Elektra: ROH

[Ein Heldenleben]

Good point - fortunately academic now, as you say - on the Elizabeth line restrictions; though as the Tuesday ROH dress rehearsal (unless there is stoppage time) is due to finish at 13:30 getting home should be easier than getting there. As Ein Heldenleben rightly deduces, I'll be sauntering up from Charing Cross, all being well!

FWIW - although the Liz line is quick and a real boon for Paddington users it seems to break down a lot.
The number of times I’ve sprinted from ROH to CX …mind you I was younger then.

[Master Jacques]

FWIW - although the Liz line is quick and a real boon for Paddington users it seems to break down a lot.

It's not been the Elizabeth line itself - a wonderful piece of engineering, with high-quality rolling stock and station designs bucking the British trend - but the signalling and points connections provided by Network Rail, outside Paddington, which have caused most of the problems. Touch wood, from the SE London end, I've found it a boon and more reliable than (e.g.) the appalling Jubilee Line.

[Ein Heldenleben]

It's not been the Elizabeth line itself - a wonderful piece of engineering, with high-quality rolling stock and station designs bucking the British trend - but the signalling and points connections provided by Network Rail, outside Paddington, which have caused most of the problems. Touch wood, from the SE London end, I've found it a boon and more reliable than (e.g.) the appalling Jubilee Line.

yes it’s usually signalling…
The Jubilee line has the added “benefit “ of being perhaps the most polluted line in Britain if not the world. At some stations like Canada Water the PM 2.5 levels are enough induce an asthma attack.

Back on thread ..this I think is another production that was due to happen pre Lockdown . I distinctly remember being offered a refund and donating it to the ROH . So if the gods smile on good deeds perhaps we can anticipate a great perf. Mind you I’m not sure Greek gods work that way…

[Master Jacques]

Back on thread ..this I think is another production that was due to happen pre Lockdown . I distinctly remember being offered a refund and donating it to the ROH . So if the gods smile on good deeds perhaps we can anticipate a great perf. Mind you I’m not sure Greek gods work that way…

Quite so. Pappano was determined to reinstate it, as the last new production under his aegis. His first ROH production was also with Christof Loy (Ariadne in 2002) and they were both keen to come full circle over twenty years later. My intuition tells me that your anticipations may well be fulfilled, as Loy is (in my opinion) currently the very best in the business.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Quite so. Pappano was determined to reinstate it, as the last new production under his aegis. His first ROH production was also with Christof Loy (Ariadne in 2002) and they were both keen to come full circle over twenty years later. My intuition tells me that your anticipations may well be fulfilled, as Loy is (in my opinion) currently the very best in the business.

Does Loy have shares in Moss Bros?

[Master Jacques]

Does Loy have shares in Moss Bros?

Not as far as I know! This was the most intelligent, dramatically detailed and imaginative show I've seen there for years, as well as a most revealing Elektra, scrupulously following every line and s/d in the libretto - and superbly motivated at every point. There were no "small parts" here, and every single character - even the tiny roles of the Old and Young Servants - had their through-journey through the action. This made for a living, breathing House of Atreus, with the servants as split in loyalties as the masters, making the dam-burst of carnage all the more powerful, as it affected absolutely everyone (as the libretto tells us it does).

I hope it will be a much-needed, palpable hit for the ROH, and yesterday's warm reception on a very cold day for the Dress Rehearsal encouraged me to think it might be. Stemme reveals a new and touching vulnerability, Mattila has never acted better and Sara Jakubiak is the vocal star (as Chrysothemis).

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not as far as I know! This was the most intelligent, dramatically detailed and imaginative show I've seen there for years, as well as a most revealing Elektra, scrupulously following every line and s/d in the libretto - and superbly motivated at every point. There were no "small parts" here, and every single character - even the tiny roles of the Old and Young Servants - had their through-journey through the action. This made for a living, breathing House of Atreus, with the servants as split in loyalties as the masters, making the dam-burst of carnage all the more powerful, as it affected absolutely everyone (as the libretto tells us it does).

I hope it will be a much-needed, palpable hit for the ROH, and yesterday's warm reception on a very cold day for the Dress Rehearsal encouraged me to think it might be. Stemme reveals a new and touching vulnerability, Mattila has never acted better and Sara Jakubiak is the vocal star (as Chrysothemis).

Yes a very enjoyable if cold morning. Way up in the slips it was a bit difficult to notice the dramatic subtleties - I’m a bit closer next week. I agree Sara J was absolutely outstanding . V. Good Orestes as well . Moss Bros was a reference to dinner attire which featured heavily yesterday, and also in Loy’s Tristan and IIRC Ariadne. It’s a bit as if the Glyndebourne opera audience had suddenly to decided to engage in mutual savage blood letting rather than competitive picnic display …always a possibility I guess.

[Master Jacques]

Yes a very enjoyable if cold morning. Way up in the slips it was a bit difficult to notice the dramatic subtleties - I’m a bit closer next week. I agree Sara J was absolutely outstanding . V. Good Orestes as well . Moss Bros was a reference to dinner attire which featured heavily yesterday, and also in Loy’s Tristan and IIRC Ariadne. It’s a bit as if the Glyndebourne opera audience had suddenly to decided to engage in mutual savage blood letting rather than competitive picnic display …always a possibility I guess.

