Zurich Opera House Chorus & Orchestra

“Peter's line "Where the walls themselves gossip of inquest" - his cry of pain to Ellen after the coroner's open verdict on the loss of his first apprentice - cues the scenery and concept. The Borough, some of is citizens mounted on chairs and pillars permanenly suspended above an unchanging set, is never absent from this stylised, Brechtian (and Weillian) production. Pountney's stage has no room for naturalistic clutter - no real boats, no fishing nets, no beach. Ellen is allowed more intimacy with Peter than one often sees... but, as soon as she realises his obsessive work methods will never change, her "Peter - we've failed" is final, provoking Grimes to inevitable self-destruction. In a penultimate Mad Scene of haunting, almost religious (or sacreligious) beauty, she and Balstrode sit with a dead boy each draped across their laps, either side of the constantly see-sawing Peter on a stylised boat platform with a cross-like mast. Unforgettable. Soon-to-depart Zürich maestro Welser-Möst's reading of the score is hardly less innovative, reminding one with its forward, motoric winds of some great, lost Shostakovich score and, ...this new EMI issue is carried by its cast, phenomenal chorus contribution, director and conductor to an important new interpretative level.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2008

“…there is not the faintest whiff of the briny, either in this fussily observed staging, or in the land-locked conducting of Welser-Möst who seems entirely… A pity, because Christopher Ventris is outstanding in the title role, and Emily Magee is a sturdy and strong Ellen Orford.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 **

“[Thomas Hampson possesses] all the physical and vocal energy one could wish for…..flourishes and ornaments leap out of his melodic lines….the gestures [are] also natural, his phrasing and pitch sure. Mr. Hampson, as his career justifiably grows, has preserved an unmannered charm.” The New York Times

“The greatest opera ever written about the practice of magic cries out for sumptuous medievalism and CGA, but is usually lucky if it ends up with a statuesque mishmash like this 2006 Zurich Opera House production. But there have been worse attempts, and the musical values here are high. Philippe Jordan directs his superb orchestra with a real sense of the score's uncanny atmospheres, its aching lyricism and sombre rapture. Thomas Hampson, though often wooden in his acting, sings with immense feeling.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ****

“…this production has many strengths, Hampson, after seeming ill-at-ease in the first Prelde… audibly grows into the role. Trattnigg is beguiling as the Duchess and Macias shines as the Soldier (Gretchen's grief-stricken brother) and pompous Duke. The show is stolen, however, by Gregory Kunde's Mephistopheles, a portrayal vocally superb throughout and brilliantly acted. Felix Breisach's video direction is commendably unfussy, catching both the scale of the production's biggest moments as well as Kunde's mischievous expressions.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2008