Elektra

Richard Strauss Elektra opera to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Original stage production by Herbert Wernicke (died 2002) as restaged 2010 by Bettina Göschl at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. Stars Linda Watson, Jane Henschel, Manuela Uhl, René Kollo, Albert Dohmen, Andreas Hörl, Jörg Schneider, Carsten Sabrowski, Irmgard Vilsmaier, Constance Heller, Nina Amon, Hermine Haselböck, Katrin Adel, Bernarda Bobro, Iwona Sakowicz, and Catherine Veillerobe. Christian Thielemann conducts the Münchner Philharmoniker with the Philharmonia Chor Wien (Chorus Master Walter Zeh). Stage adaptation by Frank Kuhlmann and Christoph Lettow; costumes by Dorothee Melzer; lighting by Felix Kirchhofer and Christian Kass; video direction by Andreas Morell. Released 2010, has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: A+

This  starkly minimalist Wernicke/Göschl production has three props and two set elements. The props are an ax, a flashlight, and a royal cloak. One set element is a staircase. The other set element is a huge black panel installed close the the front of the stage. This panel normally blocks most of the view of the rear of the stage. But when the panel is turned on its diagonal, the audience finally see what's behind. When the back of the stage is most fully revealed, it's illuminated in an intense flood of bright-blood red. What you see on the front of the stage is mostly in black and white.

By cutting even into the bone, the director keeps us focused on the Electra's rage, Klytämnestra's guilt, and the plight of Chrysothemis (who just wants to be a wife and mom). Further, the singing is directed in a semi-concert style. The singers move about appropriate costumes, but when singing they mostly face the audience so the audience can see and hear them as well as possible.  The result is that the singers get to focus more than might otherwise be the case on acting and clear diction. The cast must have been cautioned not to overact, because the facial expressions are appropriate for high-definition TV recording. The Hugo von Hofmannsthal libretto is one of the best in opera; it's grand that you can clearly understand almost all of the German, especially as rendered by Linda Watson and Jane Henschel.

The sound engineers were ordered to let us hear all the singing as well as the magnificent undergirding of the orchestra, directed with loving care by Thielemann. And the video is extremely sharp and well-planned with a pleasing  mix of full stage shots as well as wonderful closeups. The result of all this is a production in HDVD that can hardly be criticized and that you can watch repeatedly with admiration.

Linda Watson (Electra) is heroinic in life and death. In the libretto, Electra dies from exhaustion while doing a victory dance. This production skips the dance. Electra kills herself because, I think, she is now free to join Agamemnon. Manuela Uhl is warmly fetching as Chrysothemis. You desperately want her to find relief and this makes the conclusion of the show remarkably satisfying with it's "happy" ending.

But the greatest star of this production is  Jane Henschel as Klytämnestra. She gives us the most terrifying depiction of a female yet presented  in HDVD. (First runner up might be the Diana Daumrau Queen of the Night on HDVD.) Although saturated in blood-lust, she is afloat in self-pity and utterly pathetic in seeking help from her daughter, whom she then threatens with torture when help is denied. Henschel makes it all completely believable with her talent for combining music and text with insightful acting.  Guys, see that svelte bride of 19 coming down the aisle? Well, Henschel shows you what four children and 30 years of rooting at banquet tables can do to a women!

This production deserves to be in everyone's HDVD library. Watch and you may feel some of that purging of the soul that is supposed to be the purpose of tragedy. (Alas, Roger Pines writing in the February 2011 International Record Review completely misses his flight as he reviews the DVD version and is apparently not  aware that the title in available in HDVD. Richard Fairman does better in the February 2011 issue of Gramophone in praising how the sets "come across with striking clarity in this high-quality film," but you can't tell if he was watching the DVD or the Blu-ray version!)