I woke up still feeling tired but
couldn’t get back to sleep either. Outside it looked like a lovely
sunny clear day and we chucked clothes on and went for a walk along
the beach. For a change we walked out to the east bay. There was a
lovely fresh breeze and the light had that special quality. We had
our tea sat at the benches at the far end of the beach, looking back
towards North Berwick, and talked about our house “issue”. It was
good to talk it over. We came to the conclusion that whilst we still
don’t think Westgate is really what we’re after and we aren’t “100%”
there yet, we’re getting close and Westgate at least gives us a base
for now and hopefully has the merit of being saleable with relative
ease. Back to the flat and Ness marshalled me to do the professional
accreditation/certification planning I should have done over the
past several months. We downed tools in the afternoon and got ready
to go out. We drove into Edinburgh and went to Watches of
Switzerland to change Ness’s watch. Ness changed the leather strap,
round face, gold watch for a metal strap, square face, steel one,
i.e. despite all the research, I had been totally wide of the mark
with my choice! Sensible, we decided against the smart but
super-pricey Jaeger – Le Coultre ones they had ordered in, and after
some prevarication Ness settled on a smart Raymond Weil watch. We
got back to the car, parked on St Andrew Square, just as the ticket
was about to expire and the traffic attendant could nab us, and
drove over to the Old Town, parking on Chambers Street, to be near
the Festival Theatre. We had lots of time before the performance and
went for a meal at the Italian restaurant across the road. The lobby
of the Festival Theatre was packed. We had seats in the Upper
Circle, with more leg room than the equivalent seats at the Usher
Hall. A slightly vertiginous feeling came over you as you walked
along the narrow passages to get to your seat. We saw the opera
Capriccio by Richard Strauss performed by the Cologne Opera &
Gurzenich Orchestra (or close enough). I can’t quite decide. I think
I rated the music itself much better than the actual delivery. The
singers were very good I thought, but rather let down by the
orchestra – I think I heard quite a few notes out of tune or played
too harshly. Contradictory reviews below. Still, another great
evening out, although we did have to admit to each other we were now
beginning to reach saturation levels and were seeing it as “yet
another concert/opera/play” rather than as a special occasion. I
asked Ness to drive back as I was flagging a little, and in the car
could barely keep my eyes open and nodded off. We went to bed with
mugs of hot chocolate.
I was a bit surprised at the four stars
from The Evening News.
Thu 30 Aug 2007
INVOLVING: Cologne Opera's interpretation
of Capriccio delves deeper than the debate over whether
music or words are 'better'
Twist adds layers to Strauss' work
Capriccio ****
Festival Theatre
Daring to be different, this world
premier of a new production from the Cologne Opera of
Richard Strauss's Capriccio is a fitting climax to this
year's International Festival. The big theme of the Festival
has been the combination of words with music, and an
argument over which is better lies at the heart of
Capriccio. Yet this is a production that goes beyond such a
basic dilemma. Director Christian von Götz keeps Strauss's
plot and structure, but nests it inside a beginning and
ending that speak of the dark times in which the opera was
written, under the Third Reich in 1942. The opera concerns
the birthday of a widowed Countess. Her two suitors, the
composer Flamand and the poet Olivier, vie for her
affection. In their declaration of their feelings for her
and the arguments between them, the two characters become
inextricably bound up in the arts which each represents.
Olivier writes her a sonnet which the Countess's brother
declaims - badly. Olivier does a little better himself
before Flamand sets the words to music. His interpretation
is topped by the Countess herself after everyone else has
gone. And she finally leaves for supper humming the tune.
Gabriele Fontana is excellent as the Countess. A little
under-enthralling in the first act, maybe, but when she
eventually sings the set-piece sonnet she holds the stage
with such feeling that it is as if there is nothing else in
the world but her on stage. The feeling of a rich chateau
near Paris in 1775 is clearly conjured up in the set, the
costumes and the mannerisms of the actors. The decadence of
the time and place then allows the various characters to
create a fantasy world of absurd but entertaining frivolity.
So far, so conventional. Yet it is the way in which this
production is reached that is the eye-opener. Using a
backdrop of a huge eye, reflecting German soldiers marching
down the Champs-Elysées, von Götz sets the production in the
early 1940s. Before a note is sung the Countess and Count
appear in 1940s outfits, and a whole air of menace is
created with he secret police coming to take them away.
Within this structure, and it runs right through the
production as the 1775 opera appears to be actually staged
by the Countess and her friends, a new debate begins to
emerge. It is not over whether words or music take prime
importance, but whether the staging is more important than
either. It is there in the libretto, in fact, in a big aria
from La Roche, a director who is part of the house party. In
the role, Michael Eder makes it a show-stopping moment. But
all the way through the production it is as if there are two
operas being performed on stage. The one portrayed in the
words and music. And the quite a different one that you see
unfolding before you. It is very clever stuff, not perfect
yet, but certainly a production to set you thinking as the
Countess leaves, not to supper, but in silence and under
arrest.
