Intermezzo

Eugene Onegin in Amsterdam

Eugene Onegin - De Nederlandse Opera, Het Muziektheater Amsterdam, 18 June 2011

By telling the story largely in interactive flashback, Stefan Herheim's new production ingeniously restores elements of Pushkin's verse novel absent from Tchaikovsky's adaptation. Flitting between Pushkin's time and today, Onegin and Tatiana take turns to contemplate their past.  At the same time, modern Russia's identity crisis is explored via a procession of national stereotypes from peasant to patriarchs, communists to cosmonauts. This feels over-ambitious, though to be fair it is truthful to the novel, which is drawn on a larger scale than the opera. The production as a whole though is still an extraordinary theatrical experience, enhanced by the brilliant playing of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The Height of Bulgarity

Krassimira Stoyanova / Vesselina Kasarova / Jendrik Springer - National Theatre Munich, 20 July 2010

Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova joined Bulgarian mezzo Vesselina Kasarova last night for perhaps the least intimate lieder recital I've ever been to. Even from the second row of the stalls, the huge orchestra pit of the National Theatre created a gulf that was never quite bridged. It didn't help that both singers were firmly lodged behind both music stands and recording microphones all night. They consulted their music frequently - another barrier - I wondered if they simply hadn't rehearsed quite enough. Goodness knows what it was like from the top deck.