Der König Kandaules - Dmitry Golovnin
Nyssia - Elisabet Strid
Gyges - Gidon Saks
Phedros - Vincenzo Neri
Symfonisch Orkest Opera Vlaanderen
Dimitri Jurowski (Conductor)
Salome and Elektra by Richard Strauss were supposedly hard acts to follow both musically and storytelling by gone as far advance and daring than its time. The esthetic of art nouveau to portray obsessed women in theatre could divide opinion, and one would question the purpose of presenting brutal tales and madness on stage. Though moral dimension should not be the focus or spending moment to judge, but allow the emotional impact of blood and drama to fascinate us. Despite Zemlinsky did not finish orchestrating the whole score of King Kandaules, which the challenge was understandable coupled with ill health, the 1993 completion by Antony Beaumont produced a convincing case why this work could match the other two in full.
To avoid focusing on a primary motive that triggered off the murder throughout the performance, Andrij Zholdak added a level of complexity by repeating murder scenes in different forms according to characters. Instead of portraying a gender generalisation, which on surface only Queen Nyssia had the utter motive to kill, the staging demonstrated how individual's obsession was driven by own desire, and to create different motives triggering off the bloodshed. Everything took place inside a modern house with three floors divided each level into two rooms. In the opening scene, we saw the queen frightened by the rebellious children in the dining room on ground level, and the king also being dominant and violent towards her. A young male cleaner in naked top walked across the top level of the house by being explicitly sexual. It probably suggested the queen fantasised sexual desires but suppressed herself because of the environment. The children carried a gutted salmon but no ring was seen. An unhappy life was shown but the queen failed to find any courage to kill and looking weak.
The next part saw courtiers congregated in the room above the kitchen and focused on an overheard television, which showed actions in other rooms. Nyssia hated the children and became nasty by telling them off. Although the king was thought highly in authority wearing his armour and sword, he seems to be haunted by visions of death and that his world falling apart. He saw Gyges killing his wife in the kitchen and exposed a ring from the vault. The children also interchanged to a boy and a girl after being two boys at the start. They were stopped when one tried to hang himself. Gyges was also sexually erotic for the queen but mentally unstable to control himself. The illusion deepened when Gyges's wife stood alive again but then beheaded by him again. It became a nightmare for Nyssia with what she saw and later fell dead on the dining table. The courtiers laughed in the room when the horror happened and their moments of singing was atmospherically judgemental.
Zholdak signalled a new start in the beginning of act two by children shooting all courtiers and symbolically ended their perception. King Kandaules' desires were presented finally. He probably seeking a more comfortable situation imagining everyone were satisfied and behaved orderly in his household. A garden was set up in front of the house. The dining room was decorated with flowers, family orientated kitchen with fridge, nice sitting room for television and even a tanning bed in the dining room. Servants enjoyed their food and drinks in the kitchen. Raw meats were even being scattered around the house. It was as if they enjoyed a good and abundant life, but were silenced and obedient compare to before. The children were two boys again as what Kandaules seems to prefer. He also sat in a tanning bed while interacting with Gyges. Displaying gadgets probably to show himself a wealthy and content lifestyle, and hoping Gyges to respect him. The rather cool Nyssia did not come into the room at first but observing from above. He seems desired her to love him eventually when they sang the duet passionately.
The discourse of good life fell apart as the focuses turned to the perceptions of Gyges and Nyssia, and from there the situation in the house went downward from there. Gyges was portrayed mentally unstable to provide reason why he killed his wife in the first place besides attracted to Nyssia. The queen destroyed the flowers in the dining room and ripped off the kitchen interior. Servants performed fetish acts with the black servant slapped the bottom of the nearly naked young guy, who was the seductive cleaner of Nyssia before. There were even two rats mating each other on the bed in the top floor. Kandaules was in agony when Gyges killed one of the children, wrapped in a pastry skin and Nyssia did not return affections to him. Though here Gyges did not intend to kill the king and neither Nyssia had the courage to kill. He saw himself being crowded as ruler instead.
Ironically towards the end, Nyssia turned to be the most violent and cruel of all characters compare to the beginning when she suffered from an unhappy life with Kandaules. She saw him nothing good but a tyrant with cruelty. Distorted images of Kandaules set herself motivation to turn towards the path of murder: servants mincing meat suggested hurting the flesh; the children brought the beheaded mouses around; and the black servant was instructed to kill an elderly servant, who was probably been serving a long time. She feared for the same fate like the others and had Gyges to be the executioner. He threatened the children and also requested the servants to bring the fish into the the house, then killed them all including Kandaules. That was not the end though as Nyssia saw his ambition to be king after the slaughter and decided it would be best he died on her knife too. The queen finally achieved what she had been struggled with: to kill and destroy the life she hated in her way.
