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Fiona Maddocks's rating
, Bewitching decadence
By
Fiona Maddocks
25 May 2007
Beauty and decay inhabit Britten's last opera, Death in Venice, premiered in 1973 when the composer was already a sick man. English National Opera's first ever staging is a typically thoughtful treatment by Deborah Warner, exquisitely designed by Tom Pye and starring Ian Bostridge as a superb Aschenbach.
Based on Thomas Mann's novella about an ageing writer transfixed by the beauty of a young boy, Britten's work is at once a bold step into new artistic territory and a retreat into valedictory self-reference. It can seem both his masterpiece, especially when heard in concert, and a ponderous, dramatically cumbersome failure.
This chameleon nature makes it a challenge to stage. Warner and Pye have done an impeccable job, recreating a constantly shifting silhouette of Venice peopled by pleasure-loving Edwardians. Potted palms and billowing drapes capture the grand decadence of the Lido's Hôtel des Bains. The city's mystery and allure become curdled by the sulphurous air of disease. In every detail, the production casts a visual spell.
Bostridge, singing the role for the first time, has never sounded better.
His vocal control and diction are outstanding. He has spoken of his hesitancy in singing so elderly a part, written for Britten's partner Peter Pears, who was 62 at the time. Bostridge need not have worried. His more youthful account, hair swept back, with moustache and chapeau d'artiste looking like Wyndham Lewis, has its own poignancy.
The ensemble cast and dancers, with Benjamin Paul Griffiths as a balletic Tadzio, were generally well drilled. Peter Coleman-Wright showed his versatility in the multiple baritone roles (hotel manager, fop, barber) and the chorus sounded strong even if their words were inaudible. Iestyn Davies, in the countertenor role of Apollo, had bell-like clarity and Anna Dennis was haunting as the Strawberry-seller.
Yet there was something missing in an evening which came within a hair's breadth of excelling. Mostly the problems lie in the work itself. Britten's inspired writing for gamelan, harps and terrifying low woodwind cannot quite compensate for the lapses into his own musical past, now an echo of Grimes, now of Billy Budd or Gloriana.
The orchestra played deftly but there was a certain lassitude in the conducting of ENO's new music director, Edward Gardner. More ebb and flow, more sweep and vibrancy at climactic moments and this Death in Venice could fulfil its considerable promise.
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Reader views (4)
This performance is about as good as you can hope for this Opera. Bostridge was superb, the staging ideal. For all this the work itself is flawed. There is little or no development, Aeschenbachs music never changes, too many scenes are repeated - do we need so many ballet scenes where in particular the music so thin. A "don't miss" for Britten fans but for the minority who think there is more to 20th Century opera than this plan your trips to Amsterdam for Messiaen or Munich for the Bassarids.
- Michael Rhatigan, Bolton UK, 04/06/2007 10:28
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Surtitles would have ruined this visually stunning performance. I get very irritated when an audience is looking at the top of the stage and not at the stage itself. O.K. the chorus could have been singing in Chinese but from where I was sitting I heard almost every word from the principals. Bostridge was outstanding and Edward Gardner (debut) produced sounds from the orchestra which were breathtaking. For the ENO this is a very fine achievment and I hope it will transfer to DVD.
- Brian Gill, Bedford, England, 25/05/2007 14:10
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I am not a big fan of more modern composers so I came to this with a little trepidation. However, I was transfixed for the whole evening. The music was a revelation to me and the production was visually stunning. The libretto ebbs and eddies like the waters of the lagoon itself and so did the visual experience. With the smallest touches we moved effortlessly from one setting to another. I am glad the production team got the biggest cheer of the night after Ian Bostridge. The games of the boys acted out in silhouette against a livid sun were as good as it gets, a perfect marriage of music and dance that surpasses anything I have seen in opera - I think the review's phrase 'well drilled' falls miles short of the achievement. I think the reviewer missed completely the complexity, subtlety and grace of the boys' choreography and dancing skills.
I am glad there were no distracting surtitles. I wanted to concentrate on the visual experience. Is it really so essential to know every word said? Opera is surely about the emotion, music and movement, rather than individual words. Read the synopsis before you go in and you will get everything you need.
- Keith Mason, London, UK, 25/05/2007 13:54
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Shame ENO decided to drop the surtitles. I was really disappointed. I'd decided to give ENO another go when I heard they were introduced. It came as a real surprise that they weren't used for Death in Venice. I agree, the chorus was inaudible. Overall, I was left rather mystified and disconnected from the experience.
- Les Campbell, London UK, 25/05/2007 12:28
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