These three operas from the Salzburg Festival represent productions
and singers from nearly three generations. The Festival has
always been able to call upon and cast the best Mozart singers
of their time. It has been considered an honour to be invited
to participate. Over the period concerned, production values
and practices have changed unrecognisably. Esoteric and updated
interpretations within what we have come to call regietheater
are now the order of the day at many operatic addresses including
Salzburg. Whether or not the producer concepts enhance the composer’s
musical creation, intention or vision, is not deemed relevant.
Seats sold and audience satisfaction often come a poor second
to fostering what are considered to be imaginative artistic
innovations. Imaginative and artistic invention and enhancement
are not the prerogative of the latest craze. This is very evident
in the first two of the three operas featured in this collection
issued at reduced price.
1. Le Nozze Di Figaro - Opera buffa in four
acts, K492 (1786)
Susanna, maid to the Countess - Reri Grist (soprano); Figaro,
manservant to the Count - Walter Berry (bass-baritone); Count
Almaviva - Ingvar Wixell (baritone); Countess Almaviva - Claire
Watson (soprano); Cherubino, a young buck around the palace
- Edith Mathis (soprano); Marcellina, a mature lady owed a debt
by Figaro - Margarethe Bence (mezzo), Don Basilio, a music master
and schemer - David Thaw (tenor);. Don Bartolo - Zoltan Kelemen
(bass); Barbarina - Deirdre Aselford (soprano)
Chorus of the Vienna State Opera
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Karl Böhm
rec. live, Salzburg Festival, 1966
Stage direction by Günther Rennert
Set and Costume Design by Ludwig Heinrich
Video Director: Herman Lanske
Sound Format: PCM Mono, DD 5.1. Picture Format: 4:3. DVD Format
NTSC 2 x DVD 9
Subtitle Languages: Italian (original language), English, German,
French, Spanish, Chinese
Available separately as 107 057 [2 DVDs: 180:00]
As I note above, and in my full review
of this black and white 1966 recording of Mozart’s most
popular opera, the Salzburg Festival has always drawn the cream
of singers. This cast includes some of the all-time great Mozart
interpreters. Reri Grist’s Susanna, petite and pert in
manner, true in vocal characterisation and excellent in diction,
is a particular delight. Her act four recit and aria are a wonderful
postlude to an outstanding contribution (DVD 2 CH. 27). As her
eponymous paramour, Walter Berry is quite some revolutionary;
it would take a very strong count Almaviva to master him. His
singing is full-toned with his rounded bass-baritone flexible
and expressive in Figaro’s arias (DVD 1 CH.6 and 17) and
his acting convincing. This is particularly so for the concluding
act in the garden (DVD 2) where the various confusions bring
Figaro, his bride and the put-upon Countess full justification
for the plotting that has gone before.
Of the Almavivas and their entourage, Claire Watson’s
warm and womanly Countess comes over well. She finds no difficulty
with the tessitura of her two big arias whilst bringing expression
and feeling to the emotions they convey (DVD 1 CH.18 and DVD
2 CH.10). Ingvar Wixell sings strongly as the Count, albeit
overshadowed a little by his servant in terms of vocal strength.
That lovely Mozartian, Edith Mathis, as the young buck Cherubino
looks a little too feminine of face. However she sings her two
arias with great beauty and acts the role convincingly, particularly
after entering Susanna’s room via a window (DVD 1 CH 11-17)
and then having to hide herself as the Count arrives. She graces
both arias with tonal beauty and phrasing too rarely heard these
days. Zoltan Kelemen is a cocky Don Bartolo (DVD 1 CH.8) with
Margarethe Bence a rather fusty-looking Marcellina. Neither
she nor David Thaw’s adequately acted music-master get
their act four aria. Deirdre Aselford is vocally a little thin
as Barbarina but acts her role well, particularly in act four.
Ludwig Heinrich’s classic sets and costumes made me regret
the lack of colour. Karl Böhm’s phrasing and gently
sprung rhythms allow the composer’s music to flow whilst
giving the singers adequate time to phrase with delicacy and
character. A little matter of changing styles is evidenced in
the return of a singer to the stage after exiting at the end
of an aria, to take a bow, or even two. Thankfully this practise
has now died out with soloists criticised for even showing the
hint of a smile as they maintain role during the enthusiastic
reception following a bravura aria.
As in my full review I continue to think this classy and classic
performance from another era of opera-going well deserves to
be seen despite its technical limitations when compared to the
present day.
