For Glyndebourne’s new production of Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail,” designer Vicki Mortimer creates an eighteenth-century Turkish harem, which looks as inviting as can be. There are cool tiles, luxurious rugs, deep couches — then you notice the bars on every window.Mozart’s edgy comedy tells the tale of an Eastern Pasha who has abducted a noble Spanish girl, Konstanze, and forced her into his harem. Sometimes he gently pleads with her to love him, sometimes he threatens her with tortures if she won’t. The plot kicks in when Konstanze’s lover Belmonte comes from Spain to free her.We also learn that the Pasha used to be a Christian, and that he converted to Islam after brutal treatment at the hands of a Spanish nobleman. It adds an intriguing note both to his role as the “noble savage” of the piece, and about Western self-righteousness.Mortimer’s inventive quick-change period sets and costumes look fabulous, and work beautifully. The score is a marvel too. There’s a hit aria for Konstanze, “Martern aller Arten” — the most famous number in the piece — in which she explodes into rage-fuelled coloratura against the Pasha Selim. Mozart’s Turkish-inspired pastiche music, coloured with cymbals and drums, brims with youthful exuberance.But there are plenty of problems with the piece, and director David McVicar tackles some better than others. First, it’s a “Singspiel”, which roughly means “musical play.” The windy stretches of leaden comic dialogue between numbers are no great shakes as drama, and they’re auf Deutsch too. It’s a curious imbalance that the Pasha (actor Franck Saurel) is a non-singing role.McVicar, in purist mode, stages every single syllable, and adds plenty of yawning pregnant pauses. What should be a nimble musical comedy with a dark edge becomes a plod. It’s like wading through Pinteresque treacle. In German.The director emphasizes Konstanze’s conflicted attraction to the Pasha. This adds a layer of Stockholm syndrome complexity to the piece that it can’t ultimately support, and feels psychologically rather thin. The hints McVicar employs to display the Pasha’s better side — he’s shown as a doting father, constantly affectionate to his wives — come across as over-insistent and hand-wringingly left-liberal too.On the plus side, Robin Ticciati’s conducting is sparky and beautifully clear-textured (even if he does part company with the singers a few times.) Soprano Mari Eriksmoen brings a ravishing limpid sound and hoydenish comic skills to the role of the uppity English servant Blonde, and tenor Brenden Gunnell plays her love-interest with gusto. The bass Tobias Kehrer pumps out wow-factor low notes as the antagonistic Turkish overseer Osmin.The central lovers are more problematic. Sally Matthews (Konstanze) has a rich, chocolaty soprano which doesn’t feel like an ideal match for the coloratura demands of her showpiece aria. Edgaras Montvidas (Belmonte) has a pleasant sound but struggles with his semiquavers.Beautiful sets, a great score, some good singing and playing... Thank goodness for enough pros to hold the cons in balance.The production will be broadcast live to cinemas on July 19, and runs until August 10. For information, visit Glyndebourne.
↧