Bavarian State Opera (live streaming), 02/12/2020

 Verdi : Falstaff

Chorus and Orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera

Michele Mariotti

The Bavarian State Opera had always intended to open this new production of Falstaff at this point in the calendar.  Given the circumstances, they could not open to the public, but as with The Birds earlier this season, the house has chosen to do the performance, and put it online, a free live-stream, and then on-demand under a paywall for a month or so.  

The really controversial issue with this production is the ending.  From the end of Falstaff's line about his wit inspiring the wit of others, singers, orchestra and (off-stage) chorus cease singing live, and we pass to a 'rehearsal' Zoom session of the final ensemble.  Right at the end, the entire cast emerges from the shadows, silent and masked as the ensemble concludes.  Director Mateja Koležnik is making a point about the necessity for live art and performance, which is fair enough, but I wish he had chosen a different vehicle than Falstaff, because, frankly, I just wanted to cry at the end there, which is an absolute first for me at Falstaff, one of, if not the most joyous opera I know.

Falstaff, final scene
© Bavarian State Opera, 2020

Otherwise, this was a Falstaff set in what looked to be a Las Vegas casino-hotel, the decor consisting of a series of door frames on a sort of conveyor belt, or track - I'm not sure whether there was just one serpentine track, or three separate ones - that were moving almost constantly to create different spaces, with or without double doors.  The costumes were late 60s, fur, feather, metallised fabrics and bouffant hairdos in full evidence.  I found the decor a little dizzying, the way it constantly moved around, and I noticed that it was a rather uncomfortable one, with barely any surfaces for seating at any time.  The costumes, on the other hand, were splendid, and the whole came across as quite ingenious, although there was a bit too much background movement going on, particularly in the first act.  The ladies - Alice, Meg, Quickly and Nanetta - were ladies who lunch, Alice and Meg definitely having partaken of the cocktails quite freely during their opening scene.  Falstaff, curiously, was far from the obese character Shakespeare and Boito describe him so frequently as.  Wolfgang Koch looked more like, maybe, a rugby forward going a bit to seed.  There wasn't, evidently, a shred of a forest visible in the last scene, but Koležnik compensated by having Nanetta and the "fairies" appear as Vegas showgirls, which worked very nicely in the context.  In the main, everything played through fairly straightforwardly.

Apart from Koch and Ailyn Pérez, none of the cast was familiar to me, but the ensemble as a whole was very good, the smaller parts of Meg, Bardolph, Pistol and Dr. Caius all solidly taken.  The pair of young lovers was charming, Elena Tsallagova a fresh-voiced Nanetta, and I particularly liked the clean, clear tenor of Galeano Salas as Fenton.  Judit Kutasi was a sly, fruity Quickly, and Ailyn Pérez a fine Alice, with her gleaming soprano tone well deployed.  Wolfgang Koch was a less jovial, more cynical type of Falstaff; again, given the way this production played out, it was probably more appropriate, but it doesn't make the kind of impact Ambrogio Maestri can with this role, of which he is probably the current leading exponent.  

However, the big revelation for me was the Ford of Boris Pinkhasovich.  Ford is, and was deliberately constructed as, the comic counterpart to Otello's Iago, and his Jealousy aria is the flip-side of Iago's Credo.  In consequence, the baritone singing this needs to take the aria completely seriously, and deliver it with a great deal of intensity.  It's precisely that intensity that will render the scene comic, but the singer needs to give everything he has at this point; he has little of real significance to sing later, he can afford to expend his forces here.  I would have liked to hear the last phrase, "Laudate sempre sia..." sung on one breath - yes, it is entirely possible - but the strength and surety of the timbre, and the wholly believable fury - the bulging eyes were truly impressive - was everything that could be hoped for.  

The orchestral playing overall was consistently very fine, as one expects from the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, and there was some lovely detail, picking out individual instruments here and there.  Michele Mariotti guided the proceedings with a sure and confident hand.  If it hadn't been for that conclusion, this would be an enthusiastic endorsement.  As it is, it's something like taking a mood-enhancing drug, enjoyable at the time, but you had best be prepared for the low after the high.

[Next : not entirely sure!  13th December certainly, but there might be something beforehand]