Festival Recap: Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti in Munich
By Raphael Mostel
21 Jul 2009
Beth Clayton
photo by Wilfried Hоsl
Composer and journalist Raphael Mostel looks back on the first-ever Bavarian State Opera staging of Leonard Bernstein's 1952 chamber opera Trouble in Tahiti. The expanded production, conducted by Kent Nagano, received three sold-out performances at the Cuvilliиs Theater.
** Trouble in Tahiti, Leonard Bernstein's chamber work about a loveless American couple in suburbia, had its Bavarian State Opera Festival debut production in the Cuvilliиs Theater, the highly ornate rococco jewel-box theater where Mozart premiered his Idomeneo. The theater -- which is named after its original French architect who was also a dwarf and the official jester of the Bavarian royal court -- was recently reopened after extensive renovations. It is by far the smallest of the Bavarian State Opera's three opera houses in Munich, and is only used occasionally, for the most intimate productions.
Bernstein dedicated his seven-scene Trouble in Tahiti to his friend Marc Blitzstein, whose succиs de scandale Cradle Will Rock, Bernstein had set out to "out-cradle" in his first attempt at composing "the great American opera." Emulating Blitzstein, Bernstein here deliberately wrote the music in vernacular popular musical styles of the day rather than more classical operatic style. The composer wrote the libretto himself.
In an interview in his office the morning of the second performance July 10th, Bavarian State Opera Music Director Kent Nagano joked the new Tahiti production, coming a mere two days after the new Wagner opera production he'd conducted at the National Theater, was actually Lohengrin, part 2.
Tahiti was performed in the original English. The three-voice chorus (Angela Brower, Jeffrey Behrens, Todd Boyce) -- which Bernstein's score describes as "a Greek chorus born of radio commercials" -- performed in clown make-up in this production, and occasionally helped to move items on the set. The action takes place on a single day, beginning in the morning, and ending in the evening in an unnamed "suburbia." The two main roles of the unhappy couple, Dinah and Sam, were sung by Beth Clayton and Rod Gilfry. This production included a non-singing, non-speaking actor, Moritz Becker, as the neglected son, Junior. Although usually seen clutching a stuffed bunny, the character also appears as a blow-up doll which is deflated in one scene. Junior is described in the opera as performing in a play in his school, which neither parent attends. Trouble in Tahiti itself is the name of a fantasy South Seas Hollywood film romance described by the wife in her show-stopping solo. The opera ends with the family planning to go together to see this film, the wife for a second time. The opera may be more than a little autobiographical as originally Bernstein named the couple after his parents, Jennie and Sam, but later changed the wife's name. The composer himself had spoken of a scarring incident of his own youth, when neither of his parents attended his debut as soloist in the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Boston Latin School Orchestra. Tahiti was the eleventh new production to be conducted by Kent Nagano since his appointment as Music Director. Rather than the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, however, for this production the players of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra were in the pit. These performances marked the world premiere of the new reduced-orchestration (for 14 musicians, instead of Bernstein's original 21) by Garth Edwin Sunderland. Mr. Nagano worked with composer himself when Bernstein was introducing the full opera A Quiet Place, which the composer developed and greatly expanded from this early work.
To lengthen the 45-minute Tahiti, director Schorsch Kamerun added a curtain-raiser called Bevor der Аrger richtig losgeht... (Before the Trouble Gets Going...). This consisted of four German punk songs with music by David R. Coleman to texts by four different German punk bands: "Diese Menscehn sind ehrlich" (These people are honest) by Die Goldenen Zitronen (The Golden Lemons, the band Mr. Kamerun had sung with in the 1970's), F.S.K.'s "Das is der morderne Welt" (This is the modern world), as well as "Angst macht keinen Lаrm" (Fear makes no noise) by Angeschissen (Shit-upon), and "Es regnet Kaviar" (It's raining caviar) by Tolerantes Brandenburg (Tolerant Brandenburg).
