Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Die Frau ohne Schatten is Richard Strauss’s most ambitious work, requiring enormous vocal and orchestral forces as well as elaborate stage effects ranging from waterfalls to singing fish. It’s long, complicated and esoteric, but when it is done well it can be a transporting experience. The Met has long had an affinity for the opera with sopranos such as Leonie Rysanek, Birgit Nilsson and Deborah Voigt making their mark; its latest revival is a must-see event, like the opera itself magnificent, if imperfect.Herbert Wernicke’s production is one of the most impressive seen at the Met, making use of the stage elevator to differentiate the spirit world and the human world. Though the lights and mirrors are dazzling, the production’s genius is to cut through the opera’s mysticism to reveal the knotty human relationships at its core. Similarly, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin brings out the intimacy and delicacy in a score that can often seem bombastic. He elicits rich textural detail from his orchestra, while maintaining a welcome sense of forward momentum.The finest vocal performance comes from Elza van den Heever as the titular Empress, a half-spirit half-human who must acquire a shadow. Van den Heever has appeared in a wide range of repertoire at the Met, from Handel to Wagner, and her high, silvery soprano is an ideal fit for the otherworldly Empress. It’s a rare soprano who can encompass both the bel canto trills and coloratura of her opening scene and the heavy declamation in the final act.She is well matched with Russell Thomas’s Emperor, who brings burnished tone and fearless high notes to the part. Though he has spent much of his career in the Italian repertoire, his sensitivity to the text and phrasing marks him out as a Germanic tenor of note. After conquering all of Strauss and Wagner’s dramatic soprano roles, soprano Nina Stemme makes her role debut as the Empress’s sinister Nurse. Though the character is often portrayed as a stock villain, Stemme brings a welcome understatement to the part, and if her lower register now has a pronounced wobble, her high notes remain as impressive as ever.The heart of the piece, though, lies with the fabric dyer Barak and his frustrated wife, and Strauss sets some of the opera’s most moving music in a brutally honest portrait of a marriage gone wrong. Michael Volle and Lise Lindstrom are marvellous actors, eliciting sympathy even when both characters are at their most cantankerous. Volle possesses a fine legato, soaring over the orchestra with velvety tone and fine attention to the text. Lindstrom has a slim but powerful sound, and if her tone can be harsh, her security and tirelessness in the role’s extremes are impressive. Among a number of smaller parts, Ryan Speedo Green and Laura Wilde prove themselves more than ready to take on Strauss’s leading roles, and debutant Ryan Capozzo’s gleaming tenor makes a real impact from offstage.★★★★★To December 19, metopera.org
