Hansel Und Gretel is a really lovely opera, one that is personally regarded with much fondness. Along with La Traviata, La Boheme and Il Barbiere Di Siviglia it was one of the first operas I ever watched and listened to via the 1981 Vienna production starring Edita Gruberova and Brigitte Fassbaender and conducted by Georg Solti. And it is also one of the most accessible operas for younger audiences with a story that is familiar to almost everybody and with beautiful music that shouldn't alienate younger viewers.
This Zurich production is not quite in the same vein as the 1981 Vienna and 1982 Met productions which are both wonderful in every regard, the production with Diana Damrau as Gretel is also very fine. But it's leagues better than the rather disgustingly weird Richard Jones-directed Met production. Is it is a truly great production? No, but its best parts are so and more. Is it a very good production? Apart from a couple of staging touches that don't quite work, yes it is.
It impresses hugely visually. The costumes are traditional and very folksy, which gives the production a sense of time and place, and the lighting is expressive and fits the idyllic fairy-tale and supernatural elements beautifully. But it's the set designs that really captivate, they are truly fantastical in every sense and have vividly magical imagery that is both charming and disturbing. Standing out especially is the Witch's gingerbread cottage, it really has a life of its own and has a dream-like quality replaced later with nightmarish ones. The video directing is thankfully expansive rather than unobtrusive with clear picture quality. The staging is a vast majority of the time hugely entertaining, especially good were the chemistry between Hansel and Gretel which was very playful and loving, almost at times like they were trying to parent one another, and the Witch scenes which had humour and tension. The finale is joyous and the presence of the extra children in the first scene did not take away from the main focus of the scene at all. A couple of touches are bewildering, particularly the link between Gertrud and the Witch, it was an interesting if rather odd idea and it was an admirable attempt in giving Gertrud more depth in what is a somewhat thankless role but it came across very confusingly. The extra children in the Dream pantomime were unnecessary and added little, the scene is basically the angels watching over the sleeping Hansel and Gretel and that focus was taken away with the presence of the children.
As with a number of productions from Zurich, the production fares even better musically. The orchestra play Humperdinck's wonderful music with an elegant lyrical style and dramatic depth when needed. The chorus look and sound like they are enjoying and understanding what they're singing about, their singing is vibrant and they look like they are having such fun in the finale. Franz Welser-Moest's conducting is always precise and never heavy-handed, he really makes the music dance while also giving it tension if in a little more need of dynamic range. The principal performances are terrific, with the sole exception of a stiff and uncharacteristically dry-sounding Alfred Muff as Peter. Gabriele Lechner is a solid Gertrud though, firm-voiced and authoritative when on stage and Martina Janckova is quite possibly the best Sandman on DVD, sincere and vocally glowing. Volker Vogel is a great surprise as the Witch, while this viewer is more used to seeing the role played by a woman it is not an unfamiliar touch, the Richard Jones Met production did it too. This said, Vogel fares far better than the ill-at-ease Philip Langridge in that production, playing the role with hair-raising menace and amusement, clearly having a whale of a time in the role. He has a very characterful voice that does not get in the way too much of vocal beauty. A production always anchors on the performances of Hansel and Gretel, and Liliana Nikiteanu and Malin Hartelius do not disappoint by any stretch of the imagination. Both play their roles with so much spirit, charm and personality and sing beautifully, Nikiteanu with a plummy mezzo voice and Hartelius singing with her usual creamy, silvery tone.
All in all, a couple of staging flaws, but on the most part this Zurich production of Hansel Und Gretel is very good indeed. 8/10 Bethany Cox
This Zurich production is not quite in the same vein as the 1981 Vienna and 1982 Met productions which are both wonderful in every regard, the production with Diana Damrau as Gretel is also very fine. But it's leagues better than the rather disgustingly weird Richard Jones-directed Met production. Is it is a truly great production? No, but its best parts are so and more. Is it a very good production? Apart from a couple of staging touches that don't quite work, yes it is.
It impresses hugely visually. The costumes are traditional and very folksy, which gives the production a sense of time and place, and the lighting is expressive and fits the idyllic fairy-tale and supernatural elements beautifully. But it's the set designs that really captivate, they are truly fantastical in every sense and have vividly magical imagery that is both charming and disturbing. Standing out especially is the Witch's gingerbread cottage, it really has a life of its own and has a dream-like quality replaced later with nightmarish ones. The video directing is thankfully expansive rather than unobtrusive with clear picture quality. The staging is a vast majority of the time hugely entertaining, especially good were the chemistry between Hansel and Gretel which was very playful and loving, almost at times like they were trying to parent one another, and the Witch scenes which had humour and tension. The finale is joyous and the presence of the extra children in the first scene did not take away from the main focus of the scene at all. A couple of touches are bewildering, particularly the link between Gertrud and the Witch, it was an interesting if rather odd idea and it was an admirable attempt in giving Gertrud more depth in what is a somewhat thankless role but it came across very confusingly. The extra children in the Dream pantomime were unnecessary and added little, the scene is basically the angels watching over the sleeping Hansel and Gretel and that focus was taken away with the presence of the children.
As with a number of productions from Zurich, the production fares even better musically. The orchestra play Humperdinck's wonderful music with an elegant lyrical style and dramatic depth when needed. The chorus look and sound like they are enjoying and understanding what they're singing about, their singing is vibrant and they look like they are having such fun in the finale. Franz Welser-Moest's conducting is always precise and never heavy-handed, he really makes the music dance while also giving it tension if in a little more need of dynamic range. The principal performances are terrific, with the sole exception of a stiff and uncharacteristically dry-sounding Alfred Muff as Peter. Gabriele Lechner is a solid Gertrud though, firm-voiced and authoritative when on stage and Martina Janckova is quite possibly the best Sandman on DVD, sincere and vocally glowing. Volker Vogel is a great surprise as the Witch, while this viewer is more used to seeing the role played by a woman it is not an unfamiliar touch, the Richard Jones Met production did it too. This said, Vogel fares far better than the ill-at-ease Philip Langridge in that production, playing the role with hair-raising menace and amusement, clearly having a whale of a time in the role. He has a very characterful voice that does not get in the way too much of vocal beauty. A production always anchors on the performances of Hansel and Gretel, and Liliana Nikiteanu and Malin Hartelius do not disappoint by any stretch of the imagination. Both play their roles with so much spirit, charm and personality and sing beautifully, Nikiteanu with a plummy mezzo voice and Hartelius singing with her usual creamy, silvery tone.
All in all, a couple of staging flaws, but on the most part this Zurich production of Hansel Und Gretel is very good indeed. 8/10 Bethany Cox
