Director Torsten Fischer depicts an emotionally hostile, dark man's world in his clear, consistent chamber play. Jennifer O'Loughlin made her role debut with the title role. © Jean-Marc Turmes
Close to the text, offensive leadership and a loud orchestra: The Gärtnerplatztheater shows Giuseppe Verdi's "Luisa Miller".
The old question of whether text or music comes first in opera can be easily answered in the case of Giuseppe Verdi. All you need to do is take a look at the correspondence with his librettists, with whom he pondered possible subjects and haggled over dramaturgical details. In addition to Shakespeare, Schiller was one of the most important sources of inspiration in the choice of his material. This was also the case with his "Cabal and Love" setting, which premiered at Gärtnerplatz under the Italian title "Luisa Miller". A chamber play that fits well into the intimate setting of the house and benefits from the proximity to the audience in Torsten Fischer's production, which is as clear as it is consistent.
In contrast to the very cerebral concept that Claus Guth once presented at the Bavarian State Opera, Fischer is a man who feels his way closely along the text and scores with his offensive character guidance, especially in the two-man scenes between Luisa and the men manipulating her.
Sparse stage with circling walls
The sparse stage, designed by Herbert Schäfer and Vasilis Triantafillopoulos, is dominated by circular walls on which a portrait of a woman by the Belgian symbolist Fernand Khnopff gazes longingly into the distance. And this is multiplied by a mirror hovering above it, which evokes Busby-Berkeley associations. Even if in this emotionally hostile world, instead of colorfully costumed dancers, the military-costumed choir is now allowed to lounge on scorched earth.
Only the staged overture, in which, according to the cliché, the later narrated prehistory is presented as a silent pantomime, seems a bit tasteful. Conductor Anthony Bramall pushes hard in the pit, but finds it increasingly difficult to draw larger bows and to let his orchestra run free from time to time. In his work, drama is usually conjured up only by volume, without taking into account that the early Verdi still has one foot in the tradition of bel canto. As a result, Bramall doesn't always make it easy for his singers.
In this respect, however, the production team cannot be completely acquitted either, since the title heroine in the second act, for example, has to sing for what feels like an eternity against the asthmatic, rattling fog machine for the sake of the visual effect. And the final image, which takes place in front of the Iron Curtain, also proves to be rather suboptimal acoustically.
Role debut of Jennifer O'Loughlin
Fortunately, Jennifer O'Loughlin is not intimidated by this in her role debut and cleverly divides up Luisa after a slightly restrained start. The soprano not only lets you feel her experience with the coloratura parts of Bellini and Donizetti, but also cautiously ventures into more dramatic realms with her pleasantly timbred soprano. She harmonizes perfectly with the powerful, but always supple Jenish Ysmanov, who is stormily celebrated by the audience after the tenor hit "Quando le sere al placido". Matija Meić as Father Miller with his powerful baritone goes into full swing a little too early this time and has to pay tribute to it in the last act.
Nevertheless, there is also a lot on offer in the low vocal ranges. Anna Agathonos plays the cold-hearted rival Federica with a sonorous organ alto and thus sets just as delightful contrasts as Inho Jeong, who portrays the Gafen Walter as a brutal man of power. The secret star of the evening, however, is Timos Sirlantzis. He masterfully knows how to hide the true face of the intriguer Wurm behind his velvety soft bass again and again. Only to strike all the more mercilessly at the crucial moment. TOBIAS HELL