Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Nina Stemme and Lise Davidsen overwhelm in the Met’s searing revival of Richard Strauss’s ELEKTRA

• By drediman
• April 6, 2022
• No Comments

Last night, I was back at the Metropolitan Opera to catch the revival of Patrice Chéreau’s 2016 staging of Richard Strauss’s Elektra (the production was previously seen in 2013 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France), one of the most dramatically satisfying productions in the mighty opera company’s vast repertoire. I had seen the production twice before – once led by the great Swedish soprano Nina Stemme when the staging was new at the Met, and then again two years later starring the equally great American soprano Christine Goerke. In the current revival, Ms. Stemme once again takes on the relentlessly and obsessively vengeful title role. She’s joined by fast-rising Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen as Elektra’s sister Chrysothemis.

Set in a vaguely contemporary setting (the scene is the courtyard of an austere palace, populated by peasants who are at their wits’ end), Chéreau’s production is grim and minimalist. Indeed, the late director strips the ancient Greek tale of its mythic qualities, thereby starkly highlighting the intense dysfunction of the family at the opera’s core. The production’s crowning achievement is the way it portrays the moral complexity of the situation. In seeking vengeance for the murder of their father Agamemnon and thereby continuing the vicious cycle of violence that has plagued their family, are Elektra and Orest any better than their forebears? In an audacious and compelling choice, Chéreau stages Elektra’s typically ecstatic climactic victory dance – sonically conveyed by Strauss’s simultaneously swooning and barbaric music – as a tableau of resigned, exhausted bodies (including a catatonic Elektra) worn thin by the ongoing trauma of violence.

As a duo, Ms. Stemme and Ms. Davidsen overwhelm with the ferocity and vividness of their vocal and dramatic performances. Ms. Davidsen brings a rich womanly yearning to her performance, which is evidenced by the luscious bloom in her voice. When frustrated, however, the piercing power of her voice more than rises to the occasion. The unsparing Stemme, on the other hand, is toxic vehemence incarnate, even if her focused soprano isn’t quite as stable as it once was. Rounding out the cast are Michaela Schuster as Klytämnestra, tenor Stefan Vinke as Aegisth, and bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as Orest – all excellent. In the pit, conductor Donald Runnicles does well to balance both the voluptuous lyricism and striking modernism of Strauss’s masterpiece score.

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ELEKTRA
Opera
Metropolitan Opera
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
In repertory through April 20