"Carsen's production ... is a paradox that is simultaneously sophisticated and clumsy ... On the other hand, Carsen presents characters, their interactions and motivations with cleverness, wit and flawless timing ... Patricia Bardon plays the scheming title-role with deviousness and sexual energy ... Hengelbrock's full-blooded conducting of the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble has theatrical acumen and is vividly sonorous whether sweet, dark, seductive or furious".