Carl Maria von Weber Euryanthe opera to libretto by Helmina von Chézy. Directed 2018 by Christof Loy at the Theater an der Wien. Stars Jacquelyn Wagner (Euryanthe), Norman Reinhardt (Adolar), Theresa Kronthaler (Eglantine), Andrew Foster-Williams (Lysiart), Stefan Cerny (König Ludwig IV), and Eva-Maria Neubauer (Herzogin von Burgund). Constantin Trinks conducts the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir (Chorus Master Erwin Ortner). Set design by Johannes Leiacker; costume design by Judith Weihrauch; lighting design by Reinhard Traub; dramaturgy by Klaus Bertisch. Directed for TV by Paul Landsmann; produced by Landsmann+Landsmann. Sung in German. Released 2020, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: NA
In the June 2020 Gramophone, page 80, Mike Ashman calls this a “classic example” of Christof Loy’s minimalist directing approach. Sets, costumes, props, and even movements are sharply reduced while providing essential clues to keep the audience oriented. The emphasis is on music and acting, which allows Loy to keep “the audience’s imagination profitably in play and provides uncanny concentration on the drama of Helmina von Chézy’s libretto.” The result “is the most approachable and effective Euryanthe yet in the current catalogues.” David J. Baker supports Ashman’s assessment in the August 2020 Opera News, page 46-47 concluding “After seeing a bracing performance such as this, it’s hard to understand why von Weber’s Euryanthe has had so many detractors.”
The clip below from Naxos seems to illustrate these favorable observations well, except that someone forgot to get decent up-to-date subtitles in English. I’ll have to watch this in German:
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