Opera in het theater of in de cinema ?

Wayne Gooding, recensent van "The Wagner Journal" deed volgende proef. Hij ging Robert Lepage's "Rheingold" bekijken in de Met en achteraf nog eens een keer in de cinema. Hij vergeleek beide ervaringen en kwam tot volgende conclusies :

"There's no question but that hearing this Ring in the theatre was a more natural and rewarding listening experience than hearing it in the digitally equipped film theatre. Sound systems and theatre acoustics vary, of course, but it appears that cinemas have not yet learnt when setting sound to make any distinction between the latest blockbuster action movies and opera transmissions. As a result, the Met's Live in HD relays always come with a hard-edged sound reminiscent of the early days of CD. The sound is audibly processed if not amplified, and it's usually too loud. Yet, in the transmission of Rheingold, Terfel and the giants benefited, their tone and projection fuller and more commanding than they were in the theatre. In the case of Terfel, the vocal balance needed for Wotan's place in the hierarchy of characters in this opera was restored. The exchanges with Fricka especially took on an urgency and power that had been lacking in the theatre. But again, this came at the price of a certain sonic artificiality."

"Visually, however, I found Lepage's production more engaging in the film transmission than it was in the theatre, where the viewer's perpective is invariably panoramic, encompassing the full stage without the possibility of varying the focal length. In cinema opera, the long, wide view is used sparingly for effect, and the action unfolds largely through medium and close-up views, short from various angles. What was most striking about the film transmission of Rheingold was the way the camera caught and established the relationships between the characters. The personal interplay of Fricka and Wotan was compelling onscreen, when both were usually in the frame even if not always both in focus. You were privy to a personal drama in a way that isn't possible in the theatre. The intimacy and interaction that Lepage talked about were viscerally evident."

Zo hoort u het eens van een ander...