These four punk songs were declaimed in front of the curtain accompanied by silent video by Jo Schramm of a clown opening a book which displayed a film of imagined disputes between the opera characters (as themselves or as blow-up dolls) in the 1960's style suburban living room set of the first scene. The set itself was only revealed after the curtain was raised. Over the fireplace was a big painting of a smiley face, and the first action of Dinah was to rotate its mouth from frown to smile. Other sets included Sam's office, an abandoned amusement park, a blinking light sign saying "Suburbia," and at one point, the small ceiling chandeliers over the audience's heads were made to flash on and off and raise and lower in coordinated time to the music. There were numerous walk-on parts added by the director to the original, spare scenario written by the composer himself.
The Munich Opera Festival continues through July 31. For information, visit .
Raphael Mostel is a composer based in New York. He teaches "Architectonics of Music" at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in tandem with architect Steven Holl.
All photos by Wilfried Hоsl.
Rodney Gilfry, Beth Clayton, Moritz Becker, Jeffrey Behrens, Angela Brower and Todd Boyce
Rodney Gilfry, Beth Clayton, Moritz Becker and Schorsch Kamerun
Rodney Gilfry
Todd Boyce, Angela Brower and Jeffrey Behrens
25.07.2009, 00:45
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Re: Bavarian State Opera Festival -оперный фестиваль
Festival Recap: Lohengrin, with Jonas Kaufmann, at Munich Festival
By Jens F. Laurson
23 Jul 2009
Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros, photo by Wilfried Hosl
We close our coverage of the Festival with a first-hand recap (and photo gallery) of Richard Jones' divisive new production of the Wagner classic. While not a Lohengrin for all tastes, most critics seemed to agree that the starry cast turned in one of the best-sung performances in recent decades.
**
The ticket to get at the Munich Opera Festival this year was the new Lohengrin by Richard Jones. That didn’t change, either, after the production was panned by a slew of critics — local, German, and foreign— because the singing of the leads, as everyone acknowledged, was superb, and the smaller roles well cast, too. Manuel Brug, usually quicker with pointed criticism than lavish praise, wrote in Die Welt that he could not think of any cast more perfectly matched, so youthfully enthralling, in short: so wonderful, since the 70s. Amid general vocal and especially dramatic excellence, the audience (and critics) agreed that Anja Harteros as Elsa outshone even Jonas Kaufmann, the nominal star of the production. Few complaints and much laude was also heard about Christof Fischesser’s virile king, Evgeny Nikitin’s sung (not belted!) Herald, Michaela Schuster’s curiously seductive, finely frayed Ortrud, and Wolfgang Koch’s believable, euphonious Telramund. The production, to be kind, divided the audience. Richard Jones lets Elsa—and then later Lohengrin—build a house (that is the new Germany?). And he mocks his own direction through strained ironic distance in moments like Lohengrin’s duel with Telramund which is presented as a cutlass-ballet so cartoonish that it makes Errol Flynn’s such seaborne adventures look positively Olympian in restraint. He elicited even more derision when, parallel to Ortrud, everyone in the Brabantian chorus offs him or herself with a shot to the head. This seemingly extraneous point — perhaps about losing freedom and fearing the new, old, totalitarian order under Fьhrer Gottfried — was either not understood or judged to contradict what the text and music tells us. Then again, it wouldn’t be Festival time in Munich if not for a fair helping of juicy boos from the audience.
Elsa is a defiant down to earth girly in Jones’ production, who ignores the accusations hurled at her, insisting on building her nest… err, house. When she gets a handy-man helper in the form of Kaufmann—whose gritty and earthy Lohengrin makes an ideal partner-in-masonry—we have domestic bliss. The house, strained as a metaphor but working very nicely as a set in the third act, contains a pair of rather common newlyweds, happily in love and hopeful. When Elsa asks the questions she shouldn’t have, it’s the primarily the matrimonial harmony that goes up in smoke. Literally… as Lohengrin burns down the house, starting with the cradle that had expectantly stood upstairs.
The setting is a mix of a 1960’s collegiate society with the red-headed men in their Brabant-High letter jackets and wavy hairdos and a vaguely fascist Telramundian regime. (Costumes and set by “Ultz”, lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin.) Building the new house with Elsa and Lohengrin (Act II), the society changes into loosely Swabian costume by the time they consecrate Mr. & Mrs. L.’s new abode. The interplay of the couples—Ortrud and Telramund, Lohengrin and Elsa—is defined by great sensitivity and moving tenderness. Ortrud keeping Telramund from committing suicide or Elsa trying to keep Lohengrin from (having to) pronounce his name are the kind of little gestures so perfectly timed that they suffice to elevate the production to an intimate story of love-gained-and-lost.