The Scotsman’s
reviewer doesn’t quite see it that way though.
Thu 30 Aug 2007
KENNETH WALTON
CAPRICCIO **
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE
IT'S the greatest of ironies when an
opera that concerns itself with the delicate interplay of
music, words and staging falls on the sheer indelicacy of
that very issue. Within minutes of the opening sextet,
Cologne Opera's new staging of Strauss's Capriccio - a
co-production with the Edinburgh Festival - runs a collision
course that never quite recovers its composure.
Christian von Götz's production opens
with clear allusions to 1940s Germany - the projected image
of a human eye through which Nazi troops are marching on
Paris, and an opening scene dominated by austere figures. In
an instant, that world dissolves into an extreme caricature
of 18th-century France, a riot of colour as characters swap
their black leather coats and grim hairdos for gauche frocks
and powdered wigs. This is a dream world, to which the
heroine can escape and orchestrate the witty discourse that
is this work's unambiguous, if unanswered, proposition:
words or music, which holds greater value?
Tempting though it is to graft new
philosophical strata on to Capriccio, it's a dangerous game
to play with something already so self-contained as this,
Richard Strauss's last opera, especially when the conclusion
to these tangents are left unfulfilled. The Countess departs
this production in a hideously tortured state. Is that
really what Strauss implies in his sumptuous music?
As a result, the sweet caressing sounds
from the Gürzenich Orchestra under Markus Stenz are
generally blocked from our ears. Nor is this cast given an
appropriate context to shine - quite bizarre in the birthday
celebrations, where the ballerina appears to dance a hideous
parody on Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils. There are
glimmers of real interest in Gabriele Fontana's Countess,
below, Michael Eder's La Roche and Dalia Schaechter's
Clairon. But in this awkward, unsatisfying production,
neither they nor the music nor the words are winners.
The Guardian gives it
only one star, which does seem very harsh.
Thu 30 Aug 2007
Capriccio *
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Tim Ashley
Thursday August 30, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Losing sight of Strauss ... Capriccio.
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
Few would doubt that Capriccio, a comedy
of Mozartian profundity that was Strauss's last opera, is
anything other than a masterpiece. However, it was written
in 1941, when the Nazis were making the composer's life
hell, and some have found the disparity between artistic
statement and historical fact too disproportionate for
comfort. Christian von Götz's new production for Cologne
Opera clumsily attempts to steer a path between the work
itself and the world of its genesis.
Von Götz relocates the piece to
Nazi-occupied Paris, where we find the protagonists at a
rococo-themed fancy-dress party, an attempt at bravado in
the face of impending catastrophe. The choice facing the
Countess (Gabriele Fontana) is not only between the
predominance of words and music in opera, but between the
illusory world offered by the periwigged 18th-century
Flamand (Hauke Möller) and the stark reality represented by
Johannes Beck's thuggish Olivier. She is also prone to fits
of guilt over the fact that her pearls have been purloined
from the Jewish refugees that her brother the Count (Ashley
Holland) has been helping. He, in turn, constantly fingers
the cyanide capsules he will take when the Gestapo
eventually move in.
Von Götz's need to tackle the issues
surrounding Capriccio results, however, in his losing sight
of the opera. That the humanity of the score is, in itself,
a riposte to the values of Nazism seems not to have entered
Von Götz's head.
The problems are compounded by an
inadequate musical performance. Markus Stenz's conducting is
subtle but much of the singing is execrable. Fontana,
plagued by fraying tone, is the worst offender. Beck barks,
and Möller isn't nearly lyrical enough. Holland and Michael
Eder, as a flamboyant La Roche, fare better, but can't save
it. A bitter disappointment.
Sun 2 Sep
More work on the IBM accreditation
stuff in the morning, very useful and I’m glad Ness is keeping me on
the straight and narrow with this one as I do feel a little “at sea”
with it. Alison and her sister Eilidh, with her two kids, Kelly (3)
and Owen (1), came to visit in the afternoon and we had a nice
afternoon by the tidal pool on the beach, and ice creams from the S.
