Otello (2001)
One of the chief pleasures of this live production of Otello from the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden is Daniel Barenboim's conducting. From the opening gale-force blast of storm music, through the crunching and stabbing accompaniment of Iago's "Credo" to the shimmering strings of Desdemona's "Willow Song", he doesn't miss a trick. Everything works at the highest pitch of intensity and the orchestra sticks to his beat like glue. It's a necessary compensation for the shortcomings of the staging: the stolid chorus remains unperturbed by the storm and is directed to perform with unison movements; the acting (apart from Valeri Alexejev) is non-committal, and Alexandre Tarta's video direction somewhat flat-footed. She doesn't manage to make much small-screen sense of an impenetrably murky opening scene, for example, and doesn't seem fond of reaction shots.
Director: Jürgen Flimm
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Christian Franz as Otello (tenor) |
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Emily Magee as Desdemona (soprano) |
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Valeri Alexejev as Iago (baritone) |
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Stephan Rügamer as Cassio (tenor) |
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Andreas Schmidt as Roderigo (tenor) |
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Kwangchul Youn as Lodovico (bass) |
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Gerd Wolf as Montano (bass) |
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Katharina Kammerloher as Emilia (mezzo-soprano) |
| Sound | Staatskapelle Berlin | Musician |
| Sound | Giuseppe Verdi | Original Music Composer |
| Sound | Daniel Barenboim | Conductor |
| Production | François Duplat | Producer |
| Lighting | Franz Peter David | Lighting Director |
| Art | George Tsypin | Set Designer |
| Writing | Arrigo Boito | Writer |
| Costume & Make-Up | Doey Lüthi | Costume Design |
| Directing | Jürgen Flimm | Director |
