Carl Maria von Weber Der Freischütz opera to libretto by Friedrich Kind. Directed 2017 by Matthias Hartmann at the Teatro alla Scala. Stars Michael Kraus (Ottokar), Frank van Hove (Kuno/Samiel’s Voice), Julia Kleiter (Agathe), Eva Liebau (Ännchen), Günther Groissböck (Kaspar), Michael König (Max), Stephen Milling (A Hermit), and Till von Orlowsky (Kilian). Myung-Whun Chung conducts the Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala (Chorus Master Bruno Casoni). Set design by Raimund Orfeo Voigt; costume design by Susanne Bisovsky and Josef Gerger; lighting design by Marco Filibeck; dramaturgy by Michael Küster. Directed for TV by Jean-Pierre Loisil. Released 2019, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
Mark Pullinger, writing in the June 2019 Gramophone (page 101) condemns this production for its split-personality with traditional costumes and abstract modern set with houses represented by neon tubes. Clive Paget also hates the production in his review at pages 54-55 of the October 2019 Opera News. But Paget relents a bit praising the singing of Chung, Kleiter, and Grossböck.
Here’s a clip that clearly shows the split-personality reported by Pullinger:
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