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THE WANDERER'S CHRONICLE
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It was indeed an important occasion: for the first time Claudio Abbado conducted The Magic Flute, for the first time too he worked with his son Daniele, who was the director of the opera. He had in the past produced “La Casa dei Suoni” with him, a book as well as a video for children, made in memory of his mother who wrote children’s books. Since then Daniele has become a director much in demand so that father and son decided to work together on a production of Die Zauberflöte. Daniele had tackled this Singspiel by Mozart once before in the setting of Emanuele Luzzati.This time Graziano Gregori (sets), Carla Teti (costumes) and Guido Levi (light) completed the team. It must be said straightaway: the production was a success from every point of view. Proof is the enormous enthusiasm with which it was received in Reggio Emilia as well as in Ferrara. Daniele Abbado designed a musical box, a big box full of wonders, apparently simple, but which requires all the facilities of the stage technique: trap doors, set pieces, bridges, sliding doors. This false simplicity is mirrored in the costumes which have subtle variations. We will remember Pamina’s lovely dress, the Three Ladies in turn in black, white and red, Papageno, usually covered in feathers from top to bottom, here dressed in an plain suit but lined with feathers, which he demonstrates like a magician pulls doves out of his sleeve. Only Tamino remains in white from start to finish, leaving black for the Queen of Night, a sort of distant witch. The costumes are simple, vaguely oriental (the Orient turns up again in the make-up too) and a black, geometric structure sets the tone of this purified Zauberflöte. Daniele Abbado’s aim was to stylize, with an apparent economy of resources (we have seen that it is nothing of the sort): no trashy vision of Egypt, no masonic symbols, the simple battle between light and dark, a typically 18th century battle. All in all a production less simple than is at first apparent: many subtelties, many details like the final scene where the good and the bad all praise the triumph of reason. Like the Three Boys dressed to begin with in rags, but who end up as elegant little princes. Like the cupboard in which Papagena is enclosed – first piece of furniture of an interior which will be rustic and plain. Like the animals who seem to step out of a novel by Borgès, humanized animals, animalized humans. We are gently sent back to the circus or the funfair. In fact, this is a reassuring world. In this context the conducting of Claudio Abbado (at the head of a Mahler Chamber Orchestra in a state of mystic levitation) renews completely our vision of this work. Abbado enjoys the secret of being able to reveal to the listener notes he has never heard before. The sound of the strings takes us back to the origins. Sometimes it sounds like Monteverdi, other times like Beethoven. This Mozart is never syrupy, never solemn as this opera can sometimes be. Here too we have a purified sound full of energy and bursting with youth. Tempi are sometimes on the fast side, stunning and nearly rough, full of the youthful energy which runs through the work and of the tender brutality given sometimes to children. As usual Abbado lets us hear all the instruments, covers up occasionally the brass if necessary, emphasizes the flute (and creates a sensation after the final curtain when he instigates an encore of flute and Glockenspiel). Admittedly this is played by Jacques Zoon, solo flute of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and his playing casts a spell over us. Last year we heard that Abbado had “hardened” his Mozart, making it both incredibly young and incredibly vital. Same thing here: the lessons taught by the period performers have left their mark, but also the influence of later composers. There is a stylistic homogeneity between this Mozart and the Beethoven we heard in 2001. As for the singers – most of them were equal to their job, beginning with the great Matti Salminen whose voice has perhaps lost a bit of its depth but who is still an impressive Sarastro; Rachel Harnisch’s poetic Pamina, with a very controlled voice and restrained emotion; Christoph Strehl, an excellent Tamino, anticipating a future Lohengrin, with a very homogeneous voice and triumphant high notes; Georg Zeppenfeld’s remarkable Sprecher with an exceptional voice which we look forward to hearing in a bigger role - and the two Papagenos, so different one from the other: the completely extrovert version of Nicola Ulivieri, vocally impressive, full of ideas but whose German was difficult to understand in the dialogues. Markus Werba on the contrary was vocally less impressive but perhaps more poetic, more reticent, more human and, needless to say, with faultless German. Mention must be made too of Julia Kleiter’s gentle Papagena, the Three Ladies (who had a few problems with the tempo on opening night), Monostatos (Kurt Azesberger) and, last but definitely not least, of the three members of the Tölzer Knabenchor, genuine voices from elsewhere. After the final curtain they launched into a battle of flowers (thrown by the CAI, needless to say) with the orchestra, encouraged by Claudio Abbado. One single black spot: Ingrid Kaiserfeld’s Queen of Night. She has problems with the high notes, with accuracy, with the legato in the first aria (less so in the second one) and a very unattractive voice, in great difficulty on opening night in Reggio (a bit better later on). But is this so important compared with the joy which lit up the faces of the audience and the artists at the end of each performance? Is it so important compared with this collective success where we heard the music as if newly born (ultimate accolade for such a well-known score)? The big architect of this Universe, to take up a masonic metaphor, is of course Claudio Abbado without whom the whole project looses its sense. But, brillant architect that he is, he knows how to extract the best from each part, every element, each artist. What strikes us most of all is the homogeneity of the production – and this makes it one of the highlights of the year.
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