HILDEGARD
BEHRENS / ESA-PEKKA SALONEN
& The LA Philharmonic Orchestra
This
was the phrase heard many times over as awed concert-goers streamed out
of the packed Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Sunday, October 14, 2001 at
the close of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 3-day Wagner and Strauss concert.
By any measure the concert was a grand display of orchestral power by
a world-class orchestra, and of the exquisite artistry of one of great
dramatic sopranos of our time. And the audience loved it!
The
programme featured orchestral excerpts from Wagner's Götterdämmerung,
the final scene from Strauss's Salome, the Prelude and "Liebestod"
from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, and Strauss' tone poem
Also sprach Zarathustra - big works that command big sounds
and place big demands on both performers and listeners.
Happily, orchestra and guest soloist, drawing from a rich reservoir
of resources most audibly evident in the final concert, obliged
- with spectacular results! From the first two-note rumble of Wagner's
funeral music for his mythical once-and-future free man (Siegfried)
to the enigmatic, serenely muted finale of Strauss' Zoroastrian/Nietzschean
superman, the ever-youthful Maestro Salonen summoned his orchestra's
magical powers with each sway of the baton.
And Ms. Behrens was resplendent in voice and visage - from the moment
she made her way toward center stage, eliciting subdued gasps of
"She is so beautiful!" as she deftly stepped into character
and became the obsessed young Judean princess, to the way she stood
transfigured - a "true Isolde" - as the ethereal lyricism
of her luminous "Liebestod" lingered through the
final resolution of the Prelude's famous dissonant chord.
To many, the final scene from "Salome" was the programme's
high point. It began with an eerie silence broken by the faint rolling
of distant drums and the shrill, muffled rasping of a dissonant
string.
But not for long. Soon Ms. Behrens was jolting the audience with
the first outbursts of Salome's frenzy:
"Es ist kein Laut zu vernehmen. Ich höre nichts...."
(There is no sound to be heard. I hear nothing....)
bidding Herod's soldiers to hurry and serve up John the Baptist's
head! Here Salonen, revealing an instinct for drama, strayed from
the usual practice of opening the concert version of the final scene
with "Ah, du wolltest mich nicht deinen Mund küssen
lassen, Jochanaan!" (Ah! Thou wouldst not suffer me to
kiss thy mouth, Jochanaan!). It turned out to be an inspired departure
from convention, heightening the sense of drama from the outset.
And with Ms. Behrens, the singing actress nonpareil of today's
operatic stage, virtually transporting the audience to the edge
of John the Baptist's cistern, the result was an emotionally riveting
performance that became musically flawless as one concert evening
rolled into the next and attendance swelled. As one visibly moved
concert-goer put it, "I was here last night and the singing
was so beautiful; tonight, it was even more beautiful!"
Of the first performance, the LA Times wrote:"... the final
scene from Strauss' "Salome," demonstrated no cause for complaint.
Behrens commands all the resources of tone, textual identification
and probing intelligence this role requires. She delivered the words
with pungent articulation and coloration, and with the subtext of
madness the character demands.
Behrens, in pacing this performance, went beyond the complicated
requirements of Salome's craziness and into the real subject of
this monologue: lust that has been satisfied. Horrific or not the
young Princess of Judea has got her reward and temporarily revels
in it. This performance, authoritatively conducted by Salonen and
played expertly, showed all the facets in the great climax."
Praise also came from veteran pre-concert lecturer Eric Bromberger
who talked about the high-voltage, high-decibel programme and told
his listeners as he spoke of Salome's final scene: "You will
not hear Salome's monologue sung more beautifully than you will
tonight." He sent them off to the concert hall with this bit
of wisdom on how best to enjoy an evening of musical explorations
into themes of death (by various means), transfiguration, and the
evolution of man: "Listen - not only with your ears, but also
with your eyes, your mind and your heart." Heeding the advice,
the audience at all three performances surrendered to the demands
of the music as they listened in rapt attention and then stood,
awed, in thunderous ovation of the musicmakers who gave them a concert
to remember. -JB/FanFaire 2001
