BWW Reviews: Kaufmann and Dasch Triumph in HD Broadcast of LOHENGRIN from La Scala, Despite Directorial Missteps

You have to love the Italians--particularly the Milanese. Where else but at La Scala, the city's temple of dramma lirica, could you find a public so passionate that it complained loudly and bitterly when it was announced that a work by a German (Richard Wagner) was opening the season rather than an opera by a local boy (Giuseppe Verdi)? It's because they care--and it's rather comforting that it can still happen in the 21^st century (unless you happen to be on the receiving end of their wrath, of course).

Despite the uproar, Wagner's "Lohengrin" did open the season at La Scala. And, judging by the HD performance presented by the "Opera in Cinema" series from Emerging Pictures, seen January 20 in New York City, the December 7 event was a pretty fine night for singing.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann was in stellar voice as Wagner's Lohengrin, with his seamless, strong baritonal sound. Last-minute substitute soprano Annette Dasch thrilled as Elsa, saving the day when two singers came down with the flu and she rushed in from Germany on a day's notice, giving little hint that she wasn't thoroughly rehearsed. The rich voices of bass René Pape and baritone Zeljko Lucic were luxury casting in smaller but key roles. The La Scala Orchestra gave a fine performance under the baton of Music Director Daniel Barenboim, who emphasized the opera's Italianate aspects, sometimes sounding like parts of "La Traviata."

Their triumphs could have been a happy ending to the sturm und drang over the opening of a season that marks the bicentennials of both Wagner and Verdi. It makes it even more the pity that director Claus Guth came up with a concept that ranged from the banal to the ridiculous, fighting his singers--particularly Kaufmann and Dasch--at every turn.

Guth changed the setting from the 10^th century Brabant (modern Belgium) to the 1800s for no apparent purpose, neither enhancing the music nor enlightening the libretto. It seemed to take place in front of a faceless, 19^th-century Marriott hotel, designed by Christian Schmidt with lighting by Olaf Winter, and was particularly dreary when Lohengrin and Elsa rush down the hallway to celebrate their wedding night.

Richard Sasanow is a long-time writer on art, music, food, travel and international business for publications including The New York Times, The Guardian (UK), Town & Country and Travel & Leisure, among many others. He also interviewed some of the great singers of the 20th century for the programs at the San Francisco Opera and San Diego Opera and worked on US tours of the Orchestre National de France and Vienna State Opera, conducted by Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta and Leonard Bernstein.