On the Salzburg Pageant, director Christof Loy & a robust forged show that much less is extra in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte

Loy takes Cosi fan tutte severely, there was no supposedly intelligent setting, no native color and notably there was no try to ‘repair’ the opera’s dramaturgy. He paid Mozart and da Ponte the praise of taking the work severely. Any comedy got here from character and state of affairs. And Loy doesn’t see the work as basically misogynistic, for him it’s extra a critique of male self picture. And by the top of the piece it was clear that slightly than selecting one man or the opposite, although the sisters ended with the ‘right’ man, there was one thing within the attraction to the ‘different’.

The staging was very a lot conceived of as a journey, beginning all lightness after which, from the start of Act Two, crossing a boundary within the great dialogue between the sisters as they dared to contemplate dalliance with the guests. By the conclusion, having come by means of actual darkness, the top was undoubtedly not at first.

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte – Elsa Dreisig, Victoria Karkacheva – Salzburg Pageant (Photograph: Monika Rittershaus)

Elsa Dreisig and Victoria Karkacheva have been convincing as sisters, differentiated but related, their responses an extension of the opposite. There was no false taking part in up of variations right here, Dreisig’s Fiordiligi might be as playful as Karkacheva’s Dorabella and each have been critical. That stated, Dreisig’s two arias have been the core of the drama. Her voice was lithe with a tremendous sense of line but exceptional depth. ‘Come scoglio’ was classical in construction and critical in depth, while her aria in Act To was one of many lynch pins of the drama. Right here, one among Loy’s staging ‘methods’ got here to the fore, his approach of maintaining characters on stage. In order Dreisig’s Fiordiligi labored by means of her emotions within the intense aria, she was watched by Volkov’s Ferrando, and Karkacheva’s Dorabella stared at him intently earlier than turning to Schuen’s Guglielmo. It sounds contrived, however on this theatre with these performers it labored.

Karkacheva as Dorabella was the proper foil. Her first aria lighter after which in Act Two her aria about Cupid began mild however developed actual fierceness. This was no bubbly airhead, however a lady intrigued by potentialities and conscious.

The 2 males have been intentionally contrasting, the singers falling naturally into the classes of 1 truthful, one darkish. While Volkov and Schuen performed this up, the additionally acted in live performance, creating the form of ridiculous laddish behaviour that felt proper.

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte – Elsa Dreisig, Lea Desandre, Victoria Karkacheva – Salzburg Pageant (Photograph: Monika Rittershaus)

Volkov’s account of ‘Un aura amorosa’ was fantastically sung. His lyric tenor has stunning depth to it, but the aria felt a second out of time. In his Act Two aria he labored by means of all of the heartache and anger, the consequence was highly effective and by the top leaving him and us shell-shocked. For Loy, this aria represents the complicated of feelings that Ferrando has to take care of as he realises that the although he’s jealous as a result of his fiancee is with one other man, he’s certainly in love with one other lady.

Schuen’s Guglielmo had a suavity to him that got here out in moments like his Act Two duet with Karkacheva’s Dorabella when the sheer fantastic thing about Schuen’s tone would have seduced anybody. There was complexity and anger too, each his arias allowed Schuen to indicate his exceptional vary. Then as Act Two developed, an actual feeling of viciousness appeared too,

It says one thing for the ability and depth of the performers that the ending had us within the fringe of our seats, not figuring out what the last word decision may be. And despite the fact that we had the ‘right’ line up on the finish, Loy ensured that we have been left with a slight query. And also you puzzled, had these imply truly realized something in any respect.

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte – Bogdan Volkov, Andrè Schuen, Johannes Martin Kränzle – Salzburg Pageant (Photograph: Monika Rittershaus)

Johannes Martin Kränzle as Don Alfonso and Lea Desandre as Despina introduced the actual aspect of comedy to the work, but in all seriousness. Desandre made a youthful, slightly pert Despina, one keen on ‘answering again’ but with some actual knowledge in life-lessons. Desandre is clearly a gifted comic and each her medico and notary have been comedian tour-de-force which ensured the temper of the opera was diverse. Kränzle’s Don Alfonso started as an enticing know-all, the who factor being merely a sport, one which the 2 males fortunately take part in, with the top by no means doubtful. The depth of feeling in Act Two upset this and Kränzle made Don Alfonso appear slightly forged adrift. A suggestion of by-play between Don Alfonso and Despina was most undoubtedly extra in his thoughts than hers.

“I need to launch the characters from any concrete context in order that one can understand them as human beings, not historic figures from 18th century Naples”, Christof Loy within the programme e book.

Having lately seen productions of Cosi fan tutte that set the opera within the context of twentieth century package deal excursions to Naples (Opera Holland Park) or 18th century Naples with a view to redressing the steadiness between men and women (the Grange Pageant), and even ENO’s circus-themed manufacturing, it was a aid to seek out Loy having no axe to grind on this respect. The main target merely on character paid dividends right here, and the opera was rendered with far higher intimacy and depth than I’ve skilled in far smaller theatres.

There was no stage function for the refrain (the Live performance Choir of the Vienna State Opera Refrain), they remained unseen all through.

Pedro Beriso supplied ornamental forte-piano recitatives, together with a couple of vamp-till-ready moments. But the instrument felt underpowered for the area and there have been moments once you wished for a stronger underpinning of the voices. I discover he performed in some accompanied recitatives, however while I may see his fingers shifting, there was little to be heard alongside the orchestra.

From the primary notes of the overture, sharp, robust chords and vivid incisive scurrying, it was clear that Joana Mallwitz’s method took no prisoners. She drew a tremendous efficiency certainly from the orchestra but it by no means felt performative and the speeds and shaping of the music have been natural.

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte – Lea Desandre, Victoria Karkacheva, Bogdan Volkov, Elsa Dreisig, Andrè Schuen, Johannes Martin Kränzle – Salzburg Pageant (Photograph: Monika Rittershaus)

I’ve typically discovered Christof Loy’s work to be too cerebral however right here his thought experiment with Cos fan tutte labored beautifully, releasing the mixed abilities of a robust forged to create one thing slightly particular.