Lohengrin Deutsche Oper Berlin
Dec 17th 2017
Without having heard a note or seen anything on the stage my first reaction was ‘OMG!! WOW!! THE CAST – Klaus Florian Vogt, Lohengrin, Anja Harteros Elsa, Petra Lang, Ortrud – and it transpired that the newish young Brit Friedrich von T, Simon Neal was up to their standard.
Lohengrin has been one of the operas that I have taken the longest to warm to – listening only to it, it has always seemed terribly, thuddingly declamatory with the name of Friedrich Von T being boomed out what seemed to me a ridiculous number of times in the first act in particular. However, now seeing on stage in a visually interesting production really made it work for me. The grim wasteland shown during the prelude (an effectively harsh visual counterpart to the heavenly sweetness of the prelude) making the connection between the physical world and grim reality of a war-torn society was very effectively contrasted with spiritual sweetness that suffuses the other dramatic side of the work.
To be honest as I am writing this a number of months after I saw it and made only sketch notes at the time (lesson learnt!) there is not a vast amount that I am able to say re the production. I do know though, that the world it showed was both real and symbolic and this contrast worked very well. The supernatural element could be taken as being as real a part of this world as the physical surroundings. The costuming and lighting of Lohengrin and the representation of his swan was marvellous – he had glorious white feathered wings attached to him (it recalled the early fantasy sequence in Brazil for me). Getting this balance of modernity and what is explicit in the (older0 text is always a tricky balance to bring off but here it was superbly well done. It was helped, of course, by the first class acting of the principals.
This was matched by their singing. KF V was wonderfully sweet toned – almost Mozartian in places and yet with a size and richness that superbly conveyed, through his careful word-painting, all aspects of this character – who is not, I think, the most subtle and nuanced of dramatic figures. I am sure Wagner found Ortrud and her brother a FAR more interesting couple dramatically and I think this shows in their music which has interesting chromatic foreshadowing of his later works.
Harteros, as with all she undertakes was magnificently committed AND (as ever) technically superb. She has that wonderful stage presence that lights up a scene and draws you into the world of the work – and like all the other performers, all this is at the service of the music and drama.
So a super evening and very glad that I now feel I can begin to appreciate the opera. I did feel that the balance of the old and the new was very well conveyed in this production and it put the story of the individuals in a particular and powerful social/world context that was as effective as it was understated. A smartly intelligent production where one did not sense that a ‘concept’ had been imposed on the work. When it came down to it, everything tat we saw and heard enacted on the stage was done, I felt with the aim of telling the story and being true to the spirit of the piece – which is perhaps a definition of a good and intelligent production.