Monday Mozart – Ach Belmonte! Ach mein Leben!

This is Christof Loy’s interpretation of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Loy’s visions don’t always work for me (sometimes they just look low budget), but this performance does work on several levels. I also like the HIP feeling from the Ivor Bolton and the orchestra.

This quartet is the finale of Act 2  (and one of my favorite parts of the opera—it’s almost a little opera by itself), when the lovers are reunited for the first time. We know Konstanze has mixed feelings about seeing Belmonte again (as usual). She starts to go to him, then goes past him; he has to catch her. It seems Belmonte may not be too far off the mark when he asks if she’s in love with Selim. Pedrillo and Blonde seem to be on better terms, and they make up quickly (Pedrillo seems a lot more contrite than Belmonte). Meanwhile, Konstanze is not happy with Belmonte, even as they sing "Viva Love!"

I’ve been a Christoph Strehl fan since I saw his performance in Fierrabras and as David in Die Meistersinger, both in Zurich; Damrau pretty much goes without saying; and Peretyatko is no slouch, either. Norbert Ernst just keeps popping up everywhere. He was David in that crazy Bayreuth Meistersinger; and he was just seen as Minnie’s right hand man at the canteen in La Fanciulla del West. He’s usually playing second fiddle, and sometimes comes across as a bit of a nebbish, but he always does it so well. 

Diana Damrau (Konstanze)

Olga Peretyatko (Blonde)

Christoph Strehl (Belmonte)

Norbert Ernst (Pedrillo)
Ivor Bolton (Conductor)
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona