Search - Oliver Widmer, Heinz Holliger, Zurich Opera Orchestra :: Heinz Holliger: Schneewittchen

PoMo Snow White

Allen Ruch | Brooklyn, NY USA | 10/03/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A postmodern take on Snow White, "Schneewittchen" is a far cry from Walt Disney. Its opening immediately reveals that you're in for something quite unusual: an eerie, wordless chorus gradually emerges from the distance, like voices rising from a murky, snowbound forest. The prologue ends as the voices fragment into the principal characters, who are speaking to us from beyond the grave -- the opera takes place long after the standard fairy tale, and finds the characters trapped in a Beckett-like existence, endlessly rehearsing different psychological, emotional, and erotic scenarios. Although identities occasionally change, the focus is on a quartet made up of Snow White, the Queen, the Prince and the Huntsman. (The dwarves are absent in this opera -- I suppose they're out on a bender in Nibelheim.) The music itself is generally Expressionist/atonal in the way of Berg, and its offbeat melodies are punctuated by some colorful moments -- shimmering bells, dark brass, accordions, and whirling violins enter the tale like minor characters or shifting states of mind. The singers give exceptional performances, handling the material with ease, which can move rather quickly from states of beauty to harshness to alarm. (Snow White in particular seems to be a rather punishing role.) The opera sounds constantly driven, which is both a strength and perhaps a weakness -- it allows little room for the development of consistent melodies which might somewhat ground the characters. Still, there is a breathless thrill in the pitiless pace, and Holliger provides a few resting points along the way in the form of musical interludes, some of which surprisingly develop into passages rich in counterpoint. Quite a work, and I'm sure a very intense experience to see staged."