2. Die Zauberflöte - Opera in two
acts, K.620 (1791)
Pamina - Ileana Cotrubas (soprano); Tamino - Peter Schreier
(tenor); Papageno - Christian Boesch (baritone); Sarastro -
Martti Talvela (bass); Queen of the Night - Edita Gruberova
(soprano); Papagena - Gudrun Seiber (soprano); Speaker - Walter
Berry (bass); Monostatos - Horst Hiestermann (tenor); Three
ladies - Edda Moser, Ann Murray and Ingrid Mayr
Chorus of the Vienna State Opera
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/James Levine
Director, Set and Costume Designer: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
TV and video Director: Brian Large
rec. live, Salzburg Festival, 1982
Sound Format: PCM Stereo, Picture Format 4:3 colour, Region
Code. 0
Subtitle languages: German (original language) English, French,
Spanish, Italian
Available separately as 107199 [2 DVDs: 189:00]
This production played in the vast Felsenreitschule in
Salzburg for a total of eleven continuous years after its premiere
on 28 July 1978, setting an all-time record for Mozart productions
there. To my mind it has not been bettered since. The wide stage,
with an additional pop-up second stage, and the use of the rear
arcades, is creative imagination at its very best. The Felsenreitschule
came into being in the 17th century, created on a
site where stone was quarried for construction of the present
cathedral. The three tiers of arcades were originally from where
the audience watched animal-baiting and the like. Director Jean-Pierre
Ponnelle’s creative use of the stage space and arcades
is remarkable. Add a cast including some who sang at the premiere
of the production five years before, all outstanding interpreters
of their roles and totally at ease with the vocal demands of
the music, and a success of the highest order is on the cards.
Add also a conductor and orchestra in whose blood the music
ran and a memorable performance was expected and realised. My
full review is also available separately.
Unusually, the production includes pretty well all the spoken
dialogue. This can seem, as in act one (DVD 1 CHs.6 and 14)
to be a little tedious and is generally much trimmed. Christian
Boesch sings Papageno with appropriate action and vocal nuance.
His is not a name that resounds like some of the other soloists,
but it should. His singing and superb acting, rolling, falling
looking scared to death, are integral to the success and vibrancy
of this performance. He was, I believe, the only one of the
original cast who sang in every revival. Several others from
the premiere bring quality to this performance, notable the
physically imposing Sarastro of Martti Talvela with his vocal
sonority and gravitas particularly evident in his two arias
(DVD 2 CHs.3 and 14). Likewise, in her two arias, Edita Gruberova
as Queen of the Night is simply outstanding, her coloratura
pinpoint and her high F in the act two Der Holle Räche
absolutely secure (DVD 1 CH. 9 and DVD 2 CH.12). Ileana Cotrubas’s
warm stage personality comes over well and if vocally she does
not match Lucia Popp in the near contemporaneous audio recording
under Haitink (EMI) hers is a considerable portrayal with Ach,
ich fühl’s a highlight (DVD 2. CH.18).
New to the cast after the premiere was Peter Schreier as Tamino.
Looking a little his age in the odd close-up, his mellifluous
Mozart tenor is heard to good effect from the start with Dies
Bildnis phrased with his renowned elegance (DVD 1 CH.7).
The lesser roles of Monostatos, Papagena and Speaker are all
taken with vocal appeal and acted with conviction by Horst Hiestermann,
Gudrun Seiber and Walter Berry respectively. The three ladies,
Edda Moser, Ann Murray and Ingrid Mayr are distinctive and well
blended. The quality Chorus of the Vienna State Opera and the
three boys are icing on this wonderful cake.
Some great singing and acted interpretations in an imaginative
production stand alongside the finest available.
3. La Clemenza di Tito - Opera in two acts,
K.621 (1791)
Tito, Emperor of Rome - Michael Schade (tenor); Sesto, a Roman
patrician, friend of Tito, in love with Vitellia - Vesselina
Kasarova (mezzo); Vitellia, daughter of the emperor Vitellius
- Dorothea Röschmann (soprano); Servilia, sister of Sesto,
in love with Annio - Barbara Bonney (soprano); Annio, a Roman
patrician, friend of Sesto, in love with Servilia - Elena Garanča
(mezzo); Publio - Luca Pisaroni (bass baritone)
Chorus of the Vienna State Opera
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Stage Director: Martin Kušej. Set design by Jens Kilian.
Costume design by Bettina Walter
TV and video Director: Brian Large
rec. live, Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, August 2003
Sound Format: LPCM Stereo. DD 5.1. DTS 5.1. Picture Format:
16:9. NTSC
Subtitles: Italian (original language), English, German, French,
Spanish
Booklet essay and synopsis in English, French, German
Available separately as 107181 [2 DVDs: 169:00]
When Mozart was approached by the impresario Guardasoni with
the commission to write an opera for Emperor Leopold’s
Coronation Day in Prague on 6 September 1791 it must have come
as a considerable surprise to him. He well knew he was not flavour
of the month in the Royal Court, particularly with the Empress.
