Features:
Description:
This classic production of Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ("The Return of Ulysses") from the 1985 Salzburg Festival updates the Renaissance orchestration to a distinctly modern sound but conveys the musical and dramatic power of Monteverdi's masterpiece with impressive impact. The new orchestration by one of the 20th century's most accomplished opera composers, Hans Werner Henze, was commissioned because existing manuscripts lack orchestral details. The effect is hybrid, but it works. Michael Hampe's staging focuses on the interactions of the characters without trying to create a realistic sense of period and environment. This is effective in a work of art that has roles for gods (Neptune, Minerva) as well as abstractions (Time, Human Frailty). Jeffrey Tate conducts with a fine sense of the proper style, and the singers fit impressively into their roles. Notably fine performances by Thomas Allen as the returning warrior, Ulysses, and Kathleen Kuhlmann as his long-suffering wife, Penelope, are set off by a superb supporting cast. --Joe McLellan
| 