*
The Munich Opera Festival continues through July 31. For information, visit .
All photos by Wilfried Hosl.
Anja Harteros, Christof Fischesser and Evgeny Nikitin with chorus
The cast of Lohengrin
Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros and chorus
Anja Harteros, Wolfgang Koch and Jonas Kaufmann
Evgeny Nikitin and Christof Fischesser
Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros
Wolfgang Koch and Michaela Schuster
Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros and chorus
Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros
Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros
Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros and chorus
29.07.2009, 00:22
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Re: Bavarian State Opera Festival -оперный фестиваль
Мюнхенский оперный фестиваль Главным событием фестиваля стал не «Лоэнгрин» с Йонасом Кауфманом, а «Воццек» в постановке Андреаса Кригенбурга
Николаус Бахлер, бывший глава венского Бургтеатра, с нынешнего сезона официально стал интендантом Баварской оперы, сменив на этом посту легендарного Питера Джонаса. Его приход немедленно отозвался дрожью во всех членах мощного театрального организма: уволены солидные старые капельдинеры, многие ассистенты и вспомогательный персонал. Происходит явная смена караула: режиссеры, художники, певцы и дирижеры, входившие в ближний круг Джонаса, постепенно вытесняются новыми именами. Процесс только начался, но тенденция уже очевидна. Ориентация на эзотерические названия и утонченный постановочный стиль, долгие годы культивировавшийся при Джонасе, сменяется стремлением осовременить, омолодить и демократизировать публику, оперный репертуар и исполнительские составы.
В нынешней афише знаменитого летнего фестиваля Баварской оперы не значится ни одной барочной или раннеклассической оперы: ни Генделя, ни Монтеверди, ни даже Глюка. Хотя уникальная фестивальная модель Мюнхена формально соблюдена: в программу вошли и премьеры текущего и прошлого сезонов, и фестивальные премьеры — всего 19 спектаклей.
Мейнстрим нынешнего фестиваля — оперы Верди, причем самые популярные: «Аида», «Отелло», «Фальстаф», «Луиза Миллер», «Набукко», «Макбет». Не то чтобы при Джонасе опер Верди вовсе не было, но подобная их концентрация знак показательный. Примечательно и то, что дирижеры сплошь итальянцы. Похоже, Бахлер рассудил, что лучше итальянцев Верди не подаст никто. И просчитался: «Набукко» под управлением Паоло Кариньяни прошел возмутительно неряшливо. Звучание роскошного оркестра Баварской оперы внезапно стало глухим и невнятным, солисты буквально давились своими партиями, а постановка Яниса Коккоса демонстрировала чудовищную провинциальность визуального решения.
Другое важное новшество в Баварской опере — акцент на смешанные, кросскультурные спектакли, имеющие весьма косвенное отношение к жанру оперы. Из пяти объявленных фестивальных премьер только две — «Лоэнгрин» и «Неприятности на Таити» Бернстайна — можно считать полноценными оперными спектаклями.
Да и то «Неприятности на Таити» скорее смахивают на мюзикл: разговорные диалоги перемежаются пением, а сам спектакль предварен вставным кабаретным номером от экс-панка Шорша Камеруна, по совместительству режиссера спектакля.
Остальные три, строго говоря, оперными спектаклями не являются и явно рассчитаны на привлечение в театр нецелевой аудитории — неофитов в области оперы, которым еще нужно разжевать и в рот положить новое кушанье.
Для этих целей, во-первых, придумана экскурсия «Ночь в опере» с некоей ведущей Адриенной (английский актер Адриан Хоуэлс). Группа встречается в девять вечера на Маршаллплац и прогуливается по театру, где им открывают тайны и секреты оперного закулисья.
Еще одна премьера — смешанное полуцирковое-полутанцевальное представление «Ирмингард» с участием ансамбля Mnozil Brass, наигрывающего вальсы, танго, лендлеры, рэп. В спектакле задействованы певцы, декламаторы и танцоры, хор и оркестр, а поставил этот театральный винегрет Бернд Ешек.
Третья премьера — камерный опус Джея Шварца «Нарцисс и Эхо» — рассчитана на участие контратенора в сопровождении альта и ударных. Идет в малом пространстве Allerheiligen Hofkirche. Вообще, Бахлер полон решимости плотно работать с современными композиторами. Он уже объявил, что в феврале 2010 года будет поставлена опера Петера Этвоша «Трагедия дьявола», для оформления которой он собирается пригласить .
Так что, возможно, вскоре благообразных старцев в безукоризненно сидящих смокингах и милых старушек в брильянтах сменят лохматые юнцы в кроссовках и с рюкзачками за спиной. Ход, впрочем, довольно рискованный. Особенно если вспомнить, каких усилий стоило Джонасу воспитать и прикормить мюнхенскую публику, привить ей вкус к Генделю, к ироничным постановкам Алдена и Кристофа Лоя (на нынешнем фестивале фигурирует лишь один спектакль Лоя — «Лукреция Борджиа» Доницетти).
На формирование «своего» зрителя и слушателя у Джонаса ушли годы, чуть ли не два десятилетия. Теперь, игнорируя устойчивые запросы этой части оперной публики, Бахлер может остаться ни с чем: потеряет прежнюю аудиторию, но вовсе не факт, что найдет новую.
Правда, у Баварской национальной оперы есть надежная опора — ее музыкальный директор Кент Нагано. Авторитет его непререкаем; мюнхенцы любят его до обожания. Естественно, предпочтения и репертуарный выбор Нагано не подвергается сомнению: харизмой он обладает мощнейшей, а его интерпретации коронного баварского репертуара — Рихарда Штрауса и Вагнера — так же блестящи и убедительны, как и прочтение опер ХХ века.
Нагано стал музыкальным руководителем главной фестивальной премьеры, спектакля «Лоэнгрин», в котором участвует немецкая мегазвезда — любимчик мюнхенцев тенор Йонас Кауфман. На «Лоэнгрине», как на прочном гвозде, должна была бы повиснуть вся фестивальная программа. Но этого не случилось.
Бессмысленный, замусоренный, суетливый спектакль поставили Ричард Джонс и художник Ультц. История Лоэнгрина подана как метафора стройки. Сам Кауфман выходит в вытянутых трениках и футболке и поет типично вердиевским голосом, с итальянским надрывом, даже не пытаясь осветлить и облегчить тембр для изображения лучезарного рыцаря, пришедшего в дольний мир с горних высот. Одно утешение — красавица и умница Аня Хартерос в роли Эльзы. Спектакль держался на ней и на Нагано, оркестр которого звучал по-вагнеровски пышно и томительно.
Еще один важный, показанный в рамках фестиваля спектакль, полностью придуманный и поставленный под эгидой уже нового интенданта, — это «Енуфа» Яначека. Главной приманкой в нем было участие двух примадонн — Деборы Поласки (Костельничка) и Эвы-Марии Вестброк (Енуфа): сильные голоса, статные фигуры, породистость. Но мягкий славянский говор не давался певицам: обе привычно, по-европейски понижали интонацию на окончаниях фраз, мастерски закругляя их. Между тем музыке Яначека это противопоказано, окончания фраз у него как раз ритмически скандируются. За пультом стоял Кирилл Петренко, который вел спектакль порывисто и увлеченно, но чересчур драматизировал плавную и напевную музыку Яначека.
Любопытным оказался «Палестрина» Пфицнера — пятичасовой тяжеловесный оперный кирпич о знаменитом композиторе эпохи Возрождения, выписанный эпигоном Вагнера с тщанием и добросовестной заумью. Центральную партию в нем спел Кристофер Вентрис, а главным мотивом постановки стал антиклерикальный пафос. Синекрылые ангелы подвешены на веревочках, скандалящие епископы вписаны в подчеркнуто гламурное оформление — гладенькое, яркое, с оригинальными конструктивистскими вывертами. Впрочем, декоративность и ироническая интонация спектакля Кристиана Штюка мало корреспондировала с квазисерьезной музыкой, исполненной дирижером из Гамбурга Симоной Янг с привычным перфекционизмом.
