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Gramophone, 10 December 2012 |
Charles Searson |
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Wagner: Lohengrin, Teatro alla Scala, 7. Dezember 2012 |
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Milan gala heralds twin bicentenaries at La Scala
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Barenboim’s Lohengrin launches a celebratory year of Wagner and
Verdi
Fifteen minutes of applause greeted a new production
of Wagner’s Lohengrin as La Scala’s opera and ballet season opened on Friday
evening. As if conjured up to save the day, Lohengrin-style, the first snows
of winter fell on the city in mid-afternoon and by curtain up all was white,
lending magic to the evening along with the red brocade, chandeliers and
specially commissioned green and white floral displays.
The opening
gala, beamed onto screens in Milan and this year to 500 cinemas worldwide,
is a celebrity event with inflated ticket prices and as much attention paid
to jewels and outfits as to onstage happenings. Those present included prime
minister Mario Monti and his wife, mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia, ballet
dancer Roberto Bolle, architect Mario Botta, and Eva Wagner, joint director
of the Bayreuth Festival.
Lohengrin, the first Wagner opera to be
heard in Italy (Bologna, 1871), has some claim to being the nation’s
favourite, at least on the number of times it has been performed. Claus
Guth’s production was staged in 19th-century costumes, bringing austerity to
a work often remembered for elaborate onstage swans, although the
overarching elegance and creative use of lighting failed to convince the
most conservative.
In a rare double substitution, the soprano Anja
Harteros was to have taken the role of Elsa, but flu led to her being
replaced by Ann Petersen, who sang the part at the primina for under-30s on
the Tuesday before. She too succumbed to flu, however, and Berlin-born
Annette Dasch arrived overnight to take on the role with which she made her
Bayreuth debut two years ago. In the circumstances this was a considerable
achievement, a deeply knowing portrayal of one of Wagner’s most complex
heroines. There were plaudits, too, for the evil Ortrud of Evelyn
Herlitzius, but the most applause went to the firm and assured
Lohengrin of that consummate stage actor, Jonas Kaufmann.
As
music director, Barenboim is increasingly seen as synonymous with La Scala’s
success but the theatre is again approaching a period of relative
uncertainly with the departure of sovrintendente Stéphane Lissner in 2015.
It remains to be seen how political tensions and seemingly eternal funding
questions (there is talk of a €4m deficit) will affect future productions.
As in previous years, with TV cameras rolling there were protests outside
the theatre, in particular against government austerity measures, and smoke
bombs were thrown.
The Wagner-Verdi opera season continues with a new
production of Falstaff under Daniel Harding; a new Nabucco (Nicola
Luisotti); Der fliegende Holländer (Hartmut Haenchen); a new Macbeth (Valery
Gergiev); a new Oberto (Riccardo Frizza); a new Götterdämmerung (Barenboim,
heralding his complete La Scala/Berlin Ring cycle); a new Un ballo in
maschera (Daniele Rustioni); La scala di seta (Christophe Rousset); Don
Carlo (Fabio Luisi); and Franco Zeffirelli’s 2006 Aida (Gianandrea Noseda).
Lohengrin runs until December 27, 2012.
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