Ariadne Auf Naxos at Glyndebourne Festival: Opera review

4 / 5 stars
Ariadne Auf Naxos at Glyndebourne Festival

AS I was leaving Glyndebourne at the end of this opera, I said six words to my companion: “Wonderful music; sensational singing; bewildering opera”.

Lise Davidsen and Nicholas FolwellROBERT WORKMAN

Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen and Nicholas Folwell

A lady in fron of me then turned round and said, “That’s exactly what I was thinking”. Richard Strauss’s Ariadne Auf Naxos is truly bewildering. 

The first act is set in a country mansion where the owner has recruited an opera company to give a performance after dinner.

He has also booked a burlesque company to entertain his guests but as the dinner overruns, he decides that they must both perform at the same time.

Some funny scenes then ensue as members of both companies throw hissy fits at the idea of having to collaborate with the others. 

This clearly has great potential for comedy, but the second act falls far short in that respect with the balance between serious opera and slapstick burlesque hugely inadequate.

If you are going to interrupt the Ancient Greek tragedy of Ariadne with a comic dance troupe, it needs doing more often that Strauss’s librettist Hugo von Hoffmansthal allowed himself to do. 

In this Glyndebourne production, first seen four years ago, the director Katharina Thoma introduced an element to explain the lunacy: she set the whole thing during the Second World War, ended the first act with a bombing raid on the mansion which turned it into a sort of war hospital for the second act.

All subsequent lunacy could then be explained by shell shock.

Erin Morley and Angela BrowerROBERT WORKMAN

US soprano Erin Morley and US mezzo-soprano Angela Brower

On this occasion, however, The Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome seemed to spread to the audience.

The opera doesn’t make sense at the best of times, but this made it worse.

On the other hand, as I said at the start, the music was wonderful and the singing magnificent.

For powerful, luscious, romantic music nobody beats Richard Strauss.

His operas Salome and Der Rosenkavalier contain some of the most overwhelmingly beautiful music in the opera repertoire and much the same is true of Ariadne auf Naxos.

Argentine opera singers surprise subway riders in Buenos Aires

Cornelius Meister conducting kept a firm grip on both singers and orchestra throughout, diosplaying the music to its best effect, but it was the singing that really made the audience feel that we were hearing something special.

Even by Glyndebourne’s stratospherically high standards, this was a glorious cast. 

In the title role, the Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen was utterly amazing.

Standing 6ft 2in tall, she towered over the other singers, both male and female, and sang with a voice so pure and so powerful that it had the audience enraptured and enthralled.

AJ Glueckert and Lise DavidsenROBERT WORKMAN

American tenor AJ Glueckert and Lise Davidsen

Already the winner of several prestigious international singing competitions, she seems destined, with the appearance and voice of a Valkyrie, to become one of the greatest Wagnerians and it was a great experience to hear her in this lighter opera. 

With great support including British baritone Thomas Allen as the Music Master,  American tenor AJ Glueckert as Bacchus US mezzo-soprano Angela Brower as the Composer and US soprano Erin Morley charming in the comic role of Zerbinetta, this all added up to a splendidly sung and acted performance, but they were all left in the shade by the imposing presence and voice of Lise Davidsen.

Box Office: www.glyndebourne.com or 01273 815000 (various dates until July 27)

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