BERLIN - There is a self-inflicted curse on Leos Janacek's "Cunning Little
Wixen." Its music, some of the most magical in all opera, is automatically
damaged in a staged performance.  In fact, the bigger the production, the
more the work suffers.

When I saw tonight that children made up the majority of the Deutsche
Oper audience, my heart sank.  I was wrong:  the kids were admirably
quiet and attentive.  The problem was that regardless of age, the audience
responded with ooh's and ah's each time yet another dazzling stage business
came their way.  And dazzle is the common currency of this Katharina
Thalbach/Wenka von Mikulicz production first introduced last year.

There is an enchanted forest (much more tropical than one would expect
in Central Europe) with flying and crawling animals all around, one more
clever than the next, gigantic body parts (a foot here, an eye there)
indicating that the story unfolds in a miniature toy environment, fabulous
stage shticks abound. . .  each provoking a reaction, which in turn
overwhelms the flowing, shimmering music.  Also, each scene (and act, in
this production without intermission) takes a curtain; each time there is
applause, even though the music continues.  Arrrgh!

Why be so picky and irritable? Because what could be heard, of this music
that's equal to some of the peak moments in Wagner and Richard Strauss, was
played extremely well.  Under Stephen Barlow's baton, the orchestra focused
in on the music with a consistency and concentration that listener in the
audience couldn't possibly match through the well-deserved laughter and
applause.  Yes, the proper way to present "Wixen" is either in a concert
performance or as a symphonic suite.

In the cast, all that acting and acrobatics and dancing came across well.
When it came to singing, Fionnuala McCarthy in the title role gave an
all-around good performance, punching up the high points nicely; she came
close to the standard established by Leslie Garrett at the ENO.  Among the
other leading roles, Catherine Gayer and Lenus Carlson both presented more
effort than good singing.  Again, the musical heroes of the evening were
all those unseen people in the pit.  Especially the strings, weaving silk
and silver.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
[log in to unmask]