Paris.(International - Tannhauser; Werther)(Opera Review)

Wagner's Tannhauser has had a difficult history in Paris, from the disastrous premiere of the Paris version in 1861 to the new production by Andreas Homoki at the Chatelet, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Homoki's production was both pretentious and confused. The elegant sets and costumes of Wolfgang Gussmann concentrated attention on a Victorian grand piano, a red sphere and a white arch. The role of the piano provided the key to the director's reading. Tannhauser finds in the Venusberg not just the voluptuous sensuality of Venus but artistic freedom. The mimed opening found Venus and Tannhauser riffling through manuscripts, an evening-long obsession, suggesting the difficulties and wonder of artistic creation. This view of the Venusberg, as a place where creativity and sensuality can be united, radically changes the relationships within the opera. Elisabeth is no longer a symbol of baffled purity but a heroine who combines both the spiritual and the sensual. Tannhauser's decision to embrace the pleasures of the Venusberg is nor a rejection of Elisabeth's purity, and her death is no longer the hero's redemption. In Homoki's vision, this is achieved by his embracing both the sensual world of Venus and the spiritual world of Elisabeth. The latter's death allows her to become artistically immortal. Venus, Elisabeth and Tannhauser live on in an unlikely supernatural artistic paradise. As with all pretentious conceits, it helped to know the opera well, but Homoki's well-acted work at least provided plenty of intellectual fodder for critics and fans alike.

Musically, the evening was outstanding. Chung's dynamic conducting has never been finer, and his orchestra played superbly for him; some occasional imprecision on April 28 was perhaps due to closing-night euphoria. Peter Seiffert's Tannhauser is a considerable achievement, traversing the testing role with classic phrasing and confidently impinged tone. Occasionally, a slight beat on high notes showed signs of legitimate fatigue, but few have sustained the role with such aplomb. His warm, voluptuously red-dressed Venus was Ildiko Komlosi. Her voice had a touch too much throaty, Slavic generosity to make her an ideally steady representation of sensuality. Petra-Maria Schnitzer's pure Elisabeth filled her role with glowing, tightly focused soprano sound, while her uncle, Landgraf Hermann, brought another fine performance from resonant bass Franz-Josef Selig. Among this cast of experienced Wagnerians, it is good to report that Frenchman Ludovic Tezier gave one of the best performances of his career as Wolfram, binding the line of his aria with perfect legato and burnished baritone tone. Dramatically, he remains slightly stiff, but this was not entirely inappropriate for the character. The chorus of Radio France rose to the challenge of the vital choral contributions magnificently, and for those who tolerated the production, this was a magnificent evening of music-making.

Michel Plasson and the Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse made a welcome return to the Chatelet for two ...