Gluck singing with Marc Minkowski. That was the reason for Anne Sofie von Otter to come to Amsterdam. The musical performance will also be the primary reason for most opera fans to watch this double performance of the Muziektheater, despite the fact that some of the well-known singers are in the after-bloom of their careers. Minkowski chose to perform the music at a historically correct pitch. That
… is, much lower. The music therefore sounds grimmer, which fits the story. After all, the history of the Tantalides is full of atrocities and violence: Agamemnon takes his daughter Iphigeneia to the sacrificial block and is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra; she is killed by son Orestes, who threatens to die again on the offering block by… Iphigeneia. Pierre Audi has done his best to visually depict the nasty atmosphere of the story with claustrophobic small stages, steep stairs, lots of hard steel and cold white light. The music is warmer and more hopeful. (CP)more
