by Martin Berheimer
FINANCIAL TIMES
Strauss’s Salome came back to the Met on Monday, unfortunately in Jürgen Flimm’s silly production, introduced back in 2004. Santo Loquasto’s incongruously modern costumes added nothing to narrative comprehension, and his awkward set remained an obstacle course for the agitated participants. Weird, winged, black-robed figures observed the show silently from a side-stage mountain, and John the Baptist used a clunky yet convenient elevator to ascend from his cistern. Ask not why. A new cast did what it could under the circumstances, and the great Met orchestra, led by Johannes Debus of the Canadian Opera, made a mighty if sometimes raucous noise. Subtle instrumental nuances proved scarce. Still, one could savour vital individual compensations. The evening belonged, rightly, to Patricia Racette, who portrayed the princess of Judea in place of Catherine Naglestad, reportedly unwell in Europe. Racette, 51, rose to the challenge with gutsy abandon, singing with almost unflagging power and inflecting the text with illuminating stresses. She manoeuvred the cluttered stage with grace, and, yes, bared all for a brief moment as she discarded her seventh veil. Željko Lučić, her forceful Jochanaan, sounded a bit gruff when onstage and suffered bad miking when off. Despite modest vocal means, Kang Wang exuded sympathy as the lovesick Narraboth, and Nancy Fabiola Herrera flounced neatly as a giddy Herodias. Most remarkable was Gerhard Siegel, who exulted in the desperate pomposity of Herod. A uniquely versatile artist, he dominated the stage with contradictory qualifications: the persona of a busy buffo and the tone of an authentic Heldentenor. It is intriguing, if not surprising, to read in the programme booklet that his Ring repertory includes both the heroic Siegfried and the pathetic Mime. Personal nostalgia: in the bad old days, the Met felt Strauss’s 100-minute depiction of love, horror and climactic lust was insufficient for a night at the opera. While still a precocious youth, this incipient aficionado witnessed Salome for the first time, in Boston, coupled with Puccini’s comical Gianni Schicchi. Strange billfellows indeed. [FOUR STARS]