Meistersinger, Staatsoper Berlin, review: 'marvellous'

Although the three acts of Meistersinger – Wagner’s 1868 opera about the tussle between creativity and convention – are normally performed on a single evening, this was an exception. The opening night of Andrea Moses’ new production saw only the first two acts, with the third following next day. This was no celebration of 16th-century Nuremberg and the great poet and mastersinger Hans Sachs, but a modern-dress production inspired by the troubled history of Germany (its opening night coincided with the 25th anniversary of Germany's Reunification Day). 

Natalie Dessay: 'You can't teach personality'

It seemed a long wait, because the rumpus by burghers of 16th-century Nuremberg disturbed from their sleep at the end of Act 2 have become a frightful modern punch-up among punks, while the central young lovers Eva (the “prize” of the whole story) and the young aristocrat Walther wrap themselves fearfully in a German flag. Even the dear old Night Watchman is killed – whatever next?

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, English National Opera, review: 'a musically powerful achievement'

There were boos to end that first evening, but Moses’ references to the violence of Germany in the Thirties and Forties are relevant. Very different, though, are Acts 1 and 3, where warmth and fun dominate. During the overture, cheerful mastersingers mill around facing the audience before turning to sing in church for the first act, and the later part of Act 3 is joyously amusing. During the dance interlude, A sexy Miss Bavaria joins the traditional wholesome girls from Fürth, two Arab sheikhs and their bodyguard join the mastersingers, and Eva faints. There is also the occasional pithy addition to Wagner’s libretto.

With lesser performers, it might not have worked, but this was a cast of great distinction. Wolfgang Koch made a sympathetic, world-weary Sachs powerfully eloquent in voice and facial expression, and Markus Werba was an absolute hoot as Eva’s would-be spouse, Beckmesser. So dapper and smug in Act 1, so eagerly anxious in his ill-buttoned, 16th-century costume for the Act 2 serenade, but losing his rag at the end of Act 3 as he tore off Sachs’s jacket and tie. By contrast the excellent Kwangchul Youn remained a calmly controlled Pogner, with Julia Kleiter singing warmly as his daughter Eva, febrile and gorgeous.

Pelléas et Mélisande, ETO, review: 'honourable but over-ambitious'

Wagner heldentenor Klaus Florian Vogt, sadly little seen in the UK, sang with huge strength as Walther, his lion’s mane of hair a striking contrast to the stylised mops of the apprentices, male and female. And even in the coldness of Act 2 the lighting showed warmth for Sachs’s Flieder monologue, which typified the real magic of a performance where singing merged seamlessly with Barenboim’s conducting of the excellent Staatskapelle Berlin, allowing superb nuance of tempi and huge musical space. Better than the best of Bayreuth these days – marvellous.