Yes, you rightly mention Łukasz Goliński's Orestes: he conveyed an equally strong sense of complex motivation, and his dark baritone is a pleasure to hear.

Certainly here and in his perennial Ariadne, Christof Loy is unafraid to face audiences with mirror images - and in both cases, the libretto is with him. I didn't see his Tristan, but there's another well-defined social hierarchy for sure to play with. But he's no one-trick pony - other shows I've seen on Blu-ray take very different costuming routes, and his outstanding Frankfurt Christmas Eve, for example, could not have been more traditionally costumed. That's such a sell-out hit with audiences, that Frankfurt have (I hear) scheduled it for several Christmases to come.

I enjoy your vision of blood-letting for Glyndebourne audiences, which seems all too close to the surface for comfort! In this Elektra, the drenching of all that neat upstairs/downstairs black-and-white with blood was theatrically superb.

[Keraulophone]

I've never seen it in the opera house, but I'll be taking my daughter (dram sop) on the 23rd. (PDM - she's just received a scholarship for postgrad vocal study at the RAM.)

[kernelbogey]

I've never seen it in the opera house, but I'll be taking my daughter (dram sop) on the 23rd. (PDM - she's just received a scholarship for postgrad vocal study at the RAM.)

Well done her!

Just booked for Elektra on 30th. Looking forward...

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes, you rightly mention Łukasz Goliński's Orestes: he conveyed an equally strong sense of complex motivation, and his dark baritone is a pleasure to hear.

Certainly here and in his perennial Ariadne, Christof Loy is unafraid to face audiences with mirror images - and in both cases, the libretto is with him. I didn't see his Tristan, but there's another well-defined social hierarchy for sure to play with. But he's no one-trick pony - other shows I've seen on Blu-ray take very different costuming routes, and his outstanding Frankfurt Christmas Eve, for example, could not have been more traditionally costumed. That's such a sell-out hit with audiences, that Frankfurt have (I hear) scheduled it for several Christmases to come.

I enjoy your vision of blood-letting for Glyndebourne audiences, which seems all too close to the surface for comfort! In this Elektra, the drenching of all that neat upstairs/downstairs black-and-white with blood was theatrically superb.

Was it just me but when Lukasz was in stage the orchestral playing went up a noticeable intensity level? Almost as if they and Pappano were responding to him. Certainly from his entrance on the perf finally reached Straussgasm …if I may be permitted that borrowing from I, An Actor.

[Master Jacques]

Was it just me but when Lukasz was in stage the orchestral playing went up a noticeable intensity level? Almost as if they and Pappano were responding to him. Certainly from his entrance on the perf finally reached Straussgasm …if I may be permitted that borrowing from I, An Actor.

That's Strauss's brilliance, isn't it? All the myriad orchestral details and shifting emotions of the preceding hour and a quarter settle into quiet focus for that interchange between Orestes and Elektra, leading to the 'Straussgasm' of the recognition moment. Which is where the whole, massive thing has been heading all along. It certainly had me in tears yesterday. But it needs a charismatic performer - helped by a director who understands his business - to come on and establish himself (sitting in the dark, as per the stage directions and Elektra's own observation) with the degree of presence we felt yesterday.

[Ein Heldenleben]

That's Strauss's brilliance, isn't it? All the myriad orchestral details and shifting emotions of the preceding hour and a quarter settle into quiet focus for that interchange between Orestes and Elektra, leading to the 'Straussgasm' of the recognition moment. Which is where the whole, massive thing has been heading all along. It certainly had me in tears yesterday. But it needs a charismatic performer - helped by a director who understands his business - to come on and establish himself (sitting in the dark, as per the stage directions and Elektra's own observation) with the degree of presence we felt yesterday.

Don’t know the opera well enough to know how much is Strauss and how much performance. But I did spend some time watching Pappano from my eyrie - remarkable. Looking forward to seeing more of the stage picture. It was a very quick performance - not the 1hr 50 billed . Think it was 8 mins short of that..

[kernelbogey]

Don’t know the opera well enough to know how much is Strauss and how much performance. But I did spend some time watching Pappano from my eyrie - remarkable. Looking forward to seeing more of the stage picture. It was a very quick performance - not the 1hr 50 billed . Think it was 8 mins short of that..

I've not had the privilege of hearing Pappano live, which is one of the reasons for going: but his tv series about operatic voices was a revelation, and demonstrated how profoundly he gets into opera.

[makropulos]

Looking forward hugely to this in light of the comments above and other reports from the dress. I'm going on Monday and can't wait. But I have to, because before that, it's Jenůfa at the Barbican tomorrow. I've seen Elektra twice at the ROH: the first was Rudolf Kempe in 1974 and the second was Solti in 1990(ish). Both stupendous. It'll be a thrill to hear it again, particularly as the production sounds so compelling.