Stoyanova, Koch, Groissbock, Erod, Erdmann - Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (2015)

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Stoyanova, Koch, Groissbock, Erod, Erdmann - Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (2015)

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This unabbreviated version of The Rosenkavalier from Salzburg Festival 2014 became a triumph and received fantastic reviews. Staged by legendary Harry Kupfer. Great cast incl. Krassimira Stoyanova, Günther Groisböck, Sophie Koch, Mojca Erdman, Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Composer: Richard Strauss
Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Salzburg Festival Children's Chorus

Reviews: As Salzburg productions go, the 2014 Der Rosenkavalier isn't one of their most adventurous, but in almost every area it serves the intentions of the work well. It's the conductor who is in charge of Der Rosenkavalier, and leading the ever impressive Vienna Philharmonic, Franz Welser-Möst's control and management of the score is absolutely stunning, weaving Strauss' complex lines through the singing voices, matching the melodies, the tempo and the sheer majesty of a score whose lyricism and evocation of resonances belies any notion of the work being merely "a Viennese farce and nothing more".

It's immediately apparent that the Salzburg production has a handle on all the essential ingredients. From the overture to the impression that is created by the elegant set for the Marschallin's bedroom in Act I, everything feels right and sounds right. All the more so on account of the singers we have in the roles of Marschallin and Octavian. Sophie Koch is maybe not so sure of voice on the top notes as she once was singing Octavian, but her experience counts. She knows the role well and is better fitted than most to handle the intricacies of this difficult trouser role (ahem, Glyndebourne!). Krassimira Stoyanova is a glorious Marschallin and gives a great performance here. She has an amazing voice that is perfect for big roles like this, and she is simply just one of the best Marschallins in the world at the moment. I don't think there's any particular chemistry between Stoyanova and Koch, but they work together well and bring their own character successfully to the roles.

I was disappointed however by Günther Groissböck's Ochs von Lerchenau. His timbre is lovely and his delivery is perfectly good, but I just couldn't take to him as the baron. He doesn't look right and he doesn't appear terribly comfortable with the part either, focussed on delivery, singing almost entirely without looking at any of the other characters he is interacting with. It's possible I suppose that this is how the role has been directed, Ochs always dominating, the other characters always behind him, subservient to his sense of self-importance. Other than that however, Harry Kupfer's direction is hard to fault. The stage design is classy and elegant, the silver-grey colour scheme giving a sense of a cool nostalgic detachment for an idealised past. Hans Schavernoch's set is made up of large panels and props that glide into position, while large projected photographs of classical Vienna scenes, rooftops and parks place the work perfectly into the essential context of the wider world that the opera is set in.

The stylised version of this cold idealised Vienna contrasts perfectly with the warm richness of the lives and sentiments of the characters within it. Act I and II contrasts noble elegance with vulgar extravagance of marbled ostentation, while Act III doesn't just reveal the darker underside of the comic playing, it practically builds the set around the performers in the location of a misty Prater park, making it feel wholly a part of the wider world. Everything slips into place the way it ought to, as elegantly as Strauss's score falls into place, and the finale is simply gorgeous. Ochs ungraciously fades back into the mist, the Marschallin glides off in her Rolls Royce, leaving Koch's Octavian and Mojca Erdmann's delicately sweet-toned Sophie to break free from the past and look ahead to a new future.

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Stoyanova, Koch, Groissbock, Erod, Erdmann - Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (2015)

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Stoyanova, Koch, Groissbock, Erod, Erdmann - Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (2015)

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