Elektra: ROH

[smittims]

'seeing Salome in the flesh' ,eh, Dougie? I recall Josehine Barstow, one of the few Salome's who looked as well as sang the part, teated us to a brief flash of her birthday suit at the end of the dance.

[gradus]

This thread prompted me to listen again to Solti 's recordings of Elektra and Salome and they really are quite something however I don't think that I would have chosen to listen to either without the comments here.
For me some pieces have become reserved for complete performance in the opera house or concert hall, can't think why, perhaps they are too emotionally raw for home consumption?

[Pulcinella]

'seeing Salome in the flesh' ,eh, Dougie? I recall Josehine Barstow, one of the few Salome's who looked as well as sang the part, teated us to a brief flash of her birthday suit at the end of the dance.

Love it.

[LHC]

I'm going to see this next week. Like Makropulos I was at the Barbican last night for Jenufa.

I've seen Elektra several times at the Opera House although my first experience of it live was a semi-staged concert performance at the Festival Hall conducted by Seiji Ozawa with Hildegard Behrens as Elektra and with Christa Ludwig as Klytemnestra. As I recall the same cast performed this in concert around the world before recording it for Philips.

My first performance at the Opera House would have been in 1997 in a production by Gotz Friedrich, the most memorably moment of which was when blood poured down the wall at the back of the stage after Aegisth's death. Deborah Polaski sang Elektra with Karita Mattila as Chrysothemis and Felicity Palmer as Klytemnestra.

I think I have seen each run of the the most recent production by Charles Edwards, with variously Elizabeth Connell, Susan Bullock and Christine Goerke as Elektra, Anne Schwanewilms (very good) as Chrysothemis. The conductors were Bychkov, Elder and Andris Nelsons. The production was OK, but not particularly exciting or enlightening and the singing was rather variable over the run of performances. I am looking forward to seeing a more engaged and engaging production, which by the various accounts on here this new one is.

[Simon B]

Regrettably a fair bit of vocal challenge was in evidence on the first night. Elektra and Klytämnestra are hugely taxing roles so this is perhaps to be expected. The vocal laurels of the night belonged to the Chrysothemis.

Production at the very least unobjectionable, though what the era-shifting specifically brought was unclear to me.

The undoubted stars of the show for this audience member at least were the orchestra and Pappano (marginally in that order). Sensational orchestral playing throughout with Nick Betts (I think from my imperfect view into the pit)on 1st trumpet sounding resplendent throughout. Quite some score...

I'm going again at the end of the run, making a very rare departure from the balcony standing places down to the eye wateringly expensive stalls to celebrate an occasion with a friend. I hope that rather than fraying under the strain the principals' voices will have steeled themselves from the workouts in the interim...

[Ein Heldenleben]

Regrettably a fair bit of vocal challenge was in evidence on the first night. Elektra and Klytämnestra are hugely taxing roles so this is perhaps to be expected. The vocal laurels of the night belonged to the Chrysothemis.

Production at the very least unobjectionable, though what the era-shifting specifically brought was unclear to me.

The undoubted stars of the show for this audience member at least were the orchestra and Pappano (marginally in that order). Sensational orchestral playing throughout with Nick Betts (I think from my imperfect view into the pit)on 1st trumpet sounding resplendent throughout. Quite some score...

I'm going again at the end of the run, making a very rare departure from the balcony standing places down to the eye wateringly expensive stalls to celebrate an occasion with a friend. I hope that rather than fraying under the strain the principals' voices will have steeled themselves from the workouts in the interim...

Thanks for the report Simon. Have to say your summation of things vocally exactly mirrors my feelings post rehearsal. Though I was reluctant to say that in any detail as you are never sure when singers are marking.
I’m going on Monday. For these heavy Strauss , Wagner or Verdi roles I tend to avoid the final performances but sometimes things improve.You are absolutely right re the outstanding orchestra. My side stalls ticket is £140 which compares very favourably with the recent Sondheim Old Friends where the top prices were £250 - and probably fewer than 20 in the band. I think that’s value for money - mind you the rehearsal slips ticket was a mere £9!

[Pianoman]

'seeing Salome in the flesh' ,eh, Dougie? I recall Josehine Barstow, one of the few Salome's who looked as well as sang the part, teated us to a brief flash of her birthday suit at the end of the dance.

LOL indeed...

[Ein Heldenleben]

The Arts Desk review suggests that Nina Stemme is performing with a broken wrist. That explains the black wristband which I naively thought was some version of a black mourning armband. As the review says what a trouper.

[Nick Armstrong]

'seeing Salome in the flesh' ,eh, Dougie? I recall Josehine Barstow…..

Karita Mattila also bared all on the only occasion I’ve seen Salome live…

Back on Elektra…

My first performance at the Opera House would have been in 1997 in a production by Gotz Friedrich, the most memorably moment of which was when blood poured down the wall at the back of the stage after Aegisth's death.

