We left at the interval...

ONP Bastille, Monday May 16 2022. Conductor: Semyon Bychkof. Production: Robert Carsen. Choreography: Philippe Giraudeau. Sets: Michael Levine. Costumes: Vazul Matusz. Lighting: Robert Carsen, Peter Van Praet. Elektra: Christine Goerke. Chrysothemis: Elza van den Heever. Klytämnestra: Angela Denoke. Aegisth: Gerhard Siegel. Orest: Tómas Tomasson. Der Pfleger des Orests: Philippe Rouillon. Die Vertraute der Klytämnestra: Stéphanie Loris. Die Schlepptragerin: Marianne Croux. Ein junger Diener: Lucian Krasznec. Ein alter Diener: Christian Tréguier. Die Aufseherin: Madeleine Shaw. Erste Magd: Katharina Magiera. Zweite Magd: Florence Losseau. Dritte Magd: Marie‑Luise Dressen. Vierte Magd: Sonja Šarić. Fünfte Magd: Laura Wilde. Dienerinnen: Sophie Claisse, Rocio Ruiz Cobarro, Caroline Bibas, Yasuko Arita, Daniela Entcheva, Caroline Petit. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: Emilie Brouchon/ONP Whenever, these days, I hear Strauss played competently by the Paris Oper...

La Philharmonie de Paris, Friday December 15 2017 Conductor: Mikko Franck. Elektra: Nina Stemme. Klytemnestra: Waltraud Meier. Chrysotemis: Gun-Brit Barkmin. Orest: Matthias Goerne. Ägisth: Norbert Ernst. Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Choeur de Radio France.   A super strong Elektra at the Philharmonie last Friday night.   First of all, Mikko Franck was painstakingly attentive to the score. There are subtleties and details that don’t always make it over the edge of the opera house pit. But here, in a concert hall, with the Philharmonique on remarkable form, they were magnificently laid out in the open for all to hear. Franck’s approach leaned pointedly towards the late romantic: towards the Alpine Symphony , I thought; “towards Wagner,” said a colleague present the same evening. At any rate, more in the 19th-century symphonic tradition than paroxystic expressionism looking forward to, say Wozzeck (which is perhaps how I like Elektra  best: wild and exhaust...

ONP Bastille, Paris, Monday November 4 2013 Conductor: Philippe Jordan. Production: Robert Carsen. Sets: Michael Levine. Costumes: Vazul Matusz. Lighting: Robert Carsen, Peter Van Praet. Klytämnestra: Waltraud Meier. Elektra: Irene Theorin. Chrysothemis; Ricarda Merbeth. Aegisth: Kim Begley. Orest: Evgeny Nikitin. Die Aufseherin: Miranda Keys. Fünf Mägde: Anja Jung, Susanna Kreusch, Heike Wessels, Barbara Morihien, Eva Oltivanyi. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. “Sobriety” may not be the word you expect to settle on to sum up a performance of Elektra , as I did this Monday. This could explain why some critics have claimed this production was “tame”. Strauss I’m also old enough – in fact you don’t have to be all that old – to remember Dame Gywneth Jones pounding the Bastille’s cavernous space into submission as Elektra and Deborah Voigt at her absolute peak as Chrysothemis. I even remember, clearly, Voigt’s unforgettably exciting note (a B, I think it is) on “B...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday January 31 2010 Conductor: Lothar Koenigs. Production: Guy Joosten. Sets & costumes: Patrick Kinmonth. Lighting: Manfred Voss. Klytämnestra: Natascha Petrinsky. Elektra: Nadine Secunde. Chrysothemis: Annalena Persson. Aegisth: Donald Kaasch. Orest: Gerd Grochowski. Der Pfleger des Orest: Franz Mazura. La Monnaie orchestra and chorus. I don’t usually do favourites, but even I can unhesitatingly say Elektra is one of my favourite operas. The trouble these days could be I’ve been too lucky with it in the past. I’ve heard Gwyneth Jones (“heard” is too feeble a word for such awe-inspiring volume) and Deborah Polaski (at the right stage in her career and the wrong) in the leading role, Deborah Voigt at her absolute peak as Chrysothemis, without a doubt the best, and, of course, Rysanek as Klytemnestra, not to mention Helga Dernesch and her peculiarly memorable cleavage. I was even present at a famous (in Paris at any rate, among operagoers of my age) Ra...

Opéra National de Paris – Bastille, June 22 2005 Conductor: Christoph von Dohnanyi. Production: Matthias Hartmann. Elektra: Deborah Polaski. Chrysothemis: Eva Maria Westbroek. Klytämnestra: Felicity Palmer. Aegisth: Jerry Hadley. Orest: Markus Brück. Der Pfleger des Orest: Philippe Fourcade. Ein junger Diener: Ales Briscein. Ein alter Diener: Scott Wilde. Die Aufseherin: Susan-Marie Pierson. Erste Magd: Mary Ann McCormick. Zweite Magd: Doris Lamprecht. Dritte Magd: Heidi Zehnder. Vierte Magd: Irmgard Vilsmaier. Fünfte Magd: Tracy Smith-Bessette. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a really outstanding production of Elektra , and it has occurred to me that, with a great libretto , well worth concentrating on, great, tight music and little on-stage action, it’s a prime candidate for a semi-staging concentrating on carefully-directed interaction between the singers. This was one of those occasions, quite frequent at the Opéra National, where a...