Elektra –Strauss – Salzburg Festspiele 2020
Image taken from the Salzburg Festival website
Probably the hottest opera ticket was the opening night of a reduced Salzburg Festival in its hundredth year anniversary. A few months ago it was almost inconceivable that there would be any festival at all in August, but as a result of continual Covid testing amongst artists, orchestra and theatre employees, together with proper zoning and social distancing, the first operatic notes were played, sung and streamed simultaneously to the pleasure of all present.
The restriction on seats in the theatre meant the writer viewed the opera from the open air screening in bright sunlight and a temperature of 33 degrees. It was indeed a very hot ticket(!), but nevertheless, it was worth the wait with the majority of the audience tingling with excitement for the first note.
However, they had to wait. The Polish stage director Krzysztof Warlikowski added a spoken eulogy by Klytamnestra justifying the murder of her husband the King. Her oration was adapted from the Oresteia. It was rousingly spoken by the Klytamnestra of Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, whose performance as the mother of Elektra and Chrysothemis left little to be desired. She was vocally convincing if at times cold and aloof in trying to justify her murderous past.
Warlikowski, who directed an inspiring ROH production of Janacek’s ‘The House of the Dead’ gave an up-to-date production dominated by a swimming pool and moveable glass box room. The swimming pool area acted as Elektra’s prison and the dress of all the singers was fairly modern, neat and tidy – far from the usual dirt and grime seen in other productions.
The only thing really missing was the comprehensive heat of rage and madness, particularly in the role of Elektra sung by the outstanding Lithuanian Ausrine Stundyte. Hers was a brooding vulnerable portrayal of madness, using her huge piercing eyes to wonderful effect. Her large vocal sound, which struggled slightly in the deep lower register, never shrieked or was overstretched and her ability to sing this wicked role with its high reaching tops was outstanding.
She was more than well supported by her sister Chrysothemis sung by another Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, whose substantial colourful vocal instrument was perhaps the standout voice of the night.
Both sisters interacted well with their brother Orest, nobly sung by the Australian bass baritone Derek Welton, whose warm heroic sound mixed well with his own murderous deeds – although the Christmas jumper he wore seemed well out of place!
Warlikowski ensured Klytamnestra’s place as a murderer by forced showering of a nude maid who was eventually dismembered to the pleasure of the watching entourage. During Klytamnestra’s aria the Salzburg city bells tolled appropriately in time with the music and her ultimate death. The dead King was allowed to watch the action unfold in front of his dead eyes as he sat in the corner of the stage.
Perhaps more uncertain in its implications were the row of showers by the swimming pool, which were reminiscent to the murderous use of showers in years past.
With Covid to the fore the opera ends with a back screen video of swarming Corona type insects, which left the audience applying their masks for extra protection.
The outstanding conductor Franz Welser-Most drove the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to heights of orchestral playing that are seldom heard, but always desired.
However, the real winner of the evening was that the performance took place at all and that Salzburg is leading the way for other countries in Europe to find the opera stage again.
