent.
The work here under scrutiny is familiar to me, since I saw
it at the Drottningholm Court Theatre in a historically informed
production conducted by Arnold Östman back in the late
1980s; then again several years later in a concert performance
at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Deon van der Walt, as
here, as Pylade. I also own the Gardiner recording with Diana
Montague and Thomas Allen. Musically those three were/are superb
in almost every respect - Montague was even Iphigénie
in Amsterdam and Hillevi Martinpelto took that role at Drottningholm.
In that respect the present DVD is just as good. William Christie
seems to do just about everything right, whether he conducts
French baroque, Handel, Mozart or Gluck. Tempos are well chosen,
the playing of the orchestra first class and he exposes both
the dramatic and epic qualities of the score. In the title role
we hear the Armenian mezzo-soprano Juliette Galstian. She is
fabulously good: charismatic, a warm expressive voice and a
deep insight into the character’s predicament. Rodney
Gilfry’s Oreste is also outstanding: a superb actor with
a great voice that can express a myriad feelings. Deon van der
Walt, who was one of the greatest lyric tenors of his generation,
is also excellent as Pylade. With a supporting cast boasting
names of the calibre of Anton Scharinger and Martina Jankova
this issue is a match for those mentioned above and a couple
of others as well.
Is there a hang-up? For me there is. We have grown accustomed
to operas - and plays as well - being transported to the present
time and in more or less obscure settings. This is what happens
in this production. Add to this the introduction of ‘shadow-characters’,
actors with enormous grotesque heads, imitating or rather mirroring
the main characters - and Agamemnon and Clytemnestre, who are
important in other plays by Euripides. They are presumably brought
in to clarify things but I can’t help feeling that they
do the opposite. I am normally fully satisfied just to listen
to Iphigénie in a sound recording and follow the
proceedings in a libretto. Here with optional subtitles in French,
English, German, Spanish and Italian one doesn’t need
a printed libretto. That said, there is a risk that one will
be confused by the visuals.
I love being able to recommend a recording wholeheartedly. Here
I have to give a warning: Approach with caution.
Göran Forsling
Juliette Galstian (mezzo) - Iphigénie; Rodney Gilfry
(baritone) - Oreste; Deon van der Walt (tenor) - Pylade; Anton Scharinger
(baritone) - Thoas; Martina Jankova (soprano) - Diane; others
[108:00] 