Самым же сильным и цельным из множества фестивальных спектаклей оказался «Воццек» в постановке Андреаса Кригенбурга, ставший главным событием уходящего мюнхенского сезона. И потому, что в музыкальном смысле он был проведен Кентом Нагано практически безукоризненно; и потому, что сценографическое решение Харальда Б. Тора схватывалось глазом моментально и навсегда: на мрачном фоне сцены, наглухо обитой черным, зыбко покачивается обшарпанная коробка пустой комнаты, будто парящей в пустоте вопреки законам притяжения. Вот так же, в пустоте, без опоры на привычный быт, друзей и общество, с социальном вакууме существует Воццек; его партию впечатляюще спел Михаэль Фолле.
С первых же звуков оркестра на сцену польется вода: дождь идет все время, хлюпает вода под ногами массовки — угрюмых людей в черном. Пронзительная безысходность жизни наваливается свинцовой тяжестью; беспросветная нищета превращает людей в свиней, бросающихся в мокрую грязь, куда кельнер вывалил объедки с кухни. Вокруг Воццека обитают монстры, словно сошедшие с гравюр ; черные подглазья, страшные оскалы, нервические гримасы лиц сливаются в экспрессионистский кошмар. И лишь Мари — ее поет Ангела Деноке — сохраняет человеческий облик среди сборища моральных и физических уродов.
Фотогалерея Всего фото:9
14.08.2009, 22:06
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Re: Bavarian State Opera Festival -оперный фестиваль
Boffo Box Office in Bavaria: Reflections on a Successful Munich Opera Summer
By Raphael Mostel
13 Aug 2009
Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros in Lohengrin, photo by Wilfried Hosl
While most suffer the effects of the current economic morass, the Munich Fest reported final sales of nearly 99%. Raphael Mostel, who spent a week in the city, details his experience and reflects upon the month-long celebration of Germany's favorite art form.
**
Talking about a hot ticket: A glittering exception to the ongoing flood of reports of red ink in the arts comes from the Munich's Bavarian State Opera's annual month-long summer Opera Festival, which took place between June 27 and July 31 this year. This year, the BStO reports the final ticket sales tally was an astonishing 98.72 percent for the Festival.
In total, 81,000 tickets were sold. This is not counting attendance at the numerous events which were offered free to the public, most prominently the approximately 14,000 who gathered in the square in front of the National Theater for an "Oper fьr Alle" open-air public broadcast of the new production which opened the festival: Richard Wagner'sLohengrin. (The BStO's National Theater is of course where five of Wagner's most important operas originally received their first performances.)
The National Theater is the largest of the BStO's three opera houses. Although the National Theater is one of the largest opera houses in Europe, it still is more intimate than New York's Metropolitan Opera, which has nearly double the audience capacity. The BStO's other two opera houses are the Bayreuth-like Prinzregenten Theater and the pocket-sized, over-the-top rococo Cuvilliиs Theater (where the young Mozart premiered his Idomeneo). The Opera Festival, which runs from the end of June to the end of July each year, presents a rapid-fire alternation of major opera productions, often taking advantage of the multiple opera houses to present more than one at a time, not to mention ballet and numerous concerts large and small as well.
The rapturously-received new Lohengrin was conducted by Kent Nagano, and marked the tenth new BStO production he has conducted since becoming Music Director of the company. It featured the much- anticipated Wagner debut of Jonas Kaufmann in the title role, with a stellar cast including Anja Harteros, Wolfgang Koch, Michaela Shuster, Evgeny Nikitin.
Kent Nagano, photo by Wilfried Hosl
Speaking in his office, Kent Nagano explained, "Even though this Festival is an international one, at the highest level of international standing, it's primarily a Bavarian festival, our house, our tradition. Since it began, back in 1875, Bavaria has provided our audience. And they do so with passion. I've learned from the experience of being here what a dynamic place Munich -- and Bavaria -- is. Sadly, many people focus on Oktoberfest when they think about Munich. Or conservative tastes. But these are clichйs which are irrelevant in the history of Munich. Ours is among the oldest orchestras in the world. The orchestra was created not just for the royal court, but for the community. People here identify with the opera. It's 'my' or 'our' opera house here, and it provides an unusually intense window on the soul of the city. This is not a recent phenomenon. There's such a rich culture here -- the depth and relevance of its past. Even more, it helps us navigate our contemporary life. As an American to be given the chance to work here is a great honor. It's more than a little humbling to realize that Orlando di Lassus was one of my predecessors."
