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Küsse mich, Kathrein London
Festival Hall
10/06/1999 -
Alexander Zemlinsky Es war einmal…
Christine Brewer (Princess), Glenn Winslade (Prince), Alan Opie (Kaspar),
Donald Maxwell (King), Toby Spence (Suitor), Jonathan Veira
(Commander/Herald)
Andrew Davis (conductor)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Apollo Voices
Zemlinsky's Es war einmal..., first produced in 1900, is based on a
Danish play somewhat after Andersen. The story is an insubstantial blend of
Turandot and The Taming of the Shrew: a haughty princess
spurns the Prince of Northland, who, with her dad's connivance, disguises
himself as a gipsy magician, and takes her away to a pastoral hut where she
scrubs floors and comes to love him.
The music in the comic-magical first act is initially Wagner-tinged
operetta-ish, quite similar to Sullivan in its inventiveness. It becomes
more romantic, though still vaguely Wagnerian, during the quasi-pastoral
second and third acts, with a hint of Gurre-lieder to come.
Zemlinsky at this point was recognisably the protege of Mahler and the
buddy of the young Schoenberg. The whole work is in itself charming and
enjoyable, in spite of its apparently misogynist theme. Somehow the
romantic nature of the music, and the Prince's frequent insistence that he
loves the princess, makes it at least no more offensive than most
operettas.
The BBC Syphony Orchestra, under Andrew Davies, gave a polished performance
that was sprightly rather than sparking, but which got over some of the
sense of magic and most of the charm of the score. The proto-Disneyesque
magic fountain and woodland scene worked particularly well. Although
Zemlinsky's libretto cut out the pseudo-mediaeval pageantry of the original
play, his music still seems to assume a rich staging where the music
complements the stage effects rather than replacing them, which of course
leaves a concert performance like this incomplete.
The singers, all spot-on vocally for their roles, were generally also more
competent than exciting. Some of the smaller roles worked best. Toby Spence
as an unfortunate suitor who is told to leave or have his head chopped off,
sang a beautiful few bars, and Donald Maxwell as the princess's world-weary
father was very funny. Alan Opie got some comic mileage out of the role of
Kaspar, the prince's sidekick who adopts a range of disguises starting with
his alleged old gypsy mother, with a falsetto schtick. Maxwell and Opie
would have had much more fun in a staged production.
Glenn Winslade as the prince and Christine Brewer as the princess (who
acquires the name Kathrein aka Kate) both have big, fluid voices right for
the music, but didn't do much dramatically. Winslade in particular simply
stood and sang. His voice is fine, even expressive at times, but the look
on his face almost never varies. Brewer was a funny soprano/Ariadne in the
ENO Ariadne auf Naxos a couple of years ago, and is quite at home as
a romantic diva. Maybe again she needed a staging to get some dramatic
mileage from the role.
H.E. Elsom
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