An excellent performance of one of my favourite works. The singers were first rate with Klara Kolonits superb in taking on the four central soprano roles – and each one highly successfully. I have usually felt that musically there is much to be said for having separate singers, particularly given the demands of Olimpia but here Kolonits managed the wide range of demands perfectly.
Hoffman is another massive role – he is rarely offstage and for much of that time is singing and an active participant, not just an observer but here Boldiszar Laszlo was more than up to it and his voice at the end was (just about) as fresh as when we started. The part, in addition to its length demands considerable power at times and the tessitura is often high but these extreme demands were more than met last night. The final major role, the chameleonic Lindorf and other guises, is perhaps less demanding technically but here again, in Peter Kalman, we had a first-rate performer able to meet, superbly, the demands.
Nicklausse was made a more central figure in this production rather than merely being a somewhat detached outsider as he/she often is. Here they were central to the drama with a strong relationship to Hoffman, which was very powerful and effective. And here, as with all the characters previously mentioned, the acting was superb and very well integrated with the singing.
The orchestra were superb – they really do seem to be on a roll these days.
But the set and production…while not damaging to the work, I was not convinced by the single railway station set; I found it difficult to decide what it was trying to convey and what was gained by there only being this one location. And I was very puzzled by the role of the dancers (a compulsory part of almost every production I have seen here btw) who did not seem to add anything to the drama – not least with their bizarre costume with antlers (?) in the last act. This was intriguing to look at, but why?
But these are minor gripes; the whole work was vividly brought to life and it was done (almost) full justice in this production.