It's hard to define, but easy to see: the difference between EuroTrash
and EuroSmash.  The San Francisco Opera's premiere tonight of the Nikolaus
Lehnhoff/Raimund Bauer production of Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman" was
smashing...  although "Euro."

Beyond distractions, clever, cute and occasionally dazzling visuals,
this Chicago Lyric Opera-commissioned "Dutchman" is all of one piece,
everything coming together, an unabashedly melodramatic presentation of
a great musical melodrama.  The music ruled, as it should, leading the
fusion of elements, in a great crescendo that eventually took the breath
away, brought the audience to its feet in an unrestrained celebration
of art that's not constrained by continent or fashion.

With Donald Runnicles driving the orchestra steadily (and not driving
it into the ground); Nina Stemme portraying a believable Senta, and
working up to a sensational finale; with Juha Uusitalo's reliable Dutchman
(US debut); Walter Fink's powerfully sung Daland, Christopher Ventris'
passionate Erik; and last-minute substitute Thomas Glenn's fine Steersman
(of amazing diction) - this was opera that would have been delightful
even in a concert version, but enhanced a great deal by the production.

It was not because of but beyond the samurai-costumed sailors performing
jerky, geometric formations; the black Christmas-treelike women in the
spinning room with their metal hoopskirts (and spinning themselves,
worthy of Tom Holt's "Flying Dutch"); Andrea Schmidt-Futterer's
phantasmagorical costumes, Denni Sayers' weird but effective choreography,
and Duane Schuler's dazzling lighting design that the production came
together, the whole becoming an entity, a memorable experience, not just
the whole of its parts.

Lehnhoff's direction produced some wonderfully intense moments, such as
the first meeting of Senta and the Dutchman - both immobile, but moving
the audience - and their subsequent scene, Senta not looking at the
Dutchman but making an intense contact nevertheless.  Having the Dutchman
singing his first aria in a "Vissi d'arte" pose was questionable, and
there were too many instances of Harry Kupfer's gallop-while-you-sing.

Bauer's set is wondrous, with a shiny floor that's both "watery" and
reflecting figures in a strange way, metal ribs surrounding the hull-like
interior.  The appearance of the ghost ship as a huge backlit, revolving
propeller, and the painterly combination of scrims and fog worked
spectacularly well.

Stemme, somewhat tentative during her opening aria, kept building the
performance, her vocal acrobatics unrestrained by the heavily choreographed
stage presence - she well succeeded in both singing and acting, creating
an individual, "personal" Senta.  Uusitalo, who had the unenviable task
of competing with the War Memorial memories of Hans Hotter, Simon Estes,
and Jose Van Dam singing the Dutchman, prevailed if not excelled.  His
voice is pleasant but perhaps too lithe for the role; he found the needed
gravitas in the acting.

Fink either has a built-in amplifier in his throat or there was some
"sound enhancement" going on - something the Opera has repeatedly denied.
Although sounding splendid anywhere, when Fink sang just off-center
downstage, the volume picked up strangely.  Ian Robertson's Opera Chorus
WAS, in fact, amplified - as usual - for the offstage ghost crew, came
across very well in their demandingly-choreographed on-stage scenes.
The spinning women (meaning they were singing while turning around, ha,
ha, ha, "opera will survive only if moved out of the museum"?) sounded
somewhat underpowered, but who can blame them?

Runnicles and the orchestra gave one of their best in a long run of
distinguished Wagner performances.  The music moved forward at all times,
supporting the singers but not babying them.  Strings - led by concertmaster
Kay Stern - were solid, brass together and accurate, woodwinds the best,
with special mention for James Matheson and Deborah Henry (oboe), Janet
Popesco Archibald (English horn), and Carey Bell (clarinet).  It sounds
contradictory to call a conductor producing an upstanding Wagner performance
"self-effacing," but that's what I heard in Runnicles' leadership of the
orchestra tonight.  The music was there, it never said: "listen to me!"
So you did, and all was well.

Again, the beauty of this "Dutchman" is in its gestalt, the way
musical and vocal excellence, directorial thought, set-, costume- and
lighting-design invention merge into a compelling entity - gripping,
enchanting and inviting one back to experience it again.  See
http://sfopera.com/os_ourseason.asp.

Janos Gereben
www.sfcv.org
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