The Best of Both Worlds

The task of locating the precise balance between erudition and passion in Capriccio is one of the great challenges facing any prospective director: even the slightest misjudgement can result in a staging that comes across as overly mannered or, worse, that finds itself guilty of the very triviality to which the Countess alludes in her final moments on stage. It is thus no faint praise to say that the greatest strength of Tim Albery’s understated new production of Strauss’ final opera – performed as part of the Santa Fe Opera’s sixtieth season – was its restraint. Mr Albery did not attempt to overplay the comedy or italicise the opera’s various aesthetic arguments; rather, he employed a tasteful setting and fully realised characters as a means of articulating and enhancing the wealth of ideas found in the libretto. The resulting drama was…