Zholdak's staging might look confusing with various illusions and difficult to distinguish which represented the reality or imagination. It could be enigmatic and shocking to see Gyges's wife and Nyssia being killed and brought back to life, along with extra silenced characters walking around the house, creatures were shown too with rats and fish. The ring itself might not be the focus visually but horrible things began to emerge after Gyges unearthed it from the vault. Occasionally we saw lightning effects probably to mark a change or highlight particular moment. But I felt the staging was on purpose to portray opposites of the beginning when the queen was unhappy to our knowledge. Throughout the whole viewing presented different circumstances connecting to what the main character in that scene perceived of the situation. The feeling of randomness highlighted the complexity of inner emotion. The staging also connected to the musical language as the first half being objective and impersonal, which connected to the courtiers' sarcasm. Later more romantic and passionate in the second half until the use of snare drums alike a the death march to capture the violence between the trio.
Like Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg, music for the role of protagonist was demanding in vocal range and required a heldentenor for the volume. The tessitura of the part was comfortable for Dmitry Golovnin's vocal range but his diction in German was far from ideal. It also took some time to warm up his voice as timbre not always comfortable for the ears. He was also rather stiff in action compare to Elisabet Strid, who was more flexible and mobile on stage. Her intonation was good and a pleasant voice with body. Diction also not always clear like Golovnin and the vocal projection would only work in this not too big theater. Powerful voice from Gidon Saks as Gyges and he was better with the words than his colleagues. Baritone by timbre but not too light in richness. Courtiers were sung by house singers and there were several promising ones worth for future hearing. Acoustic on the first balcony where I sat was fine and not too loud for balance. The brass section improved as they warmed up to avoid being harsh and not focus. I found the orchestral playing slightly out of shape in the first act that Dimitri Jurowski seems not getting a grip with the phrasing. He was more able to find the way to conduct in the more romantic and tune orientated second half. The orchestral playing also lacked some contrast in dynamic levels but dramatically effective to build the climatic ending. I hope the intellectually stimulating production will be shown again in future.
Nyssia - Elisabet Strid
Gyges - Gidon Saks
Phedros - Vincenzo Neri
Symfonisch Orkest Opera Vlaanderen
Dimitri Jurowski (Conductor)
Salome and Elektra by Richard Strauss were supposedly hard acts to follow both musically and storytelling by gone as far advance and daring than its time. The esthetic of art nouveau to portray obsessed women in theatre could divide opinion, and one would question the purpose of presenting brutal tales and madness on stage. Though moral dimension should not be the focus or spending moment to judge, but allow the emotional impact of blood and drama to fascinate us. Despite Zemlinsky did not finish orchestrating the whole score of King Kandaules, which the challenge was understandable coupled with ill health, the 1993 completion by Antony Beaumont produced a convincing case why this work could match the other two in full.
To avoid focusing on a primary motive that triggered off the murder throughout the performance, Andrij Zholdak added a level of complexity by repeating murder scenes in different forms according to characters. Instead of portraying a gender generalisation, which on surface only Queen Nyssia had the utter motive to kill, the staging demonstrated how individual's obsession was driven by own desire, and to create different motives triggering off the bloodshed. Everything took place inside a modern house with three floors divided each level into two rooms. In the opening scene, we saw the queen frightened by the rebellious children in the dining room on ground level, and the king also being dominant and violent towards her. A young male cleaner in naked top walked across the top level of the house by being explicitly sexual. It probably suggested the queen fantasised sexual desires but suppressed herself because of the environment. The children carried a gutted salmon but no ring was seen. An unhappy life was shown but the queen failed to find any courage to kill and looking weak.
The next part saw courtiers congregated in the room above the kitchen and focused on an overheard television, which showed actions in other rooms. Nyssia hated the children and became nasty by telling them off. Although the king was thought highly in authority wearing his armour and sword, he seems to be haunted by visions of death and that his world falling apart. He saw Gyges killing his wife in the kitchen and exposed a ring from the vault. The children also interchanged to a boy and a girl after being two boys at the start. They were stopped when one tried to hang himself. Gyges was also sexually erotic for the queen but mentally unstable to control himself. The illusion deepened when Gyges's wife stood alive again but then beheaded by him again. It became a nightmare for Nyssia with what she saw and later fell dead on the dining table. The courtiers laughed in the room when the horror happened and their moments of singing was atmospherically judgemental.
