Eugene Onegin (Vienna State Opera)

After yesterday's ancient but not unpleasant production of "Lucia di Lammermoor" comes a shocking case of directorial insanity. This production, new in Vienna but premiered in Tokyo last year, is up with the most pointless stagings I've ever come across. It's not terrible as such, the actual stagecraft is actually quite effective, but the designs have so little bearing on the opera itself one has to question how they ever arrived at them.

Act I of the Opera is pretty much fixed during the harvest season. Falk Richter has here decided to set this Act (and all the others) in winter. Heavy snow falls virtually continuously and even more bizarrely everything appears to be made from ice. Maybe this is some kind of frigid, emotionally stunted environment for the action to take place in (being generous to the director) but Richter has taken the idea way too far. I don't think I've ever seen anything on stage quite as incongruous as the peasants' song in Act I. The peasants, dressed like factory workers, sing about bringing in the harvest whilst heavy snow falls and other peasants do back flips across the stage. It looked pretty cool but had little to do with the text. The same could be said of most of the production which whilst relatively attractive could have been used as the basis for almost any Opera. Tatyana's bedroom appeared to be in an ice palace (I kid you not) and the party in their house had a massive rotating ice bar (plus so much sleazy behaviour you'd think this was Rigoletto). "Onegin" has three wonderful dances in the score but none were performed beyond a few acrobatic tricks and the famous polonaise was particularly disappointing with Richter apparently uninterested in staging anything during it. What's fascinating is that the basic stagecraft is actually fairly astute. For example, the final scene is staged on a staircase and the interaction of the two protagonists is beautifully done. Why they're on a big staircase with snow falling behind I will never know but at least the movement is carefully constructed.

Amongst this bizarrely irrelevant staging is a crack team of singers. Simon Keenlyside takes the lead role and sings with his usual staggeringly adaptable baritone. It wasn't the finest of acting performances, a little too reserved. This Onegin had a boy next door kind of quality that didn't entirely make sense in the context of his later actions. Keenlyside just never dominated the role, and whilst much of this can be put down to the difficult production it was still a little disappointing. Ramón Vargas brought a wonderful warmth and joy to Lensky although failed to entirely make the transition to love crazed aggression. Thankfully his voice is every bit as warm as his portrayal and his Act II aria was a wonderfully lyrical display of vocal prowess. Stealing the show from these impressive male performers was Tamar Iveri. This was the first time I've ever truly believed in a Tatyana. Drawing on her immense but supple soprano to produce a fragile and naive but ultimately resilient portrayal of a girl trapped in a world she doesn't understand. A more compelling letter scene I cannot imagine. I was less taken by Nadia Krasteva's Olga. She sang accurately but with little joy and the fun loving Olga came across as a bit miserable. Excellent support came from Ain Anger's far too young but weightily sung Gremin and Aura Twarowska's not nearly matronly enough but loving Larina.

If you shut your eyes this was a stellar performance. Open them and you might get confused as to which opera you're watching. Between Keenlyside, Vargas and Iveri this was an incredibly well sung performance and Seiji Ozawa, whilst perhaps a little indulgent with his tempi, raised a vibrant sound from the orchestra. Ultimately the music came out on top and I was whipped into a swirl of emotion in the final scene. Emotionally potent despite the production doing almost everything to prevent it. Chalk one up to Tchaikovsky I guess.