Enigmatic opera in Vienna

[ASUmusicMAN]

VIENNA It is unfair to the other cast members of the Vienna State Opera's new production of Wagner's "Parsifal" to single out Thomas Quasthoff's performance as Amfortas for special attention, and perhaps it is even unfair to Quasthoff himself. Quasthoff, one of the world's premier concert singers, was a "thalidomide baby" - he has stunted arms and is only 4 feet, or 1.2 meters, tall, which has meant that his operatic work has been practically nil. His only previous appearance was in Salzburg as the minister of state in Beethoven's "Fidelio," a role that affords little opportunity for acting.

Quasthoff's Vienna appearance was thus bound to be an event, even though Amfortas, the king of the Grail with a chronic wound that will not heal, is usually not much of an acting part; in many productions he is confined to a stretcher. But the director, Christine Mielitz, ensured that Quasthoff's physique was an element in reinforcing Amfortas's expressions of anguish. His was an unusually physical Amfortas, who interacted with his fellow knights and paced the stage as a lonely figure during the third act's transformation interlude. Quasthoff's portrayal could be unbearably poignant, especially when asking for death in the tones of delicacy and resignation he brings to his lieder singing, while the Grail knights let loose with choral outbursts around him.

Robert Holl was in resonant voice as the Grail knight Gurnemanz, and Wolfgang Bankl was cunning as the sorcerer Klingsor. It was to the considerable credit of Angela Denoke, as the enigmatic Kundry, who is indirectly responsible for Amfortas's wound, and Johan Botha, as the "pure fool" Parsifal who heals it, that all thoughts of Quasthoff vanished during the second act (in which Amfortas does not appear). With a voice of heft yet uncommon luster, Botha may well be today's finest heldentenor, and was the perfect foil for the sexual temptations of Denoke's Kundry, who, in an exchange with Klingsor, bared a breast and writhed on the stage with her skirt up to her waist. Singing with a firm, focused sound, Denoke showed as much cool confidence in spinning Kundry's seductive web as she did rage when Parsifal eluded her.

Donald Runnicles, conducting, contributed handily to the excitement of their encounter, and overall he moved the opera along at a sensible pace, although Act I seemed longer than its 100 minutes. If this was not a "Parsifal" notable for savoring instrumental detail, theVienna Philharmonic nonetheless gave much cause for pleasure.

Mielitz's production, with updated sets by Stefan Mayer, was something of an enigma, but its strengths made the chorus of boos that rained down on her at final curtain seem unjustified. In a program note, she spoke of how Wagner wanted to get away from male-dominated institutions, so the knights were hardly portrayed sympathetically; their louvered abode in Act I (not the forest Wagner specified) looked like a mental institution. And she also opined that Amfortas's wound was the product of a sick world, which may account for the desolate, lunar-type landscape in which the final act played out.

But in addition to her riveting staging of Act II, set in a salon full of maroon leather sofas enhanced by scarlet-clad flower maidens, the close was especially moving. Parsifal, now hailed as the knights' redeemer, ignored the Grail but rejuvenated the knights though his own powers. Then they proceeded to the front of the stage, eclipsing the transfixed Amfortas and staring into the audience, looking bedraggled but hopeful.

As a sign of Vienna's catholic (with a small c) tastes at Easter time, the Osterklang festival, of which "Parsifal" was a part, also included Mozart's rarely heard "La Betulia Liberata." This retelling, to a libretto by Metastasio, of the Old Testament story of Judith is an oratorio, but don't expect your local choral society to take it up. The many da capo arias are as demanding as those of an opera, and even the fine soloists of the Theater an der Wien's performance by the Vienna Radio Symphony and Chorus Sine Nomine (conducted by Bertrand de Billy) did not emerge unscathed.

Sara Mingardo sang Judith with the dusky mezzo familiar from her Baroque opera recordings, but one wanted more intensity as Judith recounted her grizzly murder of the Assyrian Holofernes. Charles Workman, as the Israelite Ozia, coped admirably with taxing coloratura and was eloquent in a prayer with chorus that prefigures "Idomeneo." The bass Kwangchul Youn was moving in an aria by the Assyrian Achior, who embraces the Hebrew God.

Recitative cuts left the contexts of some arias unclear, but, as with his early serious operas, the teenage Mozart's genius as a musical dramatist was unmistakable, and it is amazing that such scores remain so little known.

VIENNA It is unfair to the other cast members of the Vienna State Opera's new production of Wagner's "Parsifal" to single out Thomas Quasthoff's performance as Amfortas for special attention, and perhaps it is even unfair to Quasthoff himself. Quasthoff, one of the world's premier concert singers, was a "thalidomide baby" - he has stunted arms and is only 4 feet, or 1.2 meters, tall, which has meant that his operatic work has been practically nil. His only previous appearance was in Salzburg as the minister of state in Beethoven's "Fidelio," a role that affords little opportunity for acting.

Quasthoff's Vienna appearance was thus bound to be an event, even though Amfortas, the king of the Grail with a chronic wound that will not heal, is usually not much of an acting part; in many productions he is confined to a stretcher. But the director, Christine Mielitz, ensured that Quasthoff's physique was an element in reinforcing Amfortas's expressions of anguish. His was an unusually physical Amfortas, who interacted with his fellow knights and paced the stage as a lonely figure during the third act's transformation interlude. Quasthoff's portrayal could be unbearably poignant, especially when asking for death in the tones of delicacy and resignation he brings to his lieder singing, while the Grail knights let loose with choral outbursts around him.

Robert Holl was in resonant voice as the Grail knight Gurnemanz, and Wolfgang Bankl was cunning as the sorcerer Klingsor. It was to the considerable credit of Angela Denoke, as the enigmatic Kundry, who is indirectly responsible for Amfortas's wound, and Johan Botha, as the "pure fool" Parsifal who heals it, that all thoughts of Quasthoff vanished during the second act (in which Amfortas does not appear). With a voice of heft yet uncommon luster, Botha may well be today's finest heldentenor, and was the perfect foil for the sexual temptations of Denoke's Kundry, who, in an exchange with Klingsor, bared a breast and writhed on the stage with her skirt up to her waist. Singing with a firm, focused sound, Denoke showed as much cool confidence in spinning Kundry's seductive web as she did rage when Parsifal eluded her.

Donald Runnicles, conducting, contributed handily to the excitement of their encounter, and overall he moved the opera along at a sensible pace, although Act I seemed longer than its 100 minutes. If this was not a "Parsifal" notable for savoring instrumental detail, theVienna Philharmonic nonetheless gave much cause for pleasure.

Mielitz's production, with updated sets by Stefan Mayer, was something of an enigma, but its strengths made the chorus of boos that rained down on her at final curtain seem unjustified. In a program note, she spoke of how Wagner wanted to get away from male-dominated institutions, so the knights were hardly portrayed sympathetically; their louvered abode in Act I (not the forest Wagner specified) looked like a mental institution. And she also opined that Amfortas's wound was the product of a sick world, which may account for the desolate, lunar-type landscape in which the final act played out.

But in addition to her riveting staging of Act II, set in a salon full of maroon leather sofas enhanced by scarlet-clad flower maidens, the close was especially moving. Parsifal, now hailed as the knights' redeemer, ignored the Grail but rejuvenated the knights though his own powers. Then they proceeded to the front of the stage, eclipsing the transfixed Amfortas and staring into the audience, looking bedraggled but hopeful.

As a sign of Vienna's catholic (with a small c) tastes at Easter time, the Osterklang festival, of which "Parsifal" was a part, also included Mozart's rarely heard "La Betulia Liberata." This retelling, to a libretto by Metastasio, of the Old Testament story of Judith is an oratorio, but don't expect your local choral society to take it up. The many da capo arias are as demanding as those of an opera, and even the fine soloists of the Theater an der Wien's performance by the Vienna Radio Symphony and Chorus Sine Nomine (conducted by Bertrand de Billy) did not emerge unscathed.

Sara Mingardo sang Judith with the dusky mezzo familiar from her Baroque opera recordings, but one wanted more intensity as Judith recounted her grizzly murder of the Assyrian Holofernes. Charles Workman, as the Israelite Ozia, coped admirably with taxing coloratura and was eloquent in a prayer with chorus that prefigures "Idomeneo." The bass Kwangchul Youn was moving in an aria by the Assyrian Achior, who embraces the Hebrew God.

Recitative cuts left the contexts of some arias unclear, but, as with his early serious operas, the teenage Mozart's genius as a musical dramatist was unmistakable, and it is amazing that such scores remain so little known.

VIENNA It is unfair to the other cast members of the Vienna State Opera's new production of Wagner's "Parsifal" to single out Thomas Quasthoff's performance as Amfortas for special attention, and perhaps it is even unfair to Quasthoff himself. Quasthoff, one of the world's premier concert singers, was a "thalidomide baby" - he has stunted arms and is only 4 feet, or 1.2 meters, tall, which has meant that his operatic work has been practically nil. His only previous appearance was in Salzburg as the minister of state in Beethoven's "Fidelio," a role that affords little opportunity for acting.

Quasthoff's Vienna appearance was thus bound to be an event, even though Amfortas, the king of the Grail with a chronic wound that will not heal, is usually not much of an acting part; in many productions he is confined to a stretcher. But the director, Christine Mielitz, ensured that Quasthoff's physique was an element in reinforcing Amfortas's expressions of anguish. His was an unusually physical Amfortas, who interacted with his fellow knights and paced the stage as a lonely figure during the third act's transformation interlude. Quasthoff's portrayal could be unbearably poignant, especially when asking for death in the tones of delicacy and resignation he brings to his lieder singing, while the Grail knights let loose with choral outbursts around him.

Robert Holl was in resonant voice as the Grail knight Gurnemanz, and Wolfgang Bankl was cunning as the sorcerer Klingsor. It was to the considerable credit of Angela Denoke, as the enigmatic Kundry, who is indirectly responsible for Amfortas's wound, and Johan Botha, as the "pure fool" Parsifal who heals it, that all thoughts of Quasthoff vanished during the second act (in which Amfortas does not appear). With a voice of heft yet uncommon luster, Botha may well be today's finest heldentenor, and was the perfect foil for the sexual temptations of Denoke's Kundry, who, in an exchange with Klingsor, bared a breast and writhed on the stage with her skirt up to her waist. Singing with a firm, focused sound, Denoke showed as much cool confidence in spinning Kundry's seductive web as she did rage when Parsifal eluded her.

Donald Runnicles, conducting, contributed handily to the excitement of their encounter, and overall he moved the opera along at a sensible pace, although Act I seemed longer than its 100 minutes. If this was not a "Parsifal" notable for savoring instrumental detail, theVienna

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