Over the past several years, Barrie Kosky has demonstrated an equal mastery of high-concept, high-production-value stagings – witness his recent Meistersinger at Bayreuth – and spare, intense character studies. For his production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, which opened the Komische Oper’s 70th anniversary season, he gave us something far closer to the latter, a stripped-down, often harrowing vision that cut through the fog of melancholy and went straight for the traumas at the heart of the opera. Although often bleak and occasionally unsettling, the production – powered by a central trio of strong performances – was wholly captivating, offering lucid insight into one of the twentieth century’s great works of musical drama.
The story’s mood of claustrophobia was established even before the music had started: the set, by Klaus…
Comentarios