Zimmermann – Die Soldaten
Laura Akin; Gabriela Beňačková;
Renée Morloc; Daniel Brenna;
Tomasz Konieczny; Alfred Muff;
Wiener Philharmoniker; Ingo Metzmacher
EuroArts 2072588
Salzburg’s Felsenreitschule, a 17th-century riding school carved into a cliff, makes a brilliant setting for this must-see production of Bernd Alois Zimmerman’s landmark opera. It was filmed at the 2012 Salzburg Festival, where director Alvis Hermanis staged the non-stop action in front of a series of archways, with live horses parading around behind.
Die Soldaten (The Soldiers) tells a bleak, violent story. But Hermanis avoids sensationalizing it, and instead takes a poetic approach. So at key moments, like the pivotal rape scene, his dramatic use of the bales of hay that are strewn around the stage makes the impact all the more powerful.
The cast is stellar. But it’s Laura Aikin’s tour-de-force performance as Marie that ultimately grabs attention. It’s not just her fearless delivery of the treacherously jagged vocal lines. Her characterization of a naive young lady who is just trying to get ahead is utterly convincing, even when, at the end, she is so brutalized by the soldiers that her own father doesn’t recognize her. Right from the explosive opening chords, the Vienna Philharmonic under Ingo Metzmacher projects the vivid colours and textures that make this opera, now 50 years old, sound thoroughly contemporary.
Unfortunately there are no views into the huge orchestra, while the stage is too often filmed in close-up. When Marie walks across a tightrope suspended high above the stage, it is filmed so closely that it’s evident she’s an acrobatic double dressed as Marie, undermining the potent image of Marie balanced precariously on a high-wire.
