Review: A Singer Returns to Shore at the Met in ‘Dutchman’
After a triumphant house debut in 2019, the bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny brought power and clarity to the title role in “The Flying Dutchman.”
Tomasz Konieczny as the Dutchman in Wagner’s work, which returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday.
By Oussama Zahr
May 31, 2023
Der Fliegende Holländer
NYT Critic's Pick
On Tuesday night, four years after being hailed as the breakout star of a revival of Wagner’s “Ring” at the Metropolitan Opera, Tomasz Konieczny returned there to headline “Der Fliegende Holländer,” or “The Flying Dutchman.” It was worth the wait.
Konieczny’s Dutchman, cursed to ride the seas endlessly in a ghost ship with black masts and red sails, seemed to channel supernatural forces as he emerged from the bowels of François Girard’s unremittingly dark production. Konieczny possesses an instrument of granitic power and brassy resonance, combining the depth of a tuba with the brightly penetrating cast of a trumpet. He can also cover his voice and fill it with pitiful tears. For such a sizable instrument, his attack is astonishingly clean; he inflates a straight tone to a vibrating roar and makes it sound like an exquisite cri de coeur.
Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, offered the role to Konieczny, a Polish bass-baritone, in 2019 when Gelb heard Konieczny’s company debut as Alberich in the “Ring” that year. Konieczny brought unusual charisma and nobility to the designated villain of Wagner’s epic tetralogy, and his Dutchman is likewise a complex creation.
A tragic figure whose stoic demeanor masks a writhing pain within, Konieczny’s Dutchman rises above earthly concerns but rages with focused fury against the ever-fresh torments of his Sisyphean predicament. His invincibility has made him disdainful of humans and desperate for death, and yet he harbors a romanticized fixation upon love. The Dutchman comes ashore once every seven years in search of a woman who can redeem him with her fidelity and break his curse. (Of course, the premise contains passive-aggressive misogyny — that a man in search of a faithful woman is doomed to look for her forever.)
As Senta, the woman who returns the apparitional captain’s obsessive attention, Elza van den Heever sang with a ductile soprano. In “Senta’s Ballad,” she catapulted into high-lying phrases with strength and point and drew her voice into a slender thread for beautifully formed pianissimo high notes. As infatuation consumed her, van den Heever summoned the tonal amplitude to fill out Wagner’s portrait of a love that is annihilating in its totality.
The clear thrust of Eric Cutler’s tenor gave the role of Erik, Senta’s abandoned lover, unusual poignancy. The bass Dmitry Belosselskiy effectively rendered Daland, Senta’s venal, easily dazzled father, as a strong yet foolish man who would trade his daughter for riches.
Girard’s production — like his recent “Lohengrin” — attempts to get a lot of mileage out of a few ideas. It’s long on ambience, with billowing fog and undertones of sickly, hallucinogenic greens, and short on storytelling.
Fortunately, the 29-year-old conductor Thomas Guggeis, making his Met debut, added depth to the atmosphere of roiling fantasy. The overture came alive with stormy eddies and pulsating vigor, even as video projections of a maelstrom and cracks of lightning felt redundant. The strings, in particular, found imaginative colors: Their throbbing vitality, unabashed romance and otherworldly shrieks covered the range of a work that swings from bel-canto influences to the enthralling mythmaking that would become Wagner’s signature. There were some missed opportunities — such as the dark timbres that color the Act II duet for Senta and the Dutchman — but overall, Guggeis was a confident, sensitive, decisive presence.
At times, Girard’s abstract staging still seems to distrust the material, but kinetic conducting and a richly characterized central performance show that it may simply have been waiting for a few artists to redeem it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/arts ... opera.html
A Singer Returns to Shore at the Met in ‘Dutchman’
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Re: A Singer Returns to Shore at the Met in ‘Dutchman’
Great review Len, thanks! We're looking forward to seeing this production.
Re: A Singer Returns to Shore at the Met in ‘Dutchman’
I despise this kind of nonsense! Here's the deal...Rach3 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2023 11:49 amEmpty MET or a prank?
https://slippedisc.com/2023/06/exclusiv ... alf-empty/
This carefully curated photo was taken probably at 10 minutes or so before 8 o'clock, when the house is pretty empty as patrons mingle in the extensive lobby or at dinner in the MET restaurant. The performances start at 8:10, not 8:00, and everyone knows this. They arrive at their seats in droves at about 8:05, swarming the theater, and everyone settles in while the orchestra tunes. Last night's performance of Dutchman was very well attended in spite of the wildfire smoke in the atmosphere. I can't vouch for how many seats were sold at a discount, of course, but there were bodies in the seats for sure, maybe 90-95% sold.
We loved the production, and I agree with the review above. Tomasz Konieczny was a superb Dutchman, while Van Der Heever rang out as Senta. There were excellent performances from Erik (Eric Cutler), the Steersman (Richard Trey Smagur) and Daland (Dmitry Belosselsky) as well, while the very young conductor (Thomas Guggeis) was crystal clear and very fluid in his technique. I've sung the big aria and the two scenes with Senta and the Dutchman, so I know and love this opera intimately. This was a great performance, for sure, and I'm glad that we weren't intimidated by the wildfire smoke in the air. The MET has done themselves proud with the casting here: it's really hard to assemble a full cast of Wagnerian singers for Dutchman, but this one's a real winner!
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