I saw this production too, but in its first season (I think) in 1990. Eva Marton was Elektra and Solti was on the podium. It was so viscerally gripping and exhilarating that I’ve never felt like seeing another performance. No interval, of course, and never in a theatre have I had the sense after 90 minutes (or whatever) that I hadn’t taken a breath from start to finish. Mind-blowing.

Just found a quote from the Times review: “a diamond-bright, ferociously resolved and yet also astonishingly lyrical central performance by Eva Marton, and at the same time quite spectacular orchestral sounds spurred from the pit (and from two side boxes packed with brasses, harps and percussion) under Sir Georg Solti… the evening is essentially a Marton-Solti, double Hungarian triumph”

.

[Incidentally LHC I think your conductor was a relatively youthful Thielemann? (cf NYD VPO thread…)]

[Pulcinella]

Only three stars from Richard Morrison in The Times:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/4b1d3b08-68a3-4d5c-8619-986109e6971b?shareToken=733c1488738e206fdcbd268344a4760d

[Master Jacques]

The Arts Desk review suggests that Nina Stemme is performing with a broken wrist. That explains the black wristband which I naively thought was some version of a black mourning armband. As the review says what a trouper.

The Arts Desk reviewer is correct. I understand that this happened when she slipped and fell early on in rehearsals, last month. A bad break, for which she reputedly needed full surgery a few days later. It was touch and go whether she withdrew or not, but she's certainly tough, and a trouper.

I'm baffled by Richard Morrison's review: he seems to have a fixed idea as to Elektra as a study in hysteria, which it is not. As Chysothemis says near the end, half the household rejoices at Orestes' revenge, the other half (which sided with Aegisthus) is in for it. So we see some celebrating, drinking wine, while others (such as Young Servant) are getting their bloody comeuppance. Like everything else on stage, it makes perfect sense when you look at the libretto and score.

He does isolate what makes Lukasz Golinski's Orestes good. "Like a slightly perturbed accountant", Richard Morrison says. Precisely: he doesn't want to be there, doesn't quite know what to do, but is being forced to act out of character by the Gods' command. I've rarely seen that unwillingness so well conveyed, in the opera or in Sophocles. Looking at the reviews, there is a clear dividing line: this show appeals more to lovers of opera as questing drama, rather than opera as circus spectacular or bearer of social messaging.

[Pulcinella]

The Guardian critic didn't like the production either: only three stars there too (I hope that the link works):

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/14/elektra-review-royal-opera-london-nina-stemme-antonio-pappano-karita-mattila

[Ein Heldenleben]

The Arts Desk reviewer is correct. I understand that this happened when she slipped and fell early on in rehearsals, last month. A bad break, for which she reputedly needed full surgery a few days later. It was touch and go whether she withdrew or not, but she's certainly tough, and a trouper.

I'm baffled by Richard Morrison's review: he seems to have a fixed idea as to Elektra as a study in hysteria, which it is not. As Chysothemis says near the end, half the household rejoices at Orestes' revenge, the other half (which sided with Aegisthus) is in for it. So we see some celebrating, drinking wine, while others (such as Young Servant) are getting their bloody comeuppance. Like everything else on stage, it makes perfect sense when you look at the libretto and score.

He does isolate what makes Lukasz Golinski's Orestes good. "Like a slightly perturbed accountant", Richard Morrison says. Precisely: he doesn't want to be there, doesn't quite know what to do, but is being forced to act out of character by the Gods' command. I've rarely seen that unwillingness so well conveyed, in the opera or in Sophocles. Looking at the reviews, there is a clear dividing line: this show appeals more to lovers of opera as questing drama, rather than opera as circus spectacular or bearer of social messaging.

I’ve broken a wrist - seriously painful .

[Master Jacques]

The Guardian critic didn't like the production either: only three stars there too (I hope that the link works):

It does, thank you. I disagree strongly with Mr Clements as to the success of the production; though doubtless the vocal difficulties for Stemme and Mattila plays its part in his judgements, as with Mr Morrison. They're opera critics after all, not theatre reviewers, so singing comes first and colours their judgement of everything else.

As a theatre person with a performing background, I'm often disappointed to find that music critics don't appreciate the subtleties of staging. Mind you, theatre critics are often equally in the dark about such matters! The stagecraft here is watertight, and beautifully executed - a rarity at ROH of late. Perhaps it's "director's directing", but I don't think so.

My own (minor) criticism would be quite the reverse of their own. While agreeing with them that Pappano brings out many details of the score (just as Loy brings out many details of the libretto), I found that compared against the articulation of Bychkov (let alone Solti, Reiner and other classic Straussians) he could get lost in detail and lose track slightly of "thinking in paragraphs" - but frankly his control of proceedings and the orchestral playing were indeed very good. So I'm almost with them on that.

More importantly, people will make their own minds up independently, if and when they see the production.

[makropulos]

The reviews are clearly a bit mixed (and seem a bit mixed-up too) and I'm keeping fingers crossed that tonight finds Stemme and Mattila in better vocal shape than they evidently were on the first night. Very good to hear such excellent reports of Pappano and the orch.