Four years after being hailed as the break-star of Wagner’s “Ring” revival at the Metropolitan Opera, Tomasz Konieczny made headlines with his return to the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday night.der fregende hollanderand The Flying Dutchman. It was worth the wait.
Konieczny, the Dutchman, is cursed to sail the endless seas in a ghost ship of black masts and red sails, channeling supernatural powers as he emerges from the depths of François Girard’s ever-dark oeuvre. It looked like Konieczny has an instrument with granite-like strength and brass-like resonance, combining the depth of the tuba with the bright, penetrating cast of the trumpet. He can also cover his own voice and fill it with pathetic tears. His attack is surprisingly clean for such a big instrument. He swells straight tones into vibrating roars, creating an exquisite cli de cool sound.
Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, offered Polish bass-baritone singer Konieczny the role in 2019, and Gelb heard Konieczny’s troupe debut as Alberich in The Ring that year. . Konieczny brings extraordinary charisma and nobility to the villains of Wagner’s epic tetralogy, but his Dutchman is equally complex.
A tragic figure whose stoic demeanor hides the pain that rages in his heart, Konieczny’s Hollander overcomes worldly concerns but remains focused on the ever-new pain of a Sisyphus-like predicament. furious with anger. His invincibility makes him despise humans and desire death, but he still has a romantic obsession with love. The Dutch land ashore once every seven years, looking for a woman who will save him with her loyalty and break her curse. (This premise, of course, includes passive-aggressive misogyny, meaning that men looking for a faithful woman are forever destined to seek her out.)
As Senta, the woman who responds to the relentless attention of the ghostly captain, Elsa van den Hever sang in a relaxed soprano. On her “Senta’s Ballad,” she dives into soaring phrases with power and edge, pulling her voice in like a thin thread and thumping out beautifully formed pianissimo high notes. As she was absorbed in her, Van den Hever evoked her sonic amplitudes, filling the vanishing Wagnerian portrait of her love.
Eric Cutler’s tenor’s distinct impetus lends unusual poignancy to the role of Eric, Senta’s abandoned lover. Bass’s Dmitry Beloselsky effectively portrayed her father, Daland, Sentha’s wicked and quick-witted, as a strong but foolish man who trades her daughter for her wealth.
Girard’s work, like his recent “Lohengrin,” tries to get a lot out of a few ideas. Long atmospheric with haunting fog and morbid, hallucinogenic green nuances, short storytelling.
Fortunately, 29-year-old conductor Thomas Guggeis, making his Met debut, added depth to the rolling fantasy atmosphere. Despite the lengthy visuals of maelstroms and fissures of lightning, the overture was brought to life by stormy eddies and pulsating energy. String instruments in particular had an imaginative color palette. Its throbbing vigor, unabashed romance, and otherworldly shrieks ranged from bel canto influences to the captivating myth-making that would later become Wagner’s hallmark. was covered. There have been a few missed opportunities — such as the dark tones that color the Dutchman’s duet with Senta in Act II — but overall, Guggeis is confident, sensitive, and determined. was.
At times, Girard’s abstract rendition still seems untrustworthy of the material, but the dynamic conducting and richly characterized central playing make it just a few artists redeem it. , indicating that it might have been waiting for
der fregende hollander
Until June 10th at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan. metopera.org.