Zholdak signalled a new start in the beginning of act two by children shooting all courtiers and symbolically ended their perception. King Kandaules' desires were presented finally. He probably seeking a more comfortable situation imagining everyone were satisfied and behaved orderly in his household. A garden was set up in front of the house. The dining room was decorated with flowers, family orientated kitchen with fridge, nice sitting room for television and even a tanning bed in the dining room. Servants enjoyed their food and drinks in the kitchen. Raw meats were even being scattered around the house. It was as if they enjoyed a good and abundant life, but were silenced and obedient compare to before. The children were two boys again as what Kandaules seems to prefer. He also sat in a tanning bed while interacting with Gyges. Displaying gadgets probably to show himself a wealthy and content lifestyle, and hoping Gyges to respect him. The rather cool Nyssia did not come into the room at first but observing from above. He seems desired her to love him eventually when they sang the duet passionately.
The discourse of good life fell apart as the focuses turned to the perceptions of Gyges and Nyssia, and from there the situation in the house went downward from there. Gyges was portrayed mentally unstable to provide reason why he killed his wife in the first place besides attracted to Nyssia. The queen destroyed the flowers in the dining room and ripped off the kitchen interior. Servants performed fetish acts with the black servant slapped the bottom of the nearly naked young guy, who was the seductive cleaner of Nyssia before. There were even two rats mating each other on the bed in the top floor. Kandaules was in agony when Gyges killed one of the children, wrapped in a pastry skin and Nyssia did not return affections to him. Though here Gyges did not intend to kill the king and neither Nyssia had the courage to kill. He saw himself being crowded as ruler instead.
Ironically towards the end, Nyssia turned to be the most violent and cruel of all characters compare to the beginning when she suffered from an unhappy life with Kandaules. She saw him nothing good but a tyrant with cruelty. Distorted images of Kandaules set herself motivation to turn towards the path of murder: servants mincing meat suggested hurting the flesh; the children brought the beheaded mouses around; and the black servant was instructed to kill an elderly servant, who was probably been serving a long time. She feared for the same fate like the others and had Gyges to be the executioner. He threatened the children and also requested the servants to bring the fish into the the house, then killed them all including Kandaules. That was not the end though as Nyssia saw his ambition to be king after the slaughter and decided it would be best he died on her knife too. The queen finally achieved what she had been struggled with: to kill and destroy the life she hated in her way.
Zholdak's staging might look confusing with various illusions and difficult to distinguish which represented the reality or imagination. It could be enigmatic and shocking to see Gyges's wife and Nyssia being killed and brought back to life, along with extra silenced characters walking around the house, creatures were shown too with rats and fish. The ring itself might not be the focus visually but horrible things began to emerge after Gyges unearthed it from the vault. Occasionally we saw lightning effects probably to mark a change or highlight particular moment. But I felt the staging was on purpose to portray opposites of the beginning when the queen was unhappy to our knowledge. Throughout the whole viewing presented different circumstances connecting to what the main character in that scene perceived of the situation. The feeling of randomness highlighted the complexity of inner emotion. The staging also connected to the musical language as the first half being objective and impersonal, which connected to the courtiers' sarcasm. Later more romantic and passionate in the second half until the use of snare drums alike a the death march to capture the violence between the trio.
Like Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg, music for the role of protagonist was demanding in vocal range and required a heldentenor for the volume. The tessitura of the part was comfortable for Dmitry Golovnin's vocal range but his diction in German was far from ideal. It also took some time to warm up his voice as timbre not always comfortable for the ears. He was also rather stiff in action compare to Elisabet Strid, who was more flexible and mobile on stage. Her intonation was good and a pleasant voice with body. Diction also not always clear like Golovnin and the vocal projection would only work in this not too big theater. Powerful voice from Gidon Saks as Gyges and he was better with the words than his colleagues. Baritone by timbre but not too light in richness. Courtiers were sung by house singers and there were several promising ones worth for future hearing. Acoustic on the first balcony where I sat was fine and not too loud for balance. The brass section improved as they warmed up to avoid being harsh and not focus. I found the orchestral playing slightly out of shape in the first act that Dimitri Jurowski seems not getting a grip with the phrasing. He was more able to find the way to conduct in the more romantic and tune orientated second half. The orchestral playing also lacked some contrast in dynamic levels but dramatically effective to build the climatic ending. I hope the intellectually stimulating production will be shown again in future.
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