Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from March, 2014

Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Royal Opera

The good : Emily Magee (Empress), Elena Pankratova (Wife of Dyer) and Michaela Schuster (Nurse) made a good trio. Johan Reuter (Dyer) had a lovely ringing tone that fitted the role best. The arm waving of Semyon Bychkov created a stupendous sound from the pit - with punch! The bad : Wayward intonation of Johan Botha (Emperor) and the cello solo. Couldn't decide who was more wayward. The indifferent : Christian Schmidt's design was a wee bit scandic for my liking, a bit dull, a bit "Ikea". Sure, play out the psychoanalytic in the open with images,  animals, children, and the "waking up from a dream" at the end. Clever? Do I care?