Die Frau ohne Schatten, Mariinsky Opera @ Edinburgh Festival Theatre

Gods and kitchen sink dramas

Review by Mark Harding | 05 Sep 2011

Reputedly Strauss' greatest opera – and certainly his most extravagant – performed by the famous Mariinsky Opera conducted by Valery Gergiev. This is pretty much mandatory attendance for anyone with an interest in opera.

 

It's easy to understand why it's rarely seen in the UK, requiring five major singing roles – all of them difficult to carry off – a 164 piece orchestra, the most challenging staging, and a complex multi-layered libretto which attempts to present philosophical ideas of German Romanticism through the experience of art.

 

One of the challenges of such a complex work that is open to so many interpretative levels is to give a unifying sense to the whole production. That is, to convince the audience they are seeing one opera not two (or three). And, personally, I wasn't completely sold on the director's balancing of the material. The 'human world' of Act I is wonderfully realised: forefronting the moral dilemmas of the characters with a human and contemporary feel. The complexity and touching characterisation of The Dyer, his Wife, and their relationship is superbly acted. Yet the realist mode of these dramas is wildly disconnected from the abstract, transcendent material of the rest of the opera; especially Act III, with its swathes of dramatic abstractions, such as learning to value Humanity and fulfilling the Life Force etc. Rather than being inclusive of all the strands of the material, the direction seemed to lack a focal point to tie them together. There were also a few distractions with the staging, and uncertainty in the singing at the feast scene that were probably due to first-night issues. But ultimately, these are just quibbles.

 

What is important is that there's a sympathetic and lively Nurse, a superbly acted Barak, and an astounding performance from Olga Sergeyeva as the Dyer's Wife. As the opera continues, the stage elements become increasingly subservient to the symphonic-style music, which is superbly delivered by the orchestra under Gergiev. And in the end, it is the music that trumps everything else.

Die Frau ohne Schatten, Mariinsky Opera, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 1 – 3 Sep, 6pm http://www.eif.co.uk/