One can see that local passion on Promenadeplatz where there is a statue of di Lassus. No matter what time of day or night it is never without people paying respects, lighting fresh candles, leaving flowers. This is a city with a long, long sense of tradition and history.
These days Munich has often been selected as one of the most livable cities in the world, and it has consistently been among the most prosperous in Germany. Berliners and other Germans from the north who come to Munich commonly remark how Italian (that is, un-German) the city seems to them. Food and drink are not more expensive here than in New York. Transportation is swift and effortless, by tram or subway. For those accustomed to the noise of public transportation in New York, Munich's transport is shockingly quiet, arriving with only a murmured "whoosh" sound, and constantly updated electronic signs inform you how many minutes' wait it will be until the next train or tram. But all the major destinations in the city center are actually very walkable, and the streets are filled with people strolling, stopping at the cafes, window-shopping, or visiting one of the museums. Munich's art collections rival any in the world.
Eva-Maria Westbroek as Jenufa, photo by Wilfried Hosl
The other Festival productions I sampled in my week in Munich included Janacek's Jenufa (in Czech), also at the National Theater, conducted by the young newcomer making a good impression here, Kirill Petrenko, and a strong cast which included Eva-Maria Westbroek, Deborah Polaski, Helga Dernesch, Stefan Margita and Pavel Cernoch. The production by Barbara Frey pictures the mill's toxic waste (half- submerged barrels of sludge dot the stage) poisoning the community so much that the chorus, dancers and extras all have green bilious splotches their faces. The green makeup does not affect their performance. The locals informed me Jenufa was new to them in Munich, and the audience's fervent reception indicates it will reappear regularly from now on.
Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos was performed to great acclaim at the Prinzregenten Theater, in a production by Robert Carsen, conducted by Bertrand de Billy, and a cast which included Diana Damrau, Daniela Sindram and Adrianna Pieczonka.
A new production of was mounted (in English) in the Cuvilliиs Theater, with Kent Nagano conducting the guest musicians, the famous Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
Beth Clayton in Trouble in Tahiti,, photo by Wilfried Hosl
A real rarity was Palestrina, a Wagner-length "musical legend" of the machinations of the Council of Trent, written and composed by Munich composer Hans Pfitzner in 1917. Pfitzner today is best known for becoming such a fervent Nazi that even Hitler asked he be kept away from him. Music scholars have proven that Palestrina's true history is misrepresented in this story, and none of the historical Palestrina's own music is heard in this score. Thomas Mann described this opera as "more ethics than art." The minimalist production by Christian Stьckel -- who also directs the Passion Play at Oberammergau -- was in day-glo pink and green when it wasn't in simple black and white.
Other performances in the Festival included Wozzeck, Macbeth, Luisa Miller, Aida, Nabucco, Otello, Falstaff, Norma, Lucrezia Borgia, Werther and Idomeneo.
The BStO maintains a lively literary and intellectual tradition, producing a lavishly voluminous book (in German) of serious essays, historical texts, photos, art and libretto individually for each opera it presents. During intermissions, philosophical disquisitions on the opera can be found in corners throughout the house, accompanied by champagne, beer or Rote Grьtze (a refreshing sauce of red berries, a house specialty).
Next year's BStO Opera Festival will open with Tosca, starring Karita Mattila and Jonas Kaufmann, in a new production directed by Luc Bondy which was co-produced by the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala of Milan. One of the most eagerly anticipated highlights originating with the BStO in its next Festival will be the world premiere of a newly commissioned opera Die Tragodie des Teufels (The Tragedy of the Devil) by noted Hungarian composer Peter Eцtvцs ("Three Sisters," "Angels in America," "Love and Other Demons") and German writer Albert Ostermaier.
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