The Messias (Der Messias) ★★★★✩
Author: G. F. Händel, version by W. A. Mozart. Staged oratory. Stage direction: Robert Wilson. Performers: J. Lezhneva. K. Lindsey, R. Croft, K. Stražanac. A. Fousekis (dancer), M. Harris and A. Shuyuan/S. Borrero, actors. Liceu Choir and Orchestra. Choir Dir.: P. Assante. Musical direction: Josep Pons. Place and date: Liceu (18/III)
A revelation, a journey, a container of existential light. The multitude of messages that this production of The Messiah accepts leaves the public anesthetized with spirituality. The high degree of aestheticism, Wilson's seal, with light as a scenic metaphor, always turns the works of the visual artist into a mental canvas where the viewer will accommodate his interpretation with the free will of his own aesthetic experience.
Thus, the possible iconic readings of Dalí's surrealism, a headless figure walking a lobster, the winks to Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, an astronaut who seems taken from a frame of Interstellar or a Charon ship that transports the hope of humanity in the crystalline voice of a soprano touched by divine grace, turn this production into a hymn to one's own spirituality, without impositions and a poetic halo to art as a human communion.
The content of the score is served by refined soloists, who do justice to a work embedded in the collective unconscious.
This production will enchant everyone in the voice of Julia Lezhneva. The purity of her timbre – an artist in full command of her instrument, singing stylized and mannerist at the same time – flowed like a tremulous flame from the light of the staff. Next to her, the veteran tenor Richard Croft (late debut at the Liceu), provided style, expressive grandeur and humor. Less inspired is the always elegant mezzo Kate Lindsey, with bass that lacks body, or a brave Krešimir Stražanac, hesitant with the treble at the beginning, but who rose to prominence with his two great arias, the German versions of Why Do the Nations and The Trumpet. shall sound.
Maestro Pons's reading, with slow and ponderous tempos in appearance, sheds light on the contrasts with satisfactory results. Choir and orchestra merged with the scene in an integral and organic way.
The public will choose the path of the Chosen One, whether in the voice of Händel, Mozart or Wilson or in the sum of the three.
