Vienna State Opera: Turandot

Wiener Staatsoper 4/6/24

Vienna Philharmonic Axel Kober conductor, Asmik Grigorian soprano, Ivan Gyngasov tenor

‘Turandot’ in Vienna - from Chinese ritual to Freudian psycho-drama! 

This new production of Puccini’s last, unfinished opera was written in the 1920s when Freudian theory was becoming well known. So it is fitting that Vienna, the home of Freud, should have an opera which focusses on the internal life of its characters rather than the traditional Chinese circus show. The producer is Claus Guth and the stage design is by Etienne Pluss. It was relatively well received by audience and critics at its unveiling last year. So, yes, it could be classed as ‘Regietheatre’, but a production which gives new insights into Turandot, the woman, rather than the ice princess.

When it opened last year it was with Jonas Kaufmann as Calaf and Asmik Grigorian as Turandot. Kaufmann got decent reviews for his Calaf,  but Grigorian got rave reviews for Turandot, with some concerns expressed about the condition of Kaufmann’s voice.  I saw Kaufmann at Covent Garden last week in a very good ‘Andrea Chénier’ and wasn’t too sad about missing him. The young Russian tenor, Ivan Gyngazov, made a decent attempt at Calaf although a little shouty at times and without a real Italianate tone. He brought the house down with his ‘Nessum Dorma’. However Asmik Grigorian, as Turandot, was excellent. Her opening aria, ‘In questa reggia,’ was a little wobbly at first but flamed into life and her acting was very convincing. Liu was very well sung by Kristina Mkhitaryan, as was Timur by Dan Paul Dumitrescu. Ping, Pang and Pong were portrayed as efficient administrators and were in good voice.

The Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Axel Kober were superb as usual and I even saw a few women musicians among them! Of course Puccini died before completing the opera and the composer Franco Alfano finished it; this is the full version in this production. Whether Puccini would have approved of the little twist at the end of this production is open to question. Turandot and Calaf come together in love and are given Imperial sashes which suggests they are about to inherit power, but instead they throw away their sashes and run off out the side door to lead their own lives - I guess it fits with this very psychodynamic interpretation of the opera. The important thing is the music 100 years on is still very modern and still wonderful! 

You can still access the original cast last year on YouTube - just search for ‘Turandot’ Vienna and enjoy!