'Elektra' a la Levine at Tanglewood

Strauss’s ‘Elektra’ was offered up at Tanglewood last night, July 15, 2006.  James Levine led the over one-hundred instrumentalists of the Tangelewood Music Center Conservatory, as he did last year with Wagner’s Gotterdammerung, in an initiation of sorts to the world of orchestral gigantism for these extremely talented young musicians.  Unlike the Wagner, however, the Strauss score is a virtuoso work in extremis, every bit as unsettling and torrid as retelling of the Greek yarn in the Freud affected play by Hugo von Hoffmansthal.  How did the students fare?  Well, while the Tanglewood fellows don’t have the chops of the Vienna Philharmonic, they seemed to breeze through the evening playing with remarkable ease and clarity.  The score is rife with yawps, dissonant stings, and passages which seem to scurry away faster than the ear can process. Amid this orchestral mayhem, however, are touches of ineffable grandeur. One must pause and give these bars their due.  Unfortunately, in Levine’s reading, these momentous passages were ironed out, leaving a technically perfect flatland without the awe of the divine musical peaks.  Lisa Gasteen was in pitch-perfect voice, bringing an unusual warmth and luster to the title role. However, she left a lot in reserve, projecting great vocal strength only for those extraordinary outbursts and high-pitched passages.  Surviving the two-hour ordeal (widely regarded as the most demanding role in all of opera),  was undoubtedly foremost on her mind, and holding back is a logical, if not entirely satisfactory strategy. Her calculated restraint (as well as Levine’s) was most evident in the opening monologue which lacked the spine-tingling passion of Elektra’s obsession. In addition, Ms. Gasteen’s reading missed the on-the-edge madness one expects with this role.  After all, the opera features three crazy women, modeled on the then current Freudian theory of “hysteria.”  Gasteen’s composure contrasts, for example, with the bug-eyed panther persona of Leonie Rysanek in her unforgettable video performance with Karl Bohm.  On the other hand, Felicity Palmer’s Klytomnestra, was hair-raisingly grotesque as the insomniac and baleful she-devil mother of Elektra.  Palmer achieved her tortured role without a sacrificing any musical precision. Christine Brewer’s Chrysothemis, like Ms. Gasteen, was musically satisfying, but altogether measured, lacking both the anxiety and absurd insouciance the part demands.  The chief male vocalists, Orest (Alan Held) and Aegist (Siegfried Jerusalem) were both superb.  Held and Gasteen were perfect complements in the great “recognition” duet;  Jerusalem was a perfect foil for Gasteen’s sly sarcasm before the final slaughter.   The final fatal dance was brilliant, but the brassy radiance of Elektra’s victory was glossed over.