This production is a clever update, with a typically Konwitschnian twist at the end (not that anything Konwitschny does can really be called typical.) Daland and his sailors and the townsfolk are in contemporary dress, while the Dutchman and his crew have clearly stepped out of the past.
The first act has a pretty traditional look to it. Then Act 2 opens on the women of the chorus riding spin bikes. This sounds silly, but when Mary tells them to keep spinning so they can catch husbands, it suddenly makes sense. It also makes Senta’s fixation on the Dutchman all the more strange.
Act 3 is more off the wall. They all seem to be partying in a warehouse that contains flammable materials. Senta decides if she is going to sacrifice herself, she’s going to take everyone with her.
But the best part of this webcast was the singers. Anja Kampe’s first claim to fame was this Senta. She is full-voiced, bright-faced, and fully inhabits Senta’s insanity. Klaus Florian Vogt is the first Erik I’ve ever seen/heard who almost convinced me that Senta was passing up a good thing. Johan Reuter as the Dutchman was A-maz-ing. He has the creepy charm, but most of all, the voice—strong, firm, bright, and effortless—to make us think it might be more than just an obsession that makes him so attractive to Senta.
I was slightly annoyed that Peter Rose played Daland as kind of a bumpkin. He sang the role well, but I kept wodnering if he were a distant cousin to Baron Ochs. But it’s nice to see Mary played by Okka von der Damerau as a young woman, instead of the repressed old crone we usually get. And I always like Norbert Ernst (is it just me, or does he always look bewildered?) as the perpetually inebriated Steersman.
APRIL 20, 2013