La Wally Volksoper Vienna
Wed June 27th
This was an unexpected chance to see an unusual work (I got offered a free ticket from a site where I had booked a number of tickets before) as it was my birthday. There is one big/famous/wonderful aria that gained worldwide fame when used in the 1981 film ‘Diva’ which stands out stunningly from amongst the frankly sub-Puccini note-knitting of the rest of the work – although to be fair, the preludes to Acts 3 and 4 were very attractively idiomatic with quality melodic invention and intriguing orchestration.
The more than usually absurd story and a glorious disregard for the practicalities of staging (death in an avalanche?!) was smartly solved here by using a symbolic expressionist-style of stage setting with everything (characters and set) in shades of black and grey with just very slight touches of colour like red on the hands of the bear-killer. Geometric angularity well represented the peaks and slopes of the setting as well as effectively reflecting the harshness of the story and treating of some characters.
The most intriguing aspect of the production was the character of the Infanterist who seemed to be a sort of puppet-master, seemingly controlling events from the moment the curtain rose (at his command). His appearance was ultra-expressionist with dark kohl-rimmed eyes and a near dead-white skill – but quite how he fitted into the story I am not sure; was the director saying that the characters were at the mercy of a malign and meaningless fate?
Musically the whole was good – a quality orchestra and all singers performed well and did justice to the score but with no outstanding stars. A soundly enjoyable evening.