 |
|
Anselm Kiefer’s monumental towers worked well on the enormous stage of the Bastille opera house. Photo: Charles Duprat/Opéra National de Paris |
Stop the presses! Watching walls being built is the new equivalent of watching paint dry. In Am Anfang (In the Beginning), an art installation-cum-musical drama …
|
|
Anselm Kiefer’s monumental towers worked well on the enormous stage of the Bastille opera house. Photo: Charles Duprat/Opéra National de Paris |
Stop the presses! Watching walls being built is the new equivalent of watching paint dry. In Am Anfang (In the Beginning), an art installation-cum-musical drama by Anselm Kiefer, a German artist who lives in France, with music by Jörg Widmann, an inordinate amount of time is spent looking at a group of anonymous robed figures as they slowly pile brick upon brick.
The Wikipedia entry on Kiefer informs us that his works are “characterized by a dull/musty, nearly depressive, destructive style and are often done in large-scale formats.” This pretty much sums up the whole of Am Amfang. Kiefer’s colorless, monumental structures in ruins certainly make good use of the great height and depth of the Bastille stage, and a comparatively tiny white-robed female figure makes a striking sight as she wanders between the huge teetering towers; the only problem is that very little else happens onstage.
We are told in the program that this figure is a “Chekhina,” a reciter (performed by Geneviève Boivin) who represents the chosen and banished Jewish race, wandering through the ruins in the hope that the Messiah will come. Judging from the restlessness of the audience (and the number of spectators who left during the performance), it wasn’t the Messiah they were waiting for but simply an end to the stultifying lack of action on stage. It must be said that the production was not helped by Boivin’s monotonous delivery of her reading of Old Testament prophecies.
Widmann’s music is similarly lugubrious, but the playing of the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris is committed. The composer conducts and plays solo clarinet himself, and at times, his music even manages to rise to a level of drama that is completely at odds with the stasis on stage.
Am Amfang was commissioned by the Opéra National de Paris to mark the 20th anniversary of the Bastille Opera House and, incidentally, the swan song of the opera’s departing general director, Gerard Mortier. What a wasted opportunity! Many composers – both young and well-established – would have leapt at the opportunity to create a work that might have remained in the operatic repertoire for many years to come. Instead, we were left with one-and-a-half hours of brick-building tedium.
Opéra National de Paris: Place de la Bastille, 75012 Paris. Métro: Bastille. Tel.: 0 892 89 90 90 or + 33 (0)1 71 25 24 23 (from abroad). Remaining performances: July 8, 10, 11 and 13 at 8 p.m.; July 14 at 4 p.m. (free admission). Tickets: €5-€180. www.operadeparis.fr
© 2009 Paris Update
Reader Reaction
Click here to respond to this article (your response may be published on this page and is subject to editing).
Favorite