Opera review: Ariadne auf Naxos, Glyndebourne Festival Opera

THERE were two real stars at the opening night of the Glyndebourne production of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos: the composer and the Composer.

 Composer Kate Lindsey and Dancing Master Wolfgang Ablinger Sperrhacke PIC ALASTAIR MUIR Composer Kate Lindsey and Dancing Master Wolfgang Ablinger Sperrhacke (PIC: ALASTAIR MUIR)

In many ways, Strauss is the ideal opera composer.

Perhaps more than anyone else, his music always seems to strike a perfect balance between orchestra and singers, each having their own line, both musically and emotionally, and the two blending sublimely together.

Vladimir Jurowski's conducting of the London Philharmonic brought out the very best of the composer's music while on stage, the American mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, in the part of the Composer, stole the show. She both sang and acted the role of the stroppy young composer, petulantly refusing to compromise her artistic ideals, superbly.

In fact, the only thing wrong with this opera was the opera itself, for Ariadne auf Naxos poses almost insuperable problems in its staging.

The idea behind it is bizarre: two groups of musicians have been engaged to fill in the time between dinner and the fireworks at a country house celebration; there is a serious opera company performing a new work by the Composer, and a Vaudeville group performing a comic act.

To save time, the master of the house has decreed that both groups must perform at the same time, and that is when the petulance begins.

The first half of the opera is thus an extended comic prologue, with the Music Master of the opera group (Thomas Allen as always giving a perfect, polished performance) and the Dancing Master of the Vaudevillians (Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke) trying to keep their prima donnas happy, all of which makes for good comedy.

Trying to make some sense of this mix of comedy, mythology and romance is not just a huge challenge but probably impossible

This is followed (after the usual long Glyndebourne interval and picnic on the lawns) by an enactment of the Composer's Ariadne, a love story from Greek mythology, which is, of course, interrupted with a few burlesque items from the Vaudeville troupe.

Trying to make some sense of this mix of comedy, mythology and romance is not just a huge challenge but probably impossible. Katharina Thoma, making her debut as a Glyndebourne director, has adopted a radical approach by setting the opera in the Second World War and introducing some bombers to attack the country house and set the stage on fire at the end of the prologue. 

When we return, the scene  has turned into a hospital ward, with many of the actors suffering various degrees of shell-shock and injury. Not so much Ariadne auf Naxos as Ariadne in Post-Traumatic Shock. Well I suppose it justifies some of the lunacy that follows, but on the minus side, it detracts from the beauty of the glorious love duet between Ariadne and Bacchus at the end.

It was a nice touch, though, to have the Composer come back right at the end, pick up the score and turn to look approvingly at the final page. Musical idealism and the virtues of true love had won out over burlesque.

In a similar way, great singing, playing and Richard Strauss's beautiful music transcend any defects of the plot or the production. 

Booking: glyndebourne.com or 01273 815000 (until July 11)
Verdict: 3/5

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