Luca van of course! The tidal pool is a perfect spot to go with
little kids and I think Kelly and Owen had fun, and both Alison and
Eilidh seemed relaxed and enjoyed the afternoon. They left again at
around 5-6pm, which worked out perfectly for us as it gave us plenty
of time to get ourselves ready to go out again, for our final
Festival event, the “Bank of Scotland” Fireworks Concert at Princes
Street Gardens. We had not booked tickets for this one so were not
sure where to go. Eilidh suggested viewing it from Calton Hill, to
avoid the crowds around Princes Street, but as we got there early,
we went to have a look at Princes Street first. From here, it all
just clicked into place beautifully. We managed to buy tickets from
a lady who had too many, and joined the growing queue before it got
too long. When the gardens were finally opened we managed to get an
excellent spot at the top of a steep bit in the gardens, with
outstanding views of the castle, and the big screen below us on
which the concert was being relayed, from the park theatre just a
bit further along, out of sight behind the trees. We had managed to
throw some bits together to provide the essentials for a typically
British festival evening out: blanket to sit on, food (leftover
rolls from the beach picnic), drink (hip flask with suitably
Scottish tipple, Caol Isla whisky, and a few other bits). I also had
the camera equipment, including tripod and big lens, with me, and
from our spot I got some good pictures. The concert and fireworks
were fantastic. Ness wasn’t so sure about the choice of music, but
the fireworks provoked lots of ooh’s and aah’s! We had feared a slow
queue all the way back to catch one of the late trains, but again it
all worked out beautifully as we decided to walk round the Mound,
instead of joining the huge crowds on Princes Street and managed to
catch the first of the late trains back. Brilliant conclusion to our
first Festival season!
[FIREWORKS HERE]
Mon 3 Sep
Worked at home. Break for lunch on one
of the benches by the beach, looking out over the Forth. Fantastic!
Tue 4 Sep
Worked at home again. Same as
yesterday. Nice relaxing day, a nice combination of getting on with
work while being able to enjoy our surroundings, the beach only a
stone’s throw away. Maybe Westgate is not such a bad choice after
all, with all this on our doorstep.
Wed 5 Sep
What a drag, I had to go to the office
today! ;-) At the office, I met my Danish colleague, Mette, who flew
over to work here for a few days. Otherwise, I would have had to go
to Copenhagen or we both would have had to travel to London, as the
project partner recommended we work in the same place this week.
Ness came into town to meet me at the office at the end of the day
and we went for a drink with Mette at a nice bar on George Street –
well, nice at this time in the early evening, before they crank up
the volume. Ness and I then went to the cinema, past BK for “dinner”
(yeuck), to see the Bourne Ultimatum, in the Vue “gold class” –
nothing gold class about it except for bigger seats. Film so-so, a
sequence of pursuits and fights.
Thu 6 Sep
Back to the office, same as yesterday.
I managed to catch the earlier train, 5.10pm, to get back to North
Berwick. Ness had called earlier to say how beautiful the weather
was and how about fish & chips on the beach for dinner. That’s
exactly what we did, sat on one of the benches, tucking into our
second helping of junk food, albeit today’s was far more enjoyable
than the processed junk from BK. We had a bottle of cold rosé with
us and enjoyed the stunning spectrum of evening light and the fresh
air. Westgate is definitely looking up – even a few streets back or
away from this part of town and we wouldn’t be able to do this so
easily. It was a lovely evening. Back home we watched a film or
something and curled up in bed.
Fri 7 Sep
Worked at home again today, since Mette
flew back to Copenhagen again early this morning. Conference call in
the afternoon, and the project is getting to the “crunch” stage,
when deliverables are due and stuff needs to come out of the
pipeline. At the end of the day we headed for the spa and had a
great soak and steam session, and walked back home and had something
nice for dinner.
Sat 8 Sep
We agreed that today we would do
“stuff” and that tomorrow we would go out for a good walk. Today’s
“stuff” involved doing shopping and me trying to do some work on my
IT architect professional accreditation/certification. As it is now
the season for game, we headed for Colin Peat, the butcher in
Haddington who always has good game. We bought three partridges and
a nice-looking rabbit pie, and picked up a nice loaf of bread and a
cake from Falko, the German bakery in Gullane. In the evening we
cooked dinner together – I stuffed the partridges. I had claimed
“I’ll cook dinner tonight” but only managed to do about half a job.
End result was very tasty though, especially as we didn’t stand on
ceremony and enjoyed eating the partridges using our fingers, it
just tastes much better that way!
Sun 9 Sep
Rather than the early start we had
talked about, we had a little bit of a lie-in and Sunday breakfast,
but then got ourselves ready to go out. Yesterday we had looked up a
walk in one of our books and found a nice one from Kirk Yetholm,
close to the border with England. It was about an hour and half’s
drive to Kirk Yetholm. The weather was looking rather grey instead
of the bright sunshine that had been forecast. The village of Kirk
Yetholm was in Scotland but the walk took us across the border into
England (no, passports not needed!) into the Northumberland National
Park. Th
