[Met Performance] CID:330042
Ariadne auf Naxos {67} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/6/1997.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
October 6, 1997
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS {67}
R. Strauss-Von Hofmannsthal
Ariadne.................Deborah Voigt
Bacchus.................Thomas Moser
Zerbinetta..............Natalie Dessay
The Composer............Susanne Mentzer
Music Master............Wolfgang Brendel
Harlekin................Mark Oswald
Scaramuccio.............Philip Creech
Truffaldin..............Eric Halfvarson
Brighella...............Gregory Turay
Najade..................Joyce Guyer
Dryade..................Jane Bunnell
Echo....................Korliss Uecker
Major-domo..............Nico Castel
Officer.................Thomas Studebaker
Dancing Master..........Heinz Zednik
Wigmaker................John Fiorito
Lackey..................James Courtney
Conductor...............James Levine
Production..............Elijah Moshinsky
Designer................Michael Yeargan
Lighting designer.......Gil Wechsler
Stage Director..........Laurie Feldman
Review of Martin Mayer in Opera (UK)
Equally attractive was the revival of "Ariadne auf Naxos," with Deborah Voigt as the afflicted lady, Natalie Dessay as the happy lady, Susanne Mentzer as the Composer, Thomas Moser as Bacchus and Wolfgang Brendel as the Music Master, James Levine conducting. I cannot imagine a better cast. After an earlier performance, people had noted signs of strain in Moser, but on October 6 he was in full flood. Dessay was an extraordinary Zerbinetta, both vocally and dramatically, and her seduction of the Composer in the Prologue - nicely restaged by Laurie Feldman of the Met's directing staff - was in every way a work of art. The Music Master lies smack in the middle of the most beautiful part of Brendel's voice. And Voigt is a nonpareil Ariadne, with floods of effortless tone.
The Moshinsky staging successfully enlarges what is after all a chamber piece to fill a huge stage. Levine's treatment of the score has matured year on year, and is now subtle and gracious, though the orchestra overblew a little to make up for its small size in the big hall.