Denoke/Very/Reuter/Vienna Philharmonic/Salonen
(C Major)
Filmed in Salzburg last year, Christoph Marthaler's production of Janáček's existential drama is an austere take on a work usually considered hard-hitting and emotive. It carries with it a whiff of absurdist theatre: taking his cue from the legal wrangling that forms the plot's background, Marthaler confines the action to a courtroom and entangles the protagonists in its rituals in ways that at times recall Ionesco. In keeping with the cool tone, Angela Denoke plays Emilia Marty as dispassionately manipulative, rather than fearful and empathetic. As a result, the emotional focus falls on Raymond Very's neurotic Gregor and Johan Reuter's tragically sensual Prus. The singing is excellent – Reuter, in particular, is outstanding – and there's admirably lucid conducting from Esa-Pekka Salonen. Impressive, rather than engrossing, but well worth seeing.
Rating: 4/5
Classical musicOperaDVD and video reviewsTim Ashley
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and...
(C Major)
Filmed in Salzburg last year, Christoph Marthaler's production of Janáček's existential drama is an austere take on a work usually considered hard-hitting and emotive. It carries with it a whiff of absurdist theatre: taking his cue from the legal wrangling that forms the plot's background, Marthaler confines the action to a courtroom and entangles the protagonists in its rituals in ways that at times recall Ionesco. In keeping with the cool tone, Angela Denoke plays Emilia Marty as dispassionately manipulative, rather than fearful and empathetic. As a result, the emotional focus falls on Raymond Very's neurotic Gregor and Johan Reuter's tragically sensual Prus. The singing is excellent – Reuter, in particular, is outstanding – and there's admirably lucid conducting from Esa-Pekka Salonen. Impressive, rather than engrossing, but well worth seeing.
Rating: 4/5
Classical musicOperaDVD and video reviewsTim Ashley
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and...
- 12/13/2012
- by Tim Ashley
- The Guardian - Film News
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