By the time a positive decision had been made to present a newly
composed opera as part of the celebrations, and Salieri had
refused the commission due to pressure of work, time was very
short and Mozart was heavily involved in the composition of
DieZauberflöte. Much has been
written and conjectured about the how Mozart might have composed
Tito, including suggestions that he did so in his head
during the three day coach journey from Vienna to Prague, writing
it out on his arrival. Research on the paper used in the manuscript
score, which fortunately survives, indicates a more complex
story. Mozart certainly wrote some numbers from the opera before
he had any idea of the commission coming his way. La clemenza
di Tito was probably chosen for the Coronation Day opera
because of the ready availability of Metastasio’s libretto
that could easily be adapted by Mazzola, the Court poet who
had replaced Da Ponte. Certainly time constraints were a factor
for Mozart and he took his pupil Süssmayer to Prague, a
mere twelve days before the scheduled premiere, and delegated
to him the writing of some unaccompanied recitatives. That Tito
was in the rather static opera seria form might have
disappointed Mozart whose last work in this genre had been Idomeneo
in 1781. Since then his operas had moved on in style and vitality
as well as humour.
Working with Mazzola, Mozart was able to breathe some vitality
into Metastasio’s original libretto. Despite these efforts
circumstances surrounding the Coronation Day lead to the initial
failure of the work. However, by the final performance on 30
September, the night of the premiere of DieZauberflöte
in Vienna, it was a resounding success. In the following forty
years Tito stood alongside Don Giovanni as Mozart’s
most popular stage work until it fell into a decline from which
it has only emerged in the last forty years or so.
Like the production of Die Zauberflöte above, the
present performance was staged in the vast Felsenreitschule
whose origins I describe above.It was presented in the
second year of Peter Ruzicka’s superintendence of the
Salzburg Festival after the controversial reign of Gerard Mortier,
both of whom might be considered bland compared to what has
followed since.
The opera opens with Tito on the phone during the overture (DVD
1 CH.3). Although dressed in what could be a cousin of a Roman
Toga he quickly divests this and is seen in modern dress like
the rest of the cast. With two women playing the roles of men,
and the director keen to play up the sexual relationships involved,
there is a lot of female on female intimate caressing and petting.
Of the two women en travesti, the young Elina Garanča
looks like a young male and distinctly more masculine than Vesselina
Kasarova whose hairstyle is unmistakably feminine. Updating
extends to the presence of balaclava-faced terrorists blowing
up Rome in spectacular fashion (DVD 1 CH.26).
Whatever the staging idiosyncrasies, and there are more than
I mention, Salzburg always draws on the best singers and this
is the case with this cast. Add to this the ability to act,
despite, or because of the director’s ideas and demands.
At least Mozart’s music gets full due albeit that I find
some of Harnoncourt’s tempi on the slow side, certainly
compared with Levine on the film of Ponelle’s production
(DG 00440 073 4128). However, it must be said that the textures
he draws from the Vienna Philharmonic are lush. Kasarova sings
the aria Parto, Ma tu, ben mio, one of the show-stoppers,
with lovely tone and expression (DVD 1. CH. 21). Dorothea Röschmann
plays and sings the role of the jealous plotter with distinction
and despite having to half undress on stage, whilst Barbara
Bonney as Servilia is a delight on ear and eye. Garanča’s
singing and portrayal are indicative of her future star status,
albeit I find it amazing from this performance that her voice
developed to the extent of her becoming the Carmen de nos
jours. It’s even sufficient to conquer the large barn
that is the nearly four thousand seat Metropolitan Opera (see
review).
Michael Schade's sung assumption, modern clothes or not, is
vocally convincing being mellifluous or dramatic as required
whilst his acted portrayal is equal to the demands of the role
(DVD.1 CH. 14 and DVD. 2 CH.16). Luca Pisaroni is an excellent
Publio, tall and imposing. He is lighter of voice than is often
the case (DVD 2. CH. 16).
My colleague, who attended a live performance of this production
and cast, and later reviewed this DVD issue first seen on the
Opus Arts label (see review),
shares my feelings about the over-sexualisation of the production.
The production demeans Mozart’s opera rather than enhances
it. Regrettably, this is a pattern that has accelerated at Salzburg,
and elsewhere. That being said one would be very lucky to attend
a performance anywhere in the world with the quality of singing
and vocal characterisation to match that found here.
The accompanying booklet essay, in English, French and German,
is appropriately titled: A new way of looking at ‘La
Clemenza Di Tito’. As with the booklet accompanying
DieZauberflöte, who is singing
is not indicated in the generous Chapter listings.
Robert J Farr
ARTHAUS MUSIK 
107
521 [180:00 +189:00 +169:00] 