Glyndebourne's new production of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, directed by Laurent Pelly, offers a witty first half but lacks the emotional weight needed for the opera's second part. The opera, an opera about an opera, begins with backstage antics as two troupes—one high art, one low—prepare entertainment for a rich patron, then the combined performance forced upon them. Love is the real subject, but it comes across only partially in this staging.
Witty first half
The first part finds Pelly at his best. Massimo Troncanetti's set features a huge doorway of gilded, inlaid wood clashing with a 20th-century statement chandelier, immediately questioning the taste of the richest man in Vienna. William Relton's fearsome Major-Domo appears everywhere, cowing even Michael Kraus's classily sung Music Master. Ru Charlesworth's chainsmoking Dancing Master slinks around dressed as a sequined, velvety advert for Silk Cut. Samantha Hankey, with a mellow but gleaming mezzo-soprano, plays the Composer as an irascible would-be genius, while Zerbinetta, the comic leading lady, teeters in stockings and suspenders.
Conducted buoyantly by Robin Ticciati, the London Philharmonic players, reduced in number per Strauss's stipulations, revel in the characters' grand hopes and small tragedies. Pelly plays to the stereotypes brilliantly, hitting comic marks without sending things up.
Disappointing second half
But this opera has two parts. Having been told repeatedly that the dinner guests will find the combination of rich food and serious opera conducive to sleep, it is disappointing that Pelly's handling of the second half is less sparky and insightful. Ariadne and the rest must clamber over a huge mound of earth that feels like an operatic in-joke, and in the twilight, it is hard to see what effect each character's words have on anyone else.
Alina Wunderlin is a dazzling spotlight of brightness in Zerbinetta's monologue, throwing out high notes and little waves to the audience with equal ease. However, her potential subplot with Mikhail Timoshenko's Harlequin does not amount to much. He and his scene-stealing comedian companions remain in puppet-like character throughout, and we do not see behind the facepaint. As the Prima Donna who sings Ariadne, Rachel Willis-Sørensen has a soaring voice but barely hints at the vulnerable woman beneath, either in her long-phrased aria or in duet with David Butt Philip's powerfully sung Bacchus.
Lack of character change
We at least see the Composer vindicated, mirroring Ariadne's movements in the gloaming behind her. He may revel in "his" music, as lushly played as it is here. But have any of the characters been changed by their experience? It seems not, leaving this Ariadne enjoyable but ultimately unmoving. The production runs until 29 August.
