Author : Jos Hermans
Originally intended for Anna Netrebko conducted by Kirill Petrenko, this Festival gala had to be dropped in favor of a replacement program with hastily selected artists. Intendant Benedikt Stampa called it a miracle that it could take place at all.
The world of culture should reflect on politics and social evolutions. It keeps a society alert. Taking a position in a military conflict is not part of this. There are always two sides to a conflict. Except in the view of Peter Gelb who, after February 24, almost immediately castigated the celebrated soprano, who for two decades had been the Metropolitan's signboard : "There was no great moral dilemma or difficult decision to be made", he said. Whereupon the cultural world turned into a Kindergarten in which Russian artists had to renounce their loyalty to their president and a climate of Russophobia emerged that transcended even the hottest moments of the Cold War. Personally, I was delighted to find no Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden shrouded in the blue-yellow glow of the Ukrainian bicolor. There was no national anthem to be heard, in stead there was a lot of Russian music. No doubt this comes down to the long-standing collaboration with Valery Gergiev. The chances that we will ever see him again in Baden-Baden are extremely small, now that he may be consecrated by the Russian president as super-intendant of Bolshoi and Mariinski. On the other hand, we dare to hope that enough intendants can be found to accompany Anna Netrebko's return to Western European theaters.
Three Ukrainian singers, including the delightful Liudmyla Monastyrska, were invited but only Bogdan Volkov made it to the stage. Volkov, a seasoned Lenski, sang an excellent "Kuda, Kuda" (Eugene Onegin). I'd rather hear it performed with more tenor power. Despair, for me, may have a slightly more powerful release. On the other hand, he descended into breathtaking pianissimi. Baritone Thomas Hampson was allowed to kick off with "O du mein holder Abendstern" (Tannhäuser). He is still the charming gentleman who infuses his recitation with an intellectual charge. Time hardly seems to have affected the voice. It was still surprisingly good, the voice has not become grayer in timbre or more inflexible, the vocal range shows no gaps, the diction of the German is impeccable, the seriousness as always a tad hinted at. In the patriotic duet from "Il rival salvar tu dei...suoni la tromba" (I puritani), he stood next to bass baritone Luca Pisaroni and we got to hear two very different singers. While Pisaroni represented the sensuousness of the Italian school, Hampson articulated according to his own rules, which is also always interesting without therefore passing for a typical Italian baritone. "La callunia e un venticello" (Il barbiere di Siviglia), was an appropriate choice in these times of fake news and war propaganda. It allowed Pisaroni to demonstrate his sense of humor joking with the conductor. "Pace, pace, mio Dio" (La Forza del destino), could have been one of the parading numbers of the great absentee. Saioa Hernandez could not quite fill those shoes. She does not possess the Russian's wonderful timbre, nor the mastery of the registers. The closing "Maledizione" made an impression but who was cursed here? Soprano Rachel Willis Sørensen, had never sung "Glück das mir verblieb" (Die tote Stadt) before. To me, she sang it with too much voice. That is rarely a problem in Wagner as I could witness 2 days later in the Frankfurt Lohengrin. Katharina Konradi was allowed to conclude with Rachmaninov's "Vocalise op. 34/14", not exactly a high flyer of the lyrical repertoire.
With the "Leonore Overture No. 3," a well-oiled machine like the Berliner Philharmoniker, can show how an orchestra can speak with one voice. This time under Andris Nelsons, one of the most compelling conductors I know. How that same orchestra remains completely transparent in the extreme fortissimi of the "Hell's Dance of Koshchee" in The Firebird, a piece with amazing dynamic contrasts, is a wonder and very exciting.
Scheduled for the next Easter Festival is "Die Frau ohne Schatten".