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04.03.2021 – Joseph Auchter
04.03.2021
Joseph Auchter
Enjoy music without frustration
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The coming weekends in March bring us four re-encounters with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, which reveal the whole spectrum of the music pioneer and have gone down in the proud annals of the Zurich Opera House.
If in connection with Harnoncourt the keywords “Freischütz”, “Belle Hélène”, “Don Giovanni” and “Genoveva” catch your eye, then thanks to precious archive recordings you will soon be able to indulge in memories or simply a few true-to-scale fixed points of the Experience Zurich opera history.
Many cultural bearers have given up in these unpredictable times, retreated into the snail shell or at least enjoy the continued flow of subsidies. Not so the Zurich Opera House, which features Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” and the Brahms RequiemARTE with over 400,000 resp. 600,000 spectators – that would be equivalent to 400 resp. 600 sold out performances –was very popular.
In contrast to ARTE and ORF3, which often include opera productions in their programs, it is strange how seldom SRF lends a hand. It is better to let the Formula 1 polluters turn around in circles for hours instead of making way for cultural assets every now and then. In view of the austerity dictates, bondage to sport should finally be addressed again. Even the local “Tatort” posts, exposed to ridicule, only cause head shakes. Unfortunately, the performances can only be streamed, but at least for 65 hours.
Harnoncourt souvenirs from the opera archive
Friday, March 5th, 6pm – Monday, March 8th, 11am:
“DER FREISCHÜTZ” by Carl Maria von Weber
Director: Ruth Berghaus
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
With Inga Nielsen, Malin Hartelius, Peter Seiffert, Matti Salminen, Werner Göschel, Philharmonia Zurich, Zurich Opera Choir. Recorded at the Zurich Opera House in 1999.
“Der Freischütz”: epoch-making Berghaus production / photos © Zurich Opera House
Nikolaus Harnoncourt left indelible traces in Zurich in terms of meticulous source study, singular interpretation and the search for rarities. With the production of Carl Maria von Weber’s “Freischütz” the meeting of two personalities is on the program who could hardly be more different. The controversial but artistically undisputed grande dame of the “Regietheater” Ruth Berghaus and the pioneer of the original sound movement Nikolaus Harnoncourt created an interpretation of this first German national opera, which manages without any color and yet embraces the black romanticism. Director Andreas Homoki: “When Nikolaus Harnoncourt ventured into the black romanticism of the” Freischütz “and Ruth Berghaus staged it in a very unnaturalist and symbolically cool way, it was a music theater event that provided a topic of conversation far beyond Zurich.”
The appraisal also shows: “In her“ Freischütz ”production, Ruth Berghaus radically rejects all naturalism. Imagery, signals, gestures and visual breaks were more important to her than simply retelling the story. She locates the «Freischütz» far away from that village-rural color scheme that is usually attributed to Weber’s opera. Monumental surfaces characterize Hartmut Meyer’s set design and appear in a flattened and distorted perspective. Blocks of colored light combine to form geometric patterns and create images that are reminiscent of the painting of Russian constructivism. “
Friday, March 12th, 6pm – Monday, March 15th, 11am:
“LA BELLE HÉLÈNE” von Jacques Offenbach
Director: Helmut Lohner
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
With Vesselina Kasarova, Carlos Chausson, Deon van der Walt, Philharmonia Zürich, Chor der Oper Zürich.Recorded at the Zurich Opera House in 1997
Vesselina Kasarova and Deon van der Walt in Offenbach’s “La Belle Hélène”
“Jacques Offenbach’s Opéra bouffe is more than lightweight entertainment. Because this charming firework of intrigues parodies not only ancient goddesses and gods with frivolous ease, but also brilliantly exaggerates the decadent French society under Napoleon III. And the great opera of Offenbach’s time is also taken seriously. “
In this performance from 1997, Belle Hélène is particularly sparkling: Nikolaus Harnoncourt, at that time already celebrated for his historically informed interpretations of Baroque and Classical music, conducted the Zurich Opera Orchestra with a lucid string line-up, colorfully illuminated brass and rich percussion. Vesselina Kasarova in the title role comes up with a radiant appearance, erotic timbre and sensual charisma, and the choir and orchestra are in top form. Helmut Lohner’s fun with the comedic parody hits the nail on the head.
Friday, March 19, 6 p.m. – Monday, March 22, 11 a.m .:
«DON GIOVANNI» by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Director: Jürgen Flimm
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
With Cecilia Bartoli, Liliana Nikiteanu, Rodney Gilfrey, Philharmonia Zürich, Chor der Oper Zürich.Recorded at the Zurich Opera House in 2001
“Don Giovanni”: Rodney Gilfrey in the title role
After his first Don Giovanni, Developed in 1987 together with the director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, the meticulous Mozart researcher went to work for the second time twelve years later in Zurich, which enabled the orchestra in particular to engage in a rare intensity of discussion.
Quote from the Opera House: “As part of this second Mozart / Da Ponte cycle, the conductor had a first-class and perfectly coordinated Mozart ensemble at his disposal. Back then, Cecilia Bartoli made a brilliant, emotionally charged role debut in the role of Donna Elvira, who performed strongly but was internally extremely fragile. Particularly noteworthy in the line-up of this production is the bass László Polgár, who was closely associated with the opera house for many years: he can be heard as Leporello in one of his star roles. The title role is sung by the American Rodney Gilfry, one of the great Don Giovanni actors of his generation, who ideally embodies the love-hungry seducer not only vocally, but also as an actor. “
Friday, March 26th, 6pm – Monday, March 29th, 11am:
«GENOVEVA» by Robert Schumann
Director: Martin Kušej
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
With Juliane Banse, Martin Gantner, Shawn Mathey, Cornelia Kallisch, Philharmonia Zürich, Chor der Oper Zürich.Recorded at the Zurich Opera House in 2007
The rarity: Schumann’s “Genoveva” with Juliane Banse and Shawn Mathey in the leading roles / photos © Zurich Opera House
Robert Schumann as an opera composer? The dramaturgy of the time knows it: “Nikolaus Harnoncourt campaigned for the rediscovery of this opera, which is rarely seen on stage, and called it a modern psychological drama, an ingenious work of art,“ for which you have to go to the barricades ”. His musical interpretation reveals the modernity of the piece and relies on sharpened contrasts with cutting accents, but also large lyrical arcs.
Martin Kušej was responsible for the scenic implementation. He freed the story of the romance of knights and horror legends and zoomed in very close to the characters. The focus of the production is Golo, who is rejected by Genoveva and swears bitter revenge on her out of hurt pride; it becomes the psychogram of the unstable composer Schumann, who threw himself into the Rhine just four years after the premiere of his «Genoveva». Shawn Mathey embodies this Golo with high intensity, and Juliane Banse with her scenic and musical agility is an ideal cast for the Genoveva. “
The April and May archive souvenirs will be presented in a later post.
