Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" is a romantic romp set in 1700s Vienna that balances bawdy bits with the drama of thwarted love and a contemplation of the impacts of time.
This yin and yang is attentively harmonized in Seattle Opera's resurrection of its lauded 1997 production of "Der Rosenkavalier." Under the direction of Dieter Kaegi, the result is an opera in which the supremely funny and the bewitchingly transcendent convincingly coexist. Although the opera's comedy is broad, Kaegi knows when and how to let the drama emerge.
Asher Fisch, who made his stunning Seattle Opera debut conducting Wagner's "Parsifal," displays equal prowess in the Straussian oeuvre. On opening night Saturday he guided his musicians in a textured performance that reinforced the various veins, from sadness to lust, running through the music. Just as admirably, Fisch steered clear of the maudlin handling to which waltz-rich scores are prone.
In contrast to her last performance here as the title character in Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" in 2005, soprano Carol Vaness was flawless in her role debut as the Marschallin. Her voice was sumptuously curvaceous, and she delivered the production's truly heartrending moments as she sadly yet gracefully faced the inevitability of giving up her youthful lover to a woman his own age.
In her Seattle Opera debut, mezzo-soprano Alice Coote was robust singing the pants role - a male part written for a female voice - of the youthful Octavian. The teenage Octavian is in lust with a much older woman, the aristocratic Marschallin, and the opera begins with the two of them in bed together in the aftermath of lovemaking. Not only did Coote's voice meld beautifully with Vaness' and Gearhart's in some breathtaking duets, but Coote had her male mannerisms down pat. She was most deliciously amusing when her character, Octavian, was masquerading as a maid.
Julianne Gearhart, who stepped in as Sophie when Frances Lucey withdrew from the production, only recently made her Seattle Opera mainstage debut in 2003 singing the part of Helen Niles in Marvin David Levy's "Mourning Becomes Elektra." A radiantly lovely and youthful Sophie, Gearhart's silvery voice scaled the heights without stress, belying her newness to the role.
Baron Ochs is often portrayed as a lovable buffoon, but Peter Rose's rendition is of an aristocrat who deliberately wields the power of his station in life boorishly and coldly. When he's ap-praising Sophie, his bride-to-be, like a horse he's considering buying, it's a totally appalling moment. His power-house voice ranged easily from inex-orable threat to cajoling seduction.
Vinson Cole's Italian Tenor was one of the more impressive minor roles. With Cole singing the part, Vaness' Marschallin and the Seattle Opera audience were riveted to the tenor's every mellifluous note. Wolfgang Holzmair, in his Seattle Opera debut, was arresting as the pompous, status-conscious Faninal. Doug Jones as Valzacchi and Graciela Araya as Annina, were aptly vulture-like and droll as spies for Ochs.
Bruno Schwengl's set design underscores certain of the opera's themes. The overly tall furniture in the Marschallin's bedroom, which looks as if it has been pulled into funhouse thinness, emphasizes the way the Marschallin's role as a noblewoman must supersede her desire for her lover. The all-white Faninal mansion suggests the purity and luminosity of first love.[[In-content Ad]]
