Metropolitan Opera Archives

Ariadne auf Naxos received five performances this season.
The performances of 3/28/03, 3/31/03 and 4/3/03 were taped
Production photos of Ariadne auf Naxos by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera.

Review 1:

Mike Silverman for the Associated Press
Natalie Dessay Steals the Show in “Ariadne auf Naxos” at the Metropolitan Opera

After a too-long absence of five years, Natalie Dessay returned to the Metropolitan Opera to pick up right where she left off — stopping the show.

The French soprano brought her unequaled blend of coloratura agility, comic artistry and seductive glamour to the role of Zerbinetta, the commedia dell'arte coquette, in Richard Strauss' quirky opera “Ariadne auf Naxos.”

“Ariadne,” with a libretto by Strauss' favorite collaborator, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, depicts a play-within-a-play. In the Prologue, the cast is preparing an after-dinner entertainment for the richest man in Vienna — a serious opera followed by a farce. Matters are thrown into confusion when the host orders both works performed simultaneously to save time. In the second scene, we see the result: the noble Ariadne, seeking death on a desert island, distracted by a company of clowns that includes Harlekin, Scaramuccio — and Zerbinetta.

Friday night's revival of the Elijah Moshinsky production marked the second time Dessay had performed the role in the house, and she was, if possible, even better than in her first outing in 1997. There was a deeper soulfulness to her flirtatiousness, and her duet in the Prologue with the Composer (ardently sung by mezzo Suzanne Mentzer) revealed a touching vulnerability.

Dessay was to have reprised the part two seasons ago, but vocal problems forced her to cancel. It would appear her recovery is complete — her 11-minute-long aria, "Grossmächtige Prinzessin," some of it performed while being hoisted through the air by her acrobatic partners, had all the bravura fireworks and pinpoint accuracy one could ever hope for.

When it was over, the audience erupted in applause and cheering that brought the performance to a halt for several minutes. It called to mind the last time Dessay had sung at the Met in 1998, when she created near- pandemonium as Olympia, the mechanical doll who goes berserk in Offenbach's “Tales of Hoffmann.”

The entire cast is remarkable for this “Ariadne,” which is being taped for television broadcast. In the title role, soprano Deborah Voigt displayed a rich, even column of sound that, if anything, is growing more impressive over time (which augurs well for her upcoming debut in Vienna as Wagner's Isolde.) Tenor Richard Margison was imposing as Bacchus. It's not their fault that Strauss composed some of his dullest music for their seemingly interminable closing duet.

Conductor James Levine and the Met orchestra did a superb job of bringing out the chamber music qualities to the scoring.

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