Music / operetter

Orphée aux enfers


Reviews (3)


Presto classical

2020

By

2020

"Operetta enthusiast Barrie Kosky has landed a gigantic success with Offenbach's subversive and hilarious reversion of the Orpheus myth at the Salzburg Festival. Kosky created a magically precise and witty staging with numerous extravagant costumes in a glittering opulent scenery and a literally devilish choreography. For the dialogues he has found an impressively ingenious solution as they are not spoken by the singers. Rather they are performed by the brilliant German actor Max Hopp as John Styx "who performs a true vocal miracle" (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) in a slapstick-like manner. The superb cast impresses with virtuoso singing as well as ravishingly comedic acting, first and foremost the American coloratura soprano Kathryn Lewek as Eurydice "with crystal clear coloraturas and sovereign top tones" (Salzburger Nachrichten), the Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter as severe L'Opinion publique or the Austrian bass baritone Martin Winkler as foolish father of the gods Jupiter. Under the Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola's precise conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker provide an exquisite "sparkling orchestral sound" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). "A frantic and fabulous show" (New York Times)".


Kristeligt dagblad

d. 21. Sep. 2020

By

By

Peter Dürrfeld

d. 21. Sep. 2020

"En ny dvd-indspilning af Jacques Offenbachs operette "Orfeus i underverdenen" stammer fra Salzburg-festivalen sidste år ... Den 53-årige australske instruktør Barrie Kosky ... står for en overdådig iscenesættelse, hvor der ikke på nogen måde er sparet på udstyr eller effekter ... Kosky har gode sangere og i det hele taget et stærkt hold bag denne produktion, men i dette tilfælde kammer lystigheden totalt over ... Operette er jo normalt en livsglad genre ... men det bliver for overvældende med løjerne, der udspiller sig på et ufatteligt infantilt pjatteniveau ... Berømte Anne Sofie von Otter ... virker ikke overraskende som en hund i et spil kegler i denne syrede sammenhæng".


BBC music magazine

2020 October

By

By

Christopher Cook (musikanmelder)

2020 October

"There are not a lot of laughs in Barry Kosky's Orphée aux Enfers ... To overcome the supposed difficulties of singers projecting dialogue, Kosky's singers mime their words which are spoken by the actor Max Hopp as Styx ... Otto Pichler's choreography for demons and swamps is appropriately campy, but the singing drags its heels. Best is Kathryn Lewek's Eurydice with jewel-like coloratura".