“The best of the best assembled on stage,” wrote Germany’s leading newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung after the premiere of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Indeed, it would be hard to find a more ideal cast for this late-Romantic Rococo pastiche anywhere in the world. As the Marschallin, stellar soprano Renée Fleming uses her velvety tones and autumnal shadings to complement the youthfully lyrical and dynamic voice of Sophie Koch as her young lover Octavian. Diana Damrau’s Sophie enhances the trio’s sparkle with her ethereal high notes. Next to Franz Hawlata as a swaggering Baron Ochs and the always impressive Franz Grundheber as Faninal, the Baden-Baden production rounds off its male leads with international tenor star Jonas Kaufmann as the “Italian Singer.” Leading his Münchner Philharmoniker, acclaimed Romantic specialist Christian Thielemann revels in Strauss’s lustrous melancholy and obtains a rarely heard transparency from the brass and woodwinds.
Lulu
Alban Berg’s opera ‘Lulu’ is the story of a lower-class girl who sleeps her way to fame and fortune before losing everything she has and finding death at the hands of Jack the Ripper. Conductor Marc Albrecht supports the two main protagonists, Patricia Petibon’s Lulu and Michael Volle’s Dr. Schön, with the rich sonorities of Berg’s music. Particularly impressive are the gigantic backdrops that dominate the stage and were painted by Daniel Richter, one of the leading German artists of our time.
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) (Mozart 22)
“The Magic Flute” is Mozart’s most popular and beloved opera, and its melodies – from Papageno’s folkloric tunes to the Queen of the Night’s breathtaking coloraturas – are familiar even among non-listeners of classical music. In this production by Pierre Audi, however, it is the eyes and not the ears that first fall under the spell of this truly magical “Magic Flute.” From the illustration on the stage curtain to the incredible, wildly colored, primeval-looking monsters, animals and decorative elements on the stage, the production is dominated by the unmistakable expressive world of the Dutch artist and sculptor Karel Appel. A co-founder of the acclaimed Cobra Group, Appel developed a darkly expressionistic idiom and was the “secret dramaturge” of the production, says director Audi. Appel died at the age of 85 three months before the premiere of “Die Zauberflöte” at the Salzburg Festival. Blending smoothly into Appel’s exotic designs, director Pierre Audi’s production is neither a contemporization nor a deconstruction of Mozart’s German Singspiel, which was written in 1791 and was one of Mozart’s last works. Instead, Audi leaves the alleged stylistic breaks and unresolved conflicts between good and evil as they are and seeks to “give them a home,” as he puts it. He relates the fairy-tale story of the “Magic Flute” in a sensual and playful, but never childlike or childish way, using Appel’s sets as a component of his vision. While the sets may be a treat for the eyes, the music is a feast for the ears. Metropolitan Opera and La Scala star Diana Damrau shines as a Queen of the Night who effortlessly tosses out her coloraturas with dazzling accuracy. René Pape’s Sarastro is a worthy counterpart, a solemn figure with balsamic bass tones. Paul Groves’ supple tenor voice ensures a faultless Tamino next to the captivatingly natural lyricism of Genia Kühmeier’s Pamina. Christian Gerhaher is a welcome, almost restrained Papageno. His Papagena, Irena Bespalovaite, brings her fresh musicality to the ensemble. The Vienna Philharmonic is led with an expert hand by the great Riccardo Muti.
Berlin Opera Night 2007
OPERA NIGHT 2007 for the German AIDS Foundation live from the Deutsche OperBerlin with world-renowned artists presented by Max Raabe PROGRAM: 1. Overture (from: L‘ITALIANA IN ALGERI) / 2. La calunnia è un venticello (from: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA) / 3. Sempre libera (from: LA TRAVIATA) / 4. Pourquoi me réveiller (from: WERTHER) / 5. Nemico della patria (from: ANDREA CHENIER) / 6. La mamma morta (from: ANDREA CHENIER) / 7. O Fortuna (from: CARMINA BURANA) / 8. Fortuna plango vulnera (from: CARMINA BURANA) / 9. O mio babbino caro (from: GIANNI SCHICCHI) / 10. Cruda sorte (from: L’ITALIANA IN ALGERI) / 11. Una furtiva lagrima (from: L’ELISIR D’AMORE) / 12. Si mi chiamano Mimì (from: LA BOHÈME) / 13. Ah! Non credea mirarti … Ah! non giunge (from: LA SONNAMBULA) / 14. Lippen schweigen (from: DIE LUSTIGE WITWE) / 15. Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert! (from: GIUDITTA) / 16. Dein ist mein ganzes Herz (from: DAS LAND DES LÄCHELNS)
Beethoven Cycle – Symphony No. 9
Official anthem of the European Union since 1985, the final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (nicknamed the “Ode to Joy”) has become a symbol of peace and brotherhood. Although the Viennese public failed to appreciate a number of the composer’s later works, the premiere of the Ninth Symphony proved to be an incredible triumph for the ailing Beethoven—suffering by that time from total deafness, but nonetheless well enough to be present in the hall to enjoy his creation’s success. Experience the beloved masterwork in this powerful performance by Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker!