My initial comments about the work, more or less act by act are my thoughts immediately after each act. The latter comments -particularly the specific ones about singers/set etc. etc. - are more considered and some of my initial thoughts are subsequently refined and more carefully considered. This is the first time I have seen the work staged although I have listened to it a number of times.
One of the first things that struck me was how amazingly dense the libretto was. Libretti often tend to have only the essential words, it seems to me, those that are needed to convey the feelings of the moment, the situation between two or more characters with the music being the main means by which the situation and emotions at that moment are conveyed. Here the libretto covers every nuance and aspect of every situation it seemed – glance away from the translated surtitles and you have missed perhaps significant information. I wonder to if this is an element of the ‘musical knitting’ of Strauss that I have referenced before – the great length at which he writes perhaos being a reflection, with a libretto such as this one, meaning that to respond to everything in the libretto takes more musical time than is often the case with an opera. In this case too, the story is an allusive and myth-element laden which means that more exposition may well be needed than in another sort of more straightforward drama.
At the end of Act 1, I was wondering about what it was that I was experiencing and finding that trying to follow the action and absorb what was being shown on stage (of which, more later) was taxing. This was made even more apparent in Act 2 and I was beginning to wonder if I would be able to sustain my involvement. But, in the third act I realized that the response to have was not to be frustrated and baffled by the length and complexity but to let it work purely musically and as far as the drama was concerned – well, take what I could get and not try and absorb everything – words/music/ideas/relationships etc. – but to just ‘have the experience’ – and perhaps not worry too much about the meaning. This did help although after reading the programme notes and guide, I did feel that I was getting a better sense of what the artists were trying to do. The programme, by the way, was excellent; I really appreciated that all the Hungarian items were translated into English, including the illuminating remarks of the director, conductor and others and that I did not just have an English-language plot summary which is often what happens in many other European opera houses (Berlin…?)
One significant issue that made the absorption of everything even more taxing was the design of the set and stage. As well as the main, largely plain but effective set with two monumental columns, above the top of the stage, and below the place for the surtitles, there were three screens – often used independently but sometimes (and this was when it was most effective), as one complete screen – and in Act 3 just one of the smaller screens was used on its own to very effectively draw attention to small but important gestures being made by the Empress which helped to convey the importance of that particular moment. However, for Act 1, and most of Act 2, there were three static camera views, two from the sides of the stage and one, the central one, a distant view of the whole stage (slightly out of focus most of the time, inexcusably). These just sat there for a lot of the time, playing no role in the action but providing a distraction from what was happening on the stage. I really could not see the role that they were meant to play. At times e.g. a mystical journey from the world of spirits to the earth, the King’s falcon, they did play a useful and effective role and worked hand in hand with what we were seeing in stage and hearing – but for the most part they did not. In Act 3 though, they were more critically used (as indicated above) and one began to get a sense of how they could have been creatively and imaginatively used to help ‘tell the story’ for the whole work. A potentially fine idea but spoilt by the rather unimaginative execution.
The costuming was strikingly creative – for the most part – managing to create two distinct worlds (although I remain baffled by the vast tyre that was wheeled on prior to every scene on earth with Barak and his wife) particularly with the world of the Emperor. Then only one that did not work for me was that of the Nurse – largely black with much glittering accessorizing but for me it made the role rather too pantomime/Cruella DeVille like – something not helped by the rather melodramatic gestural acting of the singer – not given good/any directions I fear. I think the Nurse is a deeply grim and sinister character and of central importance, but here she was too much of a Disney villainess.
And this brings us to the musical performance. This was first-rate – almost world-class I would think. The (vast) orchestra was wonderful, taking full advantage of the expanded pit and the conductor Stefan Soltesz showed, to my ears, amazing control over the vast span of this work and kept the ultimate climax right until the very end even though it would have been easy to climax well before that as, in one way, the whole work is a series of climaxes and so the conductor’s art, I think, is to try and balance all of those and not come too early. The orchestra did the piece proud too and the loved there were two solos – a cello in Act 2 and a violin in Act 3 – that were glorious.
And so, finally but not least, the singers. The five main ones were superb in that they coped with ease with the appalling demands of these roles. All of them, but particularly the two male roles, Barak and the Emperor, require Wagnerian power AND the ability to express Italian lyricism as well – a very difficult combination and too often one constituent part is there but the other is weaker or even almost non-existent
Istvan Kovacshazi (the Emperor) stood out from his opening phrases and maintained a burnished and powerful tone throughout the three-hours plus of this work while he was superbly partnered by Eszter Sumegi as his wife (a good actress too – she benefited from close-ups at key moments, particularly in Act 3) with a radiantly powerful and clear voice. Equally good was Szilvia Ralik as Barak’s Wife who changing character and conflicts was very finely depicted by her performance and she was matched by John Lundgren as Barak – a strange role, described as a bass-baritone but with much of the early part of the role very much at the upper limit of this sort of voice (and there was a bit of strain here, in the early part of the performance) while towards the latter part, it was emphatically written in the lower register (where Lundgren was slightly stronger, I felt. As the Nurse, Ildiko Komlosi sang superbly and was more than a match for the role but, as indicated, needed more guidance re acting as too much of the time her old-fashioned operatic diva-style gesturing detracted from the drama and power of the role.
But a superb evening, complaints about the work itself notwithstanding and a very impressive first experience of the new building.