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3.0 out of 5 stars
Begehren (Desire), a work of (New) Music Theater--not an opera or a dance production, June 9, 2010
This review is from: Begehren (DVD)
Surficially, the production is the Orpheus and Eurydice myth commencing with his entry into Hades. The words of the brief pastiche Libretto supposedly elevate this old overworked story into insights about modern man and woman and their stalemate, pointlessly called Desire. Furrer's music is the universal solvent that aims to blend the many essences into Chartreuse.
SET
In the stageless Graz hall, the modest-size orchestra (15 musicians) is on a platform at left. Red-haired Beat Furrer intermittently can be seen conducting. Projecting rightward from his area is the set, a long platform constructed of white plastic rectangles, raised about 14 inches above the floor; they can be lit from below and are reminiscent of solar panels on a space satellite. A strip of panels can be raised to divide the construction, and other panels can be arched up, especially to make a bridge or ramp. Behind the platform is floor area for assembling of participants. (The set is by an architect and her associate.) The audience is seated fore and close to the performance area.
SCENES
The ten scenes are continuous and not readily perceivable. I break the progression into five segments, each of which drags in slow motion: (1) HE (Orpheus) is promptly admitted to Hades, occupied by spirits and their controllers, and chorus members holding two-page spreads for reference. Some large plastic rectangles bearing lines of writing are brought forth, indeed weighing on some inhabitants. HE turns his back on SHE (Eurydice) and extends his hand. When she does not take it, he whirls around, looks at her, and suffers the consequences: he is ousted. (2) The strip of raised panels separates him from Hades, where the regimented activities continue. (3) Finally, Hadeans enter the gap and pass HE back into Hades. HE walks among the prostrate figures, but remains separated from SHE. (4) Six Bacchantes impale him with long spears. A flautist walks on to play beside the body. (5) Looking a trifle cheerful, SHE moving her finger across the lines reads aloud from several plastic sheets. She walks alone up a ramp and stops with her back to us.
MUSIC
Beat Furrer (born 1954) is an Austrian composer of New Music. If, like me, you do not know his work, you can go to his CD listing and read some positive reviews. The audio-only version of this 2003 performance is offered on a 2-CD set at much higher price than the DVD (2008). In Begehren, I feel Furrer strings together whatever he damn well pleases, but the chamber dimensions negate any assault of cacophony. The soprano has only a smallish number of passages, sometimes with a childish sadness. Several of his passages for Chorus are rather traditional and appealing. The Speaker's lines are part of Furrer's sound blend, but they are muttered, swallowed, semi-intelligible even for German ears.
COSTUMES
The costumes are bland. Gray or whitish long-sleeved jersey tops, long sheaths for the women, pants for the men. HE wears a rumpled black suit. Later the men add jackets and the women doff the sleeved tops to appear in elementary "evening gowns." This dull costuming may be prompted by the fact that so many people are onstage at once.
TWO PRINCIPALS
The two principals are Petra Hoffmann, triply labeled as Soprano, Eurydice, and SHE; and Johann Leutgeb, as Speaker, Orpheus, and HE. Both of these main characters are ordinary-looking: HE appears in his tired depressed 30s, and SHE is not a flower of femininity but, with short slicked-back hair, is remindful of a bland college boy. Both wear head mikes (which I also saw on several choristers). Yet I saw no transmitter boxes attached to persons. The Soprano's fitted costume could not conceal a box. Indeed, though performers keep moving their lips, singing and speaking are out of sync. I can only conclude that the head mikes throughout are dummies, to half convince us that pre-recorded portions of the production are actually "live." Worst of all, when the Soprano finally rewards us with a passage, she is not even shown on screen, which would give Hoffmann, stone-faced throughout, an opportunity to convey emotion, wholly lacking in this "Music THEATER" production.
DANCERS
The female choreographer-director imparts slo-mo movement to all. The 14 dancers constituting the supporting players are devoid of athleticism and expressivity; nobody does anything worthy of being called dance.
BOOKLET
In German, English, and French, the booklet reveals the complexities that are supposed to cohere in this Music Theater production. (1) There is a Synopsis headed: "The ten scenes are both figures, SHE and HE, in different stages of their development, in an intermediate area between memory and the search for one another--and at the same time in search for themselves." The summary of each scene may include an English fragment of the Libretto. (2) The Libretto covers only four pages and is given only in German, plus a bit of Latin. It comprises fragments by Ovid, Virgil, Hermann Broch, Cesare Pavese, and Gunter Eich. (3) There is an Interview (2008): Beat Furmann Speaks on Repetition and the Power of Orpheus: Language, Music, and Staging. (4) Wolfgang Hofer, co-assembler of the Libretto, describes with mind-boggling phrases The Plot, and The Libretto as a Description of Sound: "The starting point [was] a miniature from Gunter Eich's radio play...Don't Go to Kuwait."
There are NO subtitles. Aspect ratio is 4:3, perhaps to facilitate TV broadcast in 2003. The Supplement is 15 minutes with Furrer and his intent to make opera for Today.
BEGEHREN IN BERLIN
While the music is the firm basic element, all other aspects of this production are totally changeable for the better. Indeed, online in connection with Furrer's concert version of Begehren planned for the Berliner Festspiele on September 7, 2010, are photos showing the orchestra, with a high platform for the singers behind it. Flanking are tiers of big cubes, glowing with blue or green light like giant lanterns. And pictures of Petra Hoffmann and Johann Leutgeb to assure us they are still with the show, to better effect I'm sure.
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