Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (Glyndebourne)

Soile Isokoski (Ariadne ); Kate Lindsey (Composer ); Laura Claycomb (Zerbinetta ); Sergey Skorokhodov (Bacchus ); Thomas Allen (Music Master );

Director Katharina Thoma sets Richard Strauss’s comedy in a country house in the South Downs (a surrogate for Glyndebourne), immediately before and during the Second World War. Hofmannsthals’ conceit – that a hapless young composer has to accept the simultaneous performance of his new tragic opera with a burlesque from a commedia dell’arte troupe - is turned into a touching wartime drama of nurses, invalids, airmen – and of painful delusions and soul-searching, before final happiness.

Reviews

"Everything fits superbly and the production captures the fragility of happiness and the undertow of melancholy better than any I can remember.The mellow glow of the LPO under Vladimir Jurowski’s sensitive baton complements the vision perfectly, while a fine cast enhances the pleasure. Soile Isokoski is superb as Ariadne ..." (The Evening Standard ★★★★)

"... an absolutely fascinating, sometimes inspired evening of music theatre, redolent of all the qualities for which Glyndebourne is justly famous - great ensemble playing, intelligent and often provocative staging, orchestral work (the London Philharmonic Orchestra in its 50th year at Glyndebourne) of the highest order. ... a terrific evening of onstage entertainment and a thought-provoking take on a work that is 100 years young. For any Strauss lover ... an absolute must." (MuscialCriticism.com ★★★★)

"t begins with wonderful fizz as Thomas Allen, in Sprechgesang mode as the Music Master, rehearses the parting of his curtains to reveal frantic preparations in a simulacrum of Glyndebourne’s Organ Room. With Vladimir Jurowski and a slimmed-down contingent from the London Philharmonic spinning a delicate musical web, eye and ear can scarcely keep up with the pace as – choreographed by Lucy Burge - the dramatis personae arrive with competing claims on costumes, wigs, and space; every so often a potted palm makes its own exasperated comment by wilting dramatically. Things come exquisitely into focus as mezzo Kate Lindsey sings her first aria as the Composer, perfectly catching the evanescent beauty of its shifting tones and moods. Each singer makes the most of his or her moment in the limelight – nice to see the crazy Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke making an appearance in a spangled red jump-suit – with Laura Claycomb’s Zerbinetta offering a melodious reincarnation of Ginger Rogers." (The Independent)

"Conductor Vladimir Jurowski ends his 13-year reign as music director by drawing sumptuous Straussian playing from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 40 years of watching Ariadne, the opera has never moved me more." (The Daily Mail ★★★★)

"Vladimir Jurowski and his trimmed-down London Philharmonic Orchestra work wonders with Strauss's luminescent scoring, always maintaining that very telling balance between intimacy and grandiosity, the world of musical theatre versus opera, the pit band that would be symphonic. Experience pays, too, in the casting of Thomas Allen as the Music Master and, most notably, his leading lady - the Prima Donna/Ariadne of Soile Isokoski. She may not now epitomise the glamour and vocal bloom we have come to expect of the role, but in a house this size her wholeheartedness and musicality shine through." (The Arts Desk)

"Kate Lindsey's Composer is beautifully detailed, and, though a mezzo, her voice has soprano-like colour and ease. Thomas Allen's Music-Master is excellent, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke's Dancing Master shamelessly -over-the-top and Dmitri Vargin's Harlekin pleasingly lyrical." (Gramophone)