Erica Jeal 

Prom 58: Salome review – intense, unsparing and magnificent

Nina Stemme's radiant Salome stole the show as Donald Runnicles treated Strauss lovers to a delicious rarity, writes Erica Jeal
  
  

Nina Stemme
Owning the platform … Nina Stemme as Salome. Photograph: Chris Christodoulou/BBC Photograph: BBC/Chris Christodoulou

It was Strauss weekend at the Proms, with performances on consecutive days of the composer's two most intense operas, both involving a crazed soprano and an orchestra at the limits. First came Salome, with the forces of the Deutsche Oper Berlin under Donald Runnicles. If any diehard Strauss lovers had been disappointed that the Proms was celebrating the composer's 150th anniversary with the best-known operas rather than with resuscitated rarities, they won't be feeling let down after this.

At the centre of it all was Nina Stemme, whose magnificent performance reinforced her reputation as the finest Salome of today. Owning the platform, she gave us all the character's Wildean complexity – obsessed, insecure, worldly, petulant, terrified, triumphant – and never sounded less than radiant. There were no props in what was basically a choreographed concert rather than any kind of staging, so no severed head for her to caress in the final scene. But as she kissed the air, and her voice blossomed into one last magnificent crescendo, you could almost believe the head was there, dripping blood on to the front row.

Burkhard Ulrich's dapper Herod wheedled rivetingly and, as Herodias, Doris Soffel shamelessly stole every moment she could. Often it's the gruffest, most cavernous-sounding baritones who are cast as John the Baptist, previous owner of the aforementioned head. Samuel Youn, prophesying mainly from the organ loft, offered a more heroic-sounding portrayal, and won out apart from one misfiring high note. The smaller roles were well done, especially Ronnita Miller's rich-sounding Page.

Runnicles kept the tension coiling mercilessly, and the players were vibrant, often seeming to play full tilt while skilfully allowing the voices through. Still, with no pit to confine it, the orchestra inevitably dominated – the trombones flattened the audience as Youn delivered his curse, and what should be a disembodied offstage organ in the closing scene was here the Albert Hall's big beast. But if any score is to be played in such direct, unsparing fashion, let it be this.

• On BBC iPlayer until 29 September. The Proms continue until 13 September. Details: bbc.co.uk/proms.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*