Ariadne auf Naxos /
Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre /
Hong Kong /
Feb 22, 2024 /
Ernest Wan /

This year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival officially opened with the Bayerische Staatsoper’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Richard Strauss’s opera, in its 1916 version. There was concern that Hongkongers might not warm to the spareness of Robert Carsen’s 2008 production. However, judging from the enthusiastic audience response, such concern seems to have been unnecessary, so engaging was the bustle in the first part of the work and so riveting the steadily sustained momentum in the second.

In the opera-within-an-opera of this second part, the desert island of Naxos on which the princess Ariadne has been deserted was an empty stage in utter darkness. As the young god Bacchus emerged and at the end ascended with her to the heavens, light emanated through an ever-widening upstage slit and eventually engulfed the entire stage. Few objects other than dance mirrors were used for the set of even the first part, which shows onstage the frantic backstage preparations for the drama of the second: the philistine backer of the evening’s event newly decrees that the mythological opera seria described above be performed simultaneously with a commedia dell’arte frivolity, and everyone involved now scrabbles to carry out the impossible task.

In the trouser role of the starry-eyed composer of the second part’s serious opera, mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught sounded aptly vulnerable as she expressed the character’s frustration at having to grapple with the realities of compromise. Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen’s occasional insufficiency of volume was at first worrying, especially in her title role’s important solo, “Es gibt ein Reich”, but she later acquitted herself well enough to be an equal duet partner of tenor Clay Hilley. The latter, as Bacchus, sang with some godlike stateliness towards the end, but was more impressive in his portrayal earlier of a confused survivor of Circe’s sorcery. Zerbinetta, the coquette in the comedy troupe aiming to divert the forlorn Ariadne, was sung by soprano Brenda Rae – who, though not the last word in charm, amazed with the accuracy of her vocal acrobatics. There was no weak link in the remainder of the large cast, and Patrick Lange led the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in a fluent performance, even in the potentially stagnant music of the initially cheerless princess and god.

But the performance was most memorable for the production itself. Usually, the composer disappears after the first part of the work, as do all the other characters who labour behind the scenes. Here, however, he handed his score (theatrical property, of course) to Lange, who thanked him, and then sat above the pit, staying there through the second part to see and react to “his” opera, shaking his head when the male troupers intruded on his island, yet clapping the coloratura display of Zerbinetta, with whom he was infatuated. At curtain call, he returned onstage to receive applause not just from the audience but from all the other cast members – a moving salute to all serious artists of lofty ideals.

Featured image: Tara Erraught as the composer in Ariadne auf Naxos. Photo by Kurtachio. Courtesy the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

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《拿索斯島的亞莉安妮》
香港文化中心劇院
香港
2024年2月22日
Ernest Wan

今年香港藝術節由巴伐利亞國立歌劇院以李察．史特勞斯1916年的歌劇《拿索斯島的亞莉安妮》正式揭幕。有人擔心香港觀眾未必會對羅伯特．卡森2008年的簡單製作有興趣。然而觀乎觀眾的熱烈反應，此憂慮可謂不必，皆因作品前半部份熱鬧活潑，後半部份穩步上揚，非常引人入勝。

在後半部份的戲中戲歌劇中，亞莉安妮公主被遺棄在一個名為拿索斯島的荒島，站在一片漆黑、空空如也的舞台上。當年輕的酒神巴克斯出現，之後和她一起升天，光線從舞台後方一道越來越寬的縫隙發出，最終將整個舞台吞噬。除了舞蹈鏡子之外，即使是前半部份的佈景也幾乎沒有使用任何道具，舞台上展示了幕後為後半部份戲劇的緊張準備。當晚劇中毫無文化的贊助人下令要上述神話歌劇與一場詼諧喜劇同時上演，眾人都努力完成這項不可能任務。

女中音塔拉．愛朗反串飾演充滿幻想的作曲家，在後半部份的莊嚴歌劇中表現出恰到好處的脆弱，以及角色要向現實低頭的挣扎。女高音瑞秋．威利斯．索倫森的音量時有不足，一開始令人擔憂，特別是在演唱主角重要的獨唱曲《Es gibt ein Reich》時。不過後來她表現理想，與男高音克萊．希利平份秋色。後者飾演巴克斯，在結尾時以神聖莊嚴的唱腔演唱，但他在早段飾演被西西弗斯魔法迷惑的倖存者時表現更令人深刻。女高音布蘭達．蕾飾演喜劇劇團的輕佻女郎彩碧妮塔，將觀眾視線從憂鬱的亞莉安妮中轉移。雖然她未必是最魅力四射的演員，但她的聲樂技巧絕對令人驚嘆。其他大部份演員的表現都相當出色，柏德烈．蘭格的指揮令巴伐利亞國立管弦樂團得以流暢演奏，即使在開首公主和神之間單調的音樂中亦然。

不過，這場演出最令人難忘的是製作本身。通常作曲家會在演出中段消失，與其他幕後工作人員一樣。然而在這場演出中，「作曲家」將樂譜（當然是戲劇道具）交給蘭格，蘭格道謝後，他一直坐在樂池上方觀看「他的」歌劇並作出反應。在男演員闖入他的島嶼時，他輕輕搖頭，但當他迷戀的郎彩碧妮塔演唱花腔時，他大力鼓掌。謝幕時，他回到台上接受觀眾和其他演員的掌聲，這樣的安排是對所有懷有崇高理想的藝術家的尊重。